[AP]

https://youtu.be/ejoooEc5IDY?si=8A2TahCdku4dSHny

Posted previously but bought my m550 earlier in the year having seen all the spy shots and leaks about the g60 and deciding this was not for me

This is an interesting video, I like this guys reviews where he takes cars on the autobahn to review them. Seems he is quite a bmw fan although he does review other makes, interesting to see his take on the new g60

[adhrp]

I had the same reaction as this guy when I saw it in person in Munich a few months ago (didn't change my impression from pics VS in person). Some people are posting that they like it after seeing it in person, and I know looks are subjective.. But nope! This one definitely won't grow on me. Wonder if this is the "Bangle" of today and might BMW go back to the more classic, elegant design? Probably not..

[AP]

Yeh looks are subjective but the drop in “quality”
Is unforgivable in my opinion

I also saw it at the IAA in Munich and had a sit down in it and didn’t come away impressed

Real shame

Anyway interesting video all the same

[adhrp]

Originally Posted by AP

Yeh looks are subjective but the drop in “quality”
Is unforgivable in my opinion

I also saw it at the IAA in Munich and had a sit down in it and didn’t come away impressed

Real shame

Anyway interesting video all the same

That's really frustrating. They made a killing during (and since) the pandemic and it's mind boggling that their response to that seems to be "hey we made a fortune the past few years, now let's cut costs further and make an ever bigger fortune!". The greed is sickening, and together with their lame designs it is starting to put me off the brand. Yeah, I know, a pretty strong comment.. but I am just annoyed seeing how perfectly fine products are being unnecessarily ruined by the clowns in Bavaria.

[AP]

And the price of this car is not cheap either , if it was significantly cheaper, then perhaps ok. But then that would not be what I would call a 5 series

People new to the brand may not notice but those of us who have owned bmw previously will notice

[2022M550i]

Wow, what a spot on review. He couldn’t even come close to hiding his disappointment. Finally, someone that is brutally honest. I am so glad I bought my G30 when I did. If this is the trash they are going to be putting out, the G30 will be a desirable classic for sure. I would not lay out my hard earned cash for this garbage.

I like his analogy that it would be a good Chinese knock off.

[adhrp]

Originally Posted by AP

And the price of this car is not cheap either , if it was significantly cheaper, then perhaps ok. But then that would not be what I would call a 5 series

People new to the brand may not notice but those of us who have owned bmw previously will notice

Oh those coming from non-lux brands might not notice but they will be expecting more from a BMW (expecting to get wowed) and may end up disappointed. Buyers from other lux brands will notice and will form a poor impression. Some existing BMW owners are already starting to sour on the brand. Neither scenario sounds good for BMW in the long run. But I suppose BMW has data to suggest otherwise.. their sales keep going up

[SquareWheels]

I strongly dislike that I ( in the future) will have to dig around a menu to figure out how to do a simple task. I want my seat heated, I reach down and click a button.

Why the movement toward hiding everything?

My wife has a Tesla. She loves it. I think it's fun to drive, but if you want to open the glove box, you'll be looking in a menu for a while. You want to adjust the radio volume? I hope you remember what little wheel does that.

I have a 2023 m550. I will hang on to this car for a while.

[AP]

Ergonomics really have taken a step back in recent times.

It doesn’t seem to be an important attribute when designing anything these days and it seems gimmicky colourful screens have replaced them.
It might impress some but it certainly doesn’t impress me at all , quite the opposite

I would love to actually have a 1:1 chat with the designers and try and work out what on earth they are thinking when they design these

I fear for what may be in the pipeline for future models given they probably have to firm things up several years ahead

They must watch reviews as many do speak about lack of buttons, that must be getting back to them, surely?

[Warp Ten]

Originally Posted by SquareWheels

I strongly dislike that I ( in the future) will have to dig around a menu to figure out how to do a simple task. I want my seat heated, I reach down and click a button.

Why the movement toward hiding everything?

My wife has a Tesla. She loves it. I think it's fun to drive, but if you want to open the glove box, you'll be looking in a menu for a while. You want to adjust the radio volume? I hope you remember what little wheel does that.

I have a 2023 m550. I will hang on to this car for a while.

