[Benstuck]

Originally Posted by TomGun

It's not only with BMW's.... Once, when driving my old Porsche, a guy in a Ford Fiesta drove by me, and immideately slowed down to about 10 km/h below the limit (I was driving at the speed limit beforehand). I slowed down behind him for some km's but then got impatient, as cars was queueing up behind. I drove past him and continued at the speed limit, just for him to do the same shit again, driving past and slowing down to 10 km/h below. This repeated a few times, untill I got sick of it and floored it for a few minutes to get rid of the sucker. 10 mins later he was on my tail again, but this time he ran past me and went away at full throttle, I guess. I continued at normal speed, happy that he left. 5 mins later I saw lots of smoke ahead, There he was, standing at the roadside, motor boiling and pulling his hair. I waved to him and smiled as I passed by.

Haha Love when that happens!

[Jehuty95]

Originally Posted by pflau

Haha, the last time I had someone parked right next to me when the entire parking lot is empty was a Mustang convertible.

I took it as a compliment.

I'd also take it as a compliment if they didn't park so close that they can't exit their car without hitting yours with the doors. If they parked normally and next to me I wouldn't mind lol. Also for the most part truck drivers have been the guys parking like that at least in my cases.

[335BOY]

Originally Posted by fecurtis

Bringer of justice against dipshit Jersey guidos? Sorry you guys have your panties in a bunch over it.

Want to be a dick on the road? I'll gladly return the favor and then some.

If someone almost ran you off the freeway I'm sure you all would've just politely dealt with it. Sorry, I'll be sure to be more of a pushover as to please the wonderful people on here.

You will get beaten up one day and it will look good on you. YOU are exactly why BMW drivers have a bad rep.

[joewalton]

Originally Posted by 335BOY

You will get beaten up one day and it will look good on you. YOU are exactly why BMW drivers have a bad rep.

BMW drivers have a bad reputation because we are rich and other people are not.

It has nothing to do with behavior on the open roads.

[simongym]

Originally Posted by joewalton

BMW drivers have a bad reputation because we are rich and other people are not.

It has nothing to do with behavior on the open roads.

I completely disagree, it absolutely has to do with behavior. Not all drivers of expensive cars are rich, and not all drivers of budget cars are poor.

Furthermore, I remember reading a study (sorry can't find it at the moment) that showed a strong correlation between the higher expense of a car and more aggressive driving habits in the owner. I can understand the relationship as a sense of entitlement from those who are more successful in general, as I've seen in played out numerous times and read plenty of studies that confirm that behavior in other areas as well.

Basically the assertion is that the psychology of someone successful is to attribute their success to individual traits that helped them achieve superior results (thus providing a sense of entitlement for better treatment). A less successful person attributes their failures to bad situations, which psychologically relieves them from the hampering effects of guilt or shame that would result from attributing any actual mistakes to their own self worth. Obviously there is plenty of room for variance since we as people have such diverse personalities, upbringings, and experiences, but in general those concepts hold fairly true with a small portion of exceptions which are usually due to some extreme experience.

http://nymag.com/news/features/money-brain-2012-7/

Watching any reality show centered on the lives of some wealthy people/celebrities gives some great examples of that entitlement as well (not that I recommend watching too much of that garbage).

My point is, if you don't want to be a part of the normal BMW reputation, drive as courteously as you hope and expect other people to. Driving a nice car doesn't make you special or any more important.

[joewalton]

Originally Posted by simongym

I completely disagree, it absolutely has to do with behavior. Not all drivers of expensive cars are rich, and not all drivers of budget cars are poor.

My point is, if you don't want to be a part of the normal BMW reputation, drive as courteously as you hope and expect other people to. Driving a nice car doesn't make you special or any more important.

I've been driving for 35 years, daily commute is two hours round trip, I started in cars poor people drive, eventually graduating to the wealthy luxury brands.

Point being I've seen it all and from every perspective. Trust me when I tell you that a ______ driver is a _______ driver whether wealthy or poor, whether in a Kia or in a BMW. Fill in that blank with words like "bad", "aggressive", "slow", whatever you like. It has nothing to do with the car 'making' the person. The person is the same no matter what they drive, it's in their DNA to either be courteous or rude, be conservative or aggressive.

Those who dislike BMW drivers do so for one simple reason- we have money.

And if you truly believe that driving a BMW doesn't make you "special or important", please feel free to put your money where your mouth is and be seen in a nice Hyundai or Honda, plenty of them have similar levels of performance for a lot less money.

[bri1042]

Heh, some of us aren't rich. Some of us just make OK money and have more to spend than others due to the total lack of children. From what I can see, those little folk are really expensive!

Joking aside, the difference between a decently equipped Accord and my car is a lot less than folk spend feeding and clothing a kid or two.

