Topic: 335 Diesel announced for North America

[Special K]

Watching a summary of the Detroit Auto Show and heard about the 335 diesel.  Why is there not more buzz about this car?  The 335i has been called the best daily driver on the market.  The diesel would be even better!

[tpl]

My opinion for what its worth... as someone who has been wanting a 3er diesel for some time

Its the wrong car.     It will be very expensive, more than a 335 gas.  It only comes with an automatic Why bother I just don't see much market for a $60,000 economy small car.
Now if they had brought the "smaller" diesel   aka cheaper 2.5 l single turbo diesel and put it into a 328 touring or even a 528 touring  at a price closer to a 328 or 528 it would appeal to people who want a diesel for economy.
I presume that the twin turbo diesel  was the easiest to make meet the new emissions standards and that BMW NA wanted to keep their 0-60 performance figures the same.

[Ex-airbalancer]

Maybe people are wait for it to be out
Also this car will be price in the same range as a 335XI, starting over $50gs
It will be in the 60gs range with a couple of toys.
That maybe out of the range of most people
While a new Jetta TDI will be the 30g range with a couple of toys

[Ex-airbalancer]

Watching a summary of the Detroit Auto Show and heard about the 335 diesel.  Why is there not more buzz about this car?  The 335i has been called the best daily driver on the market.  The diesel would be even better!

Here the buzz
http://www.autospies.com/news/Look-Out-Hybrids-BMW-To-Bring-Diesel-Line-Up-To-US-in-Late-2008-24859/

[The Mighty Duck]

What are the sales figures for the Lexus hybrids like?  I'm still not sure about their "Performance Hybrid" idea, and putting a powerful diesel in the 335 sounds like the same sort of thing.  Would make a lot more sense in the 328 as an economically choice, not a performance choice...

[davidm]

IMHO, this is a marketing move designed to show American consumers that diesel cars must not necessarily equal economy cars.  "Look at how much performance we get out of this car - oh, and it's good on gas."  That's how I see them playing this.  I bet they bring in lower line diesels later, but they are starting with a bit of a halo car to show diesel can equal serious fun AND save fuel, not just the save fuel that most people think of.  While the VW TDI cars are great vehicles, no one has ever thought of them as performance cars and that's the most current image of diesel I bet most americans have - thrifty, quirky, little Euro cars.

[huota]

IMHO, this is a marketing move designed to show American consumers that diesel cars must not necessarily equal economy cars.  "Look at how much performance we get out of this car - oh, and it's good on gas."  That's how I see them playing this.  I bet they bring in lower line diesels later, but they are starting with a bit of a halo car to show diesel can equal serious fun AND save fuel, not just the save fuel that most people think of.  While the VW TDI cars are great vehicles, no one has ever thought of them as performance cars and that's the most current image of diesel I bet most americans have - thrifty, quirky, little Euro cars.

  My thoughts exactly. I think this is the way to introduce diesels to NA, especially in case of a brand name such as BMW.

[tortoise]

Didn't M-B do the same thing when they brought in their diesels with the 3.2?

[Special K]

Balancer - thanks for the link.  After reading the forum under the article, it looks like most of the people there are hybrid haters.  Someone mocked the re-labeling of Lexus hybrids from economical to "performance", explaining that the  new moniker was added because the hybrids weren't economical.  I agree that BMW might be trying a new marketing approach, equating diesel with sport.

Maybe that approach didn't work as well with MB, because firstly, MB isn't quite so associated with sporty (with all due respect to Hamilton and Maclaren).  Secondly frugal (on fuel consumption and emissions) and "You're Ready" (to be able to afford a MB) are oxymorons in a sense.

If I could afford a M320cdi, that's what I'd replace my minivan with though!