Adrian van Hooydonk - kidney grill is here to stay

[AlexFL]

I love the new grille! What a beautifully eccentric design! This car will sell like hotcakes! Hvala ti Dukec!

[clutchdj]

That read is full of shit. Mostly reactive. They want mass appeal. They don’t want mass appeal, which one is it.

[Esteban]

[GBM3NJ]

Originally Posted by Suds

I will vote with my wallet!

Went from a 2015 F82 to a 2019 F82 when I saw this new “Style.”

I'm with Suds, once I saw the G80 it made the decision to purchase a used F80 over a a new G80 a very clear choice and I had such high hopes for the G80.

[VisualEcho]

Originally Posted by BMWCCA1

And people still call the E82 1-series "ugly"!

To be fair, on such a normal looking car, the headlights were big/weird, and the bend in the body where the fender meets the door at the bottom is weird as well. Still, I'd take it over a pig-nose any day.

Originally Posted by AlexFL

I love the new grille! What a beautifully eccentric design! This car will sell like hotcakes! Hvala ti Dukec!

That picture is a perfect example of what we used to call "polishing a turd" in the car business. All the stuff going on around the grill, the cool lights, the cool color, the lighting itself, the angle, it's all polishing up the turd nose.

Having said that, to each their own, if you genuinely like it, then that's good news for you, since that seems to be their intended direction. Maybe in a few years the grille will stretch from the splitter to the windshield washers.

[Murf993]

Originally Posted by Darth One

AvH doesn’t care what you boomers think

Get off of my lawn.

[dscabra]

It's not the first time BMW has had tall vertical grilles. Look at the 1960 BMWs. There are quite a few major design shifts in most auto manufacturers and most are not well received initially. Some fade away and others become more desirable over time. I'm definitely not a fan of the new BMW grille, right now, but in a couple of years, who knows? I absolutely hated the new Lexus RX design when the current generation was released, but now I own one and actually think it looks sleek compared with the previous generations.

[zamboni]

Originally Posted by am3r1ka

Sad to witness them being apart of their own demise. Badge aside, a bad design is a bad design. It's very telling how often we're see these articles, ad campaigns, new M3/M4 top post everyday trying to redeem themselves. Doubt that'll cut it but guess time & sales will tell.

Granted there's leverage given that Merc is dropping the V8 but I'll take that 4potter rattles and all.

Agreed time and sales will wait until the numbers comes out and hope other MFG will take some customers away from BMW. Can't believe they call the new design is standout it only take one poor design will destroy a product line.

[Artemis]

By next month lots of G80 M3 and G82 M4 cars will be sitting on BMW M dealers lots: HEA cars (HEA = Händler-Erst-Ausstattung = dealer demo cars).

If dealers pay for those cars, those cars are considered "sold" in the BMW books.

But then follows the litmus test: dealers finding customers for those HEA cars and attracting new sales (or channel potential customers to other BMW or BMW M cars).

Let's wait and see what happens next.

[BMWCCA1]

Originally Posted by dscabra

It's not the first time BMW has had tall vertical grilles. Look at the 1960 BMWs.

The early '60s BMWs were really those designed in the '50s and did not fare well in the post-war market, nearly causing bankruptcy and ruin for BMW.

Some Neue Range designs initially had huge long grilles and were fairly immediately modified with smaller grilles into what we now consider beautiful and timeless designs:





Now if you go back to the '30s you'll find the heritage as shown in some of the most valuable vintage BMW models but that was nearly 100-years ago and cars were taller. You don't have to go too much later to see the grille shrink into another of the most valuable vintage BMWs today.

[Canuck335]

My guess is they’ll both be gone next year, replaced by people who will restore the smaller grilles.

[Vivek.]

Where are the aftermarket solutions to this problem? BMW handed it to them on a platter--the grille is incorporated entirely into the bumper. It's won't be a crazy expensive job to purchase, paint, and install a better looking aftermarket bumper on the car.

[dtla1]

Originally Posted by chris719

Well... outside of the grille, I think the new 4 is a far more attractive car. It's not like the E82 has the face of a model either.

A face only the enthused owners could love. Ohh well.

