Originally Posted by boltjaM3s

Reality Check:

While Bimmerfest would lead you to believe that the roads are filled with 28 year old 335i M-Sport owners in their Estoril Blue F30's, the real world is something very different.

The typical 3 Series driver is a 48 year old. She's 50% female. 60% of them are leasing. 90% are driving vehicles without Sport line or sport anything. 80% are 328i's. And with the average at 48 years old, for every 29 year old male enthusiast there's a 75 year old female using the car to hit the beauty salon.

So the reason "why would anyone be thinking about this" is because the typical 3 Series driver has to ditch important options for the sake of hitting a monthly budget. You see a $349 car advertised on TV. You come in. You add a few options. Suddenly you're at $479. Then you're out the door, off to Audi and off to Acura.

The one thing BMW won't let you trade out of in their most affordable Sedan is the powerplant. The 328i is a beast, extremely powerful. Some might say it's overkill. Certainly a 75 year old female wouldn't notice if you trimmed off 50 HP, might even appreciate it. Oh, and she can save $4,000? And then add the Premium package or the Technology package? Touchdown.

BJ