Very good observations.

But you might missed an important element of design: the whole is greater than the parts. You can talk to no end about how terrible an element is. But the important thing is that it works as a whole.

Distorted, not fully resolved, odd, etc. Are only elements in the whole. Odd to you, but in a few years it will be redesigned to something more distorted and sells for more (just look at the new 3-series backlights, OMG). What's more important: fitting a product to eye-pleasing design elements, or designing a product to its target audience and therefore making the sales? I think the latter is more important in terms of design: package it to sell.

The new styles are aggressive, overdone, bold yet curvy, with streamlines that remind me of the cars from the earlier times of automotive history. Most cars out there are so smoothed out that they just look like an oval.

Heck, the Z4s are looking very good as long as I have the money for it.


And, oh, AAC. Did you read about that article where the snobbish daughter of the boss (her father is kind of like Donald Trump of San Francisco, his name escape me) fired an instructor, but she totally forgot so that guy still taught in ACC, and his coworkers would hide him when she comes around to visit? But ACC is very good at buying landmark SF buildings and then putting an ACC sign over it, though...

 

Re: Design as a whole: That's just it.. the design does not work.
The design of the entire car is a failure because of all those competing elements.In order for a design to be successful, it must be a coherent form. All of the decisons made by Hooydonk and Bangle to this point have violated this universal principle of harmonious design. And I don't see their decision to break that rule as anything worthy of praise, much less my future money.

They're agressive and overdone, but they've lost sight of what made a BMW elegant. And because they've done that, I won't buy one.

And yes, I agree, in another few years, the current 3, 5, 6 & 7 will all be made uglier. This process will continue until the sales run dry and customers will no longer put up with these half-assed designs in order to reap the benefits of BMW drivetrain and chassis engineering.

As far as "packaging to sell" is concerned: The process of buying into a car brand is much more than a decision in pure logic. If that were the case, all the cars on the market would look like the B13 Nissan Sentra. :eek4: You mention the "tradeoff" between designing a beautiful car and a car that will sell -- as if it is an either/or proposition.

It isn't.

True beauty sells itself.

That why a '67 Alfa GTV will always tug at the heartstrings, even 20 years from now. Or why an E39 M5 will always have a balance and poise that quietly speak volumes about the power it can unleash. Or why a Mk1 Dodge Charger will always be regarded as an icon of American muscle-car history.

I find it very hard to believe that in 15 or 30 years from now, that the current line of BMW designs will be seen as little more than a error.

 

Am I the only one here who thinks B13 Sentras are sexy? Stop by my place and we'll listen to Depeche Mode too. :chuckles:

 

I think mr fatbooty said quite a while ago regarding BMW and I think it's quite true, that most people buying them are rich people, or mistress of the rich people who buy it for the prestige, which are people who care nothing about the car or what's in it. And I think people who care enough don't have the money to buy them I would say the same for Benz and Audi. How come cars that continued to make the lemon list be selling like hot cakes? Because they are famous, and people buy them for their brand name. I think most exotic cars are fugly and simply a disgrace of anything functional. But that's only my opinion.

Sure it will lost customers like you, or people who prefer an older, classier design, but I think that good design should also be functional and fitting to its time (by that I mean, design is after all pop-culture). The BMW's slanted headlights and grills from the 80s annoyed the heck out of me when I was 10 years old. But I grew to love them. By designing the Bimmers to be slightly ahead of its time is a good approach. Sure, some of the elements are ugly, but look at Escalades. Now that's the perfect example of flawed design in every way you view it. But they sell. Because they hit their target audience. Of course Cadilac doesn't have much to loose, while BMW has the whole identity at stake.

And I think you are not BMW's target audience anymore, hence the annoying-as-hell design to you, and yet they are popular enough to be competitive with everyone else, including VW in German