I still say, you got to see all these new bimmers in person to appreciate them. I didn't like any of them having seen only pictures/photos. When I seen them in person, they looked so much better. Here's my humble opinion about all of them, even though you dint ask!

I absolutely love the Z4, even though wifey hates it, and signed a piece of paper that said she’d never own one (she has a Z3). I rate it a 9 out of 10.

Remember, I rated all these new bimmers lower than a 5 out of 10 when I seen only the pics. These opinions are after I seen them in person.

The new 7, impressively large, much more "presence" that the previous 7. Yes it has the bustle butt, but it’s OK in dark colors. It’s different, but very nice, very commanding. I rate it a 7 out of 10.

The new 5, I do like. I drove one in Germany for two weeks. It’s got that strange “slab” sides which I think would look terrible with “door dents” (see them a mile away). But it too is bold, and different and very cool looking. I really like the new 5. The rear trunk line looks bad in pictures, but in person it all comes together real nice. I think it’s definitely a 8.5 out of 10 in my book. I can tell you that I do hate the turn signals and the position of the cruise control, I didn’t like the angle of the dash against my knees (I’m tall and because of the angle, it took away room, I could not move my seat forward enuf). I like the I-Drive (who needs all them buttons and switches), but I hate their implementation, a specific feature of their implementation. They have a delay in selections and movements, you think it’s broke and keep moving the damn thing around, and moving away from selections you really want. More precision PLEASE, after all, this is the computer age!

So, IMHO, I’m just going to wait before I toss out a final opinion. To be honest, I don’t like the front end or the rear end, based on the pics. Front end got that weird angle that comes down around the kidney grills to the lower grill, seems irrelevant. Seems like a halfhearted step towards the Audi Shield they’ve now got, which I really don’t like at all.

Now having said all that, I think I’m a “Classic” bimmer nut. I like the E3x’s. The E30, E32, E34, E36 (eh, front end not so much), E38, E39, and the E46 too (but not the rear end of the e46, too plain). K, now you have it, my design criticism, K, go ahead, call me weird now!