Is Haris right? Was Chris Bangle a prophet??

[RDMcG]

http://jalopnik.com/we-were-all-wrong-chris-bangle...

I recall having dinner with Chris Bangle in New Orleans just before the redesigned 5 and 6 came out. The guy was pretty hypnotic in terms of his logic and I really had no intelligent way to counter him, but in the end I did serially buy a 645ci and an M6. At the time I recall how many people just loathed these cars, how much abuse I took from my mates. "what's next, a Aztek??" I was asked... and recalled Bangle actually defending the original Aztek design and saying it had been ruined by the production people.
I do think the M6 has aged surprisingly well...the thing has aggressiveness and character and looks like nothing else. Interesting perspective from Chris Harris.

[RDMcG]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Very good point. After having had about a dozen BMWs,including the sublime E39 M5, once the F series came out I thought it was not inelegant, but bland enough that you could put a Kia or Lexus trim on it and not really notice the difference.
My departure from BMW was partly not liking the new styling, but also the death of the true M cars with completely separate and unique engines. I knew when I picked up the M6 that my very first V10 would likely be my last, and so it was.

Admittedly the new safety regulations today have created these blunt-nosed monsters in order to meet the requirement for pedestrian safety, but neither BMW nor Mercedes styling these days does anything for me. I have my old R230 SL in the garage, and to me it looks a whole lots better than the current fishy maw of the current car.