2009 BMW Official Pricing Released

When they say "base" they mean it! They charge you for every little thing. I thought they stopped using leatherette? Isnt that a nice name for vinyl?

Whatever it is it isn't half bad. I've sat in a 3er for 5 hours in it and it was just as comfortable as a full-on leather wrapped seat.

Benefits of the leatherette is if you spill drinks you don't have to worry about it as much. Heck, it even appears to be leather to those who don't know. If anything you'll be the only one who knows.

The only options list longer than a BMW's is the one for Maybach and the MINI.

Anyone who calls leatherette Vinyl is out of touch with current technology (and reality for that matter).

The Leatherette in current cars is light years ahead of the Vinyl from back in the seventies. I've had leather in my cars and I've had leatherette. I actually prefer the leatherette.

I love this posting but am really ticked that all the 3 series additions did not apply to the M3 - like PDC on the front and rear and heated steering wheel!

would you get a 1-series or a mini cooper s?

MBKing, DO NOT GET A MINI. Even though MINI's parent company is BMW I can tell you first hand that MINI's are NOT BMW's. Thankfully I got rid of mine several months ago. It's was a fun car to drive but it was built like it came from the former eastern block. I took that POS to the dealer so many times they new me by my first name. The Mini is toy, not a car. If you're used to driving German I strongly suggest you look elsewhere.

The English gave us our language and Shakespeare but they don't know how to build cars.

E36er, bit of a sweeping statement. I think they know how to build Astons, Rolls Royces and Bentleys pretty well.

True, the ultra premium market is dominated by some great British marques. However, let's not forget that the marques you're talking about didn't exactly have a stellar reputation in reliability / fit and finish before they were bought out by foreign automakers. Rolls is a subsidiary of BMW, Bentley owned by VW and Aston is still a part of Ford.

To be fair, Mini's have too tight of a profit margin to be built in a place like England. If you do the math the Pound to Dollar exchange rate works against manufacturing cars of this class.