Quote:
Originally Posted by georgere
Many things have changed since 1927 but not that many since 2006. The price of the car has almost doubled, has your salary? There is definitely inflation there but it seems to affect car prices the most. When it comes to 3 series specifically, I don't see engineering break through. Turbo? They had turbo cars before. It got larger, yes, but is it 40% larger? No. What else? Oh yes the new I drive, fine, but that's a computer and how much a computer costs? The fancy one about 2k, make it 2.5k. So nothing that been added to the car increases the value that much. Now before you start listing some new sensors that are installed into the new car, remember that a lot of part are same/similar from older models and thus should be costing less for the factory. Add the fact that since 2006 more parts hit cheaper as the are produced in China/other low cost regions.
Another aspect of price increase is demand as in supply and demand basics used in economics, right? And I don't see demand increased that much over 2006.
However they are reducing free maintenance from 4 years to 3 and it is no longer transferable from original owner.
Seriously if you look at e90 and new 3 series side by side, there not that much features/tech added.
But maybe you are right, it is the 30-40% inflation we went through here in US in the last decade.
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Let's put it out there that I'm not trying to say BMW isn't making money on the car.
1927 to 2006 is definitely a longer period than 2006 to 2019, but technology nowadays is also moving forward at a much faster pace than in a comparable 13 year period "back then".
I wouldn't necessarily call any newer features "breakthroughs" either, as it's hard to radically redefine things relative to when they were invented.
I would call these features advancements though: new CLAR platform, stiffer chassis, reworked suspension, limited slip differential available from the factory, laser&led adaptive headlights, generally higher build quality, etc.
If we look back closer, the F30's base price wasn't far off from the G20's. The main difference is made up from the options, but like I've mentioned there are quite a few newly available ones to bump the final price higher.
I'm sure the E90 could be made for a very similar price like back then (obviously adjusted for inflation, etc), but current day cars aren't just different in terms of performance, luxury, and general features you see, but also below the skin that I'm hoping most people won't ever need to take advantage of during a crash. There's also the ever increasing emissions regulations requiring further research and development and additional parts being built in.
It's also true that model line-ups share a lot of parts and technology features, but the research and development that go into these also isn't just so they can get even at best by only using it in a very limited number of cars, but spreading the costs out through their models, and of course making money.
Plus obviously new things always carry a premium in their early stages of availability. I'm also not seeing how competitors prices are any lower comparably.