Quote:
Originally Posted by -EndOfAnEra-
Thanks so much jstein55 ! Glad to see a good detailed review of a 4 at last! I'll add my brief commentary:
I wanted to highlight this most as this needs to be stressed. That magic is what made me fall in love with my E46, and that magic isn't there anymore, even on my RWD, passive 704 M suspension, go-flat Michelin PS4S, M340i. A sense of oneness, a sense that the car is an extension of your own body. You have to really push to find that sensation on the G20, it is there if you dig for it, but you experienced it every single day with the E46! Hell, you experienced it 8 out of 10 times in the E90!
On those Bangled cars I'll agree with you to a point. Even back then I felt that the E60 looked "wrong" in standard form, however I thought it was so awesome in M5 form. It exuded "car from the future", and it seemed so muscular it was popping out of its skin. A monster in a good way! 
Good things first. Let's pretend for one moment, regardless of your stance; the grilles don't exist. I was absolutely thrilled to see Arctic Race Blue originally, and your pictures confirm a slightly more metallic version of Steel Blue Metallic ( Stahlblau), one of my all-time favorite BMW colors. Combined with the Cognac leather, there is a definite impression of class and elegance. Here's a reminder of what the older color looks like:
Now other items. The size is the most worrisome trend. I always saw coupes as inherently sportier and more exciting than sedans because the visual weight of a coupe was lighter than a sedan. Yet now, with both the coupe and sedan being effectively the same size, the larger size of the sedan fits the practicality mold for families and the larger size of the coupe goes contrary to the impression of sport and agility.
Rebuttal to this is that with the 6-series gone, BMW seems determined to make you feel that that the 4 is a baby 8 not an upscale 3. While I don't quite see it, it would explain the overall "softening" of the 4's lines.
The pricing gap ensures that even the cheapest 8 available is massively more expensive than a fully loaded M440i as well, $70,725 vs $88,000!!
Yet by dimensions, the 8-series is only 3 inches longer and 2 inches wider, and very close to the same height. Here's the two side-by-side:
And rear 3/4s:
It truly looks like for those who want an engaging inexpensive coupe that is small enough to toss around, it's 2 series/M2 for four seats, Z4 for two seats, or a car rhyming with Upra for 2 seats and a roof...  |
Great post from you as well, I definitely see the resemblance to the 8 as shown by your photos, especially in the side profile, even the window design looks like a reverse of the 8er's and they both share the soft body panels and shoulder-lines. Honestly, I kind of wish they never made an 8-series and just made that the design the 4-series coupe, but about 8 inches smaller than the current 8. That would have made for an excellent 4-series that not only looks different from the 3-series sedan counterpart but still aggressive enough to stand out and still retain most of the historical BMW elements.
That photo of the E46 really just shows how great that design was, it was sporty, but like you said also beautiful and elegant. I feel as if BMW is loosing the latter a bit too much with their cars as of late, even on the 8er which looks great, it doesn't have much elegance to it.
I know the market of course is wanting sport above else, and that has resulted in the crazy grill trend, but I do wish BMW would at least cater more to their loyal clientele who have stuck with them for years and joined the BMW family for the magic first and foremost, not because it was the fastest or how the most high-tech features. Maybe even follow the Porsche route, and use the money from your best selling products to make an enthusiast special, hell even Mercedes does this with the AMG GT and Audi with the R8. Right now the closest thing we have to that is the 2-series and as great as that car is, its still very compromised due to its platform, and its future is a bit uncertain - I like the Z4 and Zupra but refuse to count them because of the lack of manuals - and the i8 which was a car for clout chasers at best.
I just try to remain hopeful that BMW won't lose the plot too much, but with every generation of new cars it gets a bit harder and harder, I think they are honestly a bit too unsure of where they should go. The looks get more and more aggressive but ironically the drive gets softer, heavier and less engaging, and even with the electric cars, they are still cheaping out and sharing the platform with gas cars, when its clearly a failed strategy for both MB and Audi (MB even is quickly readying a replacement for the failed EQC).