BMW drivers are often assholes. So are the drivers of other cars. The only real difference is that the slow BMW models are still generally faster than an IS250, a 4-cyl Camry or Mazda 3, and 3+ seconds faster getting to 60 than a Prius. In the USA, at least until the i3 hits the streets, I can't think of ANY BMW model that would be happy being stuck behind a Prius.

[JB991]

Originally Posted by bri1042

BMW drivers are often assholes.

I find this thread funny, because it was a driver of a 335i that was in front of me doing 10 under the speed limit. I was driving my Civic, went to pass, and suddenly he needed to go fast. This was after he cut through a gas station to avoid sitting at a red light, which I waited at and still caught up to him.
Needless to say, I eventually made it around him only to have him ride my ass the rest of the way.
How do I catch you, want to pass you, and suddenly you have the need for speed? Guess some "rich" a-holes can't fathom being passed by a Civic while driving a BMW. I'm sure if I was driving my 911 he wouldn't have thought twice but to let me pass.
For the OP.... In the end, it's just the idiot driving, has nothing to do with you being a magnet while in the BMW.

[bri1042]

Originally Posted by jcmf75

I find this thread funny, because it was a driver of a 335i that was in front of me doing 10 under the speed limit. I was driving my Civic, went to pass, and suddenly he needed to go fast. This was after he cut through a gas station to avoid sitting at a red light, which I waited at and still caught up to him.
Needless to say, I eventually made it around him only to have him ride my ass the rest of the way.
How do I catch you, want to pass you, and suddenly you have the need for speed? Guess some "rich" a-holes can't fathom being passed by a Civic while driving a BMW. I'm sure if I was driving my 911 he wouldn't have thought twice but to let me pass.
For the OP.... In the end, it's just the idiot driving, has nothing to do with you being a magnet while in the BMW.

You aren't wrong at all.

[simongym]

Originally Posted by joewalton

Those who dislike BMW drivers do so for one simple reason- we have money.

And if you truly believe that driving a BMW doesn't make you "special or important", please feel free to put your money where your mouth is and be seen in a nice Hyundai or Honda, plenty of them have similar levels of performance for a lot less money.

I'm seen in my wife's Honda Accord on a regular basis and it never bothers me in the slightest. My last car was an E46, but before that the first car I owned as an independent adult was a 1992 Camry, which I would still very happily drive if I still had it. Heck, at 16 if my brother was using 'my' Civic I made do with my Mom's minivan and didn't bat an eye.

All that aside, I agree with you in general that it is more about the person, just so happens that successful people often choose BMWs, and successful people are very often assholes to everyone else. The problem is, an F30 driver is very likely not rich, but receives the asshole label due to the brand's reputation.

[joewalton]

Originally Posted by simongym

I'm seen in my wife's Honda Accord on a regular basis and it never bothers me in the slightest. My last car was an E46, but before that the first car I owned as an independent adult was a 1992 Camry, which I would still very happily drive if I still had it. Heck, at 16 if my brother was using 'my' Civic I made do with my Mom's minivan and didn't bat an eye.

All that aside, I agree with you in general that it is more about the person, just so happens that successful people often choose BMWs, and successful people are very often assholes to everyone else. The problem is, an F30 driver is very likely not rich, but receives the asshole label due to the brand's reputation.

Let's get into the definition of "rich", and I don't mean rich like someone you know making $400,000 when you're just making $200,000.

A decently equipped F30 is $48,000 or $600 a month. Let's say someone gets something closer to $39,000 or $500 a month.

The typical Honda Civic goes for $159 a month, a Kia $139 a month. You may want to think you're, yawn, "nothing special" in your $600 car but to the other 99% of the population you're driving a Bentley, you could afford 4 Kia's for the price of your 1 BMW and, trust me, Mr. & Mrs. Rio know it. And they hate you for it.

[simongym]

Originally Posted by joewalton

Let's get into the definition of "rich", and I don't mean rich like someone you know making $400,000 when you're just making $200,000.

Exactly my point: you don't have to be rich to buy a BMW.

I make less than $100k/year and I:
- Had a kid
- Bought my F30 on a 3-year loan
- Moved and bought a new house less than a year later
- Paid cash for my wife's Accord immediately after
- Paid off my car loan a year early
- Make extra principal only payments on mortagage
- Contribute to multiple retirement accounts and college savings for my child

And truly I am not rich, nor will I be for the foreseeable future.

[335BOY]

Originally Posted by simongym

Exactly my point: you don't have to be rich to buy a BMW.

I make less than $100k/year and I:
- Had a kid
- Bought my F30 on a 3-year loan
- Moved and bought a new house less than a year later
- Paid cash for my wife's Accord immediately after
- Paid off my car loan a year early
- Make extra principal only payments on mortagage
- Contribute to multiple retirement accounts and college savings for my child

And truly I am not rich, nor will I be for the foreseeable future.