I am certainly with you on this. This guy is driving down the Autobahn at 140 mph and looking at and poking a touch screen. Scary. I find touch screens in cars to be extraordinarily distracting, worse than using a phone in the car. But they are much cheaper to manufacture than buttons and the various electrical connections and eventual maintenance they may require. While my 2019 G30 hasa touch screen, I have never touched it. I use the iDrive exclusively, plus the available buttons for seat heat, sound control, etc. Twenty years ago the iDrive was severely criticized by Consumer Reports and others; today's iDrive is held up by CR as one of the best interfaces in any car. As to the review, it was very good but I must say his head mounted camera gave me motion sickness just watching. I think I will stay with my G30 as long as possible and if it ever dies I will try to find another with as low miles as possible. I am afraid I am on my last new BMW, even after having been as loyal a customer as they could have, owning ten BMWs and even selling them for seven years in my "early" retirement. I agree that the car looks pretty good but a bit like a low cost Chinese knockoff of a real BMW, but I suppose that is appropriate since China is where BMW makes most of its money these days. --Bob

[AP]

Yep me aswell
Idrive 7 and don’t touch the screen, there is no requirement to.
Hate finger prints all over it which just looks awful

Agree on similarity between touching the screen and using a mobile phone. Bizarre how one is illegal and one isn’t….

[NGT2]

I don’t see why I’d need to trade my 2020 M550 anytime in the next few years. Especially if I end up with a different DD - I hope to buy my sisters old RX to let the kids and dogs abuse and extend the life on my M550.

But if I do, I’m pretty resigned that it will just be for another, newer pre-owned M550 or possibly M850 since it is still in production and should be available in good condition for quite a while.

Frankly, the only car I know I’d consider trading for is the original 2020 M550 I targeted. If that guy ever traded in to that same dealer, I’d consider spending the juice to get my original target.

That’s all a long way to say… I think I’m out on the G60. Maybe the LCI will lose the cheap plastic and weird two tone look across the bottom of the car.

[AP]

We’ll see, I guess it depends upon sale figures. If it sells well then probably not

This does remind me of the e60 that followed the e39. A tough act to follow. The interior of the e60 was a step back in quality in my opinion which was the main reason I decided not to upgrade from my e39 which just felt more premium
Again ignoring styling which is subjective but wasn’t to my liking at the time

The LCI e60 did change the door cards to try and improve matters.

So we’ll just have to wait and see how it goes, still early in the g60s life. Expect changes to the model in the few couple of years so see what they do

As it stands now my 2024 m550 is probably my last ICE and I intend to drive it as long as the government allow me, fully prepared to be paying to drive it every trip at some point in the future. I have no interest in a EV and it saddens me to say that I have no interest in any new bmw at the moment , essentially anything idrive 8 or later is a no no for me

On a positive note my m550 is a pleasure to drive and enjoy it so much. Such a grownup piece of kit

.

[Gautam]

Originally Posted by AP

We’ll see, I guess it depends upon sale figures. If it sells well then probably not

This does remind me of the e60 that followed the e39. A tough act to follow. The interior of the e60 was a step back in quality in my opinion which was the main reason I decided not to upgrade from my e39 which just felt more premium
Again ignoring styling which is subjective but wasn’t to my liking at the time

The LCI e60 did change the door cards to try and improve matters.

So we’ll just have to wait and see how it goes, still early in the g60s life. Expect changes to the model in the few couple of years so see what they do

As it stands now my 2024 m550 is probably my last ICE and I intend to drive it as long as the government allow me, fully prepared to be paying to drive it every trip at some point in the future. I have no interest in a EV and it saddens me to say that I have no interest in any new bmw at the moment , essentially anything idrive 8 or later is a no no for me

On a positive note my m550 is a pleasure to drive and enjoy it so much. Such a grownup piece of kit

.

The E60 and G60 bear plenty of similarities. Both have, taller, rounder body styles, rather than the long, sleek style of most other generations. The E60 was the first 5 to have idrive, the g60 has id8 with all its significant changes. In the E60’s case, BMW backtracked and went more conservative with the F10 and G30. Hopefully history will repeat itself here, the neue klasse designs already seem to be going back to narrow grilles.

