- 7,944
- Wreckage, Turn 1
- PrecisionXCIV
Another leak of the 4-Series.
https://www.bmwblog.com/2020/02/05/...s-coupe-photos-leak-ahead-of-official-reveal/
BMW 3-Series (G20) / M3 (G80) / 4-Series / M4
- Thread starter ProjectWHaT
- 643 comments
- 67,654 views
- 1,591
- United Kingdom
- VulcanSpirit
BMW: "Are you sure about that?"The all electric i4 will still have trim on the front outlining the grille, but it will be solid, a bit like the concept...
(Yes, the pre-production i4 was unveiled this morning.)
- 17,115
- United Kingdom
- 3,926
- Null Island
- 17,855
- Florida
- GranTurismo0517
- RandomCarGuy17
Now that I think of it, that 4-Series design makes me think of the 3.0 CSL Concept shown a while back:
Though, it seems like the designer took the design concept here and then just decided to ruin it.
Though, it seems like the designer took the design concept here and then just decided to ruin it.
- 3,738
- Elizabeth, New Jersey, USA
I thought the 3.0CSL Hommage concept looked ugly when it came out, but seeing how the upcoming M4 is looking... I’d take the 3.0CSL in a heartbeat. Five years later, it doesn’t even look half bad.Now that I think of it, that 4-Series design makes me think of the 3.0 CSL Concept shown a while back:
Though, it seems like the designer took the design concept here and then just decided to ruin it.
- 1,965
- wocsoM
Right, this'll be just a diatribe I take it, but grille design theory, they looked at that X-Class concept from a while ago and were confused when people said the X-Class looked like an angry pig, so they made a BMW that's exactly one.
With Carscoops' article stating "2021 BMW M3 / M4’s Massive Nostrils Can Sniff AMGs From Miles Away", a pretty apt and on the spot descrpition.
But it's also not much of a grille theory without looking at some previous vehicles to see how their grilles worked on them, including the above CSL Hommage
Which, while the CSL Hommage grille is fairly big, it's also not so massive that it touches the bottom of the car, and generally has more curvature closer to the lights, leading to a moderately more appealing design,even if it is still inferior to the old CSL
Though another point to bring up, is that, the 2021 3/4 grille generally, does not match the width presented by the car itself
For example, let's take this old peculiarly-not-a-BMW model
It's a fairly decent design, but the way its nose is shaped is what gives credence to the tall kidney grilles on it, and although the new 3/4 k-grilles are wider, the bodywork of said 3/4 absolutely does not match the design the grilles are going for, and would presumably look even more uncanny, if the grilles were thinner.
But, of course, you probably recall that BMW kept using tall grilles on wide noses, like with the 2000 C
Yet whilst unfitting, the difference between the 2021 grille and the grille presented on the 2000 C, is that it's still more moderately proportioned on the 2000 C but it's also mindful of the chrome trim ontop of it, whereas the 2021 BMW's grille basically indents the area between the grille and the hood to fit it, not to mention the whole lower bumper area
That said, I always tended to see more mentions of the 2000 C's sucessor when discussing cars, especially as the CSL hommage was already brought up here, the E9 series.
Regardless of your preference between the standard or the CSL-like trims, the way they dealt with the wider nose is that, instead of increasing the grille's size, they added extra grilles around the lights up to around the point where the original grille is leading to, if you ask me, a better appearance whilist keeping the BMW essence the kidney grille provided
Furthermore, to me, proportionswise the CSL version's "bumper(?)" being mostly smooth gives a nice contrast to the upper front's grilles.
Similarly, let's also bring the other BMW to mesh the tall-ish kidney grille alongside another, wider grille, but a slightly more modern one, the E30.
Unlike the above EMW, 2000 C and E9 the E30 is the first car brought up that's actually related to to the 3-series sets of cars.
With the mixed grilles of the E30 being a distinct design feature, it'd certainly be uncanny to see one with just the kidney grilles.
Later years of cars, as you probably already know, tended to do away with the tall-kidney-grille+wide-grille dynamic, preferring to instead implement a wide kidney grille, with the E36 and E46 preferring to have wider headlights compared to the grille, or the E90 and F30 cars gave a roughly similar width for them.
The "considerably" bigger grilles before this being reserved for the more opulent 6er and 7er cars, but even on the facelifted G11, you could argue that despite the massive size of its grille, it still fits the front of the car fits better than whatever they were thinking for the 2021 3/4 grille, because the facelift-G11's grille is still wider than it is tall.That said I'll use the opportunity to say the E63's grille looks haphazard, remove the chrome trim ontop and move it up to the hood
Basically, wide kidney grilles work better on modern cars than tall roughly-octagonal kidney grilles,or kidney grilles with no sense of space that encroach on the lower bumper area, but I also guess they wanted to Bugatti-ify their designs without being entirely sure how to use the design ethos.
With Carscoops' article stating "2021 BMW M3 / M4’s Massive Nostrils Can Sniff AMGs From Miles Away", a pretty apt and on the spot descrpition.
