pjinca

Some people, I'd still rather have a BMW. It's not the options, it's the fact that BMW "gets it" that a car should be fun to drive AND luxurious.

turner001

Its funny how BMW change the specs, prices and interpret marketing to suit.

The 528i in the UK is considered a large gas guzzling waste of money - because of fuel tax and road tax's.

By a factor of 5 (educated guess) the 520 Diesel will outsell any other 5 series because of taxes. Plus for the normal guy, its fast enough - 50mph - 70mph its actually comparable to the 528i.

All of the new 5's come with Leather and Bluetooth as standard. The Ambient lighting is a cost option on the 520d only - Std on all others. Automatic is only standard on the 550i - high cost option on all others.

On my E60 and my new F10 - by far the best option is Logic 7 Audio (or whatever its called in your country). I would happily have a base model if it had the audio!

Happy beeming....

555

I agree though. I am all for options, but c'mon. You could easily have ambient as standard, iPod connection, Xenon lights, Garage door opener, etc.

Then have options like... What engine? manual or auto? nav? Sound system? etc............

To me, having a BMW without certain standards "cheapens" it up. Start with a certain base of luxury items that are standard on even Kias, and then option it up. I do like the Acura philosphy because they save money on manufacturing costs (and therefore they don't cost as much) and you won't find most of their late models without certain high-end standards. But as we all know... We're BMW fans and that's why we're here. But I do wish they'd simplify things just a bit.

acorradi87

Word up. Thanks for understanding my point!

ObD

Most dealers order the premium package for their inventory cars so by default it is standard if you buy off the lot. Most BMW buyers buy off the lot and won't wait. BMW is an expert at marketing. So when they throw around trunk money, grab it.

gabman

Tell me about it, here in Canada in order to get dumb homelink buttons to open my garage door, I am forced to take what we call the executive package, which includes the following, comfort seats,proff sound system,lumbar supports, comfort seats,nav prof,satelite radio, voice control , all for the the sum of $ 5400.00 , to add insult to injury, I want a real rear view camera like every other manufacturer offers, to get this camera I have to take the executive package noted above plus a technology package which includes active blind spot, lane departure,park assist, rear view camera and surround view, all for an additional $ 3500.00. So to get the two small things I want , homelink and a rear view camera I must fork over a total of $ 8,900.00 in options, not to mention that the base price of a 535 here in Canada is $63,000.00 and not 48K like in the USA. To really piss me off, I have decided to bite the bullet and I can't even get a car with these two packages , can only get the executive package,( have to wait 3 months for what I want) I swear I am going to rig a $40.00 camera to my bumper. The dumbest part is my Graphite / Oyster with exec package should be in any day now.

acorradi87

Wow... that's really unfortunate =(. That sounds more like how Infiniti prices their cars. I understand that more standalone options would make production more costly, but if all these cars are headed for North America, you'd think that Canada's option packages would be a little more in tune with the U.S.'s. I'm sure there's specific reasoning for this (at least I hope there is) and I don't have an MBA so I'll just shut up now.

gabman

The only reason being if they tried to pull this crap in the USA they would not sell to many cars, as it is from, what I can see on their U.S. website, they bundle option together but Americans have way more choices than us pacifist Canadians, they know we will suck it up and live with it as we usually do. Bottom line is competition is way mor fierce in the USA, American's can walk into a dealership and they sell four competing brands, you don't see that here in Canada, one dealer , one brand to sell, US dealers are opened on Saturday, here they refuse to open on weekends.

pjinca

acorradi87 - Don't get me wrong, I agree that for the price tag there should be more standard features (like iPod/Smartphone integration, high end stereo). I mean it wasn't until I was on this forum that I found out that the E60 didn't come standard with Xenon headlamps, I thought it was strange that a car in this price range had that as an option. I figured, I have it so all E60's have it right? Turns out, nope, it only comes with the Premium pkg.

Ricracing

Just wait for the M sport package and you'll get something really extra.

BMW is a pricey car and the extras are really salty priced.

But it's the best in its segment, any segment.