This week we read that Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality spent R3,2 million on 10 BMW 320i motor cars. The system BCMM used to decide which vehicles would be best equipped for the job are confusing to me. The municipality claimed that these cars are needed for their “high-performance”, however anyone who has ever driven a 320i (the base 3-series) will know that it is hardly a high-performance car. There are several other vehicles that are far better suited for the task as they are cheaper than the BMW 320i and have far better performance, for example, the Volkswagen Golf/Polo GTIs or the Ford Focus STI. It would appear that BCMM has chosen to go for brand snobbery, rather that picking the best and most cost effective vehicles.
A possible reason for their decision though, is that this model BMW is available on a lease/ guaranteed bye back option. Which allows the BCMM to rid the cars at the end of the 3 or 4 year period...
ReplyDeleteProbably not, as law enforcement vehicles exceed the limited mileage requirements for those agreements.
ReplyDeleteIf these buy back options are the reason for choosing 3-Series BMWs, I do not think that it's a viable reason to justify spending R3,2 million on the purchase of these cars - we have all seen what care is taken of Government vehicles, and these cars will definitally not be treated any differently to any other official government vehicles!
ReplyDeleteIf this is the case (ill treatment of the cars), that guarantee buy back will definitally not be applicable to these cars...