But it's also not much of a grille theory without looking at some previous vehicles to see how their grilles worked on them, including the above CSL Hommage
Which, while the CSL Hommage grille is fairly big, it's also not so massive that it touches the bottom of the car, and generally has more curvature closer to the lights, leading to a moderately more appealing design,
Though another point to bring up, is that, the 2021 3/4 grille generally, does not match the width presented by the car itself
For example, let's take this old peculiarly-not-a-BMW model
It's a fairly decent design, but the way its nose is shaped is what gives credence to the tall kidney grilles on it, and although the new 3/4 k-grilles are wider, the bodywork of said 3/4 absolutely does not match the design the grilles are going for, and would presumably look even more uncanny, if the grilles were thinner.
But, of course, you probably recall that BMW kept using tall grilles on wide noses, like with the 2000 C
Yet whilst unfitting, the difference between the 2021 grille and the grille presented on the 2000 C, is that it's still more moderately proportioned on the 2000 C but it's also mindful of the chrome trim ontop of it, whereas the 2021 BMW's grille basically indents the area between the grille and the hood to fit it, not to mention the whole lower bumper area
That said, I always tended to see more mentions of the 2000 C's sucessor when discussing cars, especially as the CSL hommage was already brought up here, the E9 series.
Regardless of your preference between the standard or the CSL-like trims, the way they dealt with the wider nose is that, instead of increasing the grille's size, they added extra grilles around the lights up to around the point where the original grille is leading to, if you ask me, a better appearance whilist keeping the BMW essence the kidney grille provided
Furthermore, to me, proportionswise the CSL version's "bumper(?)" being mostly smooth gives a nice contrast to the upper front's grilles.
Similarly, let's also bring the other BMW to mesh the tall-ish kidney grille alongside another, wider grille, but a slightly more modern one, the E30.
With the mixed grilles of the E30 being a distinct design feature, it'd certainly be uncanny to see one with just the kidney grilles.
Later years of cars, as you probably already know, tended to do away with the tall-kidney-grille+wide-grille dynamic, preferring to instead implement a wide kidney grille, with the E36 and E46 preferring to have wider headlights compared to the grille, or the E90 and F30 cars gave a roughly similar width for them.
The "considerably" bigger grilles before this being reserved for the more opulent 6er and 7er cars, but even on the facelifted G11, you could argue that despite the massive size of its grille, it still fits the front of the car fits better than whatever they were thinking for the 2021 3/4 grille, because the facelift-G11's grille is still wider than it is tall.
Basically, wide kidney grilles work better on modern cars than tall roughly-octagonal kidney grilles,
I have always considered the "masked" style of the '70s-'80s to be the most attractive and most "BMW" era of their designs. Other brands had similarly-styled front ends back then, but BMW stuck with it for longer, making it distinctive, not to mention quite elegantly refined by the time of the E30, E34, and E32.
When I think BMW, I don't think of only the two kidney grilles. Consider how recognizable this is: (OO=[][]=OO). The cropped picture @FT-1 posted may as well preview a revived Pontiac Firebird Trans-Am with a callback to its 1970s forebears.
- 15,383
- TRAPPIST-1g
- ProjectWHaT
Nearing production spec
https://www.motorauthority.com/news/1124086_2021-bmw-4-series-coupe-spy-shots-and-video
https://www.motorauthority.com/news/1124086_2021-bmw-4-series-coupe-spy-shots-and-video
- 17,115
- United Kingdom
- 7,944
- Wreckage, Turn 1
- PrecisionXCIV
- 15,383
- TRAPPIST-1g
- ProjectWHaT
I'm really not a fan of the vertical grill. I like the current style that they have on the Z4 and 3 Series much better. It's just too much with it like that
- 13,273
- GTPlanet
- Street-King-07
- Quattro Saltire
The stupid grille ruins what could have potentially been a quietly handsome car.
- 5,897
- Canada
The long, European front licence plate helps to break up the grille a bit. I'd imagine it look worse with the typical North American licence plate aspect ratio, more so for jurisdictions that don't even require a plate on the front.
- 17,855
- Florida
- GranTurismo0517
- RandomCarGuy17
I don't get it, why does BMW want to style the car like that? Who finds a big gaping mouth like that pretty?
- 5,196
- Kuala Lumpur
- CHVRCHES_GTP
I don't actually have issue if they insist on going for the larger grille because at the end I think BMW needs to do something refreshing to their design philosophy. Just that from the render, it appears the larger grille doesn't flow well with the whole design of the front end. The lines and all feels very messy. It'd be much better if it really follows the i4 Concept front end with less lines and creases.
- 15,383
- TRAPPIST-1g
- ProjectWHaT
- 7,944
- Wreckage, Turn 1
- PrecisionXCIV
We've seen the thinly disguised prototype so many times that the shock factor of the big grill is virtually non-existent now. Considering how the reception to the 4-Series could have been if they presented the production car out of the blue, I think BMW is handling the reveal pretty well.
