[georgere]

just came back from the show. Well, unfortunately my impression from the current BMW lineup hasn't changed (from sort of negative/disappointed). Here is my ratings of the looks:

1. The best regular person car IMO is 4 series GC (or the regular 4er if you don't need rear doors)
2. The best looking M car is M4. But don't order it in black - the color hides beautiful details of the exterior but the form itself is not as aggressive as M used to be. I myself is contemplating M4 vs Boxter/Cayman
3. X4 is a flap. In fact I think BMW will either discount it in a huge way or see low sales numbers.
4. The only X that is still beating its competition is X6. New X5 lost manliness, X3 never had it, X1 is not even close to Audi Q3
5. i3 is impressive on paper but ugly and small in real life. I m 5'8" and felt huge in the petite i3.
6. i8 - well it has some details but why do I spend 130K on a car when it only has a nice story (tech story) for me. I like it but paying 130K is out of my understanding.
7. Finally got to see the BMW 90T motorcycle. To my surprise, I did not like it. If it was priced under $10K it would look much better to me but for $15K no thanks.
8. 2 series - OMG it doesn't look good. All reviews lie. Interior is also not a iota better than prev generation (yes it has more features but those seats and plastic trim kill the interior)
9. Why did they put M235i into the M corner? - it is not an M car.

So what is out there that beats BMW cars. In 3/4 series range it is C class and A4/5. Audi Q models beat BMW everywhere except for Q7. There MB, Jaguar, etc. are better than X5. Also, it seems that many of the high premium brands are starting to go into BMW/MB/Audi territory. Maseratti is selling their $66K sedan to compete with 5er, Macan beats X4/3, Panamera hunts 6GC etc.

On a positive note, however, it felt that BMW still attracts enthusiasts. There was way more people in BMW corner taking "car" pics, speaking about cars, engines, trannies, etc. I really felt good to stay there and discuss cars with random people who had passion and genuine interest about cars. It makes me think that looks and interior flaps in BMW cars is not a big deal to those interested in what a car can do as opposed to looks. My disappointment with current BMW however is "why did they need to change?" - in 80's, 90's, and early 2000's BMW did both jobs well - their cars looked good and drove well. Now what? - Ultimate Driving Machine only?