BMW Lineup

[Kitdy]

I have heard many differing opinions of these new Chris Bangle style BMW's, and wanted to conduct a general inquiry as to what the people (for our purposes, users on this website) think of BMW's new lineup visually. Persoanlly, I prefer the pre-bangle designs but I think the brand new 3-series looks pretty good, though maybe not as good as the last one. The 6-series is interesting, but though I like the front lights, the bangle-butt is terrible. I think the 7-series looks pretty good from the front only, once again the fat ass is quite poor in my eyes. As for the Z, and X3, both quite poor to me. I think the old X5 looks pretty good, but the new longer one is definetly worse for wear. Finally, and most wounding to me, is the 5 series. I loved the look of this car before the redesign and am quite dissapointed that it looks so smooth and curvy now. It just ain't a BMW to me, and not only that, I think it looks worse atrocious.

Anyways, vote, discuss, and voice your opinion, as I know this new BMW design is a contentious issue, especially for fans of the company - even casual ones like me.

EDIT: You can select more than one answer, just choose 1 of the first 3 and 1 of the last 2.

[deanee]

well idont really like the new BMW's
i guess they kinda look weird
i prefer the previous range, (or the other ones)

[silverhawk]

i like the 7 series from the front & inside. i dont like the Z4, 5 ,1 & new X5. love the M5 but the M6 doesnt look as aggressive. i really want to see the new 3 series coupe.

[henk4]

let's take the 7-series (now in its fourth generation) as a yardstick. I have added my personal score on a range from 1-10.

First generation (started as the 2500): 9 (well proportioned glass house)
Second (first time 7...) 7 (too bland)
Third Generation 8 (an improvement)
Last Generation (Bangle) 5 (a tank)

[clutch-monkey]

i don't really like any of them bar the M6, which still has a few odd features (taxi boot lid)
the older generations were much better looking.

[nota]

BMW = Bangle's mangles of angles :rolleyes:

They had a long history of producing very attractive cars - clean understated lines, quietly sporty & purposive. Since Mr Fancy Pants arrived on the scene almost all of their range have become mere caricatures of what BMW once stood for. Now most of them are either bloated, or hideously overstyled, or both. The Z and 6 are acceptable, except for their disjointed fronts, but the 5 and X5 series are particularly grotesque imo

[ribatejo69]

I hate Chris Bangle :mad: the 7' is a car for a reformer panzer generals, the z4 is a crazy fish mid shark mid sardine, the 5's is like a mars spaceship, the 6 have a back very good for farmers transport fruit boxes, and so on :confused:

[Kitdy]

I think there is a general agreement here... Chris Bangle should become a designer for Versace or something.

[Coventrysucks]

BMW's current range and who styled their exteriors:

1 Series - Chris Chapman
3 Series - Joji Nagashima
5 Series - David Arcangeli
6 Series - Adrian van Hooydonk
7 Series - Adrian van Hooydonk
X3 - Geoff Velasco
X5 - Chris Chapman
Z4 - Anders Warming

[F1_Master]

I, personally, don't mind them. Yeah, the older gens do look better, but I still like the new ones.

Lucky for me though, I have an E46 generation BMW. Not as nice as the E36s, but still nicer than the new ones.:D

[aNOBLEman]

I personally quite like the new BMWs, but as most everyone has said, they are not as good looking as the older BMWs. So I would say that the new designs are good, but worse than before the makeover.

[Ingolstadt]

I believe BMW is on a healthy path. The flame surfacing and concave designs really distinguish them. That works really well with the 3-series, 6,; but when it comes to 7 and 5 ... they look gross, albeit very very powerful image they project.

[Kitdy]

Coventrysucks, how did you get that info? And did the same guy that designed the E90 design the E92?

BTW F1_ Master, I think the E46 is the best of all 5-series' designs, you lucky man you.

[The_Canuck]

Anything before Bangle was awesome :D

[Coventrysucks]

Coventrysucks, how did you get that info?

Knowledge scrounged from various sources, mostly Car Design News.

What usually happens is that the interior and exterior designers will go off and develop their own concepts for a new model.

The best of those initial concepts is chosen, presumably by the heads of design (Chris Bangle - head of design for the BMW Group & Adrian van Hooydonk - head of design for BMW cars), and the "winner" will then lead the design team in developing the design to completion.

For that reason it would seem logical to credit Nagashima for the E92, as the design is still basically the E90, albeit tweaked.

If it was him that did the tweaking is another matter, and I don't know the answer, but he would have overall responsibility for giving it the green light.

Joji Nagashima also styled the E36 3 series, E39 5 series and Z3.

[MRR]

My bad meant to vote worse then before Bangle. The company has totally ruined its image and is nothing special now that they have redone their cars. In addition am I the only one who thinks they are getting way to big? The new 3 is almost as big as a mid-90s 5 and all the models seem to get more chunky with each new revision.

[MRR]

Joji Nagashima also styled the E36 3 series, E39 5 series and Z3.

Whoa what the hell happened to him since the 90s?

[PerfAdv]

BMW = Bangle's mangles of angles :rolleyes:

They had a long history of producing very attractive cars - clean understated lines, quietly sporty & purposive. Since Mr Fancy Pants arrived on the scene almost all of their range have become mere caricatures of what BMW once stood for. Now most of them are either bloated, or hideously overstyled, or both. The Z and 6 are acceptable, except for their disjointed fronts, but the 5 and X5 series are particularly grotesque imo

Yes, very true. But Bangle is just a tool. (in more ways than one) :D

Really it's Yuppies that are to blame. Yuppies started buying BMW to get a classically styled, technically up-to-date, and overall competent driving machine. The problem started when BMW themselves recognized that Yuppies were the majority of buyers. They started to design their cars to appeal to Yuppie tastes; latest, greatest, fastest, most techno-enhanced...
Fastest is an appealing enough factor for the enthusiast that exactly how gauche BMW has become is just overlooked. Not really overlooked but still all the overcooked design makes it to production doesn't it?

