Dealers showcasing low-spec cars

needhelpguy

I found it amusing and a bit sad when I went to view some cars in Dublin car dealers recently. The specification of the cars they had in the showroom was an embarrassment. I was in a well known north side BMW dealer getting some work done (NEVER AGAIN mind!) and started browsing the cars as you do. I was a bit surprised to find them pretty much all poverty-spec 316Ds, X1s and a 520D with just leather that seemed to be the pinnacle of what your money could buy. This is hardly a good indication of the BMW brand and I thought well this is a bit sad. I was browsing the used car section and I noticed a 318D SE in a nice blue that was just sold for €40K.

Contrast this to a well known BMW dealer in Belfast I was in recently with gorgeous well specced cars as far as the eye could see. Well specced 320D Msports with all the trimmings, 235is, a beautiful M4, in fact every car had a number of options ticked, and that included the used cars. I noticed a nice 320D auto Msport in blue with a rake of extras which I priced up - would have cost €40k total to import and I just thought of that chap who bought the 318D above and what he could have got for his money.

Is it VRT? Lazy dealers? The Irish public? I can't see that much of a difference between the car buying market of the 6 counties and the rest of us. Maybe I'm wrong but there is a stark difference I've noticed. And it's not just BMW either. I went to see a GTI in a VW dealer recently that didn't have much information in the ad but was marked as 'HIGH-SPEC' and it looked nice. Turned out it was a bog standard GTI with no xenons, no climate, in fact no options at all other than a sunroof. Yes a sunroof. Apparently a sunroof is high spec these days.

Moneymaker

Probably all three of those tbh.

The average Irish mentality to motoring and new cars baffles me.

Chemical Byrne

Dealers sell low spec cars because, well, they sell!! That is the market and that is quite clearly what a large number of customers want.

Kenny Logins

If they had a 1.4 diesel 5 series with wind up windows and steel wheels with hubcaps, it would sell well here because it's "look at me driving a 161 5 series BMW".

Chemical Byrne

The percentage of people in ireland who appreciate high spec high performance cars is actually quite small. Most people are content with a reliable economic and safe car. You are the 1%

Drummerboy08

Dealers stock whatever sells well, not what looks nice.

No more than a jewellers stocking watches that sell well, or computer stores stocking what sells well, etc etc etc.

Remember that whatever stock that sits in the showroom also has to be paid for...

colm_mcm

there's a fine line between having a nice spec car in display and having one that makes the prospect of owning a 'nice' one out of reach and ruins the chance of selling any car.
plus these are just cars for sale and are rotated.

Cee-Jay-Cee

It's largely the irish public, they want the badge and low tax, it's all about the low tax.

I had a similar experience a while back while looking for a car for my wife. She wanted an 10/11 Auris with nice spec which irish cars dont have. The Luna spec which people seem to think is the top of the range judging by how it is lauded by sellers is about as good as it get in an irish car. Most were bog standard poverty spec Terra models. I ended up importing a 2010 TR spec car from the North which saved me €2500 over the same car being sold here albeit in lower spec and with twice the mileage.

Irish cars are so poorly spec'd in comparison to what you can get in NI or UK usually for less money.

ba_barabus

Kenny Logins wrote: »

If they had a 1.4 diesel 5 series with wind up windows and steel wheels with hubcaps, it would sell well here because it's "look at me driving a 161 5 series BMW".

You can buy a BMW 516D in Greece if it would float your boat

biko

If people were willing to pay for highspec then the dealers would bring them in.
Now many who wants great spec buys in UK and brings it over themselves.

Markcheese

How much of the extra spec is gizmos and toys anyway... fine if its something you want anyway.. I dont like heated seats,or really need climate control,definitly dont need electrically adjusted seats either ... if you want it from new you can order it ...

Kenny Logins

ba_barabus wrote: »

You can buy a BMW 516D in Greece if it would float your boat

Yeah, saw that.

Seth Brundle

ba_barabus wrote: »

You can buy a BMW 516D in Greece if it would float your boat

"But it has a turbo so must be powerful"

It would sell really well here :rolleyes:

ba_barabus

kbannon wrote: »

"But it has a turbo so must be powerful"

It would sell really well here :rolleyes:

If we still taxed cars based on engine size it would be here. No worse than the Volvo S80 1.6D though

0lddog

needhelpguy wrote: »

.......I was in a well known north side BMW dealer getting some work done (NEVER AGAIN mind!) and started browsing the cars as you do. I was a bit surprised to find them pretty much all poverty-spec.......

