2005 BMW 530 Preview

The New BMW 5 Series

The Ultimate Driving Machine handles even better, but what about its looks?

Chris Bangle has a lot of enemies.

All right, in case you're not a BMW fanatic, you might not know that Bangle is the design boss of the BMW Group, which includes Mini and Rolls-Royce, and is responsible for the look of the new BMW 7 series, the new Z4 and now the car you see above, the newly fashioned 5 series.

These cars have made a lot of enemies for Bangle because thousands of BMW traditionalists worldwide dislike their sharper-edged format and have even signed online petitions like one titled "Stop Chris Bangle" to voice their disapproval.

Not that the American-born Bangle cares much. Certainly he understands the naysayers' fear that he has changed their beloved Bimmers (what fans call BMW cars; Beemers are BMW motorcycles) for the worse. But Bangle sincerely disagrees, and, moreover, he is fully backed by the weight of the BMW board of directors (BMW is still largely controlled by the will of the Quandt family), who specifically asked Bangle to move the company's image forward, whether traditionalists like it or not.

Interestingly, although BMW's U.S. sales have been down about 2% so far in 2003 (through the first quarter), most of the losses are in sales of the outgoing 5 series, which is nearly always the case when a model is due for replacement. Furthermore, attributing these flat sales to the Bangle-era designs would be at the very least premature: While 7 series sales were off very slightly in first-quarter 2003, the blip could easily be attributable to the war in Iraq. Meanwhile, Z4 sales are scorching, up 250% against first-quarter numbers for last year's Z3. That's a fairly ringing endorsement of the Z4's looks, and it helps that it's a top-notch performance car as well.

Then again, Mercedes-Benz actually gained S-Class sales in the same period that 7 series sales were off, and the S isn't a brand-new edition like the 7. Not that this definitively means anything at all; all that's clear at this point is that BMW's new design direction is firmly in place and here to stay, and that success or failure most certainly hinges at least in part on this new artistic style.

And make no mistake -- Bangle wants this to be about art, not just commerce. You don't even have to consider his opinion in the matter, however. Look at the new 5 series and you'll see raked-back headlamps that bend around the hood like the eyes of a shark, multiple folds and creases in the sheet metal that appear to create shadows where they wouldn't naturally fall and a car that, from any angle, looks dynamic rather than static. The new BMW 5 series is about challenging your impression of BMW, and of car design in general.

Whether Bangle likes it or not, however, there's another crucial matter at hand here, having less to do with design and more to do with a simple fact: $40,000 sculptures don't sell by the thousands every year, but $40,000 sports sedans do. So, you might ask, what about the 5 series as a car? How does it compare with the previous 5? What's new here, what's improved and, if you love the design (or at least can live with it), should you consider the new 5 or skip it and instead go for its rivals: the new Mercedes-Benz E-Class, the current Audi A6, an Infiniti G35, an Acura RL or a Jaguar S-Type?

Right, then, time for some answers.