BMW 4 Series.... BMW is back!

Agree but logically it does make sense (It didn’t to me until it was explained from a buddy at BMW)

5 series = 4DR
6 series = 2DR
7 series = 4DR
8 series = 2DR

So it makes sense to make the 3 series a 4DR and the 4 series a 2DR following the pattern… I would assume the 1 series will become a 4DR as well and the introduction of the 2 will come later on.

It doesn’t make as much sense when you think about the fact that the 6 series now has a 4 door “Gran Coupe”, and the 1 series will still remain a 2 door but a hatchback (Which we probably won’t ever get in the US) so the 2 series will be a convertible.

It started off logical, but then became a bit murky.

Damn Marketeers…

I’m liking the direction.

I feel the current z4 is just too bland, as with the current 5 and 6 series. The new 7 series I admit is an improvement. Overall it felt like there was a watering down of the Bangle line to make it more palatable. This 4 series, and the 3 series, as well as the “i” cars feel like VanHooydonk evolving to a bolder language again. I’m liking it.

Really enjoying this handle detail. Says “aviation” to me.

It has a really mean face, both coming and going!

The vent BS on the front wheel fender is pretty bad. Feels like a marketing requirement.

Anyone else seeing a little recent Jag feel in the profile shot in the doorway? I think it’s the vent that does it, but also the position of the wheels and the shape of the hood.

Like the new XK’s… Just a little hint of it.

My thoughts exactly. That was actually the first photo I saw in the thread (mouse wheel went too quick for me), and I thought it was someone responding with “that BMW looks like this Jag here”.

Come to find out that Jag was the BMW.

Not a terrible thing I suppose, but the likeness is absolutely there. Mainly the hood shape for me, that vent just adds to it.

Had the same impression, for China.

A great iteration on the ever same 3series theme, that we have seen since E36 times.

I like it a lot. Proportion and fluidity of the sculpting are spot on.

It puzzles me though, how the “vent” went into the front fender. From some angles it
looks like a scar that was knifed into the clay at late hours after a VP meeting.

Not sure if marketing is really to blame for that again. I am sure a designer knifed it
in. When cooking, one of the most difficult things is keeping a recipy clean and not getting
carried away with what you are doing.

As far as the door “handles” are concerned. Those won’t make it into production, but are
a nice bow to the southern neighbour.

I think this is where they stole that stylin’ side vent:

Love the detailing going on in the head and taillights, BMW designer Hussein Alattar posted a development sketch over on his tumblr hopefully he’ll be posting more work.

I like the layering that is going on with the headlights, the way the hood looks like it overlaps or leaves a gap to the lamp lenses. It feels more material, treating the sheet metal as such, rather than sculpting an abstract form.

A bit awkward how the grille, sheet metal of the hood and the headlights all join together in that corner. But I couldn’t agree more about the beauty of the gap between the lamp housing and the hood. Architecturally inspired, clever, great looking. You can really imagine how that would feel to run your hand down the edge of.

Something even more wild…BMW i8

Seems like the front has been toned down. The windshield no longer goes all the way down the hood (expected), the doors are no longer glass (expected). However, it seems like they’ve kept the funky flying C-pillar and weird tail lights.

I don’t like the direction BMW is going. I thought these i cars were just silly concepts…

I’m not sure who is responsible, but BMW moving towards a design style that looks like it was made by a gundam influenced 10 year old boy to me just seems wrong. What happened to the refined teutonic rationalism. Hyandui is more BMW than BMW these days.

/sigh.

R

I hear you, R. I guess the ultimate driving machine of the future is an organic alien feline shape. I think this design is pretty sweet on its own. I wish one of the classic German brands would go back to simplicity and geometry, though.

I am also glad it’s not too Ashton Martin inspired. I’m a bit disappointed in Ford for going more Ashton/Hyundai hybrid (seen the new escape?). Although, I saw a new fusion in person the other day and it looked quite nice. Ford felt like a nice blend of ordinary and fresh, but now it’s gravitating toward everything else.

I wish BMW or Ford would make simple shaped cars, like the Flex. Basic shape, cool grille details, etc. Or Dodge for that matter. It just feels like such an opportunity if you do it right. I don’t want to drive an insectoid alien spaceship, just a car!

I think the I series cars are purposely going into left field. I think they’re realizing if you’re in the market for a high end electric vehicle you want to feel like you’re driving a space ship, and I don’t blame them.

I love the conservative stance that Audi has taken, and I think if you look at the general BMW lineup (The 3, 5, 7 series) they’ve actually brought the cars back from a lot of the flame surfacing and other things that Bangle-era haters despised. They’ve kept the surfacing very simple and while there are still some surfacing details, they don’t overpower (I don’t like the vents in particular, but thats a new element they’ve introduced going forward on some vehicles).

I think if you look at the rest of the cars they’ve done a nice job of keeping their elements without over surfacing them like Hyundai has gone and done. I think the Hyundai language actually works rather well in most cases.

There’s always 2 ends of design and the Flex is a nice vehicle, but to some people that’s just painfully boring.

I like what BMW is trying to do with the I because it’s the opposite of what Tesla is trying to do. The Model S is a nice car, that just happens to be electric. The i8 is a space ship that just happens to be a car. I’m glad someone in the mainstream is pushing that boundary.

In 2002 everyone screamed at how much they hated the new 7 series…and a few years later that same back end is on a Toyota Camry. If that doesn’t show that “radical” auto design can push into the mainstream very quickly, I don’t know what will.

R, in your opinion what car best sums up this ‘refined teutonic rationalism’? Are you sure that was the driving factor in the design of the car, or could it have been a limitation of the technology at the time? And is this ‘rationalism’ inherent in the styling itself, or combined with the marketing/brand associations one might have with German cars?