Plenty of people in private sector IT still earning that kind of money, even outside the South East.
Recession hasn't hit me or the missus (she's a Medic, nothing changes there), in fact I think we've done better out of it*. Mortgage came down, anything we wanted to buy suddenly became cheaper in the never ending desperation sales, we got £20k's worth of building work/new kitchen at 15%VAT done... little things, but they count. - but then our only outgoings are relatively small, the house only has a 50% mortgage and we've got no kids. If you've got disposable income at the minute, you can command a lot of power.
I also broke my own rule of never borrowing to own a car too recently, I always save and own outright. Such was the desperation of dealers to sell, even in these crap times I was able to get more of a return investing the savings for the car than I'm spending on interest buying it... so why use my own money?
The 330d problem? It's a relatively expensive BMW with (wrongly) perceived high running costs. They're company car fodder, not many people are buying them privately for the family as you say - they look at a 320d or older car and see it ticking 9/10 boxes and the price/running costs swing it. I bet it'd have been sold in a week if it'd been a 320d??
Hot hatches and other things associated with younger people are pretty strong, as I think they're resigning themselves to the fact they can't own a house so spunk the savings instead and stay at home??
Lastly, it's post Xmas and middle England is still feeling the pinch and wary of spending... give it a few months, clear the cards and the prospect of summer will loosen people up.
*Repeatedly touching anything wood.
