We Were All Wrong, Chris Bangle Was A Prophet

[Jalopnik RSS]

Chris Bangle may be history's most infamous car designer, ridiculed for taking a visual language that BMW carefully developed over fifty years and gleefully drowning it in a bath tub. At the time I thought he was a madman, or maybe a moron. Maybe I was the moron.

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[Plaz]

(moved to general Car Talk section... thought this might be of interest to non-Jalop feed subscribers)

[SARAFIL]

I met Bangle in person once (he spent s few hours with the employees at our dealership in RI in mid-2006) and got to hear him explain some of the characteristics of his designs. I know they were polarizing at the time and some still don't like them, but I had a lot more respect for him after that. I still think the pre-LCI 7 series is a little funny, but have no issues to this day with the other Bangle designs.

[Plaz]

I've always liked the Z4, but like Harris, the early 7s and 6s with his fingerprints all over them definitely looked better to me in the years following their introductions than they did at first.

[John V]

Looking back on the E30, E36, E46, E38... those cars have, to me, aged very well. Some of them are dated by some of the limitations of when they were built, mostly ride height and wheel / tire selection. But updated with modern rubber and wheels, those cars still look very good.

At the risk of hurting Ed's feelings again...

I can't agree with Chris on the E65, or the E85, or the E63. They are all cursed with bizarre proportions, in particular headlights that are far too big and misshapen. They all have very odd design features that don't tie well into the rest of the bodylines, like the weird crease on the Z4, the trunk and hood stampings that force your eye to focus on the gaps in the body, and the bulky lower part of the body that makes them look bottom-heavy and overweight.

When the E46 came out, I wasn't in love with the styling. But I did eventually warm up to it. Same with the E90. I keep waiting to see one of the Bungled cars and have the same transformation of thought but it hasn't happened yet.

[JST]

I agree completely with JV. The E38, in particular, may be among my favorite car designs of all time, just because it's proportions are so...perfect. It's up there, in my mind, with the 80s S-classes and the early 00s A8s as what a classy executive car should be.

The Bangle designs mentioned in the article are all characterized by flourishes that seem intended to show off capability rather than follow function. They bring to mind the adage about just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

[Sharp11]

Don't worry, my feelings aren't hurt

I think there's only one problem with the design of the Z4, and it's the too-short deck in back - it's as if the designers had a lot of mojo going and simply ran out of time to finish the rear - it needed more girth back there, a bigger pair of balls.

Having said that, I liked the round tail lights on the pre 06 cars (mine) over the more modern later editions.

To me, BMW's have never been stylish or great looking, they've always had a stolid, German quality - the goodness was in the simplicity an almost ordinariness of the designs. I always liked that - I recall when the E30 first came out, it was like a high end Volkswagen - it had a simple but durable interior, appliance-like trim and styling, and great engineering and handling. It was the car I wanted, but couldn't afford, so I bought an 83 Honda Accord instead - which had its own vibe (the sewing machine smooth 4 cylinder and slick 5 speed was awesome in that car, but it had no handling to speak of).

When I see Bangle era 5's on the road today, they look okay, perhaps familiarity has dulled the unusualness of the designs, especially since so many newer cars - especially the Koreans - have so many swoops and curves, inside and out.

In general, I'm finding new cars kind of boring, and I wonder how designers will keep reinventing the wheel ...

[robg]

Originally Posted by JST

I agree completely with JV. The E38, in particular, may be among my favorite car designs of all time, just because it's proportions are so...perfect. It's up there, in my mind, with the 80s S-classes and the early 00s A8s as what a classy executive car should be.

The Bangle designs mentioned in the article are all characterized by flourishes that seem intended to show off capability rather than follow function. They bring to mind the adage about just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

+1

All 3 of the cars you mentioned are among my favorite large sedan designs. 80s Mercedes in particular still look really good. The higher hoodlines due to pedestrian saftey regs have really messed with car designs.

I also thought the Bangle era 5 and 7 would grown on me, but even today they still look odd to me. Actually, the rear 3/4 on the e60 looks decent, but the front-end still looks strange. The other issue with the Bangle era cars was the step backwards in design and interior quality. Yes, German cars were always a bit spartan/utlitarian, but the Bangle era interiors came close to looking/feeling cheap.

[lemming]

Originally Posted by Sharp11

Don't worry, my feelings aren't hurt

I think there's only one problem with the design of the Z4, and it's the too-short deck in back - it's as if the designers had a lot of mojo going and simply ran out of time to finish the rear - it needed more girth back there, a bigger pair of balls.

Having said that, I liked the round tail lights on the pre 06 cars (mine) over the more modern later editions.

To me, BMW's have never been stylish or great looking, they've always had a stolid, German quality - the goodness was in the simplicity an almost ordinariness of the designs. I always liked that - I recall when the E30 first came out, it was like a high end Volkswagen - it had a simple but durable interior, appliance-like trim and styling, and great engineering and handling. It was the car I wanted, but couldn't afford, so I bought an 83 Honda Accord instead - which had its own vibe (the sewing machine smooth 4 cylinder and slick 5 speed was awesome in that car, but it had no handling to speak of).

When I see Bangle era 5's on the road today, they look okay, perhaps familiarity has dulled the unusualness of the designs, especially since so many newer cars - especially the Koreans - have so many swoops and curves, inside and out.

In general, I'm finding new cars kind of boring, and I wonder how designers will keep reinventing the wheel ...

i8

[Theo]

Originally Posted by robg

The other issue with the Bangle era cars was the step backwards in design and interior quality. Yes, German cars were always a bit spartan/utlitarian, but the Bangle era interiors came close to looking/feeling cheap.

Completely agree.