I'm not sure why BMW decided to "Stand Out" by using an updated grille design, the old grilles still "Stand Out" as in they are indicative of the brand design as they were.

I think the better translation is they wanted to "stir the pot", and stirr they have.

[No one]

Labia

Originally Posted by BMWCCA1

The early '60s BMWs were really those designed in the '50s and did not fare well in the post-war market, nearly causing bankruptcy and ruin for BMW.

Some Neue Range designs initially had huge long grilles and were fairly immediately modified with smaller grilles into what we now consider beautiful and timeless designs:

turned into butt

Originally Posted by AlexFL

I love the new grille! What a beautifully eccentric design! This car will sell like hotcakes! Hvala ti Dukec!

.

[SteveinArizona]

Originally Posted by Artemis

By next month lots of G80 M3 and G82 M4 cars will be sitting on BMW M dealers lots: HEA cars (HEA = Händler-Erst-Ausstattung = dealer demo cars).

If dealers pay for those cars, those cars are considered "sold" in the BMW books.

But then follows the litmus test: dealers finding customers for those HEA cars and attracting new sales (or channel potential customers to other BMW or BMW M cars).

Let's wait and see what happens next.

Its not a perfect comparison and I haven't been back to my dealership in a few months but when I was there for service, I wondered around the showroom and there was not a 4 series to be seen (but there were 2 series, 3 series, 5 series, 7 series and 8 series as well as the various SAVs. But there is a small additional showroom upstairs that is not well known and hard to find. I was bored waiting so I took the elevator up and lo and behold, among the cars hidden up there were two 4 series.

My impression/guess is that the dealership decided it was not a good idea to show it off but had it upstairs in case anyone specifically asked.

BTW...INMO it is not any better looking in person. It does look better on an all black and blacked out car as it makes it harder to see it.

[freakystyly]

+1 Went to pick up some misc. parts last week and did not see one. I didn't go searching but they did a good job hiding them around the corner somewhere. The 5, 6, 8 and 2 GC were more prominent.

[Moflow]

Originally Posted by Vivek.

Where are the aftermarket solutions to this problem? BMW handed it to them on a platter--the grille is incorporated entirely into the bumper. It's won't be a crazy expensive job to purchase, paint, and install a better looking aftermarket bumper on the car.

I dunno, the hood starts to flow into those giant nostrils in a way that i'm not entirely sure a simple bumper will fix.

I think BMW is just in a place where they're like "We will consider changing it, once its too late and we've already lost a buttload of money."

[freakystyly]

Originally Posted by Moflow

I dunno, the hood starts to flow into those giant nostrils in a way that i'm not entirely sure a simple bumper will fix.

Old-ish article..
https://www.thedrive.com/news/37132/...y-in-the-works

Seriously it's just encouraging aftermarket bumper support at this point.

[Black Prinz]

Why the surprise? He designed the E65 and worked with Bangle to shake up and revolutionize BMW design.

Hooydonk's been through all this before and weathered the storm.

No different than Lexus and the spindle grill, the Acura beak, Subaru's flying vijayjay ....

Vote with your wallet and see where the votes lie ...

Acura/Subaru changed but BMW and Lexus did not

[Moflow]

Originally Posted by freakystyly

Old-ish article..
https://www.thedrive.com/news/37132/...y-in-the-works

Seriously it's just encouraging aftermarket bumper support at this point.

You'll notice they photoshopped the hood as well as the bumper in the lead image (which is also the best rendering.)

But yeah, a new bumper will take care of about 90 percent of what's wrong.

[NickyC]

Originally Posted by Moflow

You'll notice they photoshopped the hood as well as the bumper in the lead image (which is also the best rendering.)

But yeah, a new bumper will take care of about 90 percent of what's wrong.

Now fix the side mirrors, add a power dome, completely modify the Lexus tail lights/rear end, add the kink, get the door lines correct again and *maybe* this trash is 90% fixed. Most focus on the grills, but the rest of the car is damned near as awful. To me it’s an unredeemable car.

[richard in NC]

Originally Posted by Darth One

AvH doesn’t care what you boomers think

Until we vote with our wallet and M4 & iX sales tank. They'll be gone in 2 years if so.