Are the new BMW's the hardest cars to build?

The styling features most likely to raise the pulse and lower the resistance of a car buyer -- shapely fenders, a rakish roofline and curves the neighbors will envy -- are easy for designers to sketch, but all too often, impossible for factories to produce.

Car and truck bodies are shaped by many factors, including the practical need to carry loads (a box is ideal) and the fuel-economy benefit of an aerodynamic form (which favors a rounded profile).

But another limit to a vehicle's shapeliness is the ability to manufacture its exterior panels with the contours and creases envisioned by designers. Metal will bend only so far before it tears or cracks; alternatives like fiberglass are more forgiving, but carry the stigma of being "plastic."

New technologies for bending sheets of steel and aluminum, and for lowering the cost of lightweight materials like carbon-fiber composites, are making it possible for automakers to produce vehicles more faithful to the lines originally drawn by the styling studio.

Full article here

JUGNU - 11/22/2005 11:08:06 AM

+1 Boost

Yeah it's true that BMWs r very solid cars.

Much more than MB,Audis,Jaguars and muccccccch more than Japanees.

U can't disagree on this point.

And someone here plz don't compete the hardness of BMW with RR or Bentley or MAYBACH.They r different cars.
U want me to give a big lecture on this.

PLZ guy RR,Bentley and MAYBACH are individualy styled cars and Much work on them are done by Hand.They use different and special meterials with which they r made of.IT's COMPLETLY DIFFERENT STORY.

Coming back to BMWs,yeah they r the most solid,hard,heavy,cars in their clasess.

JUGNU - 11/22/2005 11:08:06 AM

+1 Boost

Yeah it's true that BMWs r very solid cars.

Much more than MB,Audis,Jaguars and muccccccch more than Japanees.

U can't disagree on this point.

And someone here plz don't compete the hardness of BMW with RR or Bentley or MAYBACH.They r different cars.
U want me to give a big lecture on this.

PLZ guy RR,Bentley and MAYBACH are individualy styled cars and Much work on them are done by Hand.They use different and special meterials with which they r made of.IT's COMPLETLY DIFFERENT STORY.

Coming back to BMWs,yeah they r the most solid,hard,heavy,cars in their clasess.

rack - 11/24/2005 4:08:56 PM

+1 Boost

Bmw is not a car I would consider a "tank"
Audi (steel bodied ones) seem to be a lot more rigid than BMW. I think Jag has some of the hardest to bend panels in the entry level lux class (x type).

Jug, if you lecture is as insightfull, and informative as the post above, if you could please spare us that would be great.

I do not think that anyone make a superior car in the entry level class. There are several incredible cars in this class ( a couple of bad ones too)>