Dont northsiders looking for hi-spec wheels go to Beshoff Motors in Howth ?

Seth Brundle

ba_barabus wrote: »

If we still taxed cars based on engine size it would be here. No worse than the Volvo S80 1.6D though

I think that as the bottom of the range model and therfore the cheapest, it would cannibalise from the 518d and 520d numbers.

FrontDoor

What exactly is sad about it?

Extras cost a lot in Ireland. There is a post in the cost to change a 520 thread which says you can spec a particular stereo for 5k. You have fellas in there wondering about whether to drop 2k on an upgraded sat nav.

You could bring a typical family to Australia for 5k and have a holiday there for the other 2k.

ba_barabus

But without the sat nav how would you find your way there

Dealers show what will sell. Why keep something in stock that will sit for nine months?

On a tangent, what is BMW using for leather? Looks and feels like faux leather. Not exactly but near PVC

goochy

They are aPoor bmw dealer in my opnion . Not a patch on kearys here in cork !

pred racer

Just remember there are a lot of people like my parents out there. They just bought a new ix20, my dad asked if there was a lower spec model as they won't, can't, or don't want to use Bluetooth, sat nav, parking sensors etc and would rather not pay for them.
Tbh I'd rather if they didn't have them too, my mam wants to use everything, but you might aswell try to teach a brick to swim :rolleyes:

pcardin

Deleted User wrote: »

On a tangent, what is BMW using for leather? Looks and feels like faux leather. Not exactly but near PVC

Faux leather, half plastic half something. Not only BMW, Merc is the same.

ba_barabus

pcardin wrote: »

Faux leather, half plastic half something. Not only BMW, Merc is the same.

They've been at it for years with the M-tex pleather

bazz26

You cannot really compare a ROI dealer showroom with a NI/UK showroom, they are representative of totally different markets. Some extras are so much cheaper in the UK and taste/needs are different between .

In the same light there is no point in a dealer here showcasing a base 20k car with another 15k worth of extras fitted to it if it's beyond the means of most people in the market for that model. Very few car dealerships can afford to apply an Apple Store business model where customers are camped outside in anticipation of being one of the first to have a new model iphone or ipad.

R.O.R

goochy wrote: »

They are aPoor bmw dealer in my opnion . Not a patch on kearys here in cork !

Wouldn't p!ss on either of them if they were on fire, both as bad as each other.

enumbers

R.O.R wrote: »

Wouldn't p!ss on either of them if they were on fire, both as bad as each other.

who have you had the best luck dealing with must of gone through most if not all of them at this stage

R.O.R

enumbers wrote: »

who have you had the best luck dealing with must of gone through most if not all of them at this stage

I'd highly recommend Aherns of Castleisland for BMW.

corks finest

needhelpguy wrote: »

I found it amusing and a bit sad when I went to view some cars in Dublin car dealers recently. The specification of the cars they had in the showroom was an embarrassment. I was in a well known north side BMW dealer getting some work done (NEVER AGAIN mind!) and started browsing the cars as you do. I was a bit surprised to find them pretty much all poverty-spec 316Ds, X1s and a 520D with just leather that seemed to be the pinnacle of what your money could buy. This is hardly a good indication of the BMW brand and I thought well this is a bit sad. I was browsing the used car section and I noticed a 318D SE in a nice blue that was just sold for €40K.

Contrast this to a well known BMW dealer in Belfast I was in recently with gorgeous well specced cars as far as the eye could see. Well specced 320D Msports with all the trimmings, 235is, a beautiful M4, in fact every car had a number of options ticked, and that included the used cars. I noticed a nice 320D auto Msport in blue with a rake of extras which I priced up - would have cost €40k total to import and I just thought of that chap who bought the 318D above and what he could have got for his money.

Is it VRT? Lazy dealers? The Irish public? I can't see that much of a difference between the car buying market of the 6 counties and the rest of us. Maybe I'm wrong but there is a stark difference I've noticed. And it's not just BMW either. I went to see a GTI in a VW dealer recently that didn't have much information in the ad but was marked as 'HIGH-SPEC' and it looked nice. Turned out it was a bog standard GTI with no xenons, no climate, in fact no options at all other than a sunroof. Yes a sunroof. Apparently a sunroof is high spec these days.

