Of course, opinions on design are entirely subjective. To me, I think the 6 Series is the ugliest BMW out there because it looks like a shark. It is troubling that the CS concept is a leading indicator of BMW design. That concept car, while handsome, had an “overbite” shark nose.

I think the new z4 is ugly, because it looks like a shark. I think the new 7 and 5s are both ugly, because they look like sharks, and way too generic looking to be BMW’s!

I’m not looking forward to the new 1 series because of this shark nose. I know that it’s a historic BMW detail, but, we haven’t seen it on a BMW in like twenty years. It’s gone for a reason!

The 1er looks wide-eyed, yes, but it is handsome in person, dare I say adorable. What hurts it more than anything else is the cost, weight and therefore fuel consumption, and lack of 4 doors. I would love a 128 or 135, but how can I give up the ease of throwing things in my back seat?

I am looking forward to drivetrain and design improvements, possibly a tiny four door 1 series sedan, even x drive. They need to correct the cost issue on the 1 series.

The body is stubby from the side. The 1-series ties with the X3 for the ugliest BMW award.

The weight difference between a 135i and a 335i is just 200 lbs, except that with the 135i you get less functional space.

If they shaved 300 more pounds off and redesigned the exterior to not be so comical, I would take it seriously.

The other thing about the 1 is that BMWNA did not want it to be a huge volume car, it was another sportier option rather than a cheap BMW (been beaten to death…) What I see in the Metro NYC area is a lot of unsold 1er converts. Converts are another tough sell in the NY area, for obvious reasons and the price point with leasing with put the 328 convert less than the 1, that is not going to move many cars.

Will BMW come out with a car that is a step of above the Golf, or Jetta, or A3 is really what I wonder, a car like that may have a better chance at sales volume than a straight RWD small sports coupe. The argument is brand dilution but with the current car economy I think that is the least of their worries.

I love the 1 personally ;just has too few doors to meet my needs.

What many of us were hoping for was something light–the recent trend has been to build heavy cars, and put a boatload of HP, huge brakes and various forms of stability control into them to compensate for the weight. What you wind up with is a fast car that pretty much drives itself–still fun, but not as involving as a nimble, lightweight car that emphasizes what the driver is doing rather than what an onboard computer can do (Heck, an M3 or GT-R can make darned near any driver look good, except maybe my mother-in-law).

So whatever BMW decides to do with the 1 for the mainstream, I still hope they will cut weight and improve the suspension (and maybe even make the 1 a little smaller)–if they do, the 1 has the potential to be a distinguished little track beast in its own right.

In talking with some in the industry, BMW and other manufacturers have there hands completely tied and need to rethink everything planned b/c of pending legislation that will alter the fleet averages.

BMW had to back off its stance that hybrids and electrics were not the answer in order to meet these averages (a stop gap). Though BMW is ahead of others in their search for efficiency (Efficient Dynamics) they still have some huge hurdles, one being getting consumers on board.

Great news about the Z2, but I’m still hoping for a Z2 coupe. Maybe a 2nd gen 1 seies coupe will fit the bill though; if the Z2/1-series share the same platform, it may not make much sense for BMW to build a Z2 coupe.