Do *you* hate Chris Bangle?
Discussion
www.slate.com/id/2133648/
I sort of do. I think the new 7 is totally weedy and nondescript, but I really, really like the Z4. The new 3 is a bit meh, but the 5 is certainly individual.
I sort of do. I think the new 7 is totally weedy and nondescript, but I really, really like the Z4. The new 3 is a bit meh, but the 5 is certainly individual.
I must admit to being initally 100% anti-Bangle whenever any of his models were released.
The 7 series I still regard as an ugly car, however there are not many cars that size that have lines that look anything but excessive. Attractive large cars for me include the Merc CLS, Audi A8 and the Maser Quatroporte (.... in the eye of the beholder and all that).
The five has grown on me, however the Dame Edna glasses head lights are still a styling feature too far. The M sport kitted models with big rims look very nice, and the 535d is a superb bit of kit.
I initially didn't like the Z4 too, however this is a very nice looking car viewed today, and the coupe is even better (not a hair dresser roadster fan at heart).
The current 3 series was the only design to date (not sure of the extent of the influence of bangles brushes on that) that I thought looked good straight out of the box. The E46 was a big leap on from the E36, and the new model (E something or other) is even better. Only the new coupe looks out of place. Both in the metal, and in pictures the back looks to be at least a foot too long.
Bangles greatest failure to date in my opinion is the 6 though. Ugly sad faced front, Quasimodo bootlid, shellsuit-wearing-mother-of-ten bulk. All wrong. The "proper" 6 series was a sleek powerful machine that was a genuinely desireable car, and remains so today. I am too young to recall how the original would have been received as new, but do recall how my father would always point one out when one was spotted, and how he saw THAT car as the only car in the BMW range. Even the latest M6 cannot forgive the ugly proportions of the base car, especially in black-eye-purple. I'm sure they are great to drive, however if I have that kind of cash it'd be destined for Stuttgard.
Bangle's designs (6 aside) have proved to change the direction of the entire motor industries styling in my opinion. With time I think it will be regarded as being for the better.
Answer this. Would the big knobs in Honda have signed off the current civic if the market place did not have big selling cars from stylists like Mr B?
The 7 series I still regard as an ugly car, however there are not many cars that size that have lines that look anything but excessive. Attractive large cars for me include the Merc CLS, Audi A8 and the Maser Quatroporte (.... in the eye of the beholder and all that).
The five has grown on me, however the Dame Edna glasses head lights are still a styling feature too far. The M sport kitted models with big rims look very nice, and the 535d is a superb bit of kit.
I initially didn't like the Z4 too, however this is a very nice looking car viewed today, and the coupe is even better (not a hair dresser roadster fan at heart).
The current 3 series was the only design to date (not sure of the extent of the influence of bangles brushes on that) that I thought looked good straight out of the box. The E46 was a big leap on from the E36, and the new model (E something or other) is even better. Only the new coupe looks out of place. Both in the metal, and in pictures the back looks to be at least a foot too long.
Bangles greatest failure to date in my opinion is the 6 though. Ugly sad faced front, Quasimodo bootlid, shellsuit-wearing-mother-of-ten bulk. All wrong. The "proper" 6 series was a sleek powerful machine that was a genuinely desireable car, and remains so today. I am too young to recall how the original would have been received as new, but do recall how my father would always point one out when one was spotted, and how he saw THAT car as the only car in the BMW range. Even the latest M6 cannot forgive the ugly proportions of the base car, especially in black-eye-purple. I'm sure they are great to drive, however if I have that kind of cash it'd be destined for Stuttgard.
Bangle's designs (6 aside) have proved to change the direction of the entire motor industries styling in my opinion. With time I think it will be regarded as being for the better.
Answer this. Would the big knobs in Honda have signed off the current civic if the market place did not have big selling cars from stylists like Mr B?
I read a report once that said Bangle was a robot sent back from the future by Mercedes to break BMW.
My observations would be that:
1/ BMW are selling record numbers of cars. The proof is in the pudding...
2/ IMO BMW have never built a pretty 7 series and that extends far beyond Bangles influence. My personal opinion is that BMW cannot build a car that is attractive and also bigger than a 5 series! 8 and original 6 series excepted.
3/ All new model BMW's are released in volume selling order, hence generally the least attractive come first. Underwheeling also has a major part to play in the inital impression of the car as a design failure.
My observations would be that:
1/ BMW are selling record numbers of cars. The proof is in the pudding...
2/ IMO BMW have never built a pretty 7 series and that extends far beyond Bangles influence. My personal opinion is that BMW cannot build a car that is attractive and also bigger than a 5 series! 8 and original 6 series excepted.
