Only Aussie

[Steve Brown]

Thanks for all the information that has been supplied through this group. It's been a great help as official BMW information seems exceedingly difficult to source. BMW make finely engineered vehicles but I think their marketing activities are somewhat peculiar. I'm sure they know what they are doing but to a layman like me they seem to operate like some sort of secret service where the customers are "priviliged" to receive any information at all. Maybe it's a variation on tuetonic arrogance but it certainly exists. Meanwhile, I have ordered a sunroof as my only luxury option. I live in Perth and a white car with a sunroof is almost an essential of life. Black looks lovely but frying eggs on the bonnet is not my thing and neither are black seats on a 45 deg C day so I'm going for grey leather. I did note that the US gets a sunroof thrown in for their $36,500 price tag. Finally, has anyone got any idea why luxury European cars are so expensive here in OZ? It's not transport, it's not exchange rate, it's not import duty so what is it....margin?

[jose]

Hi my name is José, I am sure to be the first guy from Uruguay to order a 135i, Color was a big issue I decided to go for the Le mans blue, black cloth and leather, high gloss interior.
Is the nav and bluetooth really worth U$ 4000?
Should I order the Hi fi audio?

[jcw2006aus]

Steve...
as far as i know its to try and protect the Australian car production.....Ford,Holden and was but not now Mitsubishi! factories some where the Gov puts in some import tax no doubt. and for us it means paying a premium@!

[walbjj]

i think its more to do with supply and demand. australia has a population of 21mil, usa is 250+million. they can sell a lot more cars there, and thus they send more cars there, plus they have a plant at south carolina. more cars means better pricing.
and protecting the australian car market might be another reason.

[jcw2006aus]

Yes Australia is only 1% of BMW sales.....

[WAY]

Originally Posted by jose

Hi my name is José, I am sure to be the first guy from Uruguay to order a 135i, Color was a big issue I decided to go for the Le mans blue, black cloth and leather, high gloss interior.
Is the nav and bluetooth really worth U$ 4000?
Should I order the Hi fi audio?

Hi Jose, welcome to the Aussie forum. I personally think Nav is a waste of money. You can get aftermarket unit that performs better for less money. But of course that is my personal opinion. As for hi-fi, it isn't such a bad option, espeically the Logic-7.

[dodgey]

Originally Posted by WAY

Hi Jose, welcome to the Aussie forum. I personally think Nav is a waste of money. You can get aftermarket unit that performs better for less money. But of course that is my personal opinion. As for hi-fi, it isn't such a bad option, espeically the Logic-7.

I'm on an aftermarket Nav at the moment, and it is much more flexible than the built in one, but I'm just worried about the break-in factor when they see the stand in the car. (Yeah I should be less lazy and just pull that off too, and yeah, some people have no conscience)

But then I'm sure BMW will not be giving the map updates for free either, so the built in Nav would be equally as useless as an old aftermarket unit.

Perhaps I should just spend the money on the Hi-Fi instead of the Nav. I'm glad I have so much time to think this through...

Oh, and welcome to the Aussie forum Jose!! :biggrin:

[Tank Engine]

Originally Posted by dodgey

I'm on an aftermarket Nav at the moment, and it is much more flexible than the built in one, but I'm just worried about the break-in factor when they see the stand in the car. (Yeah I should be less lazy and just pull that off too, and yeah, some people have no conscience)

But then I'm sure BMW will not be giving the map updates for free either, so the built in Nav would be equally as useless as an old aftermarket unit.

Perhaps I should just spend the money on the Hi-Fi instead of the Nav. I'm glad I have so much time to think this through...

Oh, and welcome to the Aussie forum Jose!! :biggrin:

Yeah - crime rate on stand alone Navs getting nicked is on the up and up. Syd Morning Herald had an article on it a few weeks back and the statistics were pretty alarming. But I agree with Way on functionality on the stand alone units.

To the issue around BMW pricing in Australia:
- tariff on imported vechiles is currently 10%
- Luxury Car Tax (Don't start me on this one) is 25% on every dollar over $57xxx (forget the last three digits)
- add to that the size of our market vs. the fixed costs of setting up a business in such a market.

Successive Aust. govts have been committed to a tariff reduction to 5% in 2010 but the new Govt has commissioned a new task force led by Steve Bracks and many "buddies" of the local car industry to advise them on policy. I'm very concerned the tariff reduction will get scrapped.

Accounting for all of the above I reckon BMW have done a pretty good job to land the 135i @ that price.
As to Nav - I might play with one in a mate's 335i to see if it is worth the money of having it integrated.

Tank.

[imported_Dodgy]

Agree with all the comments on "stand alone Navs", but I like the integration of the pre-installed unit. Suction marks on the windscreen is yuk, and the attach / reattach tedious (yes I am lazy). Also, Nav is handyish for resale, although not going to "pay for itself"

I agree it is expensive, but I am lucky enough that current pricing means I have a bit of slack in the budget, so can afford another toy to play with.

Besides, the kids can watch TV whilst I'm in the TAB! (Kidding!)

[WAY]

Yeah I don't like the attaching process either, but to be honest I use it so infrequently that it wouldn't bother me. Besides, all my other cars have build in ones so I can just use them instead. My phone also have nav. For me, I rather use that money to install LSD or coilovers if budget is a concern. But then again when it comes to cars I don't budget very well!

[nitramluap]

Originally Posted by Dodgy

Agree with all the comments on "stand alone Navs", but I like the integration of the pre-installed unit. Suction marks on the windscreen is yuk, and the attach / reattach tedious (yes I am lazy). Also, Nav is handyish for resale, although not going to "pay for itself"

I agree it is expensive, but I am lucky enough that current pricing means I have a bit of slack in the budget, so can afford another toy to play with.

