Touring for US?

Originally Posted by Robert A

If they can afford to design, develop and federalize a car like the 5 series GT, you gotta wonder why they can't take a chance on something like the 330 diesel touring for the US market. BMW seems to be offering a lot of higher cost model specialization where the market size is rather limited, but they simply won't take much of a chance on bread and butter type stuff.

I think much of this is due to fierce competition from Audi (among others). Audi has nailed many of the market segments like the A4 Avant and they're squeezing BMW's volume. Audi has a significant cost advantage by defraying R&D costs from Audi across VW, Skoda, Seat, etc. in the following decades. So BMW is forced to go up market and into odd niches, because of brutal competition.
Sure, the 3-series sells well, but the uproar over 4-cylinder turbos is an indication that BMW's consumer base resists a perceived move down market. The A4 4-cylinder turbos have sold well for years! Clearly 4-cylinder turbos are the future, and Audi had much less trouble getting there quickly.

Originally Posted by iamthewalrus

I think much of this is due to fierce competition from Audi (among others). Audi has nailed many of the market segments like the A4 Avant and they're squeezing BMW's volume. Audi has a significant cost advantage by defraying R&D costs from Audi across VW, Skoda, Seat, etc. in the following decades. So BMW is forced to go up market and into odd niches, because of brutal competition.
Sure, the 3-series sells well, but the uproar over 4-cylinder turbos is an indication that BMW's consumer base resists a perceived move down market. The A4 4-cylinder turbos have sold well for years! Clearly 4-cylinder turbos are the future, and Audi had much less trouble getting there quickly.

I agree with your concept, but I actually heard the BMW guy suggest that they were losing their wagon market share to Mercedes, not Audi. Audi is abandoning wagons in the US as well - they've sold 5 or 6 Q5s for every A4 Avant in this generation. Too bad, the previous S4 Avant is on my short list of coolest cars ever.

EDIT: Having said that...you're right, the Audi/VW B8 2.0T engine is is in something like two million cars and counting in the US alone, and is generally lauded as an excellent engine. Audi/VW obviously came to the same conclusion 5 years ago about engine design that BMW has recently come to.

Also, I just read that BMW will be building an X4.

On the one hand, they appear to be slicing the market segmentation pie into very narrow pieces.

On the other hand, based on this picture, the X4 is a much better looking car than the X6 is, and I can immediately envision myself checking one out when they drop.

Originally Posted by WJGreer

Also, I just read that BMW will be building an X4.

On the one hand, they appear to be slicing the market segmentation pie into very narrow pieces.

On the other hand, based on this picture, the X4 is a much better looking car than the X6 is, and I can immediately envision myself checking one out when they drop.

I really don't understand the point in a low roof line high center of gravity car that can't really go off road anyway. Most people buy SUVs to use them as family station wagons. For the most part a conventional wagon would work just as well though the exta height is quite handy when loading small children into car seats.

Originally Posted by adgrant

I really don't understand the point in a low roof line high center of gravity car that can't really go off road anyway. Most people buy SUVs to use them as family station wagons. For the most part a conventional wagon would work just as well though the exta height is quite handy when loading small children into car seats.

Getting back to the central theme of the thread, the point is that people in the US buy them, whereas we generally don't buy wagons. Really, that was the theme behind the entire SUV emergence, right or wrong.

Originally Posted by adgrant

I really don't understand the point in a low roof line high center of gravity car that can't really go off road anyway. Most people buy SUVs to use them as family station wagons. For the most part a conventional wagon would work just as well though the exta height is quite handy when loading small children into car seats.

Totally agree.

Why would you want to defeat the purpose of owning an SUV/wagon by chopping off the rear portion of the roofline? Obviously it would be for styling purposes. I guess I am just "old school" with my thinking about cars! These new crossover vehicles are just hideous to me.

I'll attempt an answer, although the last thing I want to do is make myself into an X6 champion around here -

Clearance.

If I live in a snowy area, I can buy an AWD wagon and put snow tires on it. If there's more than a foot of snow on the road, I will still have trouble getting around because of the clearance problem.