3/ All new model BMW's are released in volume selling order, hence generally the least attractive come first. Underwheeling also has a major part to play in the inital impression of the car as a design failure.
I think the question asks "...Chris Bangle?" Not the cars...
Ok...Watch this video and try to tell me you 'don't'!!!
http://video.google.com/videoplay?doc
"Zeeeee 4 Cooop"
"Rorck and Roarll MINI Stand"
and best of all:
"Axis of White Power"
WHAT??????!!!!
What a 'James Blunt'!
Ok...Watch this video and try to tell me you 'don't'!!!
http://video.google.com/videoplay?doc
"Zeeeee 4 Cooop"
"Rorck and Roarll MINI Stand"
and best of all:
"Axis of White Power"
WHAT??????!!!!
What a 'James Blunt'!
derin100 said:
I think the question asks "...Chris Bangle?" Not the cars...
Ok...Watch this video and try to tell me you 'don't'!!!
http://video.google.com/videoplay?doc
"Zeeeee 4 Cooop"
"Rorck and Roarll MINI Stand"
and best of all:
"Axis of White Power"
WHAT??????!!!!
What a 'James Blunt'!
Ok...Watch this video and try to tell me you 'don't'!!!
http://video.google.com/videoplay?doc
"Zeeeee 4 Cooop"
"Rorck and Roarll MINI Stand"
and best of all:
"Axis of White Power"
WHAT??????!!!!
What a 'James Blunt'!
Understood it's the man and not the cars but how else would you generate enough feeling to *hate* somebody?
None of us can hate bangle unless he one kicked our child. Which he hasn't (so far).
Los Angeles said:
In my house he is called, Crash Angle.
He is a stylist, not a designer. A former Methodist lay preacher, his entire outlook on the motor industry is one of getting everyone to "see the light." I have written extensively on the guy so will keep this brief, he divides opinion like no one else but not not among his gifted contemporaries who roll their eyes skyward whenever his name is mentioned. I have it on good authority that he is last in the design room and adds the wild creases and angles that go nowhere. Harmony eludes him, which for a preacher is a tragedy.
He is a stylist, not a designer. A former Methodist lay preacher, his entire outlook on the motor industry is one of getting everyone to "see the light." I have written extensively on the guy so will keep this brief, he divides opinion like no one else but not not among his gifted contemporaries who roll their eyes skyward whenever his name is mentioned. I have it on good authority that he is last in the design room and adds the wild creases and angles that go nowhere. Harmony eludes him, which for a preacher is a tragedy.
That, has neatly summed up every preconception I had of him. When I compare an E34 M5 to the E60 I think why? what is the point of adding unwanted and unfunctional additions to a car whose previous forte lay in its very sense of purpose.
These cars should have won design awards for their function over form and as for the 750iL? pure heaven, menacing purposeful in a sinister sense. What do we have to do now to try and make a modern design more appealing? add angel eyes
Edited by apache on Tuesday 17th October 15:51
Why would I hate someone just because I don't like (most of) his design work? Unless I live in some kind of utopic socialist state that takes my money and hands me the stuff they think I need, I have the option to vote with my wallet. And truth be told, it took me all of an hour's worth of having disposal of a Z4M Coupé to make me fancy it, somehow.
Edited by 900T-R on Tuesday 17th October 17:06
I don't hate him, even if he is an arrogant git. But I do despise what he has done for BMW styling. I really hope someone else wields the design pen in the near future so that BMW can get back to making cars which not only drive brilliantly (they still do that) but also look bloody great too. Just how BMW's used to be..
Worst BMW he penned.. 7 series, closely followed by the 6.
Best BMW he penned? The Z4 coupe. Rag top Z4 still looks like ass to me however, and even the tin top could still have been rather better.
Cheers, P
Worst BMW he penned.. 7 series, closely followed by the 6.
Best BMW he penned? The Z4 coupe. Rag top Z4 still looks like ass to me however, and even the tin top could still have been rather better.
Cheers, P
No I don't. There are precious few people in the car industry - in any industry - forging ahead with anything genuinely new. We had some weak mitherings about flame surfacing from Ford not so long ago, but that turned out to be a damp squib. The rest has presumably been snuffed out by boo-to-a-goose-shy focus groups and pernickety committees.
Bangle has changed the way our roads and streets look.
Urban furniture.
It's great, it's fresh, it's new, whether you wish to sit down in it or otherwise.
Bangle has changed the way our roads and streets look.
Urban furniture.
It's great, it's fresh, it's new, whether you wish to sit down in it or otherwise.
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