My lady bought a coupe for RMB 1.3 million. I recommended the BMW 840i but was immediately rejected. What’s the reason?

In the past two days, the Shanghai socialite group incident has begun to fade away. I have no opinion on the matter itself; but as a car enthusiast, I disagree with a certain socialite’s remarks about cars; I believe friends who have paid attention to this matter know that she actually said, "Everyone who drives a BMW is a giant, and everyone who drives a Mercedes-Benz or a BMW is poor."

As for luxury brands, even if you just pick them up on the street A primary school student will most likely know that the benchmarks for luxury cars are "Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi" or BBA for short. In the automotive industry, most brands will try their best to move closer to BBA, and many brands will also have their own products with the same BBA standards as similar products. A certain function is vigorously promoted as a highlight configuration, which shows BBA's status in the entire automobile industry.

But why do BMW and Mercedes-Benz become representatives of the "poor" in the eyes of Shanghai's socialites? Which link is the problem? I have never been able to understand this issue. Until I encountered such an interesting problem.

She is a fan in my live broadcast room. The question she is asking is a budget of 1.3 million. She plans to buy a more personalized two-door coupe or sports car. She has high requirements for the brand tone and performance. The parameters are not particularly important.

The first moment I saw this question, I thought of the flagship 8 Series of BMW’s digital series. The coupe and convertible coupe of the 8 Series are both good choices, and their naked car prices The price is around 1.2 million. As BMW's flagship in this field, the 8 Series's parameters are worthy of its status. The first is the body size. The coupe version is 4857mm long, 1902mm wide, and 1358 (hardtop) / 1350 (convertible) mm high. It is very large in a coupe. If it is placed together with other coupes, it will look awkward in appearance. It can overwhelm another car on the field.

As a million-level coupe, the 8 Series has also reached its due level in terms of performance. It is equipped with a 3.0T in-line 6-cylinder engine with a maximum horsepower of 340 horsepower and a maximum torque of 500 Nm, matching the CEA The Fu 8AT gearbox adopts a front-wheel drive layout. Even if it is an original car, it can allow you to experience full passion. If you have good skills, you can also turn on the drift mode.

However, the young lady has some doubts, because after seeing the actual car, she felt that this car "didn't look like a car worth more than 1 million." The most typical one is the family-like appearance. Although the level is higher, in her opinion, it looks similar to that of her colleague’s BMW 3 Series. More importantly, the same is true for the interior of the 8 Series. The family-like layout is similar to that of the entry-level model. The first-class models look similar, and there is no obvious difference in materials. In her opinion, these are completely "not worth it."

After the young lady explained her point of view, I began to understand the "flaws" of BMW and Mercedes-Benz. Although it is a luxury brand, it continues to expand into lower-priced markets for sales. The cheapest domestically produced BMW 1 Series sedan has an official guide price as low as only 198,800. There are also considerable discounts at the terminal. In some areas , new cars are even less than 200,000 yuan, but these models also adopt the same family design language as the flagship models, which is naturally a "welfare" for users of entry-level models. But for users of flagship models, this is also a huge drop in the brand image.

After understanding this, the Audi RS5 that I originally planned to recommend also fell directly into the shadows - although in the hearts of performance enthusiasts, the 2.9T twin-turbocharged V6 engine is of the same displacement. It is enough to become a god, and with Audi's signature Quattrro four-wheel drive system, its road performance is hard to find rivals on the surface. But the collision with the Audi A3, which can be purchased for 140,000 yuan in some areas, has also become its biggest flaw.

▲Audi RS5

Indeed, a 1.3 million car should look like a 1.3 million car. It is not just the performance we are concerned about, but also the brand, design, workmanship materials and In most people's minds, it should reach 1.3 million. In this case, the money is well spent.

After comprehensively considering these factors, I recommended the Lexus LC500h to her. Its pricing is very close to the BMW 8 Series, and it is also within the budget of 1.3 million.

Let’s first talk about whether it seems worthwhile. Although the LC500h is not well-known in China, the Lexus brand is already well known to everyone. Although it is considered a second-tier luxury brand in China, many Lexus models are considered to be very good in the same level, and their reputation is better than that of similar brands. , the value retention rate of its products is also very high in the later period. Its LX570, LM300h and other models are still "magic cars" that cannot be picked up without adding hundreds of thousands. In short, the Lexus car logo has never given people the feeling of being cheap.

Let’s talk about the LC500h car itself. As a sports car under the Lexus brand, the LC500h inherits many design elements from the legendary sports car LFA. The two cars look identical in many aspects. For example, the overall designs of the two look very similar. Not only are the front faces very similar, but the body proportions are also very similar. Both also use a front-rear drive layout. LC500h will give people the illusion that it is the latest model of LFA.

Sit in the car, and this feeling may be more obvious. Whether it is the overall design or the polishing of details, you can see many LFA elements. Coupled with the overall high-quality materials and workmanship, I believe that everyone who gets into this car dare not underestimate its value.

In terms of performance, the LC500h may not be as powerful as models of the same price range from German luxury brands, but it is not bad at all. It is equipped with Toyota's gasoline-electric hybrid system, and the engine is a 3.5L V6 naturally aspirated engine. Although it uses the Atkinson cycle that focuses more on fuel economy, fortunately the base displacement is large enough, and its book parameters are still It has reached a maximum horsepower of 299 hp and a maximum torque of 350 Nm. In terms of horsepower, it is not far behind BMW's 3.0T. At the same time, in its gasoline-electric hybrid system, it also has a maximum horsepower of 178 hp and a maximum torque of 300 Nm. With the blessing of the electric motor, the system has a comprehensive horsepower of 359 horsepower, and its acceleration time to 100 kilometers has reached 5 seconds. What is even more incredible is that with such powerful performance, its comprehensive fuel consumption per 100 kilometers is only 6.9L. At a time when the iPhone 12 has canceled the charging head and headphones in the name of environmental protection, the LC500h can be said to be a breath of fresh air among performance cars that can be "truly environmentally friendly". ?

Final remarks

After my eloquent introduction, the lady was a little tempted by the LC500h and said she would go see the actual car before making a decision. In this encounter in the live broadcast room, it seemed that I gave this young lady an introduction to car selection, but in fact I learned more from her. In the past, with my understanding of cars, I thought that I could make a clear product selection for consumers based only on price and manufacturer's positioning. However, judging from the actual car buying scene, consumers pay more attention to details. How to choose between BMW 840i and Lexus LC500h? Behind this is not only a game of product power, but also an all-round battle between the two brands. Maybe I will still stand for BMW, but what about you?

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This article comes from the author of Autohome Chejiahao and does not represent the views and positions of Autohome.