Second-class

It's no secret that I'm a fan of the small wagon. I love sport-with-an-option-to-haul cars. For some time I've been watching the 1-series, available as a 3-door and 5-door in Europe. Although the 1 is being made as a coupe and convertible, just available on U.S. soil, we're missing that hatch and the engine options that make it really great.

Wired notes that the 118d, with a small turbo diesel wins the "World Green Car Award" in NYC and then promptly gets on a boat and goes home.



Full article here.

The general discussion, which I've seen for years as a BMW car club member, covers not only the failure of the underpowered 318ti to post great sales numbers in the early 90s, but the general distrust of diesel engines and anything with less than 6 cylinders. Add to that the premium of a BMW, regardless of engine, and most people just don't buy it.

I cry foul. I think it's a different market and BMW NA (North America functions as an independent subsidiary) knows it. I can't say whether they're savvy enough to do something about it, but the existence of two new changes for 2008 mean that they at least realize that we're no longer in the swinging 90s. First, we've got the 128/135i hitting the shores. It is super-powered, but it's still small. And cheaper than the old 325. (I argue that the current 328 isn't an upgraded 325 but rather a downgraded 330.) The point is, there is a new entry-level.

Second, the X5 and 3-series are both receiving diesel engines this fall. The market is looking for economy and it even includes the upper middle-class baby boomers that drive BMW sales. As oil becomes or even stays expensive, economy will be a bigger and bigger factor for car purchasing. I don't think it will hit quickly, but when the wave crests it will be pervasive. Americans like to suspend thought and follow the trend for automobiles. At least, without that theory I have no other way to explain the Hummer H3.



My conclusion is that the people who decide and the people who complain aren't meeting in the middle, where the rest of us that spend would happily participate. Quite simply, BMW makes more than one turbo diesel. Without needing the big guy from the X5, BMW already has a 2.3d making 204hp with economy not too far off the 1.8d. Give us the 123d. Go ahead and offer us the M Sport that the Londoners get. And we'll buy it because it's not out of reach, it's not euro-slow, and it changes our economics in a personal way that other cars don't right now.

C'mon BMW. Show us some love.