German Car Forum

Wow. The Zpost pics show the new model has more than a passing resemblance to the Gina Concept. At least it seems that way to me.
I guess BMW is betting that the results are a commercially palatable design compared to the bulked-up concept.

I wonder what it could have been if they had turned things up a bit more instead of smoothing and massaging the design into a more conventional guise.


Still, now that we can really get a good look at the car without most of it's camo...it's just gorgeous and has the feel of a classic BMW design.

Proportions are great, looks a lot taller and heavier than before.

M

Look at the hood cut-line, giant bonnet comming on next Z4!

Yeah, it looks like half of the wheelarch is part of the bonnet. Cool.

Big hood for sure.

Yeah, it's similar to the hood on the Z3:





Looks nice in my opinion, it has an interesting shape to it.

Will this be the first uncontreversial post-E65 BMW ?

god i hope not (seriously)

That would be bizarre indeed.

Didn't the new X5 already fill that shoes?

Almost, some thought it was more of a facelift than a real new car

I think we've been in a rhythm of bona-fide uncontroversial designs since the debut of the E92.

The downside has been a lack of brutal "voila" moments that really disrupted car design norms in the post E65 era - the upside has been that all of the post E92 designs have been extremely well resolved and interior quality has been improving faster than expected.

I'm really looking forward to the E89 more than just about any other car coming down the pike right now because it's going to be a very pure look at how Chris Bangle's ambitious/reckless design agenda plays when it's reigned-in and better resolved yet still expressing itself as loud as possible. It is still the Z4 after all, so this is where BMW has carte blanche to let their design chops hang out - but this time around, I think we can expect all that energy to be in a much more balanced form.

So the question in my head is whether or not BMW can have its cake and eat it too with the E89 - I have no doubt that the line and proportions will be better than the outgoing Z4, but I'm not yet sure if it'll manage to stir the imagination and push the theatrical envelope. I'm hoping BMW can do both.

^ Agreed Osna, with the exception, of course, of the X6. I'm pretty comfortable in saying that it is one of the more controversial designs out there; it's not universally appealing, it absolutely is a culmination of function follows form and it has little economic / environmental relevance in these times of greeny-whinger mentality...

I don't see X6 as a controversial design in the same way that the E65, E60, 6er and Z4 stirred-up division and derision in their time.

The question at the core of the X6 is its packaging - not its styling details. In other words, the X6 would have split opinions no matter who was penning the design. Some people are just iffy about the idea of a coupish SUV, but the rift has nothing to do with how the thing was styled.

As for the grief of having yet another SUV on the market - it's just bad timing on BMW's part. Not like they're alone in their bad SUV timing.

^ I disagree, I find the X6 controversial and I'm one of the most open-minded individuals you'll find when it comes to car styling. At the risk of taking this thread off-topic I must state the obvious and say that judging car styling is an exercise fraught with subjectivity and differing frames of reference.

With respect to my opinion on the X6, whilst I can recognise that from a styling element and detail perspective the car is uncontroversial, the overall effect of this so-called coupe is rather more off-centre. The X6 is a fastback - not a coupe - on raised suspension with a proportionally very wide wheel-track - reminiscent of traditional sports car proportions. It looks much like an X5 from the front 3/4, looks amazing from the rear dead-on and 3/4 view but looks hopelessly clumsy side on. That heavily-styled rear end hung out back far beyond the rear axle does it no favours. In my book the X6 is as controversial as they come.

In terms of detail the current Z4 is a tad fussy but certainly not controversial when viewed as a whole - so the chances of this Z4 being anything less or more is purely down to the detail elements implemented.

Meh, what you call hopelessly clumsy I call very pretty, and better than all the other SUVs. It's all in the eye of the beholder, so this point is moot.
I agree with Osna, the X6 is hardly controversial. Just like the CLS isn't controversial (anymore)

Now, back on topic. This is about Z4

Unfortunately klier, any BMW you happen to behold is magnificence personified. So, I can't quite feel that your input brings more clarity to this discussion. There are droves of real-world motoring people that I interact with that think the X6 is controversial.

Yes, this is about the Z4 but the point was raised as to whether we've seen the last of the so-called controversial "Bangle-ised" designs. My point is this, the current Z4 isn't as controversial as we're all making out, so why would the E89 be more or less than this.

The X6 is my personal example of the fact that controversial design is alive and well in BMW. Some of us have just become anaethetised by virtue of the last decades worth of BMW stylistic direction.

I don't find the X6 styling controversial either, it's just well executed and probably the most poised and mature BMW design we've seen a while. I can't be faulted.

As a Z4 fanatic I'm hoping for something that will make me fall out of my chair. Something mysterious, something not for everyone.

You too Luw?

I must be getting old. Ok, so fine, be like that y'all.

The X6, the world's first Sports Activity Fastback with a rear overhang that's the automotive equivalent of Beyoncé's derriere, isn't controversial at all. Heck no, it's about as regular as white underpants!

What on Earth was I thinking?

Oh ok.

Discuss it with the 'neutral' users then. There is nothing to discuss because this whole thing is completely personal, but go ahead, I'll shut up

I share your sentiments.

Yes the concept is controversial but as far as the design and styling goes it's X5 perfected. I do love the ass though and hope that the Z4 will have just an attractive rear end. All I'm afraid of is that the tail lights will mimic the 6er.

Don't we all love Beyoncé's derriere?


Best regards, south

Yes. BMW was just the first auto company to take automotive design into a revolutionary phase that any other company had yet to try, and only BMW could do it.