Up until recently, BMW has been generally considered as one of the few auto manufacturers with consistently good designs. Detractors will claim this is due to very small, incremental changes through the years. I disagree; citing that consistency is a quality to be admired. That said: it’s an undeniable fact that the hallmarks of BMW design have certainly changed through the years. The once-trademark grills and Hoffmeister kink jump to mind, but there’s one other design feature that has solidified BMW’s iconic status throughout generations: the headlights.
They’ve spawned shirts, posters, and even entire aftermarket lighting solutions. There’s no shortage of love for BMW lighting designs, and today we count down the five most iconic ones.
Love them or, more likely, hate them – the Bangle era is the definition of iconic. Most enthusiasts can spot a Bangle design a mile away, for a range of arguably good reasons. And it’s usually the early-2000s 5, 6, and 7 Series that attract the most magnetic criticism. Unfortunately, most of the designs have not “come around” in the last few years. Particularly the earliest of the E65 7 Series designs will stick out in most people’s minds as being downright ugly.
So, the lights. The rear lights of the E65 were split across the trunk horizontally. But also, splashed on the rear-most corner of the rear quarter panels. Completely disconnected, the rear end became quickly disjointed and jarring to look at. The front sported bulbous, bubbly headlights that just seemed alien at the time. The E63 6 Series and E69 5 Series shared most of these qualities and receive similar objections. Less disparaged is the E90 3 Series – many don’t even realize that Bangle designed it! Until the end, I’ll defend the 6 Series – the sharklike attributes pair well with the alien looking features. But for the most part, the Bangle era is “iconic” of questionable design.
The M4 GTS was a bit of an anomaly when it debuted. But there was never any doubt that the…
