Well, the luxury part has it's price which usually means adding more weight (3 series recompensates it a bit by great weight distribution, almost 49-51 front/back, thats great engineering; sometimes a car may be light but if it's not balanced well it won't drive well either). BMW may have the brand image but it also has a better fit and finish than a Subaru, again, it's the little things that add up.
The luxury is nice, but not $9k nice for me. Especially considering that I
might be able to afford an EVO/STi someday, but a new BMW is simply out of reach for a lot of the people shopping for a performance car.
Different strokes for different folks. Actually the new BMW 3 series sedan is the best looking car in it's price range IMO. WRX on the other hand has never been pretty but that is not the point for those types of cars where function comes in front of aesthetics, what may look ugly to most people, I bet that in WRX or EVOs case is there for aerodynamic/performance reason.
Bangle ruined BMW. But that's just personal opinion. Even with the toned-down looks of the 3 Series it's a step backwards from the last generation. The new 3-Series Coupe is the best looking of the bunch but they are all pretty anonymous.
The Evo looks pretty good, and the Subaru...well, I like it becuase it is fast and cheap, lets leave it at that. The BMW is a little faster, much more expensive, and not much (if any) better looking.
As far as price goes, if performance is the only thing someone is looking for then a car such as STi or EVO offers the best bang for the buck. But if you want performance along with some luxury then you'll want to look somewhere else. STis and EVOs ride stiff, loud, not a car I would want for long trips or daily congested traffic commutes.
I've spent my whole life driving cheap cars so far, so frankly the refinement argument is somewhat lost on me. I used to drive a Toyota pickup with no power steering, intermittent wipers or ABS, and a crappy bench seat. Yes, I've driven luxury cars here and there and been impressed by their quietness and solidity, but frankly I value performance over comfort (to a degree - I won't be ripping the seats and dash out to save weight!)So I'm used to a harsh ride, I just want a fast ride. A WRX or Evo would be the most luxurious car I've ever owned.
I am a fan of multipurpose vehicles so a car such as Corvette is out (unless I would really hit it big in a lottery but then again I would buy an European exotic lol), I really like the 4 door performance sedans which offer Corvette-like performance while also allowing you to ride more comfortably with 4 of your friends as well as packing up groceries from a store in a decent size trunk.
I too am a fan of sports sedans - they might not look as good as coupes but it's so very nice to have the ability to take 3 passengers and some luggage when neccesary.
I'm also a fan of the European sports sedans and hot hatches. I love the 335xi, it's just too expensive in the face of cheaper go-fast sedans. I'd love to own one, I just couldn't justify $41k for it.
Now the M5/M6 is a different story. If anything it's uglier than the 3 Series, and frighteningly expensive. But oh, the
performance. BMW makes fantastic cars, but IMO they make the most sense on the upper end of the price scale.
Also, the new 335 engine rated at 300HP is highly underrated, few independent dyno-tests showed the car achieving 360HP, also, a car with 335 sedan weight and 300HP engine wouldn't launch a car in 4.8 seconds, but it does so the engine is much more powerful than advertised.
360 at the wheels, or the flywheel? I don't understand why they would underrate it by that much...they don't have a power limit to worry about like Nissan did with it's significantly underrated Skyline GTRs (which made 12%+ more power at the flywheel than officially quoted).