Dear BMW

Remember when we hated the Bangle BMWs? What little did we know.

In reply to infinitenexus :

I saw this the other day and I was like WHAT THE berkeley IS THAT!??? I thought it was going to be some E36 M3ty chinese or start up EV or something. I looked it up and saw it was a 7 series BMW and immediate facepalm. How hideous. A Hyundai looks better. 

infinitenexus said:

leodicapriosquintingmeme.jpg

iansane said:

infinitenexus said:

leodicapriosquintingmeme.jpg

Ultimate NPC Experience. 

Appleseed said:

Remember when we hated the Bangle BMWs? What little did we know.

We weren't wrong, either.

So Ford made the Edsel. Not a handsome car. Many lamented it was terrible. Then AMC made the Pacer and people thought they'd seen the pinnacle of ugliness. Sadly they were wrong. Pontiac made the Aztec and while it had some merits was a pretty godawful thing to behold. Then Nissan said "Hold my sake" and out came the Jike and the Murano convertible. "ah!" said the people, "we have now seen the worst mankind can produce. It cannot be made any more hideous than this." Then Honda released the Civic type R with lines and creases and wings with wings. "Yep, the JApanese have lost their E36 M3 for sure. This is it folks".

I'm here to say there is nothing that can come out now that makes the current crop of BMW's look as good as a well cared for Aztec. This my friends is the true summit of suck. The pinnacle of puke. Relax Aztec, Juke and friends. You have easily been replaced.

Appleseed said:

Remember when we hated the Bangle BMWs? What little did we know.

I owe Bangle a sincere apology. I mean, he did start the downward trend but I don't think even he could have imagined this level of suckitude.

We may own the last BMW I will ever purchase, a 2015 X5 diesel.   This is a great vehicle.  Looks good, great mileage and the torque is incredible.

This company has lost its way.  Time to get my 2002 back on the road, Mr. Davis was right about the driving thing.  Has it really been down hill from the beginning? 

BMW is approaching Nissan in terms of a fall from grace.

I used to LOVE bimmers. Now I think they look better when they've been crashed.

Aesthetics are just another in a long list of reasons I won't buy a BMW. 

In reply to bobzilla :

Arguing aesthetics is a fools errand, but for the most part I'm a Bangle fan and always have been. He laid some turds, but mainly for other marques (1998 Rover 75 for one).

From what I've read, this design is aimed squarely at China. I think China, as a society, being ostentatious references to wealth and class. So, when you see this thing you think these people are loaded. 

I think our society could care less what it looks like. It's a BMW!

<hurls>

CyberEric said:

BMW is approaching Nissan in terms of a fall from grace.

I used to LOVE bimmers. Now I think they look better when they've been crashed.

Both brands have reliability that matches their styling. There is no reason to buy products from either of these brands anymore.

In reply to Shadeux :

It absolutely is, and has been for almost a decade. New Money China is driving most of the styling among luxury and near-luxury brands.

As bad as the styling is, that huge grill even lights up so you can see its ugliness at night.  The most disappointing part of it to me is its the first ground up car from the m division since the m1 & press releases talk about the passenger experience.  It's got a lot of power & the use of super capacitors is cool, but it is obvious that bmw m is no longer for motorsports.

Frank Stephenson did a styling review on YT of a new BMW like 3 years ago - can't remember the model - and after he thoroughly trashed the design from the front and the side views, he said "Maybe it will be better from the rear... <rear view appears> ... No.  No it isn't."

After posting that picture of the new 7 series yesterday, I saw one in traffic a few hours later. Holy carp it was hideous. 

Each day I become more and more convinced that BMW hasn't really made any good cars since around 2012ish or so. They seem to be getting worse with each generation.

It looks like they asked Chat GPT to design it.

I can remember when BMWs were aspirational cars for me. When a 6-series coupe was a beautiful thing to behold. Now, I want Kias instead......how the mighty have fallen.

It's disappointing to know that this will likely be my last BMW as the new stuff just doesn't speak to me and is way out of budget anyway.  What a difference 25 years makes in design. 
 

Amazing that Bangle got flak for siring this:

And they went on to craft new cars that look like big mouth bass and think it is an improvement!

You can even buy an after market body kit for an E60 M5 that came from the factory like this

and turn it into this!

infinitenexus said:

Each day I become more and more convinced that BMW hasn't really made any good cars since around 2012ish or so. They seem to be getting worse with each generation.

The last M5 is gorgeous. 





GRM article
 

I've always blamed the trend towards chunky lines and high beltlines on the desire to look and feel "safe" and "formidable". Assuming that this trend is driven by the Chinese market, I wonder what the underlying emotional reasoning is?

Does BMW sell the majority of their cars to China?  USA used to be their biggest market, has China actually surpassed the US already in actual sales?