So, what once the yuppie put his trust in to give him some substance has now just become a reflection of Yuppiness, superficial and fleeting. So, what's the next BMW going to look like, we ask as the latest model has just been introduced. Fleeting...

[LandQuail]

Well, for this old quail's two cents, he'll say BMW's used to look "sharky."

Think previous 6 series or 80's 5 series. Even the last generation 7 series had a low, sharky snout and restrained sharky taughtness in its lines.

Good news is they still look like sharks, only now they look like those pussified mid-ocean sharks that either swim around at four miles per hour just below the surface and let snorkelers grab around on them like they were seagoing jungle gyms or something or the sort of bottomdwelling sharks that trundle around on the seafloor and eat dirt for a living.

All the taughtness has gone out of the lines. It's like the outgoing designers told the new ones "for god's sake, we strove to make our cars look like sharks, try to keep it up," and Bangle looked up a picture of a Dugong and got confused.

Is anybody with me on this?

[BMW_Trance]

i love all the e36 bimmers, the new designs arent too eye catching, they look too similar, even the e60 is pushing it, but its still a beautiful design IMO, but i still love the E39 M5 design...i had to get used to the M6, but now that i really look at it i guess its a great design as well:)

[jediali]

I am always drawn back to BMW for their engineering expertise but put of again because of how the 5 series, z4 and 1 series has made it contreversial. Because i have been studying the new 3 series it has started growing on me, especialy the coupe. What worries me more is how Audi and Merc are also copying aspects of this strange design philosophy. Perhaps a controversial looking car gets attention and popularity, hence sales and image boost.

Thinking about the Germans, and other big european players, There is a tendancy to form individual identities and what one model does the rest have to react to. Therefore i think this is just a market force in action.

[Kitdy]

Audi has their stupid "trapezoidal grill matrix" (ie fat grill - if I recall, that was the actual name they gave it in press releases), and the Maybach has that fat stupid ass as well. And I guess Mercedes is becoming more like BMW designs as well. At least not Porsche.

Pertaining to BMW engineering, why does everyone race about it? I hear automotive journalists get boners when you talk about BMWs. What about Porsche? BMW seems to get consistently well rated engines by the indusrty (so far as I have heard), but Porsche engines that are smaller often seem to develop more HP per volume etc. Not saying that Porsche is better than BMW, but I was just wondering why the BMW engines are so well renowned exactly.

[Rockefella]

Audi has their stupid "trapezoidal grill matrix" (ie fat grill - if I recall, that was the actual name they gave it in press releases), and the Maybach has that fat stupid ass as well. And I guess Mercedes is becoming more like BMW designs as well. At least not Porsche.

Pertaining to BMW engineering, why does everyone race about it? I hear automotive journalists get boners when you talk about BMWs. What about Porsche? BMW seems to get consistently well rated engines by the indusrty (so far as I have heard), but Porsche engines that are smaller often seem to develop more HP per volume etc. Not saying that Porsche is better than BMW, but I was just wondering why the BMW engines are so well renowned exactly.
Probably because you have to pay like 80,000 for a Porsche.

[clutch-monkey]

Not saying that Porsche is better than BMW
why not? porsche is better than BMW :D unless you like things like 4 doors, or even 4 useable seats. freak.
:D

[Ingolstadt]

We'll definitely see whether Porsche is better than BMW when the Panamera launches. All this while it had been BMW stepping into Porsche's category, the core competitive zones of Porsches, but when they started to make 4 door, huge, powerful sedans, we'll have a new source of benchmarking. :)

[F1_Master]

Coventrysucks, how did you get that info? And did the same guy that designed the E90 design the E92?

BTW F1_ Master, I think the E46 is the best of all 5-series' designs, you lucky man you.
Thank you, though E46 refers to the BMW 3 Series. ;)

[clutch-monkey]

We'll definitely see whether Porsche is better than BMW when the Panamera launches. All this while it had been BMW stepping into Porsche's category, the core competitive zones of Porsches, but when they started to make 4 door, huge, powerful sedans, we'll have a new source of benchmarking. :)
at any rate, they'll be hard pressed to make it uglier than a BMW sedan - so at least they'll have one advantage (although the concept pictures indicate it to be a small one, thus far). I'd like to predict it will have the same balance and dynamics as the rest of the porsche range (disbarring the cayenne, obviously), but, we won't know until it comes out. Considering the apparent lack of pace of the M5 i recently experienced i guess they have a chance :confused:

[Bavaraian733i]

yo im new here so whats up everyone i just got my first whip and thank god its a bimmer its kinda old and needs a lil bit of work so if ya know anything mechanicly let me knoe i need all the help i can get

[clutch-monkey]

yo im new here so whats up everyone i just got my first whip and thank god its a bimmer its kinda old and needs a lil bit of work so if ya know anything mechanicly let me knoe i need all the help i can get
english +1
if it's an old bimmer at least it looks alright

[Ingolstadt]

I really can't stand all the flame, concave surfacing.... it look's like whipped cream...

[sinasanjari]

The fourth generation is not better than third