3 Series 3er Rear Lights: Which do you prefer ?

[Snake Vargas]

I'm not sure if it was this thread or another, but it is reported that the smoked taillights are an official BMW option. So, yes, they do 'endorse' it.

 

[bmwownage]

Now I'm quite used to the original stock tail lamps...

 

[Osnabrueck]

I think the Motorsport car posted in the previous page looks amazing. I'm still hung up on the "simulated L-shape" lights and really wonder how that came about when all the guys were having their design review.

My gut tells me that the red/white was shaped just to please some heavies in the board room who demanded linkage with the outgoing 3er. I chalk it up to nervousness.

What bothers me the most about the lights as the are is how the car looks entirely different depending upon how its painted. For instance, a white 3er will give you a totally different impression than a black one.

 

[Deutsch]

I think the Motorsport car posted in the previous page looks amazing. I'm still hung up on the "simulated L-shape" lights and really wonder how that came about when all the guys were having their design review.

My gut tells me that the red/white was shaped just to please some heavies in the board room who demanded linkage with the outgoing 3er. I chalk it up to nervousness.

What bothers me the most about the lights as the are is how the car looks entirely different depending upon how its painted. For instance, a white 3er will give you a totally different impression than a black one.

Good point, so many often times are the new generation BMW's sensitive to color. I think it's a combination of things, the exposure of the panel gaps for example, in some colors they're less noticable, say black, you probably won't notice them unless you scrutinize the design very closely. For some this has proved to be an issue. For me personally, not a thing.

There's a pic out there somewhere that shows the new 3 on a buck(what transportation designers use as a base when sculpting the clay model) that shows the rear of the three and the current design of the tailights upside down. This appears to be the original idea for the tailamp design, however as i stated before, I believe the reason they canned this idea was because of the facelifted A4's tailamps and BMW's want to be a design leader. In the end, a design is a bunch of compromises, between all different departments in the company, but overall, for one I'm not complaining.

 

[St. Merc]

looks like one of those old Civics...my vote goes for L-shaped...

 

[Michael]

This is a close poll. I think I just added to the L-shape, so it is in the lead by 1 point.

The L shape really gives so much more to the car when it comes to defining what the trunk is, but that is just my opinion.

 

[klier]

My vote goes to the smoked ones. I see then driving around on both dark and light 3ers, and they all look good.
Better imo, more exclusive.

 

[El Zorro]

Anybody remembers the tail lights on the facelifted E46? There you had an orange strip for the blinkers between two red parts They almost made people pay for the clear/smoked blinker lights...

For the E90, the best choice depends on the exterior color of the car, like some people said before in this thread. I voted for the smoked tail lights, but I prefer them on light exterior colors, especially on silver/light gray.

 

[bmwownage]

I would go for the standard ones, it looks more prestige, smoked ones looks more asian...

off topic, but don't you guys think this BMW rear end is the worst BMW rear end in a long time? this set of tail lights is not helping the square-ry shape of its butt..... yes next to an E46's butt of course it still looks more modern with its bulky lines, but at the same time the E46 makes much more sense... i am guessing an early and a major facelift... if the next A4 drives OK and if the next C looks OK, this thing will be in a bit of trouble..

 

[Zafiro]

off topic, but don't you guys think this BMW rear end is the worst BMW rear end in a long time?

Nope, I love it ,especially when you see the lights when its getting darker. X3 has the worst rear

 

[donau]

Standard for me too....