Wow, I came late to the party over here (18 pages :eyebulge
. Well, I stayed away from here and the BMW website for a while- there wasn't any news so why get myself so worked up. I went on the BMW site this week and saw that you could now price the car and I am disappointed.
It wouldn't be so bad if it was just the base price, but BMW is unique among the luxury/premium brands. What you pretty much expect as standard in this range BMW makes optional. Heck, vinyl seats are standard (outside of work trucks you can't even get vinyl seats from most manufacturers anymore- let alone on high end makes). To get the basic equipment I want in this type of car, and what most others have standard, puts me at around $34K for a 128i (less than $2K less than a comparably equipped 328i).
So, if I stay premium I guess I'll be going with a 328i (especially with the really nice lease deals), an Acura TL (or TSX if I really want the smaller sportier version) or an Infinity G35 or G37. Heck, I'm a teacher and 37 years old (hopefully I'll be thinking about family transportation within a couple years anyway) so the 328, G35 or TL probably makes more sense anyway. The 220 HP in the 328i seems pretty nice to me even with the greater weight since I'll be coming out of a 2003 325 with 184hp (the 328 seems plenty powerful for me when they give me one as a loaner when I bring my 325 in for work). I may even take a look at the V6 Accord myself (the new design looks pretty nice) or V6 SE Camry (too bad Honda and Toyota won't let you get a stick shift with the V6 though).