Not what i had expected

[Chop79]

Originally Posted by itr-tribute

Lol, what size did you think one of BMW's smallest cars was gonna be, Big? and if only teenagers drive small cars what does that say about everyone that owns a Lotus.

haha, you beat me to it. I guess Lotus' are for infants.

[E82tt6]

Originally Posted by Balls

Then you'd driving a well-bred German engineered Coupe (whichever one), instead of a characterless pretender that won't hold its value down the road (comparatively). Who buys used Infinitys? Sorry (if this came across dispassionate) ... but I seriously and respectfully hope you enjoy your new car nonetheless. :thumbup:

Actually, the G37 has a MUCH higher residual value than any car BMW makes. I don't think it's fair to say it's a pretender either. Having driven both cars several times, I can tell you that the G37 is easily a better a handler than the 335i. What's more, the interior is worlds better, and it's much more feature rich for a lower price.

Just saying, it's not accurate to classify the G37 as a pretender. It's a different car, with very different strengths and weaknesses from the 335i. IMO, it's an equal. People will make the choice between based on what they're looking for, rather than which car is patently superior.

Furthermore, if it weren't for the power advantage the G35 had over the 330i, we probably wouldn't even have an N54 engine.

[curtdragon]

Dude go to another dealer or even see if you can talk to someone else in the dealership... i know that doesnt happen where I live cause there are 5 dealerships with in 30 miles and they definately do not want to lose business

[sadu77]

Originally Posted by iamthewalrus

OK, every time I read a post like this it pisses me off. The dealer model is totally out of date. Why do we need salespeople at all? We know more about the products than they do! We should just go to www.bmwusa.com, configure our own product exactly how we want it, and click "buy" to put down a deposit. Financing and payment can all be arranged online without talking to anyone.
Hell, you do it at www.dell.com, store.apple.com, and www.dwr.com. Apple and Design Within Reach (DWR) have showrooms where you can "testdrive" the products, but they carry no inventory. You order it even if you're there in the store. People are willing to do this with $5K sofas at DWR now, why not cars? I know I'm ready.

Benefits: 1) inventory management: the dealer doesn't have to discount the price because you really wanted grey and they have white. 2) all of that inventory on the lot costs serious money. Imagine 100 cars at ~$50K each is $5M that the dealer is paying interest to the bank on. If they're paying 6% and the dealer turns inventory 2X/year, that's $1,500 additional cost that gets passed along to you. 3) last reason to ditch the dealer model is crappy sales people. Some are quite good, but still, who needs them?

People typically respond, "but what about service?" Why should service and sales by bundled? When my Audi was out of warranty, I took it to a private shop that did only BMW, Audi, Merc, and Porsche. It was great. There's no reason BMW can't certify a bunch of shops in the US as "certified BMW repair centers" totally separate from the dealers.

Why hasn't any of this happened? The North American Dealers Association is a very strong political lobby. This isn't about economics; it's about using political clout to protect an out-of-date business model. Sorry folks, it's here to say...

-James
Seattle, WA

i agree man. in a perfect world... sure. but unfortunately, everyones gotta eat and the dealership is just one middel man in a looooooong lin eof middle men. although my salesperson kicked ass and she made me want to order the car. AND she sold me on the Dinan upgrade too. damn shes good. just like governor spitzer.... were all payin for it.

[sadu77]

Originally Posted by Chop79

haha, you beat me to it. I guess Lotus' are for infants.

funny right. i think anyone who calls the 135i a chick car or a car for teenagers most likely cant swing the $$

[MVF4Rrider]

Originally Posted by E82TT6

Furthermore, if it weren't for the power advantage the G35 had over the 330i, we probably wouldn't even have an N54 engine.

Perhaps. Of all the Japanese cars of late, Infinity are the only ones I've had a mild appreciation for. Still, I've owned my last Japanese car many years ago. Unless there's a next generation RX-7 (that I like) I'll never own another. I just don't like the Japanese design philosophy, and they don't age very well IMO.

Were you comparing dealer residuals or actual resale values? To my knowledge the BMW 5 series has had the highest return on investment over all other cars for years with no close competitor.

[iamthewalrus]

Originally Posted by sadu77

i agree man. in a perfect world... sure. but unfortunately, everyones gotta eat and the dealership is just one middel man in a looooooong lin eof middle men. although my salesperson kicked ass and she made me want to order the car. AND she sold me on the Dinan upgrade too. damn shes good. just like governor spitzer.... were all payin for it.

