Substance Over Style
How can such a homely car as the BMW 2002 generate such devotion and enthusiasm in its owners? For those of us who own BMWs, the answer is obvious, perhaps, but for those on the outside looking in, it’s an object lesson in the ability of vehicle dynamics to transcend curb appeal.
All of which isn’t to say that it wasn’t exactly the right car at exactly the right time for BMW—the context of its introduction here in the US certainly made a difference. It combined brilliant handling; the practical, upright lines of a boxy coupe; and a tough, torquey and reasonably economical 4-cylinder with excellent build quality and a hint of European cachet. No other car put all that together in 1968, the year of its debut here in the States. Our choices then ranged from amped-up muscle cars that wouldn’t know a corner from a carburetor, to effete British roadsters that leaked when driving through fog and required a valve adjustment every other week just to start consistently. So as remarkable as the 2002 itself was, it also benefited greatly from a vacuum in the marketplace.
As a BMW owner myself, I really enjoyed this clip, put together by Depth of Speed. Whatever a particular model may look like, I don’t know of any other brand of car that sells itself so well by way of experience. I may get up on the wrong side of bed one morning and decide I’m utterly bored with my car’s lines, but by the end of my commute, I’m irretrievably smitten by the fluidity and brilliance of the way it drives. Again.
Click on the jump to watch.