BMW styling

Author
Discussion

lockhart flawse

Original Poster:

2,040 posts

234 months

Tuesday 14th March 2023
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I was sitting in traffic today next to a new BMW 420i (I think). It was green with a sort of dark red/plum interior and I thought it looked fab but then I saw the front. I guess we will get used to the looks but by any measure I would have thought you could only think it was absolutely gopping, like it has been taken from another car entirely.

Do buyers think it looks good or the rest of the car looks great and I can overlook the front or, they agree that it's hideous but it doesnt stop me buying one?

Is the bluff front end styled that way because they want it to look like that or is it performing some function?

James_33

545 posts

65 months

Tuesday 14th March 2023
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I suppose it's all relative isn't it really, for every person who thinks they look crap, someone will think they look great.

RazerSauber

2,262 posts

59 months

Tuesday 14th March 2023
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Apparently it's to please the influx of Chinese owners who want more premium cars since that's a rapidly growing market. How true that is I can't say.

AlexIT

1,483 posts

137 months

Tuesday 14th March 2023
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James_33 said:
I suppose it's all relative isn't it really, for every person who thinks they look crap, someone will think they look greatreally crap.
FTFY wink

MitchT

15,789 posts

208 months

Tuesday 14th March 2023
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To my eye, each portion of the new 4 Series Coupé looks like it was designed by a different person and none of the collective group actually communicated with each other during the process. They just presented their own bit at the end and they were all glued together. It's like a design exercise from The Apprentice. The 4 Series Gran Coupé looks a whole lot tidier but neither a have the pleasing linear flow of the F32 4 Series.

toon10

6,140 posts

156 months

Tuesday 14th March 2023
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I'm a massive BMW fan and have had a few over the years but there's less and less in their range now that I would consider based on looks alone. The new M3 and M3 touring are awful. They are getting rave reviews as drivers cars but apart from the rear end, they just look wrong from any other angle. With the new 4 series, you can appreciate just how spot on they got the old generation when you look at the new one. It's uglier in pretty much every way.

It's not just the exterior. I appreciate that all manufacturers are going down the digital route so BMW has to keep up but those new slabs of screen glued to the dashboard are terrible. I may be an old fart but I long for the days of clear, round, analogue dials that made the older cars so much more ergonomic, simple to use and more driver focused.

MitchT

15,789 posts

208 months

Tuesday 14th March 2023
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toon10 said:
I appreciate that all manufacturers are going down the digital route so BMW has to keep up but those new slabs of screen glued to the dashboard are terrible.
Those things do look truly hideous! They just look like a plank stuck on top of the dashboard and propped up at the back with a little stick at each end. They've made no effort at all to make it look like it's a part of the dashboard. There are some early 3 and 4 series of that generation with a proper instrument binnacle, but at some point they adopted the "plank" that the i4 has.

steve_n

382 posts

201 months

Tuesday 14th March 2023
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toon10 said:
I'm a massive BMW fan and have had a few over the years but there's less and less in their range now that I would consider based on looks alone. The new M3 and M3 touring are awful. They are getting rave reviews as drivers cars but apart from the rear end, they just look wrong from any other angle. With the new 4 series, you can appreciate just how spot on they got the old generation when you look at the new one. It's uglier in pretty much every way.

It's not just the exterior. I appreciate that all manufacturers are going down the digital route so BMW has to keep up but those new slabs of screen glued to the dashboard are terrible. I may be an old fart but I long for the days of clear, round, analogue dials that made the older cars so much more ergonomic, simple to use and more driver focused.
I echo these sentiments. To that end I bought a 2011 F11 last year.

TarquinMX5

1,919 posts

79 months

Tuesday 14th March 2023
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BMW styling? I think that you're mistaken.

I wasn't aware that the fronts of the newer ones had been styled, I had assumed that BMW had held competitions for their local primary schools to design something and the winners' results were then grafted on to what the stylists had done for the remainder of the cars and then they'd been put into production.

Do you seriously expect me to believe that they really were styled?





Court_S

12,764 posts

176 months

Wednesday 15th March 2023
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MitchT said:
To my eye, each portion of the new 4 Series Coupé looks like it was designed by a different person and none of the collective group actually communicated with each other during the process. They just presented their own bit at the end and they were all glued together. It's like a design exercise from The Apprentice. The 4 Series Gran Coupé looks a whole lot tidier but neither a have the pleasing linear flow of the F32 4 Series.
This.

