[Who?]

Luxury is a perception, thats it. my friends Honda Accord has more features, is larger and quieter than my car, but people will still perceive mine as the more luxurious one.

It means different things to different people, to some, it means the sacrifice of animals, to others, its just associated with badge, drive and dynamics etc etc.

to me, a luxury car is not associated with badge, but how unnecessarily, over the top levels of comfort it offers (7,S, LS, Rolls etc), the 3er definitely doesn't fit in that category. When I was young, my grandfather had a car that had a fridge in it, and boy did that make an impression (this was like 20 years ago).