New 5 series

[kdevitt]

Personally speaking - the current pre-LCI 5er was the only car in their lineup which I really liked. The LCI version loooked a bit too much like a Skoda for my liking. Anyway, looks like the new 5er has had a whack of the BMW design headquarters ugly stick. That rear quarter is particularly offensive.

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[Mac]

I know E60 polarized opinion on release and people came to it over time.
I cant see the same happening here and true for you, the rear quarter is terrible.

[mikerd4]

Ill go against the crowd and say I actually quite like it the frontal proportions look much better than the 7 and the grill not as crazy as the 3 series. That said the boot depth looks out of proportion and in those pics it looks like the GT yoke they used to make

[kdevitt]

I know E60 polarized opinion on release and people came to it over time.
I cant see the same happening here and true for you, the rear quarter is terrible.

E60 was never a good looking car imo, still isn't - also had probably one of the worst interiors they've every produced. BMW saw sense with the F10 and got rid of every single E60 design cue.

No diesels at all in this range by the way.

[bloke]

No 520d? What's that mean for Ireland? A national day of mourning? A commemorative day and lowering of the flags to half mast at the very least.

[kdevitt]

No 520d? What's that mean for Ireland? A national day of mourning? A commemorative day and lowering of the flags to half mast at the very least.

530e is the new 520d don't you know!

[Cold]

I'd say most will be black to try to tone down the design. It seems to the be solution for those who want to stick with BMW.

It seems all the pictures are of the i5. It's obviously typically EV tall and has the typical large wheels and creases to try to hide it. I'm not sure if the ICE versions are sleeker or if they have the same floor in all of them. I'm pretty sure the i4 is a good bit taller than a "normal" 3-series for example.

It's a bit blobby like all EVs but it looks decent in red with some black detailing and the grille isn't overwhelmingly awful. I think it looks decent enough by BMW standards tbh. I'm sure it will sell well to the legions of 5-series drivers out there.

[kdevitt]

Spec it in black, and drive it only when it’s dark and it might look ok!

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[Cold]

I don't think it will matter. BMW's sell no matter what they look like. The Chinese seem to like them a lot as well which probably matters more than us. They're also built in China I think?

[kdevitt]

I don't think it will matter. BMW's sell no matter what they look like. The Chinese seem to like them a lot as well which probably matters more than us. They're also built in China I think?

Oh, BMW have been crystal clear that their target market is Asia. Europe is essentially irrelevant, and Ireland even more so. Wasn't so long back that we were all switching to diesels, while BMW were having to apologise for not being able to produce enough 6.0 V12's to keep up with demand for the Chinese market.

Anyway, I don't think anyones suggesting they won't sell - after all ugly cars have been selling for decades.

[Cold]

I’m maybe overthinking this but I have genuinely wondered how BMW can get away with their designs. The idea is clearly not for the cars to be good looking so what is it? Unique, imposing, aggressive, just plain weird for the sake of it, it doesn’t seem to matter so we got a child to draw it, …? But they have a very loyal following so it does work, even if it’s puzzling for me.

I have a theory, that I’m not sure stands up to scrutiny, that they are segregating their offerings with the very ugly EVs being particularly aimed at China (eg iX and i7) and ICE being more geared towards Europe and US and those cars are a bit more dialled down.

[kdevitt]

I’m maybe overthinking this but I have genuinely wondered how BMW can get away with their designs. The idea is clearly not for the cars to be good looking so what is it? Unique, imposing, aggressive, just plain weird for the sake of it, it doesn’t seem to matter so we got a child to draw it, …? But they have a very loyal following so it does work, even if it’s puzzling for me.

I have a theory, that I’m not sure stands up to scrutiny, that they are segregating their offerings with the very ugly EVs being particularly aimed at China (eg iX and i7) and ICE being more geared towards Europe and US and those cars are a bit more dialled down.

Being based in APAC for a few years gave me plenty of time when sitting around in airports to read interviews with Adrian Van Hooydonk in terms of just how much they were prioritising Asia. In essence, what you're saying tallied out with what he was saying. The Asian market likes cars that are more out there - people want to show off their wealth, and having a subtle car doesn't allow them to do that - so they needed to respond to that by making their cars as ostentatious as possible.

So all subtledy was to go out the window. I think his quote was basically that 50% of the current buyers will hate them, but tough. So I can see why they're making them - as they can sell loads to China etc. I can also understand why someone here, who wasn't previously a fan of BMW's would buy them - but someone who was a fan of the E34, E39 etc suddently stepping into something like this baffles me.

[mikerd4]

Might be aimed at the Chinese market but according to the business roundup this morning German exports to china have slumped and car sales was one of them listed.

[Peter-E36]

Might be aimed at the Chinese market but according to the business roundup this morning German exports to china have slumped and car sales was one of them listed.

Good! Maybe that means we'll finally have good looking BMWs again...

[Cold]

I did read somewhere that BMW had one of the busiest stands at the recent Shanghai show and most other European stands were empty. So I wouldn’t get my hopes up.

The i5 is going to be like €90k here by the way. So maybe not a 520d upgrade exactly. Maybe German exports to Ireland are about to fall too.