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Random thoughts on the show.

1. The Consumer Reports guys claims were not unfounded. BMW does not have as good a record for reliablity as some of the competition and all of the organizations that track the reliabilty of automobiles concur on this. Don't shoot the messenger.

2. Due to their obsession with perfection they spend a huge amount of effort on the sound of chimes and then they place the preset buttons for the seats (and the LED indicator!) on the side of the drivers seat where it is hard to reach and can only be seen when you open the door and get down on your knees outside the car.

3. Any decent sound designer could come up with every sound for every BMW model in a few days.

4. All car companies destroy cars in crash tests. They are legally mandated to do so,

4. I thought it was more of a commercial, or at best a prommotional film, than a documentary,

5. I think they concentrated on hype and fluff and did not capture the "soul" of the brand. No mention of the M Division, the Motorsports division, the BMWCCA, the obsessively loyal core client base or any of the things that distinguish the brand.

6. Rolls Royce was hand crafting cars, using the highest quality leather, burl wood, etc. since long before BMW purchased them and for that matter since long before BMW was in the automobile business. BMW may have brought some engineering expertise to RR but in the process they "uglied up" the brand.

7. The classic 507 is indeed one of the most beautiful roadsters ever made.

8. I thought Csabe Csere was right on with his anslysis. In many cases the is nothing particualry unique about BMW designs but they seem to be able to get them to work much better than the competition. The fact that the 3 Seires and the M3 have led their segments for so many years attests to this,



CA