[gobobbie]

A black X4 at night. It's never going to look any better than that.

Lol.

 

[hw128]

I find the marketing fascinating. I look at BMW, it was a brand that I admired and in my mind they fundamentally diluted the characteristics that made it exclusive and repositioned towards broad based appeal. So far the masses remained hooked. I think the X4 encapsulates what they try to do. They work to achieve some approximation of parity on quality, feign equal status with MSRP and then differentiate on price through heavy discounting and further on cost through the maintenance and extended. Also as has been mentioned on the leasing programs, they so severely lower barriers to entry and then they're hooked into ownership.

So your job is to develop an approach that will sell as many of these puppies as possible. You create an attractive leasing program that includes maintenance and warranty through the life of the lease, create a secondary market that picks up the cars after the leases expire, and you attract a whole bunch of people who otherwise couldn't afford $50K to 90K cars. Once they get into that leasing program it becomes very expensive, with a lot of up-front cash required, to switch brands, so most of them don't. If your job is to sell lots of cars, as opposed to making the best cars possible, you're a hero and you're gonna get a zillion $$$$ in incentive comp and stock.

 

[Buckfever]

So your job is to develop an approach that will sell as many of these puppies as possible. You create an attractive leasing program that includes maintenance and warranty through the life of the lease, create a secondary market that picks up the cars after the leases expire, and you attract a whole bunch of people who otherwise couldn't afford $50K to 90K cars. Once they get into that leasing program it becomes very expensive, with a lot of up-front cash required, to switch brands, so most of them don't. If your job is to sell lots of cars, as opposed to making the best cars possible, you're a hero and you're gonna get a zillion $$$$ in incentive comp and stock.

Exactly. The whole psychology of getting them hooked is so that it is more painful to not do something than to do it and all you have to do to get them there is to get them invested. So you lower the barrier to entry.

It's interesting too that the Porsche enthusiasts are intuitively repulsed by it. With the exception of the M series which retains it's exclusivity.

 

[Buckfever]

The X4 though is painful for me to look at. I do not like the lines from any angle, just does not sit well with my design aesthetic. I still like some beemers but def not X4/X6. Design seems to be going the way of MBZ where there is not one current model that I even look at.
I don't like the Cayenne much, go figure?

For you the X4 for me the gran turismo. I too try to love the Cayenne and can't get there.

 

[IvanC]

Just the appearance of that thread on their forum is bizarre. Here a lot of us have commented why we got a Macan. I wasn't even shopping for a Porsche but after looking in the $45k category I realized that paying $60k for my Macan S was a bargain for what I was getting. Very briefly looked at an X1 which was actually not bad to drive, but a four-cylinder turbo in an ugly wagonish vehicle was not worth $45k to me. It helped push me toward the Macan. The X4 just looks like an afterthought of a design to me, although it is slightly better than the hideous X6. Regardless, I wouldn't have thought of starting a thread obsessing about how great the Macan is compared to the X4. Frankly I don't see much of a comparison.

Just today I passed a brand new X3 (which never figured into my buying thoughts). It is night and day when you look at the appearance of that vehicle on the highway and the Macan. They are just two very different breeds.

 

[ender]

Good points IvanC.

I think it's human nature to appreciate validation for ones purchases, especially when they're as... homely as the X4, hence the elaborate post rationalizing their decision and purchase of the X4.

Let's look at Bimmers...

Classic

Muscular

Powerful

Elegant

WTF?!

 

[Tayden10]

Saw this on the X4 forum. Pretty funny.


Link
So you bought the X4 over the Macan, what did you miss.... - Page 3

 

[shaunmed]

X4 looks like the Pontiac Aztek

 

[K-A]

WTF are they talking about the Macan being "cramped inside". Unless talking about the rear, the front is not only THE MOST comfortable and vertically roomy car my 6'5 with long torso build has ever sat in, but it is quite literally THE ONLY Premium Car that I can actually really fit in. Much of that is because thankfully it's one of the only Premium cars that you can get without a sunroof, but even WITH the sunroof it is more roomy than anything I've sat in.

My head is pressed up against the roof of a hideous X4, or any BMW for that matter (including my current 535i which is very uncomfortable for me because of that).

For my tall (torso mostly) and thin build, there isn't a car in the world more comfortable for my proportions, seriously.

.... Not to mention, it's very wide. The use of frontal cabin space especially considering the cars dimensions and sleek roofline is engineering genius on its own.

 

[shaunmed]

For my tall (torso mostly) and thin build, there isn't a car in the world more comfortable for my proportions, seriously.

you're all torso?

 

[K-A]

Uncanny!

 

[ender]

X4 looks like the Pontiac Aztek

Come on Shaun... the Aztec doesn't look that bad.

 

[rhoyle]

I can't figure out why people care so much about the decisions and opinions other people make.

 

[Kazowi]

The X4 looks horrible. The macan actually resembles an SUV like the cayenne. The X4 and GLA just look like cars stretched a little taller then called cuvs

 

[ender]

Yeah, an over-inflated compact car.

 

[RJMcInnis]

I can't figure out why people care so much about the decisions and opinions other people make.

@rhoyle Perhaps you are not an insecure lemming? Makes it hard to empathize if you aren't... >

 

[rhoyle]

Pity.

 

[K-A]

Where's @Theatermax at? He seems fun. :x

I wanna hear more ways he's ever so intensely convinced himself that the X4 is such an artful masterpiece on wheels and the Macan a Suzuki with a Porsche badge.

 

[-hh]

I like BMWs. BMW has much better tech than Porsche....

AFAIC, because BMW ships with runflats (horribly unreliable on our potholed roads), they've lost all claim to 'better tech'.

All of that, to me, is secondary to the driving experience. The Macan is simply so much better to drive...

Well said. I was extremely disappointed in BMW when I did a test drive awhile back (was a BMW promo where they provided some competitors cars for a back-to-back comparison drives...big mistake on their part): had that part been satisfactory, I probably would have been willing to get the BMW and promptly drop $1K+ to flip it over to conventional tires...but without that payoff in the driving, it wasn't worth it.

-hh

 

[gobobbie]

I was next to an X4 yesterday in metallic black. It was not as egregiously disgusting as it is in Melbourne Red with small wheels like in the press pictures but it lacked the presence of the previous X6 and looked cheap and nasty. It didn't look as hideous as it did in the press pics.

Either way, the car must be a hit for BMW here in Australia, I've seen far more of them on the road than the Macan although I guess supply is not an issue with such a er... unique... car.

Also I've noticed so far the Macan has been predominantly driven by male drivers whereas all the X4s I've seen on the road have been female drivers.