I’m not writing the g60 off yet, there are a lot of happy owners already who came from g30’s. The downgrade in interior quality and further stripping of features is a disappointment though.

[BMW012]

my opinion on the cost cutting is probably all the investment that is going into the EVs....Tesla really did mess things up for us ICE enthusiasts.

[Neusser]

Originally Posted by adhrp

That's really frustrating. They made a killing during (and since) the pandemic and it's mind boggling that their response to that seems to be "hey we made a fortune the past few years, now let's cut costs further and make an ever bigger fortune!". The greed is sickening, and together with their lame designs it is starting to put me off the brand. Yeah, I know, a pretty strong comment.. but I am just annoyed seeing how perfectly fine products are being unnecessarily ruined by the clowns in Bavaria.

I would not be surprised if it is the fault of a certain global consulting company that shall go unnamed.

They have steered several large brands in rather poor directions over the past 10 years, and not just in automotive.

[Neusser]

Originally Posted by 2022M550i

Wow, what a spot on review. He couldn’t even come close to hiding his disappointment. Finally, someone that is brutally honest. I am so glad I bought my G30 when I did. If this is the trash they are going to be putting out, the G30 will be a desirable classic for sure. I would not lay out my hard earned cash for this garbage.

I like his analogy that it would be a good Chinese knock off.

AutotopNL is a great channel.

Max ranks the G31 540i as one of the best cars BMW has ever made.

[AP]

Yeh. I’d say the the 530d, 540i and 550 are the picks if the bunch for their respective strengths and character

[Neusser]

Originally Posted by NGT2

I don’t see why I’d need to trade my 2020 M550 anytime in the next few years. Especially if I end up with a different DD - I hope to buy my sisters old RX to let the kids and dogs abuse and extend the life on my M550.

But if I do, I’m pretty resigned that it will just be for another, newer pre-owned M550 or possibly M850 since it is still in production and should be available in good condition for quite a while.

Frankly, the only car I know I’d consider trading for is the original 2020 M550 I targeted. If that guy ever traded in to that same dealer, I’d consider spending the juice to get my original target.

That’s all a long way to say… I think I’m out on the G60. Maybe the LCI will lose the cheap plastic and weird two tone look across the bottom of the car.

Not sure you need a cheap DD to extend the life of the M550.

Here in Germany most of the cars on the road are at least 15 years old.

Many are over 30. Early and mid-90s stuff everywhere. A well-maintained vehicle could last you the rest of your life if you really want it to.

[NGT2]

Originally Posted by Neusser

Not sure you need a cheap DD to extend the life of the M550.

Here in Germany most of the cars on the road are at least 15 years old.

Many are over 30. Early and mid-90s stuff everywhere. A well-maintained vehicle could last you the rest of your life if you really want it to.

I agree, I just meant all around. Mechanically but also the interior, the paint, the upholstery. My sisters RX is probably worth a couple grand on a trade in. That’s a pretty cheap way to get a car that can take a lot of abuse from the kids and dogs and stop & go commute, requiring little maintenance.

[adhrp]

Originally Posted by Neusser

Not sure you need a cheap DD to extend the life of the M550.

Here in Germany most of the cars on the road are at least 15 years old.

Many are over 30. Early and mid-90s stuff everywhere. A well-maintained vehicle could last you the rest of your life if you really want it to.

I occasionally watch videos of old cars (15+ years, many much older) with a ton of miles yet in great condition. I find it inspiring and it very well might be my future. I have no doubt my M550i will get there if I keep up with maintainence, which I will for as long as I feel committed to keeping the car.

[adhrp]

Originally Posted by NGT2

I agree, I just meant all around. Mechanically but also the interior, the paint, the upholstery. My sisters RX is probably worth a couple grand on a trade in. That’s a pretty cheap way to get a car that can take a lot of abuse from the kids and dogs and stop & go commute, requiring little maintenance.

In preparation for my future with my M550i, I have already looked up quality auto upholstery shops in my locality 😅.. and good paint shops are also easily accessible. IMHO the key is to thoroughly enjoy the car and "refresh" it in the future, not necessarily preserve its original appointments.