Lived in 6 counties for over 20 yrs,different mindset ref cars, roads,etc,God even the roadside hedging gets trimmed,less rubbish on streets etc,list goes on,on,on,u should see the rubbish dumping ,on the back roads of carrigaline, disgrace,half rant over

maddness

There is very little car culture in Ireland which is why the vast majority of Irish car buyers will buy the cheapest versions of whatever car they are looking at.
As you mentioned BMW, how many 3 series do it on see that are not 316D's?
Or how many times have you seen anything other than a 518/520D?
You only have to look at the new car figures for this year and see the cars in the top ten, mostly cheap to tax and horrible.
What would a dealer spec up their demo cars if there is little or no demand for them when it's time to sell them on?

9935452

ba_barabus wrote: »

If we still taxed cars based on engine size it would be here. No worse than the Volvo S80 1.6D though

I hired a BWM 5 series 'or similar' and ended up with a volvo s80 1.6td.
Very comfortable car but depressing to drive . Aweful in fact.
I saw no similarities in them. i probably would have been happier if it was a 516. lol

stefanovich

Crazy high road tax here doesn't help. Road tax in England is low and due to get even lower. Only the first year will you pay tax weighted on C02, then it'll be a flat tax for all cars regardless of engine size. 140 pounds.

goochy

Things have gone downhill up north not like it was . We have caught up with them in many ways. Morrison's in cahir impressive and attract customers from all over
Bolands Waterford a disgrace

hoodie6029

pred racer wrote: »

Just remember there are a lot of people like my parents out there. They just bought a new ix20, my dad asked if there was a lower spec model as they won't, can't, or don't want to use Bluetooth, sat nav, parking sensors etc and would rather not pay for them.

Nail on the head. When I was looking for my Ibiza FR last year could only S and SE spec models of the Ibiza. The dealers said nothing else sells because the customers aren't interested. The customers have a price point and are looking for 4 doors and reliability.
The one I eventually found the dealer, if you can believe him, said he couldn't shift it for those reasons.
There was an Ibiza Cupra there when I was getting mine, checked his website a few months later and it was still there.

Mc Love

i'm trying to find a nice run around 2nd hand and going through done deal is a bit depressing in terms of bhp and price. I reckon you'd get a better spec/performance in the Uk for better value too.

Drummerboy08

Mc Love wrote: »

i'm trying to find a nice run around 2nd hand and going through done deal is a bit depressing in terms of bhp and price. I reckon you'd get a better spec/performance in the Uk for better value too.

Not sure you would. I've been looking for something semi quick for the brother for a while now, very little to choose from here but there's certainly no value in the UK either at the minute.

The likes of a mk5 Golf GTI, Fiesta ST etc are still making strong money in the UK and sterling doesn't help either.

MetzgerMeister

stefanovich wrote: »

Crazy high road tax here doesn't help. Road tax in England is low and due to get even lower. Only the first year will you pay tax weighted on C02, then it'll be a flat tax for all cars regardless of engine size. 140 pounds.

You have to remember that the population of the UK is much higher than here so the low figure is made up for by the high numbers paying it.

Hell, there's more people living in Greater Manchester than there is living in Ireland.

JohnBoy26

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

You have to remember that the population of the UK is much higher than here so the low figure is made up for by the high numbers paying it.

Hell, there's more people living in Greater Manchester than there is living in Ireland.

A bigger country needs more services to be played for though. I really don't think a larger population is the reason why they pay less road tax than us, or at least it's not the sole reason.

I think their are many factors. They pay a lot more in some other taxes over their.

stefanovich

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

A bigger country needs more services to be played for though. I really don't think a larger population is the reason why they pay less road tax than us, or at least it's not the sole reason.

I think their are many factors. They pay a lot more in some other taxes over their.

What, like income tax? No way. They get 10,000 tax free and then the next 32000 taxed at 20%. Effectively the top rate does not kick in until you are earning 42000 pounds which is what? 50000+ euros?

JohnBoy26

stefanovich wrote: »

What, like income tax? No way. They get 10,000 tax free and then the next 32000 taxed at 20%. Effectively the top rate does not kick in until you are earning 42000 pounds which is what? 50000+ euros?

Council tax.

James Bond Junior

R.O.R wrote: »

I'd highly recommend Aherns of Castleisland for BMW.

I'd second that. Family bought three bmws there in the last 6 months and Paul Ahern should give lessons on how to sell cars and treat customers. Kearys in cork gave me the worst possible treatment I've ever experienced. I went to buy a 08 123d with an 08 320d to trade and they wouldn't let me drive it. They reckoned I was only a test pilot I reckon.

dudara

It's hard to find well-specced cars here. We were looking recently for a 3 series secondhand, and we were close to getting new so that we could get what we wanted. In the end, I found a great 320d sports saloon at Murphy & Gunn and snapped it up.

