[Ramos]

I was playing around on BMWUSA.com and wanted to see the difference in price between my 08 335 E90 and a similarly equipped LCI 09

Here is what I have

2008 E90 335 AW, 6MT
Premium, Sport, I-drive
Heated seats, CA, PDC, Sat Radio, IPOD

My car had an MSRP of 49K, I paid euro delivery invoice + 1K which came out to a little over 43K

Now the 09 with the same options has an MSRP of ... Wait for it...
$51,395 !!! Add Auto and metallic paint and you are at a staggering $53,270!!

Damn !!!

I guess the difference is that all the options are now more $$, plus you pay $700 for front and back PDC where I only paid $350 for the rear

Also Logic 7 is now seperate and will add 875 to the price..

This is crazy.. Did anybody else notice just how much the price of this car has gone up? In my case, with the options I have we are looking at 5% increase from 08 to 09

[raleedy]

Wow. $2K increase on a $50K car. That's 4%. Where's my smelling salts? Of course, if you didn't want Logic 7 in the first place, then it's only $1,125, and $350 of that is an improved feature. I need to sit down.

[John 070]

Originally Posted by raleedy

Wow. $2K increase on a $50K car. That's 4%. Where's my smelling salts? Of course, if you didn't want Logic 7 in the first place, then it's only $1,125, and $350 of that is an improved feature. I need to sit down.

I played that game comparing an 07 to an 09 and came up with $3300 on a 46k car. That's why low financing is very necessary imho to move these things.

How about 82k for a M3 convertible? I want none of that at 0.9%!

They're nice cars, but people have to work very hard to get them. Often the price is very troubling. The reward is in the drive when one gets behind the wheel. Hopefully nobody out there thinks forum members are representative of the overall population of BMW owners out there.

[Ramos]

Originally Posted by raleedy

Wow. $2K increase on a $50K car. That's 4%. Where's my smelling salts? Of course, if you didn't want Logic 7 in the first place, then it's only $1,125, and $350 of that is an improved feature. I need to sit down.

ehh.. 5% is a big increase ESPECIALLY given the state of the economy, and Logic 7 came standard in my car.. who doesn't want that in the first place?
I am trying to compare apples to apples.. If you think $53K for a non M 3 series is reasonable, then more power to you.. I wish I had that much money to feel the same way.. but unfortunately I have to work hard for a living... Did I mention that you are a snob ?

[BMW F22]

BMW had no choice really as the expenses were increasing so they had to increase prices accordingly. I mean it really is not their fault that the economy is the way it is. They know they had to do something to move cars so they're offering the low finance rates. I mean there really is nothing any of us can do except for switching to other brands as prices would always increase.

[kgb1637]

Despite how high we think these prices are, look what happens when you try to price an Audi or Merc to the same specs, they easily surpass what BMW has so I don't believe its that big of a deal. BMW owners also know that they work hard for their cars or some are just fortunate enough to be able to own them, they're not for everyone, not saying that in a bad way, its simple dollars and sense.

[VIZSLA]

While the price increase is bad news what interests me more is the effect the new economic climate will have on the next generation 3 series. It will have to move up an niche while the next generation 1 series becomes the legitimate entry level BMW. The question is if BMW can produce a 1 at a competitive price that is still a real BMW.

I recently ordered a 2009 328i sedan that came out to $47,800. The only options i didn't get are Active Cruise Control, Sirius, Logic7, and Cold Weather Pkg (but i did get heated seats and fold down rear seats).

[positiveions]

and think that E46 M3s' were going around 56k; and I thought that was expensive.
yeah, well that is why they are enticing people with 1.9% on 09

[visor]

We've been thru this sticker shock before a month ago when the 2009 prices came out.

For the US, 4-5% increase.
For us Canucks, 3-4% DECREASE!

Why? Because of currency changes over the past 2 yrs, whereby the mighty US dollar has fallen 30% relative to other world currencies. It has nothing, NOTHING to do with how the economy is doing or whether the average Joe can afford it or not. It is simply economics. Even then, BMW's in the US are much cheaper than in Canada, Europe, or ... can you believe it or not... das Vaterland of Germany, where BMW's are born!

[David 12]

Who cares about msrp - A car will only sell based on demand. Look at the M3 and what they are actually selling for!

[DinoMite]

Don't let any non americans read this price complaining the American market has the lowest priced cars on the planet for BMW's

[cda888]

Originally Posted by visor

We've been thru this sticker shock before a month ago when the 2009 prices came out.

For the US, 4-5% increase.
For us Canucks, 3-4% DECREASE!

Why? Because of currency changes over the past 2 yrs, whereby the mighty US dollar has fallen 30% relative to other world currencies. It has nothing, NOTHING to do with how the economy is doing or whether the average Joe can afford it or not. It is simply economics. Even then, BMW's in the US are much cheaper than in Canada, Europe, or ... can you believe it or not... das Vaterland of Germany, where BMW's are born!