Who needs a perfect world? Amazon.com is doing incredibly well eliminating the middle men and cutting out the inventory. There's a HUGE opportunity here staring us in the face...

[soolman32]

Originally Posted by sadu77

funny right. i think anyone who calls the 135i a chick car or a car for teenagers most likely cant swing the $$

that s an interesting viewpoint you have there i m curious, are you buying or leasing your car? are you doing it on your own or relying on mom and dad? and finally what kind of dowpayment are you or will you be making? of course you don't have to answer, but i would be interested to get an honest answer from you. This is pointless but I'll play along. I just build your car and even after tax and licensing, it still coming out cheaper and not as well equipped as mine.... my point being that that people purchase based on the looks and what they feel they'll get out of it. I'm glad you can afford the 1er but you ain't special in my book until you can "swing the $$" for an car such a rolls royce or Bentley or lamborghini.

[bimmernet]

I can say that I had quite a different experience yesterday. My Sales guy called me excitedly, at three phone numbers before he reached me, "the 1's are on the ground!” He had just driven his second 135i over to be PDI'ed and was ecstatic. "Both of them broke loose momentarily in the corner, the power is incredible..." Then he invited me to come down and go for a drive, how cool is that? I'll detail that in another post however since this thread seems to be more about Salespeople than automobiles I'll comment thusly: if each of you writing were described and graded on how well you did your sales job by an opinionated consumer with an unknown agenda, you would likely be a little surprised by the feedback you would get. Especially if the “feedback” wasn't submitted directly to you but done over the phone, through a droning survey collector, days after the actual experience, possibly after a fight with a spouse or narrowly escaping an accident (or worse not) on the drive home from the Center. And the results then interpreted by an organization with emotions and cash on the line.

I feel somewhat qualified to comment since I was on the other side of the Salesperson/ Customer situation less than a year ago. BMWs are difficult to sell competently, so even though I had owned my first one of eight; a 2002, in 1970 at age 20, and after thinking, talking and reading about "carz" since I could walk, I asked repeatedly to be sent to the BMW Launch Academy at the BMW Performance Center in South Carolina. After a year's pleading, I was in a class of 28 sales, management and business office people because all parts of a Center's organization need to understand that everyone there is a component of the sale including the techs and it's not altogether uncommon that some of the best components are not on the sales floor. Everyone you come in contact with in your buying and owning experience moves you closer to or away from the purchase of a unit so the best Centers are the ones that train the entire organization to be part of the Sales Team. I worked for a Hendrick Automotive store and their sales operations run like Rick's race organization and that's why both are winners.

If you have a bad experience on the Sales Floor, chances are it will be repeated somewhere else in the organization. That said, how many of you here with your extensive automotive knowledge and influential personalities would enjoy working weekends and nights dealing with, as my wife terms them, "Public People", who I will add are not all knowledgeable, friendly and enjoyable, and be paid on 100% commission? Come on now, don't be shy, step right up. The truth is the number of men and women of superior intellect and sales skill, without the concern of bearing the social stigma of being in “car sales” that wish to do the above is painfully tiny. For many it's just a job because not enough of my fellow enthusiasts wish to get into or stay in, the car business. I did it for four years before I went back to my prior field of 18 years; corporate sales management. My wife was thrilled when I quit, (see ”social stigma” above) and I have my weekends back but I'll can honestly say I miss it. It was a blast to show a prospect what a terrific car the BMW was and then work hard to get a deal that that pulled them and the Management together for a handshake.

While it was gratifying to get complements it was miserable being harassed by the BMW Customer Surveys or the “feedback” I described above. Just three 4 out of 5 grades on a ten question survey was a failing grade and it was way too easy to have a little dust here or a too long a wait to get into Finance there to get a "Perfect Survey" without the customer loving you so much they would essentially overlook those little niggles. And without the perfect surveys your income was considerably less and Management's response was less than enjoyable. In fact one could earn the scorn of the entire dealership with bad surveys and get fired. Remember above where I mentioned you might be surprised if you were graded on your performance…well the Customer Surveys are exactly that situation. How would you like your income and future being directly influenced by many things beyond your immediate control; like an overly aggressive F&I Manager selling an Extended Warranty or the broken coffee machine or…

If you want a better buying experience go to a BMW "Center of Excellence". They are the ones that have had many more perfect surveys and will give you the best experience. However, if you want convenience and don't want to drive a little more then you take your chance and get something less than "excellence".

