Which one are you? Modern, Sport or Luxury?

Luxury. Like everything about it.

The more I look at the pricing guide the less and less I understand the value/appeal of the modern and luxury lines. At least the sport line gets you a different suspension.

I cannot imagine a monotone interior on a German car -- beige seats/steering/dash/headliner -- yuck! Reminds me too much of the Americanized VW Rabbit from the early 80s.

Originally Posted by jzcrna

I bet the middle one was the 320-d that they have been promoting everywhere.

Yep. Notice the marking on the fuel gauge in the middle picture that's not on the other two. It's not legible but I'd bet it's the word "diesel."

Originally Posted by Robert A

I cannot imagine a monotone interior on a German car -- beige seats/steering/dash/headliner -- yuck! Reminds me too much of the Americanized VW Rabbit from the early 80s.

Well, well...Porsche has been doing it for years, de-facto standard for the ultimate German cars

Sign me up for a 3 series Sport with MSport pkg in that Estroil Blue only if BMW offers the diesel

I'm not any of the lines. My 335i will be a stock with a bunch of packages.

Why? It's those stupid badges announcing that you can't coordinate your interior and exterior colors.

I do wish the sport AT and paddles were available outside the Sport line, though

Originally Posted by Yobyot

I'm not any of the lines. My 335i will be a stock with a bunch of packages.

Why? It's those stupid badges announcing that you can't coordinate your interior and exterior colors.

In US, note the following option code is required when getting any line.
3DZ - Without Lines designation outside

This deletes the offending badges.

Won't you also be stuck with a skinny steering wheel and a non-sport suspension?

Originally Posted by Yobyot

I'm not any of the lines. My 335i will be a stock with a bunch of packages.

Why? It's those stupid badges announcing that you can't coordinate your interior and exterior colors.

I do wish the sport AT and paddles were available outside the Sport line, though

Originally Posted by Robert A

Won't you also be stuck with a skinny steering wheel and a non-sport suspension?

Yes, but I won't miss them -- my '06 E90 330i didn't have the sport package (I didn't want staggered wheels) -- and I've never missed it. I live in New England -- the sport package here just means "even more fun" in bad weather.

Originally Posted by pcbrew

In US, note the following option code is required when getting any line.
3DZ - Without Lines designation outside

This deletes the offending badges.

Very interesting. Yes, now that you mention it, that means none of the US "line" cars will have those horrific badges, a good thing IMHO.

I was poking around the investor relations part of BMW's website and came across a speech delivered at the Barcelona launch by one of BMW's financial types.

It's must-reading for anyone buying an F30. Among the interesting revelations: more component sharing than ever among the 3, 5 and 7 series cars, the 1 and 3 are really just variations of each other and BMW expects half of the F30's sales to be "lines" models, which are significantly more profitable.

I suspected the "lines" strategy was about increasing margins on each unit sold. I mean, how hokey is a red stripe on the key? Answer: about US$1400 more hokey.

I think these lines are such a marketing gimmick and the badges on the exterior are downright tacky. I would have preferred if BMW stayed with the simple build your own approach that they have had in the past and that the continue to have with the new 5 and 7 series cars.

Originally Posted by mr_clueless

I think these lines are such a marketing gimmick and the badges on the exterior are downright tacky. I would have preferred if BMW stayed with the simple build your own approach that they have had in the past and that the continue to have with the new 5 and 7 series cars.

I agree completely -- but you should know that it is possible to order a car without "lines."

I am in the process of booking an ED car. Both dealers started with, "Which line do you want?" And both eventually got to the point where they had figured out how to order a non-ZxL car. One said that the trick was to ask for a later production week, a hint to me that all BMW is producing for the initial launch are ZxL cars. Feh.

At first, I wondered if I would feel odd without a ZxL car or if it would affect my resale value. Now, I am increasingly feeling like my car will be more "individual" than the many F30-bots that will be rolling down the road by the middle of next year. An indication that even BMW thinks the ZxL cars are tacky is that in the US, at least, you cannot get the horrific side badges denoting your "line." With the possible exception of ZSL, which does offer significant mechanical differences, even BMW seems to know that badging a car "Modern" in the US is the kiss of death.

Sport, for the feel of the drive.

Well I hope they do the different trim levels on the 5 and 6 series as well, this one size fits all doesn't work for the enthusiast. This way every driver gets what they want and need out of their vehicle and satisfies all different tastes as well. I'm an M Sport guy hands down, just give me a true M sport suspension with the package and I can make the rest work.