[Bimmer_Freak]

You all say that you didn't buy your BMW for the badge and the badge means nothing but seriously think about it, - if your car, your EXACT car was a Hyundai or Kia and cost the SAME price.....would you buy it?

i LOVE my 135i, the way it looks, feels and drives. But i can tell you there is no way i'd pay AU$80K (Aussie 135i price) if this exact car was a Kia.

So the badge means something right? Its not ALL about the actual car.

[Year's_End]

Originally Posted by Bimmer_Freak

You all say that you didn't buy your BMW for the badge and the badge means nothing but seriously think about it, - if your car, your EXACT car was a Hyundai or Kia and cost the SAME price.....would you buy it?

i LOVE my 135i, the way it looks, feels and drives. But i can tell you there is no way i'd pay AU$80K (Aussie 135i price) if this exact car was a Kia.

So the badge means something right? Its not ALL about the actual car.

If it looked exactly the same and drove exactly the same, yeah. I'm talking everything down to the kidney grilles.

[KingOfJericho]

Originally Posted by azadian2b

Nasdaq is back to pre-recession level, Dow and S&P are still down about 6-7% from December of 2007. For people who were planning for retirement and were expecting a total return over the same period of about 30% (assuming 7% annual returns), the damage done by the recession to their portfolios is still there even though we've almost reached pre-recession levels because of the lost time.

Furthermore, the overall unemployment figure in a healthy economy implies mobility. Unfortunately it appears as though the current unemployment numbers imply greater numbers of long term unemployed.

Fact-o-meter: not factual|---x-----------|very factual

You're thinking purely equities which is only one piece of the puzzle. I also show the Dow positive and S&P nearly even with dividends reinvested (read: return) so your fact-o-meter may be off as well. The whole point in my post was that we're no longer in a recession and that millions of people are unemployed no matter what the state of the economy is. Those are actual facts. *Most* asset classes are back to pre-recession levels as well. That makes 2 out of 3 being 100% factual and the 3rd mostly factual.

not factual |------------x-| factual

[NewYearsBoy]

Originally Posted by KingOfJericho

You're thinking purely equities which is only one piece of the puzzle. I also show the Dow positive and S&P nearly even with dividends reinvested (read: return) so your fact-o-meter may be off as well. The whole point in my post was that we're no longer in a recession and that millions of people are unemployed no matter what the state of the economy is. Those are actual facts. *Most* asset classes are back to pre-recession levels as well. That makes 2 out of 3 being 100% factual and the 3rd mostly factual.

not factual |------------x-| factual

What do you do for a living.... ???^^^

[Raine]

Depends on the location.

[MediaArtist]

I don't care about badges. If KIA made a race proven car that outperformed a GT3, I'd buy it.

[KingOfJericho]

Originally Posted by Stoutnj89

What do you do for a living.... ???^^^

Director of performance analytics for a large institutional money manager and the first person on this forum not to dance around the question.

[NewYearsBoy]

Originally Posted by KingOfJericho

Director of performance analytics for a large institutional money manager and the first person on this forum not to dance around the question.

Whats the name of the company???

[NewYearsBoy]

Originally Posted by MediaArtist

I don't care about badges. If KIA made a race proven car that outperformed a GT3, I'd buy it.

That would be interesting to see...^^^

[KingOfJericho]

Originally Posted by Stoutnj89

Whats the name of the company???

Not going to spill that on a public forum. Why do you ask?

[M3Bahn]

Translation= he will overcharge you now for showing off your ride.

[josephr25]

Originally Posted by Hamster12011

I was meeting with our house contractor this afternoon and I took the Bimmer as I haven't driven it in a while. The guy seen me pull up and said
" That's a pretty fancy car you got there. People in the neigborhood will sure be jealous of you when you move in."

I just kinda laughed and said "I Guess." Then I started to think about it.

Maybe it's just me, but I don't consider BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Jaguar, Lexus or any other so called Premium brand car to be very prestigious. I do think they are much better then your run of the mill Chevrolet or Toyota, but I would never buy one or have never bought one for the badge or idea that others will think I am somehow better off then they are. I have bought every BMW and Merc. I have owned because it's the car I wanted. Thats it.

I think people who buy any of the car makes listed above for the badge alone are a bit Naive. I mean if you are buying a car to show others that you are rich or somehow better then they are, the car brands I think of are Bentley, Rolls Royce, Ferrari, Aston Martin and so on. It's still a shallow way to think, but I would never doubt someones wealth if their driveways were filled with those kinds of cars. But I mean a 3 series or an A6? Really? Just another car to me at the end of they day.

I agree with you, but it is all about location... SoCal is infested with German cars so driving a BMW really isn't that special down here. I think it's also the fact we take the badge and name for granted.

[Epik]

lol 3 series prestige.

It's not the badge on the car but the tasteful, clean mods.

Aston/Lambo/Masers are probably the prestige level cars.

[NewYearsBoy]

Originally Posted by KingOfJericho

Not going to spill that on a public forum. Why do you ask?

Just curious...

[vexx786]

BMWs, Benzs and Audis are just as common as Honda, Toyotas and Nissan in SoCal. It really does change by location because when my relatives from Michigan visited, they were completely shocked by the amount of bmws, benz, audis, lexus etc. I had never realized that the area I live in is considered "quite wealthy" compared to the rest of the U.S. It just makes me more grateful for being where I am.