Next Gen M5
- Thread starter Vip_449
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I agree TsLeng. On the road, the new BMWs are quite beautiful.
That Concept M5 looks wonderful.
That Concept M5 looks wonderful.
Sage
Staff Emeritus
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And I'll ditto the ditto – The first time I saw a Bangle 5-series on the road, I thought "Crap, that looks niice!". It really does look so much better in person. I wish though that one of the locals in my town hadn't bought one in chilli-turd brown.
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Nope, I still hate 'em, in pictures and in real life. In the direct rear elevation shot above, I actually like it. Too bad you'll never see than view IRL. From the front it's tolerable at absolute best, and from the side it's just bloody awful.
I still think we should lynch the precious little bastard.
I still think we should lynch the precious little bastard.
///M-Spec
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A properly engineered 90 degree cross plane V8, like the M5's can be just as smooth as a 72 degree V10.
However, the heavy counter-weights in the V8 will limit ultimate performance. The V10 also requires a balancer shaft, but is inherently smoother and can achieve less rotational friction and inertia.
Don't know yet. It is expensive to make, so I doubt it will "trickle down" to non-M BMWs. If BMW decides to make an M version of the Z4 (aka New M Roadster), it would be a perfect fit. The motor could also find its way into the 1 or 2 series (aka M2), but I doubt it.
There is increasing rumblings of a turbocharged, valvetronic (no throttle bodies) 3.0 liter M56 going into the 530i and 330i/Ci. This motor is supposed to be good for 280 hp in low boost form. If this turns out to be true, then the S54 will probably be retired.
M
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What hideous lighting.
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Because there isn't any stylistic improvement. There's just change for its own sake.
I design things for a living. I understand the process a little. Many of today's cars bear the marks of being translated directly from concept sketch to finished product, with no refinement and development in the details. Mistubishi's newest cars - the Evo VIII being a conspicuous exception - bear this effect the worst. It's like the first thing they threw on paper is what they ran with, and it shows.
Bangle's designs aren't quite that way, but almost. When you're an architect, you can look at certain buildings and imagine exactly what the rendering looked like that they used to sell the client on the design. You can picture the sketchy happy families walking towards their not-quite-identifiable generic sedan or SUV, and the flags waving in the background, and warm fuzzy markers they used to color it. You kind of automatically imagine the green lollipop trees and the weird blobby blue sky with the random lines through it.
That's what Bangle's designs are like for cars. You can instantly picture the concept sketches he presented to Board of Directors: oversized wheels with a thin strip of rubber around, zero suspension travel, a sort of sky-blue-to-pale-yellow fade down the sides so they look like the body is solid chrome, dark windows, a lot of odd, swoopy action lines slashed across it in a black felt tip to make it look jazzy and fast, and some odd sketchy things at each corner to suggest the lights (really just there to visually anchor the edges of the drawing, but it turns out you need something there anyway, lucky Chris).
The difference between the new Mitsus and the new BMWs is that Bangle has a whole bag full of little ultra-cool detail ideas that he's in love with, and has spent too many sleepless nights picturing in his own head, and overdesigning while he waits for somebody to sell them to. And now that he's found a buyer, he's going to dump as many of them onto the cars as he can while he has the chance.
But the basic proportions of the cars are just mediocre at best. Look at the clunky roofline on that 5. There's no fundamental, organizing theme. It's the "decorated shed" school of building design, applied to cars.
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I guess the only thing I'd change is the grille. I would've made it more straight and angular. The way the top lines are curves doesn't sit quite right with me. It'd look better straight accross, or maybe curved down toward the center split. But I can overlook that. There isn't a single car I couldn't improve in some way, in my own mind anyway.
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It doesn't look remotely similar. And if it is (and you'd know much better than I), it doesn't fit this car at all.Originally posted by ///M-Spec
The roofline is one of the few things carried over from the previous generation.
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Bangles designs look OK in print, as neon_duke said, but they are way too cartoony when you see them on the street. The Z4, in particular, looks like you are driving a garishly rebodied Fiero. Why would you want to pay 35 grand for that?
Take a look at the 8-series and you see what BMW design was, and should have stayed. Clean, muscular, purposeful lines. And an upright, even forward-sloped, grille that says **** the wind tunnel and gives the kind of musclular stance that only '60's and '70's musclecars had.
Take a look at the 8-series and you see what BMW design was, and should have stayed. Clean, muscular, purposeful lines. And an upright, even forward-sloped, grille that says **** the wind tunnel and gives the kind of musclular stance that only '60's and '70's musclecars had.
