Baller

Chris Bangle was moved up (so they say) to Rolls- Royce and Mini.
Lets see how much damage he can do, he sure can't hurt Rolls-Royce.

scorp76

People give Bangle too much credit. The guy that designed the exterior of the 6 and 7 series took Bangle's place when he was promoted, and is now head of design for BMW.

desmo996

My father-in-law just received his new Neiman Marcus 2004 BMW yesterday. I get to drive it this weekend :D . I'll let you how it handles compared with the RX8.

pelucidor

Not true - Hooydonk's 7 series and 6 series design was much nicer according to BMW insiders but Bungle 'tweaked it' so it looked horrible. And Bungle is now overall head of all BMW design (including BMW, Rolls Royce, Mini etc) but has much less impact on actual designs themselves. Basically promoted out of harms way.

I can almost live with the droopy face of the 6-series but nothing will make me like the hideous deformed hump-back rear (aka Bungle Butt). And the interior looks very basic and plain for a $30k car (oops - sorry it's $75k+).

Quote from thecarconnection:
BMW chalked up last year's drop-off in profit to a strong euro and start-up costs of new models. That's reasonable. But BMW executives are increasingly aware that their brand image is in the spotlight. Criticisms of the 7-Series, Z4, 5-Series, and X3 have been louder than the Bavarian icon is used to. Hardly a speech by Panke or BMW's U.S. boss Tom Purves goes by without some mention of how much better BMW's reality is versus the perception that it has lost its fastball. The recent appointment of Adrian von Hooydonk as BMW's top brand designer, reporting up to top designer Chris Bangle, was met with yawns since von Hooydonk is credited with designing the controversial 7-Series and 6-Series, with the X3 and forthcoming 1-Series coming out of Designworks in California, which he has been running. But BMW insiders are wagging that von Hooydonk's designs were better than the end result on the 7-Series and 6-Series and that BMW's management board wants him to have more leverage with his designs in Munich rather than his ideas always going through Bangle's filter.

BMW's 7-Series problems, to be fair, have had far more to do with the controversial iDrive telematics system than the questionable trunk design. The Japanese, by the way, love the 7-Series trunk because four Japanese businessmen can easily ride in one car to the golf course with four jumbo-size golf bags in the trunk. Consumer Reports just pasted the 7-Series as the least reliable in its class based on a high rate of complaint about the iDrive. In the U.S. 7-Series sales are down 20 percent from a year ago. Mercedes S-Class sales are down 18 percent, but the older S-Class design is outselling the 7-Series so far this year in the U.S. That's not a good sign. Z4 sales are down 57 percent from last year. The 5-Series is up just 11 percent despite an all-new model. That is underperforming no matter how you slice it. X5 sales are down 18 percent.


Can you imagine that a new model like the BMW 7-series is being outsold by the ancient and about to be replaced Mercedes S-class? The old 7-series always outsold the S-class.

desmo996

This car is beautiful in real person. It looks a lot like the Vanquish. Very elegant car. It handles great. The brakes are amazing. And stares: Plenty. If you can't score with this car, there something wrong with you. However, it is a heavy car and in the fun factor, the 8 is better. I felt like driving an SL 500 on steroids. Here are some pics. Enjoy

desmo996

Second pic

desmo996

Couldn't help myself. 3 pic

willhave8

Very SCHWEET. An 8, 5 and a 6 in the driveway. Looks like a international dealers lot in Beverly Hills.

Hey you have a 19 in the "We have toys" game. When you add the bike, your score goes through the roof.

Outlaws eXtreme

For 80k, I would rather buy 1 RX-8, 1 WRX STi, and keep the money... or at the least, I would get Viper SRT-10.

Wouldn't people rather spend more money on their homes, than to have 3-4 nice cars? At least I would.

Spin9k

What ta heck is THAT THING. Is it a dolphin hump or a cancer glued onto the back of a normal car, per chance? Even without that it looks like the back end of a Toyota Solara or some such vehicle.

IMHO BMW better get rid of the Buick/Hyundai/Accord/Toyota styling cues or their loyal following and prestige aura will be going the way of their recent sales curve.

