BMWs new design direction, good or bad?

[Falcon500]

Well that is sop true the man had to be given a design breif to follow and BMW wouldent of accepted the design if it didnt suit what THEY wanted.

[Matra et Alpine]

Its easy to dump on Bangle but you have to know more about the design breif ....... I also believe that most detractors will become accustomed to the design .

I disagree Crisi.
Despite his 'brief' the car is full of angles and curves that don't match.
2nd year design students are taught the importance of 'connecting' shapes to be pleasing.
Bangle is the equivalent of Stockhausen in music.
Some will say how wonderful it is, but it sounds horrible and is only appreciated from an academic viewpoint.
Look at the lines coming off the roof on the rear pillar, the waist line and the lights. It's a jumble of curves and straigtlines at different angles.

[crisis]

I disagree Crisi.
Despite his 'brief' the car is full of angles and curves that don't match.
2nd year design students are taught the importance of 'connecting' shapes to be pleasing.
Bangle is the equivalent of Stockhausen in music.
Some will say how wonderful it is, but it sounds horrible and is only appreciated from an academic viewpoint.
Look at the lines coming off the roof on the rear pillar, the waist line and the lights. It's a jumble of curves and straigtlines at different angles.

I agree it looks like shit. But I cant believe he had the only say in the final product unless he had candid photos of other BMW board memebers in compromising positions.

[Batmobile_Turbo]

the only good part of Bangle Beemers are the interiors, which are extremely superb, but as wonderfulas they are, they can't make up for the uglyness of the car. the new BMWs are great cars in terms of performance and engineering are still good too.

[Spastik_Roach]

I like the Z4 once I saw it in the flesh I found it to be a very attractive car. I also like the new 5 series. 7 Series.........well.. for me it dpeends what colour the car is it I don't think it looks that good in silver but it looks very nice in black. I've included a picture that shows that the new 7 series can look totally awesome.

AC Schnitzer 7 Series

AC Schnitzer 7 Series Rear

[crisis]

I like the Z4 once I saw it in the flesh I found it to be a very attractive car. I also like the new 5 series. 7 Series.........well.. for me it dpeends what colour the car is it I don't think it looks that good in silver but it looks very nice in black. I've included a picture that shows that the new 7 series can look totally awesome.

AC Schnitzer 7 Series

AC Schnitzer 7 Series Rear

The rear spoiler helps alleviate the taxi look of the boot but it doesnt help the bits and peices look of the lights.
The back of the 7 series in standard form has to be the worst manifestation of the Bangle design philosophy of any BMW. It takes what was once a highly desirable car and makes it something I personally would never want to own.

[Dino Scuderia]

Bangle has been hired or rehired to head up BMW's design office, sounds like a company that doesn't have a sound direction.

Personally I don't like most of what he has done. I like the Z4 except for the interior, it looks like a Buick compared to the MZ3.

I think the design theme comes close to working on the 7

The 5 is horrible and a disgrace to BMW's history of the 5, it looks like Kia. The head light and tail light treatment is cheesy at best.

The 6 is horrible too, it's bland and the trunk looks like something was stuck to the body that wasn't made for it. The front end is alright, it is a close resemblance to the Z4.

So I suppose we can look forward to more Mangled designs.

[CarlM]

The 5 series looks Japanese, and the 6 series's bootlid isn't very attractive either.

[Dubiousmeans]

Bangle has been hired or rehired to head up BMW's design office, sounds like a company that doesn't have a sound direction.

Personally I don't like most of what he has done. I like the Z4 except for the interior, it looks like a Buick compared to the MZ3.

I think the design theme comes close to working on the 7

The 5 is horrible and a disgrace to BMW's history of the 5, it looks like Kia. The head light and tail light treatment is cheesy at best.

The 6 is horrible too, it's bland and the trunk looks like something was stuck to the body that wasn't made for it. The front end is alright, it is a close resemblance to the Z4.

So I suppose we can look forward to more Mangled designs.

