08 550 LCI Test Drive
04-15-2007, 11:10 AM
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My Ride: 07' 530d - M-Sport - Titanium Silver / Black Dakota leather
08' 120i - M-Sport - Alpine White III / Black Sensatec
Originally Posted by whay' post='413985' date='Apr 15 2007, 09:05 PM
DAMN! Maybe the strip of trim fix looked bad with the wood trims b/c the grains won't match up.
04-15-2007, 01:51 PM
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My Ride: 11 550i Sophisto Gray/Oyster Black/Anthracite, Sprt Trns, DHP, IAS, SP, PP1, PP2, CWP, HUD, DAP, AVSP, SF RS, CA, ACC - Euro Del
Originally Posted by whay' post='413982' date='Apr 15 2007, 02:00 PM
I think someone in the old thread may be on to something - that the old filler plate may only be used until the old console trim inventory is used up. I'm basing this on pics from C.K.'s (I think) carbon black on black interior with high gloss black trim. If you look at the shifter in those pics, it is centered on the console (instead of off toward the driver) and there is a strip of trim surrounding the shifter base which is then surrounded by the large trim piece that covers the console. Since this was high gloss trim, not the dark poplar trim that I've seen the filler plate used with, maybe there wasn't excess inventory and this allowed for the new design. Just a guess but I hope I'm right.
Paul what trim did the 550 have that you drove yesterday?
Paul what trim did the 550 have that you drove yesterday?
The car had a black wood trim, not Ebony black trim. The wood trim looked beautiful.
04-15-2007, 01:54 PM
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My Ride: 11 550i Sophisto Gray/Oyster Black/Anthracite, Sprt Trns, DHP, IAS, SP, PP1, PP2, CWP, HUD, DAP, AVSP, SF RS, CA, ACC - Euro Del
Originally Posted by doug_999' post='413882' date='Apr 15 2007, 08:33 AM
Can I ask what dealer you drove it at? I'm curious to see this bad boy. Nice write-up. I agree about the front end.
Jonathan, remember, we are up north here and the sun is still low in the horizon - so the Carbon Black won't really start to take light until closer to summer (I've noticed this with my Monaco Blue) - which is totally different in the bright summer sunlight vs. sunny days in April.
Jonathan, remember, we are up north here and the sun is still low in the horizon - so the Carbon Black won't really start to take light until closer to summer (I've noticed this with my Monaco Blue) - which is totally different in the bright summer sunlight vs. sunny days in April.
04-15-2007, 02:05 PM
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Originally Posted by JSpira' post='413794' date='Apr 14 2007, 10:41 PM
...I did not look at how the doors meet the dash - but the interior door design is a great improvement. Unfortunately, if it doesn?t mesh up with other parts of the car...
When I see design sloppiness I always think of Japanese cars, even Lexus, not German cars. Any manufactured German product is generally incredibly well designed, engineered, and manufactured. I buy German hand tools made by Festool for the same reasons. They are somewhat more expensive, but they are light years better than anything else available in the US.
04-15-2007, 06:24 PM
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My Ride: 2008 Sapphire Black on Black M5 - loaded sans soft close doors
Originally Posted by JSpira' post='413889' date='Apr 15 2007, 09:15 AM
Ja, but the bright lights of the Javits Center are immune to this.
04-15-2007, 06:41 PM
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pharding, I agree with you that the LCI interior changes are hideous.
I sat in the 530 LCI and 550 LCI at the NY Auto Show and hated both of their shifter designs, how the driver's door handle became a "hole" while the 3 other doors have proper handles, and the entire redesign of the door panels - how they went from a edgy design that matched the edgy dash to a curvy design that doesn't match the dash shapes anymore. Its almost as if BMW moved the location of wood trim on the doors to emulate the design of the e39 and e46 - but that'd be a step back and there's also a gap between the wood on the doors and wood on the dash!
I sat in the 530 LCI and 550 LCI at the NY Auto Show and hated both of their shifter designs, how the driver's door handle became a "hole" while the 3 other doors have proper handles, and the entire redesign of the door panels - how they went from a edgy design that matched the edgy dash to a curvy design that doesn't match the dash shapes anymore. Its almost as if BMW moved the location of wood trim on the doors to emulate the design of the e39 and e46 - but that'd be a step back and there's also a gap between the wood on the doors and wood on the dash!
04-15-2007, 07:45 PM
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My Ride: 11 550i Sophisto Gray/Oyster Black/Anthracite, Sprt Trns, DHP, IAS, SP, PP1, PP2, CWP, HUD, DAP, AVSP, SF RS, CA, ACC - Euro Del
I agree that the relationship between the wood on the new doors is totally unrelated to the wood on the dash. The gap between the dash and the doors is unbelievably bad and ill conceived. I am amazed at how bad it is. The e60 design was wonderful until they did this. A lot of US companies are farming out professionally services to India. Maybe BMW decided that German engineers and car designers are too expensive and they wanted to try farming out design work to India. Or maybe the door design got worked out at Oktoberfest. Or maybe the new BMW Delivery Center is costing so much money that they had to cut corners on the design budgets for the cars.
Generally BMW does things consistently very well. Maybe Chris Bangle was too busy with other projects to review the e60 LCI. Whomever was in charge of the refresh design should be fired. Technically the refresh is well done. The exterior of the car is well done. The interior of the car was just trashed. What they did was careless and sloppy. The previous doors were so much better. Hopefully that horrible shifter plate patch will go away and they will use the design in the photo in this thread. Maybe BMW has been so successful with the new designs that they just take us enthusiasts for granted and slop the stuff together.
One final possibility is that they may have decided to follow the example of Ford, Chrysler, and General Motors and they put the accountants in charge of final design decisions.
Generally BMW does things consistently very well. Maybe Chris Bangle was too busy with other projects to review the e60 LCI. Whomever was in charge of the refresh design should be fired. Technically the refresh is well done. The exterior of the car is well done. The interior of the car was just trashed. What they did was careless and sloppy. The previous doors were so much better. Hopefully that horrible shifter plate patch will go away and they will use the design in the photo in this thread. Maybe BMW has been so successful with the new designs that they just take us enthusiasts for granted and slop the stuff together.
One final possibility is that they may have decided to follow the example of Ford, Chrysler, and General Motors and they put the accountants in charge of final design decisions.