Quote:
Originally Posted by mobilejo
Hold on a second - just as an example, the contoured thumb grips and perforated leather on the M sport steering wheel must cost more to produce than the horrible SE plastic steering wheel? (I have an SE and bought the M sport wheel so I know the difference in quality well)
Same for the gear knob surely?
Larger wheels of course as you even point out will cost more.
Surely all the extra bolsters and contours of a sports seat must also cost more to make?
Bumpers - maybe you are right about those, but I have heard that manufacturing costs are affected by the curvature/contours on panels (as well as number of units like you say) and so perhaps even they cost more to make? I'm sure this why some cheap cars have very flat lifeless panels on them.
M sport suspension certainly costs more as BMW don't make the struts, they buy them from manufacturers and the more heavy duty stuff inevitably has a higher price.
I can only imagine that if it cost no more money to make 'nicer' seats, steering wheels, bumpers etc so long as you made loads of them, then most cars would be much nicer as standard, and manufacturers would just offer even better upgrades to charge a premium for...
If the price new is £2k more for an M Sport, I say thats very reasonable. Most of it comes back come resale anyway with M sports always selling for more than SE's...
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I don't know what kind of SE you had but the E92 SE wheel is a pretty thick leather wheel and IIRC, it has more pronounced thumb grips than the m-sport version which, for some tastes, is edging on too thick a rim. as for the gear knob and handbrake lever, pennies difference in price - for BMW that is.
I included the sports seats in my added value list, as with the alloys. The bumpers do not have sufficient difference in complexity to cost more to make and the suspension parts are all sourced from other suppliers and with the quantity of m-sports next to SEs I don't think BMW purchasing power will suffer any particular difference in unit cost.
I have no argument that some, maybe most, people will prefer the m-sport version of those components that differ between the two models, my beef is that BMW charge so much more for those differences. WHen I first looked into buying my coupe I was unfamiliar with the model terminology and assumed, with the £2k price difference, that the m-sport was a super-dooper version of the others rather than just a different trim level.
If you look at E92 335 models, the m-sport is nearly £2,000 dearer than the SE yet the SE already has the m-sport suspension and the Sports seats so just what, exactly, are you paying the money for?