Wide or narrow grille?

[BM-BOY]

Personally, I prefer the narrow grille... It looks a bit "meaner". But then I may be biased!

[skr]

allso like the narrow better

[Alexlind123]

Narrow matches the healights better, imho. It seems to fit in nicely with the shape of the hood and the spacing of the headlights. The wide one addds a kind of fat, lazy appearance tot he front of the car, sort of like an ?alfa romeo?. Also, as the narrow grill is nearly square in dimensions, it serves as a nice midpoint between the upright grills of olde and the lazy sideways grills that came later.

[uscharalph]

I like the spacing on the narrow grill.

[Alexlind123]

http://servo.postverket.us/alex/IMG_0015.JPG

[liquidtiger720]

Pfft. Wider is better. Hehehehe.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v457/liquidtiger720/DSC03053Large.jpg

[632 Regal]

All the wide grill people are still asleep.

[shragon]

w_____i_____d_____e

[MBXB]

W________i_______d________e

[Lennyz525i]

own narrow but prefer wide

[E34 530]

Wide!!!!

[Beez540]

wide

[Phil Sanderson]

...x 2

[darkbeer]

i prefer wide only because mine is narrow. im sure if mine was wide, i'd want a narrow. ;)

[pundit]

The wide grille on the E34 is a classic example of a company trying to ring a few more years out of the model run for the least possible outlay (otherwise known as 'facelifting') and placate an impatient market, prior to the release of the E39. When thinking of wide grilles, think of an ageing women who wants desperately to appear young again and gets herself a 'makeover'... that she never should of had. Because the 'makeover' is just so damn obviously a 'makeover'! :p

In a nutshell the original E34 design was a 'classic' and the wide grille was the beginning of the departure from that 'classic' design and is the first sign of the direction the company is begining to head in. While it's only very subtle, I think you can see a change is on the way none-the-less. (Think of 'Banglesque' on the horizon) In my mind BMW should have not bothered altering the E34 and just waited for the E39. But it seems a case of 'bean' counters pressuring designers.

Okay. Flame away!! :D

[mattyb]

They both look bloody brilliant! but if i had to choose its wide of course

[digitaldragon03]

Wide because with the wide grill you also get more modern hood lines.

[SharkmanBMW]

wide, sexier and smoother looking.
Even if I had a narrow, I would want wide.

[White535Mtl]

Wide. Wish I had wide. :(

[nuwde]

i like the narrow and i'm not saying it just because i have it.

[JAlfredPrufrock]

i like the narrow and i'm not saying it just because i have it.

Me too, looks meaner.

[Gayle]

I agree with Alex who says the wide grille gives a fat lazy appearance

and jalfredprufrock who thinks the narrow grille looks meaner.

[gtopaul]

Personally, I prefer the narrow grille... It looks a bit "meaner". But then I may be biased!

....a 94 540 and a 92 525iT. I think the grill and front design of the 92 is cleaner than the 94 but I like the hood shape better on the 540. Too bad they couldn't have just kept the 92 front design and stretched it to encompass the 94 hood. :-)

Paul L

[liquidtiger720]

wow, its dead even, 50/50.

[Interceptor]

wow, its dead even, 50/50.
Fair enough.

In my opinion, both designs are nice. It all depends on what you like more - narrow grille for the classic mean bimmer look, or a wide one for a more slipstreamed, modern look.

I wouldn't mind having one 540i/6 in my fleet to have both versions of the grille. :)

[pyro]

ITS A TIE id have to say wide because i don't have it and you always want what you dont have... :D

[BobHarris]

i prefer wide only because mine is narrow. im sure if mine was wide, i'd want a narrow. ;)

Had both, prefer wide. :D

All the best

Bob

[Cambridge]

Personally, I prefer the narrow grille... It looks a bit "meaner". But then I may be biased!
Is that ok? :)

[Anthony (M5 in Calgary)]

NA M5s only came with narrow grilles. Works for me. However, I like the shape of the hood on the wide grille cars, especially as it gets close to the base of the windscreen. Maybe if they had an intermediate model with the narrow grille and the hood lines flared more...

[mikemaster]

narrow, but I wouldn't turn down a wide grill. :p

[632 Regal]

did i SAY WIDE?

[Ali]

Wide for a change, mine is narrow

[NH004]

Narrow with the M5 badge..
Wide without..

[pyro]

Hey anyone wnata trade wide grill for narrow?

[Bimmerman]

I think the wide grill looks plain ugly (sorry guys!) I prefer the narrow, classic look.

[emw525E34]

Narrow!. I have both E34 with narrow and wide grills. Narrow is slick while the bulge on the wide grill is a bit overstated for a 5-series.

Narrow for sure. Wide looks too much like a 7-series which I dislike!.

[Paul in NZ]

repent sinners ........wide grill is the first step to banglephemy

[Randell]

i vote for narrow.. i think it suits the car better

the wide grill looks good on white cars, but odd on anything else.. it's kinda like in 1993 it said 'hey, im gonna flare my nostrils, look at me!', and then the wind changed

[Phil Sanderson]

NA M5s only came with narrow grilles.
...at least in Europe.

regards
Phil

[Anthony (M5 in Calgary)]

...at least in Europe.

regards
Phil

NA = North America in this case, hence the assertion. Wide grille M5s had no front badge for some odd reason.

[jplacson]

WIDE!!! Plus, I love the more modern hood bulge.

[emw525E34]

JL,

The vanos Bulge *under* the hood is much much better!. It can kick the tail even with 17 or 18inch rims!. Weeehaw...

[BM-BOY]

Wow! 77 votes and it is still neck and neck! What an exciting poll!! (Narrow is still marginally better though :D)

[Lennyz525i]

39-39 I voted already. Who will break this?

[billb]

39-39 I voted already. Who will break this?

wide rules!

[shragon]

wide wide wide!!

[jplacson]

Well, goes without saying... would also rather have an engine that said "M Power"... hahaha

[timeout]

I voted wide. Wouldn't it also give better airflow or is it just looks?

[BM-BOY]

No more narrow votes? C'mon people!:D

[scott540]

wider is better..... for tires too

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v25/scott540/juliatire1.jpg

[Elekta]

with a 92 535 and the 94 tourer I enjoy both really. There are certain colors where the wide doesn't look so great, and the hood seam above the kidneys is crucial to not be too big.

For now I'll go wide with my wagon.

got some killer Tstars and some Yoko dbs to show you when I get a chance.

am trading the baskets to an indy for brakes and rotors

[FiveOJester]

Definitely the wide grill. I don't like the huge block of black plastic between the narrow grill and headlights.

I still wouldn't mind owning a 535 though... :D