RE: BMW 435i M Sport: PH Fleet
Discussion
E65Ross said:
Whilst I agree with what you're saying, it's rather irrelevant. The only valid point is the cost, which isn't far off what the E92 M3 was selling for, showing car prices aren't really going up.
The point is that between about 2003 and 2008 cars were artificially cheap, as a side effect of the bubble economy. Those days are gone and real-terms living standards are reverting to a more sustainable level. So people need to get used to the idea that cars are going to cost more in relation to wages than they seemed to throughout most of the last decade. Lowtimer said:
The point is that between about 2003 and 2008 cars were artificially cheap, as a side effect of the bubble economy. Those days are gone and real-terms living standards are reverting to a more sustainable level. So people need to get used to the idea that cars are going to cost more in relation to wages than they seemed to throughout most of the last decade.
No, its because every car is leased or financed these days.Right now leasing is stupidly cheap in the UK. And for the first time since forever we are starting to see cheaper cars here than the USA.
All these financed cars are recycled back into approved used schemes where the high list price (meaningless) now keeps 2nd hand prices strong for good secondary profit. That's the theory anyway.
-Z- said:
No, its because every car is leased or financed these days.
Right now leasing is stupidly cheap in the UK. And for the first time since forever we are starting to see cheaper cars here than the USA.
All these financed cars are recycled back into approved used schemes where the high list price (meaningless) now keeps 2nd hand prices strong for good secondary profit. That's the theory anyway.
None of my three cars is leased, nor are the three cars belonging to my two neighhours, nor my sister's, or my sister-in-law's...Right now leasing is stupidly cheap in the UK. And for the first time since forever we are starting to see cheaper cars here than the USA.
All these financed cars are recycled back into approved used schemes where the high list price (meaningless) now keeps 2nd hand prices strong for good secondary profit. That's the theory anyway.
I've never had a leased car except in a company scheme. There are plenty of people still buying cars for cash, especially those who like to tinker with them or who do lots of mileage and like to keep a car a fair while.
Edited by Lowtimer on Wednesday 30th October 00:09
Now I might have fallen for the PR, but in the pre-release pictures, tv ad I thought the car looked awesome. Looking at these pictures I'm left feeling somewhat cold. Just looks like a 3 series coupe. Not entirely sure what I was expecting, will keep my eyes peeled for one out and about though.
E65Ross said:
yep, because of different engine masses up front suspension is different. the brakes certainly are, all you need to do is look on somewhere like ECP for brake discs for various models to see the disc sizes are different.
I know they should be different I was querying whether they are. Certainly they didn't change them in the E46 (the strut part numbers seem to be the same between the 320d and 330i). I know the new cars don't have different spring rates for the different wheels (which they damned well should because wheel choice makes a huge difference to unsprung mass), I'm just not sure about engine. I have no reason to believe that you're wrong, but I am surprised the brakes differ simply with the engine. I'd have thought it would be cheaper to only develop one set for all mainstream variants. What's different about them? Is it just different pads and discs or are the callipers different too?
Edited by kambites on Wednesday 30th October 08:25
Perhaps its just me, but the change to 4 Series from 3 Series Coupe is supposed to distance this model from the mainstream 3 Srries saloon.
All well and good, but to my eyes the 4 Series looks closer to the styling of the F30 saloon than the E9X generation. To my eyes the E92 coupe has more visual differentiation from the E90 saloon than the 4 Series does from the equivalent F30 saloon.
Still looks a decent enough car though.
Maybe its just me?
All well and good, but to my eyes the 4 Series looks closer to the styling of the F30 saloon than the E9X generation. To my eyes the E92 coupe has more visual differentiation from the E90 saloon than the 4 Series does from the equivalent F30 saloon.
Still looks a decent enough car though.
Maybe its just me?
GTEYE said:
Perhaps its just me, but the change to 4 Series from 3 Series Coupe is supposed to distance this model from the mainstream 3 Srries saloon.
I think the first generation was always going to be just a change of name. I guess in the future they might diverge them further but I doubt they'll go far because they'd start to lose the cost benefits from component sharing. ATM said:
Dan Trent said:
ATM said:
I have a new F30. How do I do this with mine?
It's in the Menu setting on iDrive - IIRC you go to Vehicle and Settings (sorry, without having it in front of me I forget the exact terminology/menu sequence) and once within you can set up Eco Pro, Sport and Sport Plus accordingly. Basically if you go into Sport and select Drivetrain it'll only engage the engine/gearbox map when you press Sport. You'll get the engine and gearbox highlighted in red on the diagram of the car. If you select Drivetrain and Chassis the suspension highlights in red too and that means when you hit Sport you get the dampers in the hard setting too.Basically in the M135i I had it set up so it graduated from Comfort (everything normal) to Sport (Sport drivetrain/gearbox) and to Sport Plus (Sport drivetrain/gearbox, Sport dampers, DSC mid-setting).
But obviously you can mix and match to a certain extent.
Hope that makes some sort of sense!
Cheers,
Dan
I didn't even realise it was adjustable.
I only just found the Automatic Beam Headlight Anti-dazzle thing....
kambites said:
E65Ross said:
yep, because of different engine masses up front suspension is different. the brakes certainly are, all you need to do is look on somewhere like ECP for brake discs for various models to see the disc sizes are different.
I know they should be different I was querying whether they are. Certainly they didn't change them in the E46 (the strut part numbers seem to be the same between the 320d and 330i). I know the new cars don't have different spring rates for the different wheels (which they damned well should because wheel choice makes a huge difference to unsprung mass), I'm just not sure about engine. I have no reason to believe that you're wrong, but I am surprised the brakes differ simply with the engine. I'd have thought it would be cheaper to only develop one set for all mainstream variants. What's different about them? Is it just different pads and discs or are the callipers different too?
Edited by kambites on Wednesday 30th October 08:25
Not sure about brakes, pretty sure it's just discs and pads are different, but they certainly are.
E65Ross said:
Not sure about brakes, pretty sure it's just discs and pads are different, but they certainly are.
That would make sense - drilling the discs and fitting more expensive pads is an easy way to improve braking performance without spending very much money on R&D. Given that both parts are essentially consumables, it's not really any different to shipping the cars on different tyres. I doubt the difference in manufacturing cost between the two set-ups is more than £100.
On the suspension stuff, it was a BMW dealer that told me they were the same part (when a friend's E46 touring's spring snapped and I offered to fix it for him). The bits he gave me certainly fitted.
Lowtimer said:
None of my three cars is leased, nor are the three cars belonging to my two neighhours, nor my sister's, or my sister-in-law's...
I've never had a leased car except in a company scheme. There are plenty of people still buying cars for cash, especially those who like to tinker with them or who do lots of mileage and like to keep a car a fair while.
There was a thread the other day stating 90% of all private Merc sales are leased or PCP'dI've never had a leased car except in a company scheme. There are plenty of people still buying cars for cash, especially those who like to tinker with them or who do lots of mileage and like to keep a car a fair while.
Edited by Lowtimer on Wednesday 30th October 00:09
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Last paragraph of the main story.
Mercedes are not going to be the only ones operating like this.
kambites said:
Their naming convention is very simple - odd numbers scaling up for sizes of saloon; the next-up even numbers for the coupes. Broadly speaking, the 8-series was the 7-series coupe; 6-series is the 5-series coupe; 4-series is the 3-series coupe; 2-series is the 1-series coupe.
Not complicated.
Believe it or not, I had a good think about the range before making this post but fair play, I see the logic in it now, that didn't occur to me for some reason.Not complicated.
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