Possibly the best post of all time. Most here are all about the roundell.

[335BOY]

Originally Posted by joewalton

Let's get into the definition of "rich", and I don't mean rich like someone you know making $400,000 when you're just making $200,000.

A decently equipped F30 is $48,000 or $600 a month. Let's say someone gets something closer to $39,000 or $500 a month.

The typical Honda Civic goes for $159 a month, a Kia $139 a month. You may want to think you're, yawn, "nothing special" in your $600 car but to the other 99% of the population you're driving a Bentley, you could afford 4 Kia's for the price of your 1 BMW and, trust me, Mr. & Mrs. Rio know it. And they hate you for it.

No they don't. Nobody cares. You guy are all so full of yourselves driving a mass produced car that is no better or worse than any other comparably priced car.

[Jehuty95]

Originally Posted by 335BOY

No they don't. Nobody cares. You guy are all so full of yourselves driving a mass produced car that is no better or worse than any other comparably priced car.

Can I feel full of myself cause my car isn't as mass produced (just joking here, although it is way less mass produced cause of the hand built engine etc...), and that's true about it not being better or worse then other comparably priced cars, but not everyone sees it like that these days. These days brand names say a lot. For example people say hey Calvin Klein good shirt, then they see a Hugo Boss shirt and they're like OMG A BOSS SHIRT. So basically. Basically MB, Audi, BMW are see as high class luxury and big brand cars. Lexus, Acura, Infiniti aren't seen the same ways even though some of their cars are in the same price range and are comparable to them.

[Halsifer]

Originally Posted by simongym

Exactly my point: you don't have to be rich to buy a BMW.

I make less than $100k/year and I:
- Had a kid
- Bought my F30 on a 3-year loan
- Moved and bought a new house less than a year later
- Paid cash for my wife's Accord immediately after
- Paid off my car loan a year early
- Make extra principal only payments on mortagage
- Contribute to multiple retirement accounts and college savings for my child

And truly I am not rich, nor will I be for the foreseeable future.

This is true, you don't HAVE to be rich to buy a BMW, but it doesn't exactly look like that for everyone else. When people typically hear the names BMW, Range Rover, and Jaguar, I assume people think foreign and expensive since that is the reaction I have typically gotten from others. The people that wonder why someone would spend so much money on a car that gets from Point A to Point B the same as any other car, will resort to thinking "these guys have money to blow on unnecessarily expensive cars."

Let's be honest here, the lineup of the BMW brand is averaging probably about $70,000 of their car prices, from a low model 3 series and a M model 6 series. We all know a 3-series can definitely be affordable, but people will just generally see BMW as an expensive brand because people can look at 5's, 7's and M-lineups, hear their prices, and generalize the brand as an unaffordable vehicle. A lot of people don't even know the difference between a 320i, 435xi, and 650i. They just see a pretty car, numbers on the back and bold "BMW" badge slapped on the back and think it's unaffordable.

[335BOY]

Originally Posted by Jehuty95

Can I feel full of myself cause my car isn't as mass produced (just joking here, although it is way less mass produced cause of the hand built engine etc...), and that's true about it not being better or worse then other comparably priced cars, but not everyone sees it like that these days. These days brand names say a lot. For example people say hey Calvin Klein good shirt, then they see a Hugo Boss shirt and they're like OMG A BOSS SHIRT. So basically. Basically MB, Audi, BMW are see as high class luxury and big brand cars. Lexus, Acura, Infiniti aren't seen the same ways even though some of their cars are in the same price range and are comparable to them.

Good point. The engines aren't hand built btw. It's ALL marketing

[newoldbeemer]

Considering you can get into the BMW club for around 30k (and much less if you're going used), I wouldn't call it a rich man's brand. Rich man's brands in my mind are Bentley, Ferrari etc.

BTW I cross-shopped with a V6 Accord. Just saying. And around here the 3 series seems to be just as common as Accords.

Comparisons with Kia aren't valid. That's like saying Target is a rich man's shop because it is more expensive than Walmart.

[Jehuty95]

Originally Posted by 335BOY

Good point. The engines aren't hand built btw. It's ALL marketing

Trust me they are. I went on a tour to Affalterbach, and saw them building them myself.

[335BOY]

Originally Posted by Jehuty95

Trust me they are. I went on a tour to Affalterbach, and saw them building them myself.

Each engine is hand built from start to finish ? Answer honestly. No chance.

[Jehuty95]

Originally Posted by 335BOY

Each engine is hand built from start to finish ? Answer honestly. No chance.

The parts are created by machine, then the AMG engineers put all the parts together by hand from start to finish to create a engine.

[joewalton]

Originally Posted by 335BOY

Possibly the best post of all time. Most here are all about the roundell.

Exactly right.

Most here are like the roundel more than the performance. Otherwise they'd be driving Volkswagen's and Honda's that are lighter and more powerful.