Some do it to one up the neighbors, co-workers, and so on. Poor reason for owning one but it is what it is.
It’s just my personal opinion, but I think the ride and handling on cars such as BMWs, Porsches, and so on is vastly superior to many other what one might call “lesser makes”. Upkeep costs are higher of course. I do love the way SAABs drive and handle.
Same goes for motorcycles. I’ve ridden Harleys and Triumphs most of my life. I’ve also ridden but not owned Hondas, Kawasakis,Suzukis, Yamahas, and Benellis, but did buy a new BMW at one point. The handling was just amazing, and I could go out and play Ricky Roadracer with. Even at 70 in the rain or 120 on dry pavement the bike was literally glued to the road. Like the cars, the BMW bike parts were a bit cringe worthy at times. No way could I stomach years ago handing over 50 bucks for one plug wire after getting it mangled in a crash. VW Beetle worked fine…
The BMW expenses which could not be worked around were worth it to me though, although most of those expenses were due to various damages and not mechanical faults.
If I had acquired a taste for a great driving automobile, I might want to own a BMW or a Porsche. Years ago, I had a neighbor who was a salesman for an import car dealer. He was in the National Guard and had to go to camp.one weekend a month. On those weekends, he would leave an MG Midget demonstrator for me to drive. I really liked the precise handling of the car and how crisply the transmission shifted and how freely the engine revved up. Even though the engine wasn’t powerful, it was fun to use the gears to maximum advantage. However, in those days, I had to think about reliable, easy to maintain transportation, so I drove a 1965 Rambler.
The vehicle I currently own is a Toyota Sienna minivan. It has clumsy handling and is certainly no power house. However, it’s reliable and serves my needs. I wouldn’t buy a car like a BMW to impress people. I would buy the car for driving pleasure.
I compare driving with playing a horn. Since I am in the first chair in the two concert bands and the chamber orchestra, I need a horn that feels right, particularly when I have a solo passage. Having a solo passage at a fast tempo where the valves have to work freely compares with driving a sports car on a winding road and maintaining speed. I understand the person who likes to drive and buys a car for its acceleration and handling. I don’t understand buying a car for the image it gives the owner.
For dinner Saturday we went to Red Robin and I had a burger and some onion rings and a beer. Sunday night I grilled some steaks and corn on the cob, my wife made a spinach salad with blue cheese crumbles. I made a couple of Manhattan cocktails. For lunch today I got Thai takeout, and dinner was chicken pasta salad with gin and tonics.
My point in saying this is that I could have easily and cheaply had a bowl of rice with half a can of chil and a glass of water for all those meals. But I want something tasty and different at every meal. I think the same can be said for cars, clothes, or any number of things.
My wife drives a late model high end car. She doesn’t give a damn what anyone thinks or how it looks. It’s that the car she bought has feature that she thinks are important and is more comfortable and fun to drive than all the others she drove.
Some people like them. I’m not a huge fan, especially of BMW. They drive beautifully (and you can notice the difference between BMW and other brands around town, not just on a track) but they tend to be electrical nightmares. The prevailing wisdom is to dump your BMW before the warranty expires.
Personally I tend more toward Acura/Lexus when I’m shopping for a luxo car. I’d add Porsche to that list if I could comfortably afford it. I do find the people who buy BMW/Audi solely so that people can see that they drive a BMW/Audi to be annoying in that regard (and sadly I lump my own mother into that category) but other than that, if you like the car and can afford it AND the extra costs of maintaining it, AND are willing to put up with the fact that it will likely be down for repair more frequently than other brands, go for it.
I will say that the argument that you can’t legally use the car’s full performance potential anywhere but a race track used to be persuasive, but isn’t really anymore.
You can’t legally use the full performance potential of a modern minivan on the street. Most cars sold in the USA can hit 100mph, the exceptions generally being non-Tesla electric cars, heavy duty pickup trucks and full-size vans. And even in that group, the slowest top speed is around 85, which is illegal most places.
I always liked the looks of the Jaguar. Some years back, I did my Sunday afternoon car shopping and saw a used Jaguar sedan at the Buick dealer’s used car lot. Of course, on Sunday afternoon the dealership.was closed which makes it an ideal time to go car shopping. I save a lot of money that way. I spot a car I might be interested in buying. If it is not there the next week, I assume it was s good car and someone snatched it up. On the other hand, if it stays on the lot for several weeks, I figure that there is something wrong with the car because nobody wants it, so I lose interest. This Sunday afternoon shopping plan had saved me a fortune over the years.
