The M would refer to the model line, the 350 a reference to the engine displacement, which would be roughly 3.5L

 

My preference is to have naming conventions include (accurately) engine displacement.

 

I believe BMW has been doing this for a number of years now. Am I right?

 

I thought it was more along the lines of Mercedes and Lexus.

For example E430 = 4.3L V8, or LS430 = 4.3L V8. I wasn't aware the BMW 7 Series had a 7.XL VX

 

Well in the 1970s the have a 6 cylinder 730 they added turbos too and called it 745 b/c they felt it has the power of a V-8 (oddly Lexus does this today with hybrids)
The 328 at one time had a 2.5 liter engine, not a 2.8
The 550, 650 etc doesn't have a 5.0 liter, rather a 4.8 liter
etc etc
Now they have things like 3.0 X6 xdrive i or whatever I can't even begin to figure out.

Outside of that Odd numbers are sedans, even numbers have been coupes (but then the 3 series coupe is not an odd number) for the most part. X is now a SUV

 

I would disagree. Scion is not hitting the younger audience as Toyota intended now. I've seen more xB's driven by older people than younger. Toyota benefits from it's reputation of reliability so parent's will buy their teens Toyota's. If you really gave a teen/early 20's a choice between a Corolla, Civic, Lancer, or Mazda3, I'm pretty sure the Corolla would be the bottom of that list. But a parent would probably place the Corolla right up with the Civic at the top.

As for Ford Marketing, Ford has already changed it up with the addition of Jim Farley. Not sure where your going on on the F name. What's your problem with the Fusion, Focus, Fiesta, Flex, and F-series names? You don't seem to realize Ford has the Mustang, Taurus, Edge, Transit Connect, Ranger, Escape, Explorer, Expedition, Sport Trac, Taurus X, E-Series vans and Super Duty truck. That's only 5 of 17 models that starts with the letter F.

So are you dumping on Audi because all their cars start with A and all their SUV's start with Q?

 

With BMW most of the time but not always. I think lately Mercedes is closer to being accurate in terms of L's.

But even they have deviations, for example the SLK280 is 3.0L.

 

Toyota's data shows the average age of the average Scion buyer is much younger than the average age of a Toyota buyer (48+ years old). Scion was a successful car line experiment that did not require standalone dealerships.

 

Well said, Lil4X.

I would not buy a Subaru based on its logo. I would not buy the last few years' Nissans based on their honeycomb grills. Cadillac headlights and ever-larger grills are turn-offs, BMW interiors, Infiniti shapes, ect. Some visual branding attributes curse the brand for me.

I'm not in love with the Ford logo by any means, but that logo on the front of a GT 40 is heavenly. It adds its heavy weight to a remarkable design.