BMW 530i Turbo - 380HP! Whoa!




Still, I think the E39 is the best-looking and functioning 5-Series (and BMW?) ever. I have an E28. The day I take ownership of my E39 will be a happy one indeed (and it's a long way off I'm sure!)
Have you seen the interior on the new 745i?
Oh man, did that Bangle guy bungle the design on BMW's new flagship. My wife always drives BMW's and her dealer says he's had a disturbing number of cancellations on pre-ordered 7's. Several of them sitting on the lot unclaimed, which should never happen for a new model like this.
My point is that much of the design will carry over to the new 5's.
What's with the unvarnished wood option? Looks like material borrowed from K-Mart brand lawn furniture.
And the dash design is really retro looking to me...but not in a good way. More like a 1970's Lincoln or something.
BMW had better do some scrambling to get back in the game IMO.
Re-issuing the 6-series will be a good start.
The M6 should be an impressive vehicle.
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well, now they have the 'pieces of turd in different lengths' appearance. the 7-series is hard to get used to and the revised 3-series has one of the worst front bumpers i have ever seen. hopefully the new E60 will set beemer back on track, i like old beemers a lot.
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As for the "V-10 500 HP" issue; With all the documented failures of the E46 powerplants, they can keep their highly stressed over revved motors. They don't impress with their touting of exclusively "normally aspirated" power. I can't wait to hear the whinning and bitc#ing over excessive oil consumption, factory alteration of specified oil viscosities mid year to cope, and other idiosyncrisies that plague overly complex engines for general consumer consumption. As for the E55 @ "only" 476 HP?? A little pully work and VOILA!! 500 HP + for all!! Sweet and simple! Yeah, baby!!
It's unfortunate, because I like BMW quite a lot, and it pains me to see all the models being trashed stylistically.
The designs of new Mercedes' are excellent in my opinion, by the way!
I think the mistake was in taking the car's conservative flagship (the 7) and trying to make it look cutting edge/new age/techno forward, throwing class and refinement to the wind with the interior design/materials, then topping it off by premiering the I-Drive ("mouse controlled" computer controls) in this car whose core buyers are 10-20 years older than most people comfortable with computer based tech gadgetry.
The 7 should be the conservative, rock solid extreme for BMW. The 3 and 5 would have been perfect platforms for the new style of body design and for the I-Drive.
But they've alienated many loyal 7 buyers who simply don't identify with these new design concepts. Buyers who could have been brought along slowly to adapt to BMW's forward thinking if they'd had a chance to first watch the 3 and 5 evolve in that direction.
Of course the 7 is always supposed to bat lead off, so BMW was caught between a rock and a hard place.
This was a big gamble. I think it's been a big mistake so far.
But I don't think the design itself is bad---it just doesn't belong on the 7. At least not as a design style premiere.
I suspect 7 loyalists will warm to it with time. But the poor sales guys are taking the hit right in the paycheck in the meantime.