Besides, the kids can watch TV whilst I'm in the TAB! (Kidding!)

Sorry to say that the Professional Navigation doesn't come with the TV function in the 1 series... (you need a 3er or up for that)

There is however a dealer fitted TV accessory that will use the iDrive screen but it is not possible to have this factory fitted. I'm also not sure on the price of this accessory but it *is* in the latest Accessory Catalogue for the 1 series.

Cheers,

Paul

[Tank Engine]

Originally Posted by nitramluap

There is however a dealer fitted TV accessory that will use the iDrive screen but it is not possible to have this factory fitted. I'm also not sure on the price of this accessory but it *is* in the latest Accessory Catalogue for the 1 series.

Cheers,

Paul

Paul,

Stupid Question - When you say iDrive screen that is the same as the SatNav screen, right? i.e. everything in the 1xx series just uses the one screen.

Tank.

[nitramluap]

Originally Posted by Tank Engine

Paul,

Stupid Question - When you say iDrive screen that is the same as the SatNav screen, right? i.e. everything in the 1xx series just uses the one screen.

Tank.

Yes. I should just call it the 6.5" popup display

Cheers,

Paul

[imported_Dodgy]

Originally Posted by nitramluap

Sorry to say that the Professional Navigation doesn't come with the TV function in the 1 series... (you need a 3er or up for that)

There is however a dealer fitted TV accessory that will use the iDrive screen but it is not possible to have this factory fitted. I'm also not sure on the price of this accessory but it *is* in the latest Accessory Catalogue for the 1 series.

Cheers,

Paul

Doh!

[TMK001]

Originally Posted by d3syd

Way, I could be wrong, but I have a feeling that Todd is referring to THE boss (ie the missus), not the work boss...:wink:

Nah, refering to the work boss... Wayne and I go way back to our Cooper S days... like I said the other day, I would be distraught if I hit a roo in the 135... I will see what I can do, maybe not the first bunch, maybe down the track. I'm thinking (Calypso?) red, which at this stage is not an option in Oz?

Sedona is not my cuppa.

Maccas car is gone... that is why I have the ute now...

[d3syd]

Any Melbournians been to the motor show and taken picks of our baby?

[amk2912]

Hi all
Just traded my 2006 530i M-sport (don't get me started on the trade in price) on a 2008 135i coupe - Sedona Red, Black interior, Prof Nav, Comfort Access, HiFi prof, sunroof, etc...didn't get the skibag or heated seats!

The car is due late June/early July delivery...dunno if I can hang out that long!

This is going to be BMW no.5 for me and at this stage probably the last unless they put an SMG box in the M3.

I reckon our pricing is not too bad. If you look at the UK configurator a lot of what we get standard is optional in the UK. When you add it all up a similar specced UK 135i is quite close in price to us.

[BMW //MPOWER]

Originally Posted by amk2912

Hi all
Just traded my 2006 530i M-sport (don't get me started on the trade in price) on a 2008 135i coupe - Sedona Red, Black interior, Prof Nav, Comfort Access, HiFi prof, sunroof, etc...didn't get the skibag or heated seats!

The car is due late June/early July delivery...dunno if I can hang out that long!

This is going to be BMW no.5 for me and at this stage probably the last unless they put an SMG box in the M3.

I reckon our pricing is not too bad. If you look at the UK configurator a lot of what we get standard is optional in the UK. When you add it all up a similar specced UK 135i is quite close in price to us.

??? They're already putting the new DSG box in the M3, it's been available for orders for about 2 months now, they announced it when they announced the E93 m3 cabrio a few months back. Your dealer will be taking orders on it already. As for improvements the DSG box takes 0.2s off the 0-100km/h sprint.

[amk2912]

I was told the M3 was only coming in manual for the time being with no indication of when or whether it is coming with an auto Steptronic box or the SMG box.

Oh well, their loss...

[imported_Dodgy]

Originally Posted by d3syd

Any Melbournians been to the motor show and taken picks of our baby?

Hope to get there in the next few days, but we may be disappointed. From all the press I've seen, only mention is of the 135 CONVERTIBLE, no mention of the coupé.

Either it's not mentioned because the 'vert is more marketable, or they decided not to double up its appearance with the Brizzy show? Hope I am wrong.

There's a bit of a palarva about the cost of attending both Syd and Melb in the one year. There are many brands not in Melb because of that (Merc, Porsche plus many others). Maybe BM is looking to save some cash?

[BMW //MPOWER]

Originally Posted by amk2912

I was told the M3 was only coming in manual for the time being with no indication of when or whether it is coming with an auto Steptronic box or the SMG box.

Oh well, their loss...

That was only the first few months deliveries, the DSG (or DZG) dual clutch box is avaliable for all current orders.
The announcement was made a couple of months ago.

[BMW //MPOWER]

Originally Posted by Dodgy

Hope to get there in the next few days, but we may be disappointed. From all the press I've seen, only mention is of the 135 CONVERTIBLE, no mention of the coupé.

Either it's not mentioned because the 'vert is more marketable, or they decided not to double up its appearance with the Brizzy show? Hope I am wrong.

There's a bit of a palarva about the cost of attending both Syd and Melb in the one year. There are many brands not in Melb because of that (Merc, Porsche plus many others). Maybe BM is looking to save some cash?

The press recently is for the cabrio, as the coupe was announced before christmas.