Cars like the X6 (which has not sold well and obviously has a narrow market indeed) appeal to those who want a sporty vehicle that provides traction and clearance capability beyond those of a wagon and perhaps a touch more cargo capacity than a sedan.

Pretty weak sauce; it might snow enough here in Denver to present a clearance issue once every few years.

The question concerns the 3 series. While there is no 5 series wagon expected, the 3 series car should show up on these shores.

Originally Posted by Adamn1

The wagon will not come to the US in thecurrebt f10 chassis

It will be here the model after though.... Despite the GT being "ugly" it's sold more in it's first year than the best year of the wagon...

Originally Posted by Robert A

The question concerns the 3 series. While there is no 5 series wagon expected, the 3 series car should show up on these shores.

And I note with interest that, for those who do not frequent bimmerpost, BMW insider Scott26, who has previously predicted no F31 for the USA, now says we WILL get the Touring. This is G-O-O-D.

But he also predicts we will not get an F30 diesel at all... An F31 3XXdT would be my kind of car! Four cyl or six cyl Diesel....yes, please!

As long as there's a manual option, I don't really care what engine or drivetrain. I prefer the 4 cylinder turbo with RWD but chances are BMW Canada will not bother bringing the RWD in and force the XDrive which is fine I suppose.

Autoblog says we will be getting the f30 Touring, but doesn't specify their source. Article also says we will get an f30 diesel.

http://www.autoblog.com/2011/10/18/y...-series-wagon/

Originally Posted by sactoken

Autoblog says we will be getting the f30 Touring, but doesn't specify their source. Article also says we will get an f30 diesel.

http://www.autoblog.com/2011/10/18/y...-series-wagon/

Nice. Here's hoping they bring us the wagon as a 335 with the N55 and xDrive. I doubt it.

Originally Posted by WJGreer

Nice. Here's hoping they bring us the wagon as a 335 with the N55 and xDrive. I doubt it.

My money would be on the 328iT and 328xiT with the 4 cyl turbo. And every time a new generation is ready to roll out I wait with bated breath to see if the manual transmission will make the cut. I suspect that BMW will try hard to keep manuals in the mix, but for the lower-volume niche models like the Touring, they must be tempted to dump the manual and just go with what most customers specify...

Originally Posted by LMC

My money would be on the 328iT and 328xiT with the 4 cyl turbo. And every time a new generation is ready to roll out I wait with bated breath to see if the manual transmission will make the cut. I suspect that BMW will try hard to keep manuals in the mix, but for the lower-volume niche models like the Touring, they must be tempted to dump the manual and just go with what most customers specify...

I agree with everything you said. The previous x28 inline 6 with the automatic just isn't powerful enough at my altitude. I'll be interested to drive an N20 3 series one of these days to see what it feels like. With a manual transmission, and based on the performance specs I have seen, it could actually feel as fast as my N62 545 with an automatic.

With a manual trans and RWD please!!!

Originally Posted by d geek

320d Touring, please!

E91 328iT and 328xiT did offer manual transmission, right? When I spec'd out my E91 328iT for Euro Deliv, I was tempted to select manual ---- didn't want to pay $1200 for auto trans.

It would seem this time with F31 that shouldn't change

Originally Posted by LMC

My money would be on the 328iT and 328xiT with the 4 cyl turbo. And every time a new generation is ready to roll out I wait with bated breath to see if the manual transmission will make the cut. I suspect that BMW will try hard to keep manuals in the mix, but for the lower-volume niche models like the Touring, they must be tempted to dump the manual and just go with what most customers specify...

Build Your Own 2012 328i xDrive Sports Wagon

• Exterior
• Interior
• Packages
• Options
• Accessories
• Summary

Build Your Own 2012 328i xDrive Sports Wagon

• Exterior
• Interior
• Packages
• Options
• Accessories
• Summary

EXTERIOR:


INTERIOR:







My 328i xDrive Sports WagonDetails

Originally Posted by moviebumm

...and here's the 2012 328 sedan interior, similar colors:



Interesting, huh. Neither better nor worse, IMO. Just different.