No offense, but this argument that keeps going around that BMWs are more expensive in other countries than in the US is pure and utter nonsense. People in Europe earn Euros, not Dollars. They do not convert their currency to dollars before the buy a car, so the dollar's weakness versus the euro is meaningless to them. As a percentage of their annual income, BMW's are actually significantly CHEAPER in Europe than in the U.S.

The reason is because as a result of the poor exchange rate, BMW must charge Americans more dollars for a BMW than they charge a European Euros. Even after inflating the price, when BMW converts the Dollars to Euros, it makes less Euros on the car than it does on one sold in Europe. But the American still paid more of his income (Dollars) than the Eueropean paid of his income (Euros) for the same car.

Accordingly it is nonsensical to say that when a German pays 35,000 euros for a car, he is paying the equivalent of $70,000, because the German is paid in Euros for his work and does not make half as much, on average, as Americans.

Glad I got that off my chest.

[barbados]

Originally Posted by cda888

No offense, but this argument that keeps going around that BMWs are more expensive in other countries than in the US is pure and utter nonsense. People in Europe earn Euros, not Dollars. They do not convert their currency to dollars before the buy a car, so the dollar's weakness versus the euro is meaningless to them. As a percentage of their annual income, BMW's are actually significantly CHEAPER in Europe than in the U.S.

The reason is because as a result of the poor exchange rate, BMW must charge Americans more dollars for a BMW than they charge a European Euros. Even after inflating the price, when BMW converts the Dollars to Euros, it makes less Euros on the car than it does on one sold in Europe. But the American still paid more of his income (Dollars) than the Eueropean paid of his income (Euros) for the same car.

Accordingly it is nonsensical to say that when a German pays 35,000 euros for a car, he is paying the equivalent of $70,000, because the German is paid in Euros for his work and does not make half as much, on average, as Americans.

Glad I got that off my chest.

Don't higher taxes (sales, gas guzzler, etc.) in parts of Europe come into play in that argument as well? Making the actual out-the-door cost much higher for some of our European brothers.

[bsd107]

Originally Posted by skibbs

Don't higher taxes (sales, gas guzzler, etc.) in parts of Europe come into play in that argument as well? Making the actual out-the-door cost much higher for some of our European brothers.

YES!

[DK_12]

Originally Posted by visor

We've been thru this sticker shock before a month ago when the 2009 prices came out.

For the US, 4-5% increase.
For us Canucks, 3-4% DECREASE!

Why? Because of currency changes over the past 2 yrs, whereby the mighty US dollar has fallen 30% relative to other world currencies. It has nothing, NOTHING to do with how the economy is doing or whether the average Joe can afford it or not. It is simply economics. Even then, BMW's in the US are much cheaper than in Canada, Europe, or ... can you believe it or not... das Vaterland of Germany, where BMW's are born!

I don't know when's the last time you checked exchange rates and currencies but the USD has gained a lot of ground against the Euro in the past several months.

[John 070]

Originally Posted by visor

We've been thru this sticker shock before a month ago when the 2009 prices came out.

For the US, 4-5% increase.
For us Canucks, 3-4% DECREASE!

Why? Because of currency changes over the past 2 yrs, whereby the mighty US dollar has fallen 30% relative to other world currencies. It has nothing, NOTHING to do with how the economy is doing or whether the average Joe can afford it or not. It is simply economics. Even then, BMW's in the US are much cheaper than in Canada, Europe, or ... can you believe it or not... das Vaterland of Germany, where BMW's are born!

Disagree. BMW as do most mfgs sell vehicles to the entire world. How does a diplomat obtain a BMW in the US at a price nearly as low as what a US Citizen has to fly to Europe to obtain? These are all pricing points that are determined by the mfg. Last business trip, I got 1.24 CAN for 1 US. Our dollar has fallen 30%, as of what date? Since August, the dollar has been gaining quite steadily. That's 3 mos. of solid gains. If anything, the dollar has gained 20% against the Euro since the 2k9 models came out, which is basically the opposite of what you say.

[John 070]

Originally Posted by supadan

I don't know when's the last time you checked exchange rates and currencies but the USD has gained a lot of ground against the Euro in the past several months.

Exactly, about 20% since August. So not only are 2k9 models quite a bit more expensive, but when you factor in buying them with USD, the overall increase in payment to BMW is quite substantial.

[KCWolfPck]

Originally Posted by OP

Now the 09 with the same options has an MSRP of ... Wait for it...
$51,395 !!! Add Auto and metallic paint and you are at a staggering $53,270!!

Damn !!!

That's really not too shabby considering my ordered '09 328i has an MSRP of $54,850....and I didn't even spring for the automatic trans.

[Spydeputy]

does your price reflect the dealer price after all the haggling is done?

[KCWolfPck]

Originally Posted by Spydeputy

does your price reflect the dealer price after all the haggling is done?

As indicated, the price reflected MSRP. The final negotiated price of my '09 328i was $51,000, which was a $3,850 discount.

[Hoothout]

what the hell? thats like 5-series prices