Pugzilla

Irish cars are pathetic, the amount of golfs on the road doesn't help.

Markcheese

James Bond Junior wrote:

I'd second that. Family bought three bmws there in the last 6 months and Paul Ahern should give lessons on how to sell cars and treat customers. Kearys in cork gave me the worst possible treatment I've ever experienced. I went to buy a 08 123d with an 08 320d to trade and they wouldn't let me drive it. They reckoned I was only a test pilot I reckon.

Thats gas - you're already a bmw driver, even if you were only test driving , that's how they sell new cars.

JohnBoy26

James Bond Junior wrote: »

I'd second that. Family bought three bmws there in the last 6 months and Paul Ahern should give lessons on how to sell cars and treat customers. Kearys in cork gave me the worst possible treatment I've ever experienced. I went to buy a 08 123d with an 08 320d to trade and they wouldn't let me drive it. They reckoned I was only a test pilot I reckon.

Probably didn't want to chance it after the experience they had with James bond senior

James Bond Junior

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

Probably didn't want to chance it after the experience they had with James bond senior

That uncle of mine is some character I tell ya!!

corks finest

James Bond Junior wrote: »

I'd second that. Family bought three bmws there in the last 6 months and Paul Ahern should give lessons on how to sell cars and treat customers. Kearys in cork gave me the worst possible treatment I've ever experienced. I went to buy a 08 123d with an 08 320d to trade and they wouldn't let me drive it. They reckoned I was only a test pilot I reckon.

Wow surprised, bought a Toyota yrs ago in Keary's ,grt salesman,Tony mc,nice experience, maybe they've changed

power pants

if people on here feel that strongly they could always go into a dealership and buy a high spec car with all the options they desire...

James Bond Junior

corks finest wrote: »

Wow surprised, bought a Toyota yrs ago in Keary's ,grt salesman,Tony mc,nice experience, maybe they've changed

This was kearys Bmw. They have 8 different locations across cork city and county. Another member of my family was interested in an x6. He drove his two year old a8 in and left in the customer section and went for a look. The salesman didn't even bother to come out of the showroom to him.

9935452

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

Council tax.

Yeah a friend started work in england a few years back. Got a flat organised and the following week he got a bill of 3000 sterling from the council. so about 4000 euro before any money was earned.

Leonard Hofstadter

9935452 wrote: »

Yeah a friend started work in england a few years back. Got a flat organised and the following week he got a bill of 3000 sterling from the council. so about 4000 euro before any money was earned.

Water charges are about €400-500 for the average family. Council tax is many multiples of property tax outside of Dublin. Train fares are an absolute rip off compared to what Irish Rail charge. And that's before we talk about going to college and student loans. Petrol and especially diesel are quite a bit cheaper in Ireland.

On the other hand you can do without VHI or private health care over there, plus obviously car tax is a lot cheaper and there's no VRT to worry about either, so ultimately they get the same amount off you in both countries, it's just how they do it is different.

The threshold for paying 40% tax band has just gone up to £43,000 as well, so that's about €55,300, a whole €21,500 higher than the equivalent in Ireland:eek:.

Long Time Lurker

As someone who's responsible for the ordering in our dealership I sometimes curse the wants of the punters more than anything. You just can't stock anything exciting because ultimately the punter won't pay. Would they love it? Yes but they don't want to spend the extra. They just see the base line price and that's it.

Yes for sure you can add 3-400 quid of trinkets but that's it. The only higher spec car that a customer is willing to pay the extra money for is the customer who walks in and specifically orders a very exact car to their wants.

That said I do always order some unique colour, very high spec cars with a load of extras with each batch but we always end up putting them on as demos. The discount sells them and the staff get nice cars.

I will admit though that there does seem to be a slightly stronger appetite for spec and extras this last 12 months or so. The problem now is will it end up like the boom. Paddy is dreadful at Specking up a car. Body kits on big saloons with dinky wheels. Every up specced Audi or BM looking the same with the same exterior colour and leather colour as the one in the next street and so on and so on. Twin exhaust Hyundai's, bull bars on Qashqai's Russian look a like Land cruisers.

Paddy is just apocalyptically bad at upspeccing a car. He just flings money at it on the finance and then announces to the world that its the high spec version when in actual fact he's bought the boggo version in Burgundy with the body kit the parts man had to shift nailed to a car with tiny alloys. Sigh.

Don't blame the dealer. We'll sell you anything.