[ibeam81]

Originally Posted by Balls

To my knowledge the BMW 5 series has had the highest return on investment over all other cars for years with no close competitor.

Lowest depreciation is probably a better description that ROI. Since cars are rarely bought as investments, ROI doesn't really seem to fit. But to your point the 5 series and BMWs in general have done much better than average in regards to depreciation.

[b2nvs2001]

Unfortunately, this is a commonplace experience it seems at BMW and other "high marker" brands. Sales people, I think, try to work out whether you can actually afford to buy the car when they see you because Im sure they get some people wanting to buy a BMW and going through the whole process and then finding out their client's credit history is bad or that they really cannot afford the car.
The unfortunate side to this is that sometimes they can get false positives i.e. people who they think cant afford the car despite the fact they actually can. The one thing I do not understand is this, its fine wanting to suss out whether a client can afford a car, but the general tendency for these types of sales advisors to act like they are the shit really gets to me. In fact, I lost it with one of the sales advisors at Audi when buying my mother-in-laws car. Basically at a point, I was told during negotiation that the finance manager didn't want to speak to he didnt think we could afford the car. I told him point blank that if he didn't want to sell the car, I was happy to leave but before doing so, I showed him the stub of my salary slip showing the proof that he was definitely mistaken. Of course, as I was leaving, another sales associate came running back to apologize and things went on from there (we actually bought the car ultimately - usually I would have just left but he offered an outstanding deal pretty much there and then to compensate for their previous behaviour).

This standard of behaviour is truly unacceptable and sales advisors need to realise that this kind of pompous attitude will piss off genuine customers. This is why I didnt buy my BMW from Fremont BMW and Stevens Creek BMW (CA Name: Scott P - WHat a prick - cant remember the second part of his name since I ripped up his business card the second I got it!). Nonetheless Im glad some of you have had better experiences at these dealerships but don't put up with a crappy sales advisor!

[asv]

Originally Posted by soolman32

This did not help the fact that when I finally saw the car in person I felt it looked too small and more like a teenager's car.

Umm thats the whole point of the 1 series coupe, to get rid of the bloat of the past decade. If you think a 1series is "too small" then you're obviously looking at the WRONG car.

[E82tt6]

Originally Posted by Balls

Were you comparing dealer residuals or actual resale values? To my knowledge the BMW 5 series has had the highest return on investment over all other cars for years with no close competitor.

I'm basing that on dealer residuals. We dont' know actual resale values yet.

[amdmaxx]

Amen..
I'd find another bMW dealer nearby with good reputation.. Or do Euro..
OP - Enjoy G37.. It's a great car..

Originally Posted by dixon1763

Why don't you post the name of the dealership and, if you wish, the salesperson? Use the power of the Internet to secure better service.

[foxtrot]

Originally Posted by cracka

The rare ones are those that can do both well... like the CAs we have here on 1addicts. :wink: I would suggest the OP ask around here for referrals for a quality CA and Center near him if he still has any interest at all in a 1 or a 3.

You make a good point here, looking at it kinda sideways:

1) The BMW employees hanging around here have a clue about the product and are supporting this board with their time if not their money
2) I'm planning on doing a PDC in Spartanburg either way, so it's not like I'm picking up the car locally.
3) The warranty's good at any BMW dealership and technology makes it so it doesn't matter where any of us are for paperwork.

So is there any particular reason when it comes time to put the cash down on an order why I shouldn't take my business to one of the BMW sales types hanging out on this board even if I don't live near them?

[bimmernet]

[quote=b2nvs2001;81398]Unfortunately, this is a commonplace experience it seems at BMW and other "high marker" brands. Sales people, I think, try to work out whether you can actually afford to buy the car when they see you because Im sure they get some people wanting to buy a BMW and going through the whole process and then finding out their client's credit history is bad or that they really cannot afford the car. SNIP

My experience was that if there was even a slim chance to get someone "bought" or approved by the financing company in question (BMW Financial Services <one of the toughest to get approved>, Chase Bank, Wells Fargo or a Credit Union <typically the easiest and you merely need to work, reside or worship in certain counties to join> then you get the car. If they can't make the decision on the spot (Automated Approval) then they will do a "Check out" which means they'll need to talk live to a "Buyer" and see if they can get it done. On a Check out you don't get to take the car home and the unit in question is still for sale, however most places would hold the car until they had the chance to speak to the "Bank" first.

