People hate Bangle because the guy is a tool, he took the soul out of the car. His designs look more pontiac then revolutionary. Just sit back and think what were the specific characteristics about a BMW (pre-bangle) there is not one of them left in the car line today. Instead we have .9% financing, Idrive, and an interior that looks like it was created for Helen Keller. I am just getting started. I owned 13 BMW's and the truth is when you put the current line up against Audi its no contest, which is why BMW offers .9% and Xdrive. Unless you live in Cali you just don't see them on the road anymore. Bangle left because he couldn't handle the heat, he ruined this company forever!
Guys like me will never go back, and that I can promise! Bangle allowed Audi to eat up BMW's easy market share and it was easy. 10 years ago you could put a roundel on a bag of poop and bmw guys would have praised it. They led in every category they entered, not anymore. I can't think of one good thing to say about BMW or Bangle in 2009.

 

This is really great news! With the exception of the E90 non-M3 3-series, all of his BMW designs are terrible.
Good riddence!

 

LOL!


Good riddance.

 

Thank god! I still don't like his designs up to this day.

 

Also his Protoge, so yea nothing will change. Also, alot he has done over the (good or bad) have become the norm for car design. So his departure really does nothing except remove his name from the BMW board.

 

I want to thank Mr. Bangle...


For shattering my "faszination" with BMW as the Germans would say. Having been a huge fan of BMWs since my teens, the E65 and the E60 are the first time I can ever say the Mercedes contemporaries are not only more handsome, but more sporty looking.

There is no question that Mr. Bangle made history with the radical designs. And other manufacturers have aped some of the queues such as the Bangle butt. But they have toned down the intensity and thus elevated the idea and made it more classically beautiful. I place the Lexus LS and the current S class in that category. Bangle went too far with his designs for them to become classics, much like the overstyling of clothing designers competing in the runway shows.

 

So you want to say that the E60 looks less sporty than the E-Class??
I know that`s OT,but this is simpl not the case...never,ever.

 

At the risk of being crucified, the Z4 aside, I'm a fan of the Bangle cars. I didn't like them at first but now I think they're really very nice and his design direction was ahead of its time. Critics can say what they want but it is interesting to see that just about every luxury sedan now has some sort of Bangle butt knockoff. The latest gen of BMWs are the sportiest ever IMHO.

I just saw about a dozen or so new 7 Series cars driving through San Elijo Hills about 5 minutes ago. They are much nicer in person than I've seen in photos. If I had any complaint I'd say they tuned down the Bangle influence too much. It blends in with the rest now. I think the new E92 and the E60 are simply wonderful cars stylistically (not to mention in every other way) and that's coming from a Porsche fan. If you want to talk about poor styling... I think I have to give in and say the butt on the Panamera just doesn't work. It looks like it has some sort of glandular problem with that butt. I was hoping I'd learn to love it but I just can't. Not yet anyway...

Frankly I'll miss Bangle, but I imagine BMW won't fall on its face going forward. If their motorcycles are any indication, BMW is shaking off its old preppy boy image and stepping up.

 

The new 7 Series were back again today. They look like they're doing a focus group ride and drive back and forth through the nice and twisty bits of Elfin Forest or something as they keep coming back and switching out drivers. I'd guess there are about 15 cars. The styling is very subtle but I really like the details.