When I picked up my 2019 750i there was a 2020 in Donington gray with ivory interior in the showroom, and I almost made a pants pancake.
I am not a fan of giant grilles. The Lexus ones in particular are ridiculous, but I also didn’t even cast a glance at the A8. This isn’t a giant grille by today’s standards.
I think it is a generational thing. Our fathers would probably consider any of the muscle 70s cars to be the pinnacle of design, so it is the current generation who set the styling.
I didnt like the g05 X5 when i saw it first in the showroom. Now it is the opposite. X7 is selling fine grill or not. 7 was never the leader and likely wont be with the redesign.
I disagree. 70s muscle cars were my father’s thing and I have no nostalgia for them. My MDX is faster than many of them and surely 100x safer (although put modern wheels, tires and brakes on a 1970s big block V8 muscle car and it’s a whole new ballgame).
That said, they those muscle cars are generally thought to look cool. They have cultural cache that extends beyond the baby boomers. Thesee giant grill BMWs seem unlikely to be looked upon favorably in even 10-15 years, never mind 50 years.
Has it really changed that much from '02? Remember that ugly trunk bulge?! Well that and a crappy idrive system, I don’t know what they were thinking, hey let’s put this confusing tech in a car mostly bought by old farts, just bmw thinking they know what’s best for the customer(hence no android auto still)
Oh yeah and the X7 is pretty ugly, bulges out in weird places, looks like an X5 that ate too much
Oh I love the design they had in 2002-2008. In my opinion, all other redesigns they’ve had don’t compare. Same can be said about the Land Cruiser/LX from 1998-2007.