I don't know how they do it everywhere since I'm only familiar with four dealerships but in all those places you need to fill out a Credit App and get a Bureau pulled before any decisions are made about if someone can or cannot conclude a transaction. If there was any other stuff happening I think there's a possible violation of Consumer Rights and the consequences can be horrific for a dealer. I'm sorry you had such an experience but I have heard horror stories about certain places that make me accept it happened as described which makes it all the harder for good places with honest people to make a living. What really chaps my cheeks is that I lost sales to places like the ones described for a few hundred dollars, or less, because the bottomline was more important than being dealt with with respect and integrity. And so the world turns, eh?:iono:

[M J M]

I had a 2005 G35 (until an old lady in a 1997 Ford Escort destroyed it in a head on crash).

I had a great experience with the BMW dealership I went to. I also was very pleased to see the ample headroom and trunk space that the infiniti so badly lacked. I also never thought the G35 was fast. (I had a chipped 2000 Audi S4 prior to the G35 and the S4 was fast!). A major factor I am leaning to a 135 is that if I bought an A4 2.0 I would forever be feeling it was an underpowered car that it is. 3.0 twin turbo sign me up! The 135 stock is as fast as my S4 was modified. Plus an 2008 S4 is $70k Canadian and they are changing the body style for 09.

Good luck to you on your G37.

I am sorry that you were put off by the dealership, that salesman must cost himself sales if he behaves that way. I am 33 but I went in running shoes and jeans to the dealership as I think I still have a broken bone in my foot from the crash (old lady hitting me head on) and it hurts to wear dress shoes.

[Ryephile]

Originally Posted by soolman32

Went to my locat BMW dealership .... He was full of himself with a pompous attitude and had very limited knowledge on the 1er.

Unfortunately it's pretty par for the course for BMW, M-B, and Porsche dealers. The premium Japanese brands have much nicer sales staff in general it seems. I have yet to walk into an M-B without being scoffed at for not having shower girls rain $100k in pocket change on me, yet when I walk into a Lexus dealer in a simple t-shirt and jeans they're right there asking if I want food and drinks and which leather lounge chair I'd like to sit it. It's crazy the treatment deltas.

Good luck with the G, it's a very nice car.

[BMW Dreamer]

I have to admit the G37S is better looking in person. I looked at one this morning. They only had 1 manual G37S, I was very impressed by the looks. The Infiniti dealer was next to a Mitsu dealer so I had to look at the new EVO. It looked pretty awesome also, but the interior does look cheap.

I am glad I have 10 months to decide with all the diff opinions and comments about the cars on this forum. Good luck with your White G37S. Thats the color I would also purchase.

[ibeam81]

Originally Posted by b2nvs2001

Unfortunately, this is a commonplace experience it seems at BMW and other "high marker" brands. Sales people, I think, try to work out whether you can actually afford to buy the car...

This is actually true of a lot of sales people. Sales people are looking for buyers and often try to prequalify people so that they don't waste their time. Unfortunately, it's not always fair and can be insulting.

My best experience has been with sales people that raced their own BMWs on the side. Their approach worked well with me, but I'm not sure that it would work well with everyone. For those with weak hearts, the test drives would have probably resulted in more heart attacks than sales. YMMV.

...but don't put up with a crappy sales advisor!

Good advice.

[fuhgetaboutit]

Originally Posted by Jack in St. Pete

1. Should you 'shop' for a dealer or try to make your local dealer work for you, even if you have to move to a second (third) salesman? Initially, I would try to make the local dealer work because the loaner program BMW offers will be more convenient (i.e. close to home; I don't want to drive 30 miles for service and would prefer local BMW service to come with a loaner.

You can use your local BMW dealership's service dept. regardless where you bought the car. That is exactly what I did with my 325. The local dealer wasn't working very hard for the sale, so I went to a dealer 90 min. away and they were great. But I've used the local dealer's service dept. without issue. I always get a loaner, although sometimes I'll have to wait a few extra days until one becomes available. And in fact, the last loaner I got was a 335, and they ended up giving to me overnight.

But I completely agree that the sales model for cars is FUBAR. It is so unlike anything else in the retail world. Generally they are trying to sell you something you don't want (to clear their inventory), and they aren't knowledgable about their product, and half the time, they aren't even friendly.

[Captain Obvious]

At leasecompare.com, the the residial differences are miniscule.