The grilles aren’t actually the worst bit for me; they’re huge and the side profile is awkward. There is a huge expanse of metal above the rear wheels that make them look tiny and make the car look slab sided and very heavy. It’s not cohesive at all.

Given how many I see around, I’m either in the minority or people just don’t care as long as the badge / price are right.

Court_S

12,764 posts

176 months

Wednesday 15th March 2023
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MitchT said:
toon10 said:
I appreciate that all manufacturers are going down the digital route so BMW has to keep up but those new slabs of screen glued to the dashboard are terrible.
Those things do look truly hideous! They just look like a plank stuck on top of the dashboard and propped up at the back with a little stick at each end. They've made no effort at all to make it look like it's a part of the dashboard. There are some early 3 and 4 series of that generation with a proper instrument binnacle, but at some point they adopted the "plank" that the i4 has.
In that regards the pre facelift cars are better because they actually had buttons. I had a pre facelift G20 courtesy car for a week and the interior was a strong point for me. Not so sure now they’ve moved to the i4 set up.

I-am-the-reverend

634 posts

34 months

Wednesday 15th March 2023
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They're sort of okayish in isolation. But just when I think it's not too bad, an original 4 Series hoves into view - what a pretty car that was. I saw a grey metallic 325Ci M Sport in traffic yesterday - it looked so neat and compact, not a line or detail out of place.

The 5 Series saloon is quite handsome but BMW have done their best to ruin it with the horrid grille restyle.

I won't be buying any of them so........

RedWhiteMonkey

6,807 posts

181 months

Wednesday 15th March 2023
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Never mind the challenging looks, I find the BMW range really confusing. I used to be able to tell what series a BMW was but now with new ones I am not so sure.

bmwmike

6,918 posts

107 months

Wednesday 15th March 2023
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RedWhiteMonkey said:
Never mind the challenging looks, I find the BMW range really confusing. I used to be able to tell what series a BMW was but now with new ones I am not so sure.
Same here - i was driving behind a vauxhall (or maybe Kia - honestly can't recall) SUV crossover thingie the other day and thought gosh they've copied bmw styling there. Then i realised it was actually a bmw, that looks to have copied <insert other brand> styling. Its all starting to look rather same same out there on the roads these days.

Locknut

653 posts

136 months

Thursday 16th March 2023
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I think BMW have lost their way. They made their name making "sports saloons" and almost all of them were handsome beasts. Look at what they are selling now... SUVs and 4 x 4s. They still have some saloons but they are adding insult to injury by plastering them with those horrible grills.

Raccaccoonie

2,797 posts

18 months

Thursday 16th March 2023
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RazerSauber said:
Apparently it's to please the influx of Chinese owners who want more premium cars since that's a rapidly growing market. How true that is I can't say.
"In 2021, almost 40% of BMW’s sales came from China."

They wil end up selling more in China than the whole of Europe. So conservative restrained designs out the window, for brash shows of wealth, in. And can only imagine the beaver teeth design will get worse.

deutsche.diagnostics

152 posts

12 months

Thursday 16th March 2023
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Why can't they simply offer a different bumper/grille design as an option?

Third parties had some really good looking designs when these grilles first appeared. Not sure if they ever made them?

I have had over 30 BMWs over the years, but will not buy one with this new beaver look. I know a lot of people are also worried what the new 3 and 5 series are going to be, their current car could be their last BMW.

Even friends who have bought them all say "I'm sure it will grow on me." That just seems weird to me, to buy something you hope you will like the look of over time.

But I guess if nothing else offers you what you want from a car drive wise, maybe it is the lesser evil?






dan98

728 posts

112 months

Thursday 16th March 2023
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BMW literally couldn’t give a monkeys about the average British car enthusiast - it’s a niche within a niche within a niche of their very tightly defined prospect for future survival.

And an awkward one at that- demanding right hand drive and a peculiar suspension set up.

I’m not sure why the penny still hasn’t dropped yet amongst the locals as to why they’re so goppingly inappropriate to look at these days.

deutsche.diagnostics

152 posts

12 months

Friday 17th March 2023
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4th biggest market, but only 6.5% of sales.

But still 145,000 cars.


But yeah, when China is 33% of the market I guess they come first.

USA 14.5% and Germany 10.5%.



I find the prices of new cars crazy now, so I'm no longer their target audience anyway.


I-am-the-reverend

634 posts

34 months

Saturday 18th March 2023
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deutsche.diagnostics said:
But yeah, when China is 33% of the market I guess they come first.
Yes - depending on how long that lasts.