I basically agree with these statements. I currently own a white 2004 325ci. This is my 4th BMW. I have been impressed with the design trends up to my current car in the 3 series. I severely dislike the new 7 exterior in general and to a lesser degree, the new 5. In fact I was hoping to buy the 5 this year but couldn't get over the distasteful headlights and rear trunk design. Having researched the current and known future model designs, I cannot see myself in any future model at this time. I am truly distressed that my longstanding favorite brand is going too far outside the box like Ford did with the Taurus in the 1990's. Look what happened to them! Please BMW stop these design mistakes and restore your current customers confidence!

[VtecMini]

Latest BMW cars...

7 series... yuck yuck. Didn't like it on paper. Don't like it in the flesh. One came by me the other day as I was walking to a friend's house. I didn't like it at all, but there was something about the way this huge aircraft-carrier-on-wheels-type-thing just kinda wafted by that sort of impressed me. Can't really put my finger on it though.

5 series... Looks better in the flesh than it does on paper, I saw one parked up the other day in black. Didn't look half as bad as I'd imagined, though the black probably hides some of the nasty lines.

6 series... yuck yuck yuck yuck. I don't get it at all. In my humble opinion it's probably the worst looking BMW to date, though maybe it looks better in real life, I've yet to find out.

Z4... Didn't like it one iota at first. Then I saw a few on the roads and they've kinda grown on me. I think what they were trying to achieve with the car was something that got as far away from the Z3's nasty hairdresser car image as possible. (I could be wrong, it might not be the case outside GB, but over here they have a reputation as a hairdressers transport). With it's muscular and highly aggressive look, I think it's mission accomplished.

1 Series... Still can't decide on this one. I can't help but think that it actually looks really generic hatchback. Which isn't really what we've come to expect of the new models!

2 Series... Haven't seen that many pictures, but the ones that I have seen, I think I like.

3 Series... There was a pic of the new M3 Concept in AutoExpress a week or so ago. Although it's not really much to go on, I thought it looked absolutely ace. Aggressive and muscular as hell. Can't wait to see more. If anyone knows where there's pics of it on the net or someone with a scanner and the aforementioned issue of autoexpress who wants to scan it, that'd be good. Obviously im assuming theres no threads about this already. If there is I apologise)

X3... *yawn* small X5. Don't think it really falls into the new design direction anyway.

(Just found this. Not sure if it's a proper pic, the site it's on is in russian )
http://www.autoreview.ru/new_site/ye...lustration.jpg

[straight six]

i have something to tell , that all of these new designs by mr Bangle has nothing related to a BMW , may some people like it but it is not a BMW anymore,it can be a nice Nissan or Toyota,me my self im an owner of bmws since 1986 e30 ,then e36 and finally e46 328i,and im really can't imagine my self owning any other car , but i really hate all of da new designs,i have something to tell mr Bangle which is changing the way of cars doesn't mean to change da idea of bmw it self , look to da benz they did a whole new designs for thier cars but with da same philosophy and simplicity,so well done.

sice long time ago and a BMW means brings me women,now im afraid it 'll be a big money waste .

And i really wish that da coming 3 series 'll be not as ugly as the current family,and stop destroying BMW....

[junaman]

The old design was a solid design of perfect luxury car.
Now BMW have gone and turned it into retro style.
What for?????

[Coventrysucks]

How can any of BMW's current designs be described as retro?
They are totally unique, and share little with anything that has gone before.

Bangle has been hired or rehired to head up BMW's design office, sounds like a company that doesn't have a sound direction.

Bangle was hired just the once by BMW, two years after they started looking for Claus Luthe's replacement.

That is quite some time to find the right person for the job, it's not like there aren't enough designers.

BMW's 'pre Bangle' cars were nice looking, but were evolutions of existing designs, and had got to a stage where they could not evolve any further, and still be contemperary enough to compete with Mercedes, Audi etc.

So BMW decided to change their image.
People wanted them to have new designs, and when they got new designs, people suddenly wanted the old designs back.