Originally Posted by Efthreeoh
So the ATS has been on sale, what 6 weeks, two months now, in limited numbers? Let's give it a year and see how the sales do. Let's give the car time to get out into the public, get used and assessed by its owners, and let the word-of-mouth sales factor into the popularity of the car. You're shit-canning the car from the get-go, without even driving one, and your only exposure to the car is some static display in a mall in New Jersey.
You've got some stupid 20-year old notion of Cadillac and GM that's old, tired, and false. Your okay with BMW changing with the times and making a Lexus chick-car clone out of the 3-series (bigger, softer, and gentler for the 50-and-over crowd), but when Cadillac starts on a 10-year plan to reform its self into a performance luxury brand it’s a big f'n joke. Does BMW make a 560 HP station wagon with a 6-speed manual transmission in the US? No. It wouldn't have the balls. Is the ATS different than the 3-series? Yeah, but that doesn't mean it sucks? No. It means it's different. Let's let some time pass and see how many people like the differences.
95% of new 3-series buyers would be just as happy in a Benz C-class, Lexus IS 250, G37, even I dare say a Buick Verano. Most buyers buy the 3-series because the magazines say the car is the class benchmark and for the Roundel on the hood. It's obvious because, as you've pointed out, BMW has tailored the car to them, not us enthusiasts who grew up with BMW when it was really a cult producer in the likes of Saab, Subaru, and Peugeot. I mean, Christ, the standard offered transmission in the 3-series (starting with the F30) is an automatic and you have to ORDER the manual as a no-cost option. To a BMW aficionado like me that's blasphemy. Does it help BMW sell more 3-series, sure; does it help them sell one to me? No.
I remember just 3 short years ago when BMWs advertizing was (paraphrasing) “we’re an independent manufacturer and don’t need to make compromises like other car companies who share platforms between Marques." Look where BMW is today (a planned shared platform with Mini for the 1-series and a shared 7-series for Rolls Royce). Please. BMW is just another car maufacturer now, with barely class-leading performance, and marginal build quality and reliability.
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