My real reason for not buying a Jaguar or BMW is that for me, time is money. My town doesn’t have a Jaguar or BMW dealer. I drive dull common cars that if I can’t fix the problem in a half an hour or less, a local repair shop or the dealer can easily take care of the problem. In short, I drive dull cars like Fords and Toyotas. These vehicles are my servants and take me where I need to go and the servicing and repairs are done locally. The nearest BMW and Mercedes dealers are 55 miles away. When I was in graduate school, I had a Rambler and there was no ANC dealer in town. The nearest dealer was 50 miles away. Parts unique to the Rambler had to be ordered. At that time in my life, a Ford or Chevrolet would have been a better bet.
Today, Toyotas and Hondas are common. I like having a common.car that is easily serviced and repaired. I don’t want to be a slave to my vehicles.
Agreed on being able to get the car serviced locally.
Many moons ago, I had a relative who just had to have a Lexus sedan of some sort. Which was fine…except the nearest Lexus dealer was in Dallas, about 3 hours away. While the car was under warranty, the relative would have the dealership come get the car every few months, take it to Dallas to get the oil changed, and then brought back. I’m sure times have changed now…but at the time it struck me as somewhat ridiculous.
Given that, my rule of thumb is I don’t want any car that I can’t have the oil changed at Walmart. Not that I get WM oil changes very often…but you get the point.
I had a friend that was doing a year’s teaching in a third world country. He did his homework and found that the most common car there was a Citroen 2CV, so that is what he bought. Another person on his team had a Mercedes Benz delivered to this country. The person with the Mercedes had to have something repaired that was under the car. When the Mercedes owner went to see about his car, the car was turned over on its side. The shop didn’t have a lift.
At the moment there’s no charge but your BMW dealer may offer concierge service where they come get the car and take care of the service then return. Normally a service charge, don’t know if there’s a distance limit but the closest dealer to us is 35mi away.
Many years ago I was chatting with a very successful professional when his buddy turned up in a flashy new sports car. After the buddy left I commented that to the SP, “You know, you’re doing pretty well now and that old Buick you’re driving is starting to show it’s age, so how come you’re not driving a flashy new car too?”
His reply, “Well, some people need to and I don’t have that need”.
Some of the veterans of this forum may recall the tale of an old acquaintance of mine. Our pension payments are essentially the same, and his might even be slightly higher than mine. I would assume that our Social Security payments are also very similar.
He and his wife live in a tiny apartment in a dodgy part of his town, while I own my rural home on 2/3 acre, free and clear. Why are our living arrangements so drastically different? I think that the best clues are twofold:
He and his wife journey to Atlantic City at least twice a month to gamble.
He leases a new Cadillac every 2 or 3 years.
When I asked him why he continues to lease those expensive cars every few years, his answer was, “The doorman at the casino is really impressed when I pull up in my Caddy”.
Yeah, that should be everyone’s goal in life… To impress a doorman at a casino…
Most of the time, I drove my 1978 Oldsmobile Cutlass Salon to work from the time I bought the car new in 1978 until I retired in 2011. By the time I retired, the Oldsmobile looked pretty ratty. I had a couple colleagues that were really critical of me for driving such an ancient vehicle in my last 10 years. I didn’t see what difference it made what kind of vehicle I drove to campus so I ignored them.
I didn’t realize how high level administrators are really aware of vehicles. One year, I chaired a large governance body at my university. We had to wrestle with some really thorny issues. At the end of the school year, I decided to treat the executive committee to lunch at a fine restaurant as they had been very supportive. I decided to drive my minivan that day. I thought the minivan would be more comfortable for five people. The minivan I owned at the time was a 1990 Ford Aerostar that I bought as a used vehicle in 1991. The high level administrator who was ex-officio on the executive committee noted right away that my Aerostar was the top of the line Eddie Bauer model and she was really impressed. To me, a minivan is a minivan. If you’ve seen one minivan, you’ve seen them all. The next four minivans I have owned since the Aerostar Eddie Bauer have been the bottom trim line… I guess I should have gone with the top trim line to maintain my image…
