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      01-29-2013, 03:54 PM   #79
tony20009
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Drives: BMW 335i - Coupe
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Quote:
Originally Posted by djsaad1 View Post
I haven't read the article yet, but if you look at the numbers on the first page of this thread. The base price is $10,000-$15,000 more on the GC. Not sure why the GC they tested is $24,000 more than base compared to about $5500 above base for the others.

The GC they tested is pretty loaded, while the Mercedes must not have much options at all on it.
I checked the MB and A7 website. Loaded out, neither of those cars will hit $100K, let alone $115K. BMW execs have just lost their minds as goes the pricing of the 6 series, and that's about all there is to it.

I get that a 6 is basically a 5 with with two doors, or in the case of the 6GC, a swoopier design with nonetheless unusable rear seats. I get that BMW charge more for their coupes than for their sedans. But it's downright insulting to ask a typical person -- i.e., someone who doesn't "just have to have a 6GC" -- would pick the 6GC over the CLS, A7 or even a fully loaded out 550i, when all those vehicles offer a better price point and aren't any less good cars than the 6GC.

Were I BMW, given where the pricing is landing, I would have made the rear seats usable by normal adults, gussied up the interior a bit more, and called the current 6 models 8s, positioning them to compete with Maserati, Aston, and the Panamera. In that league, BMW should have a market lock as their cars are certainly more dependable and durable than Astons and Maseratis, to say nothing of there being a larger support network for them.

I say these things as someone who was going to buy a 6GC when it was first shown prior to its official release. Though I didn't like that the rear seat was so cramped, I was planning to get it as the replacement for my E92, so the lack of rear space wasn't that big a deal. I even didn't mind paying a tidy sum for a car I'd use as a daily driver, and I figured I'd be getting a 640, until I found that I can't get a 640 with all wheel drive, which for all intents and purposes would push me to spend $100K give or take. That's quite a lot of money to spend on a car, and it should cause most anyone, aside from Bill Gates and his ilk, to think about how much one really wants that car over all others for its intended purpose.

As things stand now, even being able to afford it, I'd be embarrassed to face the fact that I wanted a curve and a swoop enough to pay that much of a premium for them and not have got any number of alternatives. The fact is that most anyone who can spend $115K on a car also can spend $150K on one, and there are many beautiful cars at that price point. I think the 6GC is beautiful, but I don't know that I think it's more beautiful than the other choices in that price range.

Accordingly, I'm waiting to see what I think of the new 4er that's soon to come out. From what I've seen it's quite handsome. I hardly think I need the exclusivity or added luxury of the 6 when I'm running errands to the grocery store or to go shopping, or any other time for that matter. The 6GC is even harder to rationalize when I think about it being unable to replace my 5er due to the lack of rear seat space. So for my money, it's either going to be a 4er or a 6er coupe, or a non-BMW, both of which I can surely get for my expected budget of $80K give or take. It almost certainly won't be the the 6GC. Oddly enough, the deciding factor will be the usability of the rear seats. With any luck at all, the rear seats of the 4er will, like those of my E92, will be suitable for normal adults. We'll see.
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Cheers,
Tony

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'07, e92 335i, Sparkling Graphite, Coral Leather, Aluminum, 6-speed

Last edited by tony20009; 01-29-2013 at 04:00 PM..
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