HI RES of E90 side by side with E46 & E36

Originally Posted by Alex Baumann

Do you need to spend time to 'want' anything ?

I was talking about this part of the quote:

It's simply not a better way of doing what it sets out to do.

but TD whines when I "selectively" quote anything he posts, so I included the whole post in my quote.

Enough to know that it's not intuitive. But it goes beyond that. Unlike some here, I do not believe in technology for technology's sake. It's simply NOT a better solution.

From what I've read, the similar offerings from other manufacturers (Audi specifically with it's MMI) are trying to answer the same question in a similar manner and doing it better. I am still skeptical of the whole idea. Why require menu navigation when a blind turn of a knob or press of a button will do.

Originally Posted by TD

Enough to know that it's not intuitive.

fair enough.

I've never used it at all

Originally Posted by atyclb

I was talking about this part of the quote:



but TD whines when I "selectively" quote anything he posts, so I included the whole post in my quote.

Fair enough.

I've used it, both on the E65 and E60. I like the concept, but the implementation sucks, IMO.

Originally Posted by tron1043

Let the bitter debate begin

Nice one man! Any way to photoshop a 7,6, & 5 next to the E90?

Originally Posted by hockeynut

I don't like the long Audi-esque "tongue". It is hidden well on the darkest colors but on the
lighter colors it doesn't look right.

I agree one of my biggest dislikes of the new design is the over-stylized front kidney grill and license plate area.

Originally Posted by tron1043

Let the bitter debate begin

It's so much bigger it should be labeled as a 4 series. This way they could charge an extra 10k for it as well. What could they be thinking, they're missing a huge opportunity here! It seems with each update the cars get longer causing them to slither and slide around corners instead of just snapping through turns. Looks like I need to hurry and buy on of the e46s that I'm looking at.

Originally Posted by Alex Baumann

Now the family is complete

Why is there an E60 5-series on the right in that picture?

Originally Posted by atyclb

how much time have you spent using iDrive?

I have probably used I drive as much as anyone else since it was introduced...

Anyway, the chief gripe I hear about I drive is that it is overcomplicated. Now, having used most of the other systems (Audi etc.) there is a big difference in what they are trying to do. The overall theme of the new BMW interior is miniamlist.. performing all the tasks without as many buttons (read : distractions) to do this, the BMW solution was basically the only one. While I do agree that implementation isn't perfect, neither is Wndows XP but I still bought it.
They could have made the user interface a little simpler, and picked some other colors but overall they did a good job.

The overall theme of the Audi is to jar you with bright flourescent colors that make it look like you have stepped into a laser light show. They cram more buttons than the space shuttle into one little area.. I dont think it would be too hard to accidentaly press something.

If I have offended someone, I would like to apologize. Please realize that I hold my own views and since this is a forum I WILL express them.

Originally Posted by pjsatz

It's so much bigger it should be labeled as a 4 series. This way they could charge an extra 10k for it as well. What could they be thinking, they're missing a huge opportunity here! It seems with each update the cars get longer causing them to slither and slide around corners instead of just snapping through turns. Looks like I need to hurry and buy on of the e46s that I'm looking at.

Grab those E46s while they're hot! I think perhaps one of the reasons the 3er has grown in size is to make room at the bottom for the new 1er....if the 3er is too small they will just cannibalize each other's market share.

That said, I think it's an ugly car, and I agree with TD that iDrive is a waste. There's overcomplicated (have you seen the dash on the Saab 9-5?), and there is way too hard to use because it's so totally uncluttered (iDrive), and there is regular old-fashioned functional. My main beef with iDrive is that I don't think cars should be controlled by menu-driven systems on a screen; it's way too distracting. Don't be afraid to put some buttons on the dash; there's plenty of room for the important ones.

Originally Posted by vehigal

The E90's front is what bugs me the most. It appears to be in a perpetual state of anger, bordering on rage.

The E46 in that pic is much more serene, which, to me, is classier. I admit, however, that the E46 would look better if it were a little wider.

Also, the E90 is dark. Imagine how much wider it will look in light colors. That said, the E90 doesn't look awful. A different spoiler would help brighten its mood.

I dislike that front spoiler too...I hope they put a ZHP like one on the sport package version.

Originally Posted by TD

FYI- The '99-'00 E46s did not have a different front fascia for SP cars versus non-SP cars. And the '01+ 325s still don't. Nor do any of the coupes. It's only the '01+ 330i sedans that change front fascia with the SP.

I am talking about that E90 in the picture...

I can't understand how you could not view the e90 as a evolution of the e46 before it. It looks similar to me, with sharper creases and some more exaggerated features. I think its more reasonable to compare it to the facelift sedan below:

Originally Posted by JPinTO

The E90 looks like a 5er beside the E46. Wasteline expansion isn't just a human phenomena.

Same thing I thought.

It looks HUGE in comparison to the E36.

I guess BMW has taken into consideration the expanding belt size of the American public.

Originally Posted by aural iNK

I can't understand how you could not view the e90 as a evolution of the e46 before it. It looks similar to me, with sharper creases and some more exaggerated features. I think its more reasonable to compare it to the facelift sedan below:

The E46 face-lift always looked somewhat contrived to me. It seems to me that they did the new headlights on the E46 as a way of giving the appearance of evolution to the E90, softening us up for the mutation that's about to come out.

Not saying the E90 is ugly...but it is definitely not as smooth a progression as E21-E30-E36-E46.

Why do the E36 and E46 have their brights on and the others dont?

It seems to me that BMWs reputation was built on the 3 series being a simple, elegant, design with reasonably quick acceleration and excellent driving dynamics.

But starting with the E36 and more so with each succeding generation they have become over styled, over complicated luxo cars. BMW have abandon the path that put the on the map.

Tamper with your brand image and promise at your own peril.