Yuk! and double yuk. I laugh every time I see one and think what someone paid for another bizzare BMW styling "exercise".

tschangrx7

I would rather get a Pontiac GTO for $32K than spend twice that much on a BMW that offers only similar performance.

desmo996

I don't thing performance was the main design criteria for the 6 series. This car was design with social status, luxury, and performance in mind. If you want to convey an image of success, you won't be able to accomplish it with the GTO or any sub 60K car.

Lock & Load

DESMO996

You said earlier that the 8 looked like a vanquish , well then miss piggy looks like Angela jolie (tombraiders )

The vanquish is a sleek stealth like machine , the 6 looks like an overweight suberbian housewife on steroids with a huge rear end .

Me thinks Chris Bangle has got an *** fethish both the 7 5 and 6 series BMW (Black Man Wilies have huge rear ends .

Lock & Load

Heres a shot of the rear end no comparison SORRY

Lock & Load

side view

Xyntax

Dont know much about Beemers, but why do they depreciate so big? I saw on an article that it is the worst in depreciation. I thought their quality was outstanding? So what's the reason for the worst depreciation? On the other hand, Honda gets the cake for lowest depreciation. That's unfair coz Toyota has proven its quality for more than 20 years already and Honda's just getting started (relatively). Those KBB guys are probably big Honda fans. Oh well...

Lock & Load

XYNTAX

BMW , are overpriced over engineered and not prestigious enough for the asking price very expensive to maintain and spare parts cost an arm and a leg .

You are 100% correct the residual value sucks , however they are a good purchase second hand as long as u can afford their upkeep.

cheers
michael

desmo996

Obviously, the BMW is nowhere near the same league as the Aston Martin, but one cannot deny the similarities. Imitation is the best form of flattery. Peace.

Outlaws eXtreme

If I saw a 6 Series BMW, I would never think it looks like the Vanquish. The Vanquish is just sick. Though that rear end looks more like that Benz, CL thing.

The BMW 6's rear end looks pretty awful.

lefuton

i'm with you there. i really liked the pics of the 6, but i caught one in a parking structure in westwood here, right by UCLA. the back has that same bulging trunk cue like the 7 series has. it really reminded me of a lexus sc430. gigantic floating pillow hehe. but i gotta admit the 5 series is growing on me too.

on my way out i saw the guy getting into it and leaving but i didn't catch him in time to see where he got it from, i can only presume neiman marcus since the godiva chocolatier contest wasn't over yet and dealers hadn't gotten em yet.

lefuton

I really like toyota too, most reliable truck i've ever had, never asked for anything but oil and gas. That said, toyota designers couldn't design their way out of a finger painting class.

I consider it a raging success for them when they design something plain and ordinary like the current camry, which is practically invisible on the road, as opposed to their usual hideousness.

Remember the supra? It looked really good in a profile shot, but dead on, from behind, or 1/4 shot and it looked like an obese something or the other =( The one design i did like was the 2nd gen MR2's, finally a car that looked good all the way around.

/edit- oh yah the whole point of that rambling was to try and guess why toyota depreciate more than honda's =p run forever but look like *** i guess.

Xyntax

No kidding! I mean look at those idiotic Scion Boxes! Geez, I was insulted when they said that they are making the Scion product line for the teens to 20-something of today, my generation. They see us the "stupid generation" who would buy the ugliest cars with no go.

I like their Lexus line though, not much for the SC430 (with its 1'x5' backseats). What a lame design, they should have just stuck with a 2-seater design for it. Oh yeah, and even though I own a Solara, the new ones (04) are Cockroaches on wheels (not beetle, cockroaches!)

Speed-ER doc

Lexus has excellent depreciation, makes for a great lease. I wanted the SC430 but my kids were complaining about the back seats the whole time we were in it. They love the back seats in the 8! :D

edit: sorry to continue the hijack, I like the BMW 6 too, but BMWs are overpriced imo.

Baller

To drive the new 6 and Bangles other creations is to love it.
They drive with precision and quality.
I do not like the looks of Chris Bangles others, but the 6 in person gives me wood.

Anyone that would consider the GTO over any BMW has sh*t for brains:p

Open your mind and in time you will be a convert.

The Baller

Formula 420

Must.................
stop...............
humping.............
monitor.........