You couldn't be more wrong.
Luxury brands (BMW, Mercedes Benz) start from the top and allow buyers to work their way down. Base brands (Honda, Toyota) start from the bottom and force buyers to work their way up. Two different types of car philosophies, two different customers, two different strategies.
Take leather off a BMW, people say "eeew, no way you should be able to do that in a luxury car."
Put leather on a Honda, people say "what's the point of a feature like that on a cheap car?"
Let me see, is there a roomy, 5 passenger sedan from MINI? Let me check. Nope.
Let me see, is there a roomy 4-door Sedan in the 1 Series? Let me check. Nope.
There is nothing close to the 3 Series Sedan in the BMW line, very different situation.
Thank you for supporting my point. There's only one kind of person that would eschew the features and appointments in a $33,000 Accord for a $37,000 BMW. A status-seeker. BMW forces you to pay $4,000 more to get no leather, no moonroof, no heated seats, no widescreen LCD, no keyless access, and on and on. And just to even the score, you need to throw another $13,000 just to get those features back in the BMW.
You are right; the F30 is two cars:
It's a $50,000 German luxury car that has the bare minimum creature comforts and industry-leading technology.
It's a $37,000 status-symbol for someone who can't afford it and is so in need of social standing that he's willing to live without the types of luxury features found on Honda's and Toyota's for 30 years to get it.
We don't live in Europe. Spare me the "Hey, an E Class is a taxi in Frankfurt!" I know. I go to Germany twice a year. A Buick is a Rolls Royce in Shanghai. The inverse works too.
An Audi is a rebadged Volkswagen.
BJ