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What is it?

Not just a brand new type of BMW with a completely different kind of agenda to any we’ve seen before, but one with a brand new petrol engine too; this is the new 535i Gran Turismo.

The 530d GT has already impressed with its blend of performance, refinement, quality and class, and most of all with its spacious levels of accommodation. Since the petrol-powered 535i has the potential to better its diesel cousin on two of those counts, this should be a damned convinc...Read the full article

Like a lot of people I'm genuinely intrigued by this GT. Mainly because from its piggy snout to its elephantine fat arse it is the most breathtakingly unattractive car I've seen in decades, but also for the endless references to shared underpinnings with the 7-Series.

Were all those 7-Series reviews wrong? Almost all of them criticise the BMW flagship for its clumsy handling and lifeless steering, bemoan the car feeling too big, too heavy and poorly controlled, and for a ride - to quote Autocar - that is "oddly unresolved over lumpier town roads".

Only the BMW loyal choose a 7-Series over an S-Class, yet we're lead to believe this new GT with the same "backbone" as the 7 is the best, most multi-talented, universally appealing BMW ever? Why? How??

Yes, it's ugly, and it's far too heavy, but the engine and transmission seem impressive in terms of progress. Worth noting that this 3.0 turbo petrol is more than 100 bhp stronger than the engine the in 193 bhp E39 530D Touring automatic that I ran for many years, and delivers the same 295 lb.ft of torque. The car is a good couple of hundredweight heavier than the E39, burns petrol rather than diesel, strongly outperforms the E39 in acceleration and top speed, and has a CO2 rating of 209 g/km rather than 226 (which would put my old car into the gas-guzzler punishment tax regime these days, even though it did 40 mpg all the time for me).

Lets just face up to what this car is - a 5 series for old people who can't bend down enough to get into the normal car. Just like the Golf Plus compared to a normal Golf.

Why it deserves initials like GT I don't know unless it stands for "Geriatric Transport"

Beyond that it's just a poorer handling, heavier, slower, more polluting, more expensive version of the forthcoming 5 series. 

Probably THE most ugly car in the world.  Good engine tech and half-decent interiors won't save this one.  It reminds me of Ssanyongs of the past, or maybe BMW's interpretation of the Pontiac Aztec.

BMW - wake up and get off the haluciogenics. You are going down the drain if you continue with products like this.  This comes from someone who has had many [new] models of BMWs models over the last ten years - I see nothing in the entire product line now or in the future that looks like a BMW should do, so I see no reason to buy another. If I was interested in 'performance, refinement, quality, class, acommodation' but wasn't interested in what it looked like, I'd have already bought a Lexus.

If you see BMW's sales figures going down each month compared with Audi and Mercedes, and you will continue to do so, then this abomination (and others) is the reason why.  BMW is officially dying.

 Caution : panzer attack!

BMW has a little margin to make a potato like that with their brand image. Mercedes with its R (or RL) or other examples exist.
A manufacturer with less brand image could not allow to propose such an elephant.
 

david RS:

BMW has a little margin to make a potato like that with their brand image. Mercedes with its R (or RL) or other examples exist.
A manufacturer with less brand image could not allow to propose such an elephant.

However if you look at their upcoming models they all have that stupid flared-nostril look about them. In short, it's not just this pig ugly GT that's pig ugly. It's might be all of them.

the_dr:

BMW - wake up and get off the haluciogenics. You are going down the drain if you continue with products like this.  This comes from someone who has had many [new] models of BMWs models over the last ten years - I see nothing in the entire product line now or in the future that looks like a BMW should do, so I see no reason to buy another. If I was interested in 'performance, refinement, quality, class, acommodation' but wasn't interested in what it looked like, I'd have already bought a Lexus.

If you see BMW's sales figures going down each month compared with Audi and Mercedes, and you will continue to do so, then this abomination (and others) is the reason why.  BMW is officially dying.

you must either be gifted of preception and foresight or... a stupid git.

BMW is outperforming Mercedes-Benz on overall sales figures; is in profit - Daimler in loss; is about to overtake Lexus as US's No.1 luxury make; is about to launch half a dozen or so major products at IAA Frankfurt next week; its share price has rebounded in recent weeks, is outperforming the sector and was up 8% alone today.

'haluciogenics' (sic) - fella, you need to keep off the special brew and away from keyboards where tiny minds and a little knowledge can be dangerous.

ThwartedEfforts:

However if you look at their upcoming models they all have that stupid flared-nostril look about them. In short, it's not just this pig ugly GT that's pig ugly. It's might be all of them.

'thwartedefforts' - is that what your mother said when she complained to the family planning clinic?

give it a rest mate, your meme is stuck in its groove. There's criticism and then there's vitriol and deep, pathological hatred.

 You are right. The nose of these new BMW is really missed, even caricatural. The current  7 series with a finer nose would be sharply more elegant.