STUD or DUD: Is THIS The Next-Gen 5-Series? Are The 5's Taking It Back?

it is heinous... it's a sad thing to see that the bangle era of bmw is over. I never liked the looks clean cut models of the 90's and earlier. To me they were and always will be boring box cars.

This thing is what I would call trying too hard to come up with a new image, the 6 creases on the hood is overkill and leads to a clustered busy design.

As to whether they are real or not... even if they aren't real they are getting us to open our mind and realize that bmw's about to change.

The New Seven WAS designed under the Bangle era. These cars aren't designed a months before they are launched, they begin to be designed shortly after the current design is complete. That means that the developement of the the new Seven was underway nearly a decade ago and the final design was locked several years ago. Every BMW design is born out of an intense in-house competition, not just popped out by the head designer. These new cars are very "Bangle" as they should be since they were designed under his reign.

And, new 5 image is gorgeous BTW.

Joe is right, the 6 lines make the hood too busy, Although I would love to own it, I would pourposly divert my eyes from the lines in the hood if I drove one. They look great now, why change a good thing for something that is not as apealing, then again the numbers would make me blind to the lack of design.

You are probably the only person on the planet that didn't like 90's era BMW's. Boxy? Are you insane? Maybe they look boxy NOW, but at the time they were far from it.

I think the new 5 is great looking and definitely a nice direction for BMW to be heading in. This design will look great on the new 3, in which it will be further refined and improved.

Honestly I prefer to wait till I see the real thing, but so far I like it..

This is beautiful I think this is the real thing w/o the camo like we have been seeing.....I say this is will probably about 95% close to the finished product. I am going to save these pics and compare to the real model. I think it looks sexy especially the side view where it shows that long nose and short trunk. I like it. very nicely done.

The new BMW 5-Series will be a stud and there is a very good chance I will get one in 3 years when my 2010 Lexus RX350 lease is up.

By the way, EL, I love your profile picture. I actually lol'ed when I saw it.

LOL I love his picture too. The party of No Ideas and the party of No Future saying that the smartest politician in a lifetime who has all the ideas to move our country into a new century is like "more cow bell"

: ))) now that is funny:-)

I think it's real, and I like it. I have to say thought that I will definitely miss the Bangle Era. Now just imagine how the M5 will look like!

that looks fantastic.

**UPDATE: 001 has confirmed that this is a Photoshop and the real 5'er will be announced at Geneva.

The reason you are all fooled is they used the best photoshopper in the business, good friend of the Spies, Radovan Varicak from Toronto.

001

Agent 001, I knew this was a photoshop or BMW is putting this out to find out what car enthusiast think on the internets?

Car companies used to pay people and they still may do to give thier thoughts on car designs. They don't really have to do that anymore with the interwebs and everybody's opinions given for free.

we knew this

photoshop or not, based on the camo spyshots we've seen this is probably very close to the real thing. I hope it does look like this, because the car in those photos would be the best looking car in the class. Coupled with the new interior (which I have seen, and it's gorgeous), new chassis with EDC, and new turbo engines, and BMW will have an exceptional car here. I predict a 550i xDrive in my future...

Weren't these pictures in the most recent C&D magazine?

Definitely looks nicer that the current 5 series. But somehow, in profile it reminds me of Infiniti. I guess we'll have to wait to see the real thing.

In this photoshop profile the front looks like a 7-Series and the rear side looks like a 3-Series with 7-Series tail lights.

I knew the hood was not the real deal.

It's the curves that remind me of Infiniti.

thats what i thought too... theres something about it that resembles infiniti... Not a bad thing since BMW and Infiniti in my opinion have the best cars.

We all now Infinti try very hard to make their cars look like BMW cars, but they try very hard to hide it.

You're being bitter again my little pretty...I thought that was behind you now. Oh well. We ALL know that there's no Infiniti that looks like a BMW or tries to look like a BMW.

Even if its not real, it still looks great. I hope the actual one looks more like this. The front looks perfect, not like the 7 series which looks out of proportion and odd from the front. The headlight size, grill size and angles all look perfect.

I think the next 5 series will be amazing, and the next M5 will be the best sedan in the world. This is coming from a Mercedes fan and an Audi R8 owner..

Well here we go again. Lets speculate and offer opinions on something that probably isn't accurate or in this case real. Wasted time and effort.

looks like 90% scale model of 7 series.

JUGNU

Please, BMW, don't give it a Chrysler Sebring hood. Otherwise the profile looks very sporty.

i would say stud. bmw has never failed my taste on the 5 series.

When the real 5-series shows its face in Geneva, I predict 3 things:

(1) It will have better exterior styling than the current 5. It's easy to improve on a turd.

(2) Its interior will be wanting. It will be typical, current-day BMW: sparse, stark, and with all the flair that a first-year design student can muster. In other words, form over function, with IKEA tastes. It looks like you're trying too hard to be hip, BMW. Nobody can make expensive materials look cheap, like you can :-(

(3) Strong emphasis on gadgets, gizmos, and other "innovations." I really miss the days when BMW made Drivers' Cars.

And all this comes from a guy who has 2 BMW's in his garage, and loves them.

My wife's 09 535i Xdrive looks great in Grey Metallic. Overall I love the looks of the current 535i. I guess beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.

Lovin' it, mates. Lovin' it. BTW, no big surprise -- the B pillar foward is right off the 5 Series GT (duh).

the only bad thing about this car (cosmetics wise) is the lower grille. It is absolutely horrendous. It definitely reminds me of the lower grille of the old elantra and genesis coupe. ...yuck.

It's good looking but a bit boring. BMW [Bangle] finally brought car design into a whole new level (although any brave automaker could have too), but they're kinda behind now. Still, their cars all have an amazingly timeless appeal - too bad the X5 was ruined by the blue X5 M in the press pictures that made it look like a cheap, plastic toy car replica.

Not Bad

Like it not, it will be in the U.S. showroom the middle of June.

i hope this is the actual thing.
the spy shots were nice. but it look abit too girly to me. this one looks cooler.

Very classy look and truly impressive side proportions.

BMW plays it really safe now, which may cause some people miss the brave styling of the previous version (one of my favorite BMW as far as looks is concerned).

I only wonder whether such similarities to the current 7 series won't impact the 7er negatively. This 5er will be very large, leaving little reason to choose the 7er instead of this.

The wonderful proportions, with a very long bonnet, will also make the interior small for such large car. But maybe this sticking to the brand virtues is what BMW needs to make to continue their philosophy.

Looks like an Infiniti M from the side.
Overall it's AIGHT, nothing special.

Looks decent, though I would choose the new Infiniti M over it!