Making a Difference

[trueX5er]

I agree. The chances that somebody will want a manual BMW, who aren't like us, is very rare. You are definitely taking a risk stocking them. I'm surprised they are letting you.

[AzNMpower32]

Originally Posted by trueX5er

I agree. The chances that somebody will want a manual BMW, who aren't like us, is very rare. You are definitely taking a risk stocking them. I'm surprised they are letting you.

Well, I was just looking thru the list in more detail this morning. I haven't made any changes to the 5ers yet; the manager ordered the 550i. Upon looking at it in more detail, I realise it has the Sport Automatic gearbox (2TB; not the usual 205 option code). It really is sporting though:

Carbon Black metallic, Black leather, Sport AT, Cold weather, Premium, Sport, CA, iPod, Sat nav, Premium sound. So I guess no manual 5ers suggested then?

There are a fair amount of 5s with sat nav; you think adding HUD or Night Vision to one of them (528i) would be suicide?

As you can tell, the batch that can be modified contains mostly 5s and X5s. Many of the 3s are on the water or at port. There are a couple X6s, all already sold.

Yes, I do know we are not the normal demographic, I'm really aware of that and reason it out. Otherwise, I'd be telling him to put cars with leatherette, aluminium trim, manual, xenons, and sport only. (Take a hike if you want beige ) I will say this: Charlottesville has an unusual demographic. Folks (non-UVa) are either fairly wealthy, or very poor. Not much "middle ground". There are more than average number of manual vehicles here; you can easily find Subarus, Toyotas, and yes, BMWs in manual transmission. A guesstimate would be perhaps 20-25%. The median age is probably fairly high, but they drive manuals nonetheless.