What about this..........

Do you think the offensive git should be banned for life

  • Yes, even seeing his name on a post makes me feel nauseous

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • No, I like feeling nauseous and I aspire to being as big a twerp as him

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    0
Re: daka

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the foredeck cushons ... will rip off as soon as you get any green water over the bow.

[/ QUOTE ]Greenies over the bow? C'mon, that's not what these boats are meant for!
And on the other hand, what would you suggest in order to keep the decoration above the cushions its place, handcuffs?
/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
Re: daka

Ah ha but we have secret means of attaching the cushions......... the most grippiest of grippiest velcro you have ever tried pulling apart, honestly its like their welded to the deck, in fact its bloomin ridiculous stuff you end up swinging off the things trying to pull them off, way too sticky downy so you give up and leave them on so they end up manky dirty from that orangey rain you get SoF. Lord help me and strike me down but the Fairline design is better /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif mind you we do have the same slide in / out beaded leading edge that slides into track on the front bit but since you can't pull the things off to start with you cant slide that bit out either.
 
Mmm, obviously I'm out of touch. It seems that pig ugly is the new zeitgeist. Afraid I still think that if Bangle's car designs are beautiful, then Ann Widdecombe must be a supermodel. I see that BMW's board seem to agree as they've shunted him sideways recently
 
Actually Bangle was shunted upwards as head of design for BMW group (inc. RR and Mini). In fairness, that move took him away from hands-on design of BMWs.

I really rate him. I have several product designers and Bangle's flame surfacing comes up quite regularly in our discussions. It's a testament to BMW's board to have been so bold. I can't think of any other company, let alone car maker, that went so out of it's way to polarise its customers. Apple's first iMac was a huge leap, but it was "of its time" and therefore met with unanimous approval. Bangle's designs were years ahead of their time and were met with derision and critisism.

A very big risk that really paid off. History will look back on Bangle as a visionary. All IMHOOC.
 
I don't think that 'polarising your customers' is such a bright idea. I've bought more BMW's than I can remember and until Bangle arrived, I always liked BMW's styling as well as the way they drove. When I first saw the current E60 5 series, I was so underwhelmed that I went off and bought 2 Mercs in a row instead. Fortunately for BMW, Merc's dealer service was so rubbish that I went back to BMW. I now run a 7 series and I look at it every morning and try really hard to like the exterior and interior styling but I really can't. Basically I will continue to buy BMW's because they are the best driver's cars in their class and because of the local dealer's customer care but that is despite their styling. In fact, I've never met anyone with a good word to say about Bangle's styling
So IMHO, it was not visionary but stupid of BMW's board to risk damaging their brand by allowing Bangle to alienate their core customers
 
The fact is, sales figures went up considerably under Bangle's design. The driving dynamics basically remained the same in comparison to the competition. BMW didn't suddenly become a better driver's car than a Merc, it has pretty much always been so. It's the looks that changed, so the resulting sales success must have had something to do with design.

My father has had nothing but Bimmers since the early 70's, and he never liked the new designs either. Then a few years later he does. I think that's just one example of how far ahead Bangle is. Everyone hated the 7 series' boot when it came out. Now the S Class and Lexus have followed... many years later.

So yes, my dad being a "core customer" has been somewhat alienated, but core customers who have been buying BMWs for decades comprise a far smaller % of the target market than NEW potential customers. If everyone remained ultra-conservative we'd all still be driving around in Morgans!
 
I agree that Bangle is a visionary. Quite brave of him and BMW board to commit to making that stuff. Many people love his work. Many (me included) didn't like it at first but after a little while saw the beauty in it. By the way, he has done equally visionary things to internal styling too. So yep I love the look of the e60. And it happens to be the best driver's car of its type (in M5 format) by a big margin. So what more could you ask for (apart from a bigger fuel tank to cure the lousy 230miles range and dual clutch, which is coming soon)?
 
I dunno which markets you are talking about but sales for the most obviously Bangleised designs like the 7 and 6 series have been slow in the UK. In fact the only reason I'm driving a 7 is that BMW are supporting the contract hire rate to such an extent that choosing a 7 over a 5 was a no brainer. The latest 5 series was panned initially by the motoring press. I remember very well when I first saw the current 5 series because I was standing next to the editor of Autocar at the time who was also seeing it for the first time. His first comments on the exterior and interior design were unprintable. The salesman at my local BMW dealer with whom I've done a lot of business over the years candidly admitted to me that the UK dealers were horrified by the styling and they had a lot of initial customer resistance
The big UK seller is the least Bangleised model, the 3 series and to a lesser extent, the X5, the new version of which shows little of the Bangle design idiocy. In fact I've got one on order and a key factor was that it did'nt offend my eye. No question that BMW have stepped back from the worst of the Bangle era and future designs will be less controversial
First rule of business is that you don't mess with your core customers in an attempt to attract new ones
 
I don't think Bangle's design is at all visionary. I would describe it as chesse wire design. If you took a squared off clay car base mould all you have to do to turn it into a bangle design is drag the cheese wire along the wings and doors, boot and bonnet at 45 degree angle removing material. Stand back and you have a bangle car.

Me and mates joke that Bangle was probably getting nowhere for months staring at the clay models, then the day before he had to present to the BMW board thought he'd better come up with something quickly, picked up a cheese wire and hey presto a complete generation of un loveable cars were born. Complete Emporer's new close IMHO.
 
It's clear that views on Bangle are polarised! I agree re cheesewire, though many other cars are surform (remember those - just google image surform if not!). Take clay block, use surform to round off the corners and remove edges.

I reckon edge styling (cheesewire) has higher OB than surform :-)
 
Thanks for demonstrating my point. The new 7 series was introduced in 2001/2 and the new 5 series in 2003/4 and, er, overall sales were pretty flat in this period, in fact reducing in 2003 although, of course, there may be other factors involved. Any increase since then, as you have stated, is down to the Mini. Strip out Mini sales from 2001 to 2006 and sales since the Bangle cars started to arrive have been flat overall and thats in a growing market.
Btw, Time magazine included the current 7 series in it's worst 50 cars of all time due it's ludicrous Bangle inspired I Drive system and it's ugly butt
 
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Btw, Time magazine included the current 7 series in it's worst 50 cars of all time due it's ludicrous Bangle inspired I Drive system and it's ugly butt

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And you drive one! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
Yup, I went into the showroom to buy a 535d and came out with a 730d Sport. Don't get me wrong. The 7 has been a superb car. Absolutely faultless. Superb motorway cruiser which handles very well for such a big car. Overall 32mpg and I drive it hard
But it's ugly. Actually I think the back end is OK'ish but the front end looks droopy and all the curves and angles contradict each other which I suppose is the Bangle philosophy. Then there's the I drive. I'm not a technophobe and I found my way round it in a few days but that does'nt stop it being a nonsense. For example, you have to go into the I drive to alter the temp and flow of the air vents or change a radio station or scroll thru the complete phone list just to find one number. How stupid is that? Praps I'm a fuddy duddy but IMHO cars ought to be user friendly for safety reasons alone
How on earth the BMW board signed this car off for production, I don't know
 
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