330 2-Door More Expensive than 4-Door?

Why is the 2-door 330ci, more expensive than the 4-door 330i?

Reply to
Vik Rubenfeld
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'cos it's more desirable

Reply to
adder1969

4 door body - common, therefore cheaper per unit. 2 door coupe - rare - more expensive short run panels.
Reply to
R. Mark Clayton

The 4-door chassis is inherently more rigid, which is a good thing. The

2-door models have to have added structural parts added on -- designed in -- to get the stiffness back. This costs money.

The 2-door chassis is also in shorter supply, and the rules of supply and demand kick in to raise the price.

You might want to check with your insurance agent before you buy the 2-door because you may find that it costs substantially more to insure. I once owned a 2-door Accord, and I found that my liability insurance was higher by about $300 per year because the car only had 2 doors. Apparently, 2-door cars are driven more aggressively and the likelihood of an accident -- and a liability claim -- is much higher. I am a pretty safe and sane driver, and I argued that the damage I could do was the same whether I had 2 doors or 4, but the argument I couldn't shake was that statistically the odds favor a

2-door car causing an accident. In my case, all other factors were equal, the same kind of car, the same number of miles, the same everything, except the door count. Fewer doors can mean higher liability insurance rates. The collision and comprehensive coverages will likely be higher as well, but this is reasonable to me. I only had trouble with the idea that I would be in more accidents because I had fewer doors.
Reply to
Jeff Strickland

Because it's cool, man... If you wanna be cool, you gotta pay...

Matt O.

Reply to
Matt O'Toole

Oh, puh-lease! Do you really think insurance companies don't set their prices according to people's willingness to pay more, to drive a desirable vehicle?

Matt O.

Reply to
Matt O'Toole

Unless you're talking a convertible, I can't see this.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

I'm with Dave here. I can't see how a door (and an opening) would add any rigidity.

Reply to
Ignasi Palou-Rivera

The coupe's standard fold down split rear seat is a $475 option on the sedan, and the coupe comes standard with the sport suspension and steering wheel which are part of the $1,600 sedan Sport Package.

Does this help?

Tom K.

Reply to
Tom K.

The 2-door has a larger hole. The 4-door has 2 more holes, but there's a metal beam between them.

Reply to
dizzy

I'm sure they probably do, but they are going to frame it in the argument that the car is more sporty, therefore more apt to be driven aggressively, and therefore more apt to be in an accident where the insurance carrier would experience increaded exposure to liability.

Reply to
Jeff Strickland

Exactly.

Reply to
Jeff Strickland

So you think any two door has just a sheet of metal between front door and rear wing? The B post on a two door has to be equally as strong as on a four door to prevent the door intruding inwards in a side impact.

A door adds little or no rigidity - just weight.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

I think you are missing the point, Dave. On 2 doors, the door is a much larger one to accommodate the entry to the rear seats. This larger hole is marginally less rigid than two smaller holes. The post between the doors adds structural rigidity. Or so they say...

Personally, I would just buy whichever car you fancy and don't worry about such trivia...

-Fred W

Reply to
Malt_Hound

But that post will still exist on a two door? We're not talking old US cars with a perimeter frame. ;-)

And I really can't see that *if* any strengthening was required, it would be more expensive than the extra door. Or as heavy.

It's all about exclusivity. With cheap UK shopping hatches, a four door will cost more than a two.

With BMW, the 'normal' car is four door therefore two - a coupe - costs more. ;-)

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

The door adds nothing. The structural integrity is enhance when the door openings are smaller. Using this logic, a four door should be stiffer because there is an A pillar, a B pillar and a C pillar, and smaller door openings. The 2 door only has an A and a C pillar. The theory that dizzy and I are putting forth is that the 2 door has (perhaps) stiffening added to the floor pan, and this adds to the cost of the vehicle. Therer is certainly stiffening components added to the floor pan of the convertable, but this is a somewhat different situation than is presented in a hardtop 2 door car.

Having suggested that, another poster suggests that the coupe gets the Sport Package as standard equipment whereas the sedan has it as an option that costs in the neighborhood of $2000. This could also explain the price difference.

Reply to
Jeff Strickland

Once again, Fred has hit the nail squarely on the head.

I can't imagine how the stiffening differences in a 2 door and a 4 door car are going to affect my life in the least. I will never get my car so close to the limits that are affected by this sort of thing to worry about the impact of having one or the other. Indeed, I may get to the limit on occasion, but when I get there I'll have many other things to be thinking about than why I have 2 or 4 doors.

Having had both 2 and 4 doors, 4 is the much better option for me.

Reply to
Jeff Strickland

I'm pretty sure the E30 2-door was cheaper than the 4-door, but then we didn't refer to the 2-door as a coupe did we? At least I was lead to believe it was called a 2-door saloon.

Perhaps the real answer for the E36 onwards is that the coupe shares few body panels with the saloon despite the similarity in appearance.

Reply to
Neil

A 4 door has A, B and C pillars.

The compact has IIRC a standard front door and B & C pillars.

A coupe typically has no B pillar, so the strength of the roof and floor pan need to be increased.

A drop head coupe has no roof, so the floor has to be greatly strengthened for the structural rigidity needed in a top class car.

Reply to
R. Mark Clayton

No doubt there really are some real construction-cost related reasons, but also in play is the fact that 2-doors are viewed as much more of a toy than are 4-door sedans which are more practical devices. People are in general more willing to pay more for their toys than for the practical things they need to buy. If you think about it, a properly designed 2-door should cost no more than a 4-door. Fewer parts to design, fit and align.

Another example is that manufacturers, including BMW, charge more for a larger capacity version of a given engine family even though the only real changes between the, say, 2.5 L flavor and the 3.0 L are a little more metal removed in manufacturing the engine or a longer throw crank. Same transmission and drive train otherwise. Bigger bucks for the larger capacity version. Perceived value justifies it.

Reply to
GLitwinski

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