Not to be rude or anything, but have you spent some time with a decent BMW? I find the statement that an Accord is better put together than a BMW more than a little outrageous. I was a BMW skeptic for the longest time till a friend left his 330i in my care for a week. Have been a big fan since, every test drive I've taken since then whilst I've been shopping has pretty much thrilled me.
You get what you pay for. Sure there are posers that want the badge, but to me the marque represents a benchmark of automotive refinement.
Nope and why would I have to in order to have an opinion on what I think it looks like? Insofar as how reliable or well built BMWs are, I've known and still know lots of people who own them. All I ever hear is them bitching and complaining about this or that needing to be fixed and how much BMW charges them to fix it and how long it has to sit at the shop and how terribly crappy the service is. (Case in point: My co-worker currently has a 3-series. Guess where it's at right now as I type? Would you like to know what's wrong with it and how much he's going to have to pay to fix it? And would you also like to know how long it's going to take for the part to come from Germany?) So, you say, "It's warranteed, so why would they have to pay anything?" Sorry, but if all you consider is the initial warrantee period is what constitutes "reliable", then I guess you are entitled to declare a BMW whatever you wish it to be. To me, "reliable" is how the car is years after the warranty period is done. And a test drive in a
"brand new vehicle"? Again, sorry, but I should hope that the brand spanking new vehicle would impress the heck out of you.
"You get what you pay for?" Maybe, maybe not. I will also leave that as your opinion. I've long since stopped arguing with Bimmer-philes. They have an entirely different constitution than almost any other car fanatic out there.