pman6

Just bring a smaller escala and sell it for under $40k.

chromedome

The ride/handling compromise BMW was renowned for morphed into a focus towards a comfortable ride, at the expense of handling. Enthusiasts and car reviewers might be a vocal bunch but they don't pay the bills for carmakers. The market now wants comfortable, quiet crossovers and sedans to a lesser extent; it doesn't want stiff luxury go-karts.

Johnhav430

BMW used to be a car co. with no fake stuff. Not ever. They did things like when the GTO came back. Some cars had a dual exhaust, yet the outlets were on the same side, giving the appearance of twin tips on a single exhaust. Today, they've sunk as low as taking a muffler and turning it sideways like a Pontiac G6--how much cheaper can a mfg. get? Or how much faker? If that is a word.

One of the fundamentals of handling is unsprung weight--reducing it. BMW went to stamped steel in 2012, on non-M 3's, that's a huge no-no. You will even see this on GM--I was behind a new Chevy Traverse today, pretty sure it had these wimpy stamped steel control arms. The first gen had forged aluminum. These are things the general car leasing public could care less about, it's like they have no choice, they have to rent a new car in 36 mos., so who cares what the mfg did.

On the ATS, I didn't mind the way it looked, never drove one, and pretty sure at one time it had a stick? It seemed interesting, but not something I would spend any money on.

mmarshall

True, but hit a pothole, curb, or other obstacle, and see which control arm is more likely to be damaged or broken first...the steel or aluminum one. My money's on the aluminum.

Johnhav430

decided to look these up...on the old model, the control arm is part# 15951978, lists for $464.12. On the new car, from my vantage point, what I saw was 84199674. lists for $52.12. The other component is 84143517, lists for $67.63. Even from a list price perspective, the new setup is far less expensive. This is 2008 vs. 2018 production.

BMW did the same thing. Piecing out an exhaust on a 2007 335i was about $6,300 using list prices. The cost was 1/3 on a 2012.

I hardly think anyone leasing would care less, it's not their car, they simply look at the monthly. In practice, I'll take the vehicle with the forged aluminum.

tex2670

I'm not going to bother trying to compare those cars to an ATS. Mfgs learned long ago that they can make a sporty car that's not a "sports car"; and once they did that, demand for the 2-door "coupe" version of sedans declined. Hence--no 2-door Lacrosse.