Are Beemers getting ugly or Hyundai's getting cute?

Was dropping our little girl off at school today. Saw what I thought was a BIG Hyundai.  Turns out it was a BMW.  All origami looking with creases everywhere.

Couldn't tell if I liked the styling or not?  Would never buy a bimmer but have always thought the styling was great.

Anyone know or seen the car I saw? Opinions on how it looks?

Funny you should say that. I drove by the local Hyundai dealer yesterday and saw what I thought was a big BMW or Mercedes. It was a Hyundai Genesis. Which is still a $42,000+ car up here, so why not buy a Beemer? Kia and Hyundai are coming out with some pretty nice-looking vehicles lately. If I were to buy a German auto based on looks alone, it would be an Audi. Very clean styling.

You can buy two or three Subi's for the price of one Beamer and your maintenance costs are a fraction - not to mention how much you loose on resale. But if you want to make a statement - go for the Beamer. My favorite car joke - what's the difference between a BMW and a Porcupine, the porcupine has the pricks on the outside...

Say what you want, but imo life starts with a 7 series BMW....that whip is phat

5 series.  Hyundi is making some sharp looking cars, I too was just thinking that as well.  What an amazing company, they came from nowhere 10 years ago and now look at them.   7's are too long for my liking, I like shiny things

OK - so this is going to be a cool car thread. I was never a beamer fan, Jags have always been my passion.
The new 2014 F-Type looks like it's alive.

Anybody see the new Corvettes yet ? Some will like them but styling wise, they're way over the top for me.

The new 2015  Mustangs are sharp.

Snowballs wrote

Anybody see the new Corvettes yet ? Some will like them but styling wise, they're way over the top for me.

With 650 horses and 650 ft-lb/ torque...who cares what it looks like.  The new vette Z06 is/will be one of the fastest production cars ever made.

my bro has a 5 series and a Z1 , . he just gor rid of the 5 series . The maintenance costs were a heavy hit so he decided 2 of these money pits was one too many . The Z on the other hand is HIS midlife crisis  and is WAY cheaper than the usual mid life crisis

Nice car  ,strictly a fair weather toy that is phun to tool around twisty country backroads .

If you could see cars from the perspective I do (I'm an automotive engineer working for a tier 1) then you'd see how much German engineering goes into a Hyundai (and American) and how much goes into a BMW.  You might be surprised.

The question at hand was styling, and while I've always found Hyundai appalling, I do see a huge decline in BMW styling.  But then again sometimes I say that now and a few years down the road changes my mind.  I'm not always sure that I 'get' the styling when it first comes about and sometimes then in comes into vogue.

Anyway, BMW has always been an engineering focused company.  Styling is not what sells their cars.  HMC OTOH is not know for their engineering, in fact, they do very little of their own.  They seem very focused on numbers but their cars don't seem to deliver what they claim.  So maybe they need that styling edge.

I'm actually more impressed with KIA, which is to HMC as Scion is to Toyota.  They offer some pretty technology forward vehicles in affordable packages.  I've never quite been on board with the style, but that is secondary.  Also, like their parent company, they tend to be better on paper than in the real world.

Anyway, don't discount a Korean car manufacturer as being 'Korean'.  There is probably a good bit of INA, Conti, Bosch, Siemens, Mahle, etc... in there.  Same with any manufacturer.  Germans (and Japanese) OEMs tend to be more faithful to their own kind, but ones like VW (of which Audi is part) are going global in their quest for world domination.

But despite this, the philosophies of each are much different.  HMC is a very build and test oriented company.  The Germans tend to be very model based.  Build and test is very old school.  Model based is very high tech.  Model based doesn't mean build and test doesn't happen, it just means more fundamental understanding goes into what is built.  BMW are leaders, HMC are followers.

Despite their apparent perception in the market, very little has changed.  And I'll argue their styling hasn't gotten better, it's just the other have gotten worse.

I saw a KIA the other day — 90% sure it was a KIA — sports car that I would have sworn came from Giugiaro. It was really sleek.

I thought Beemers were more elegant in the past too.

I rode in a Kia K-900 this weekend, that may be what you saw. After I stopped teasing my friend for renting a Kia, I got in and went for a spin. Holy v8, Batman! I was told it was a $60,000 car...certainly accelerated, handled, and was decked out inside like one.

 

Expensive cars are a waste of money.

Do you know how many ski trips (or years of living in a ski town) you could buy for $50,000? Or whatever that number is after 15 years of compounding interest?

Small, fuel efficient, beater cars ftw.

mattchuck2 wrote

Expensive cars are a waste of money.

Do you know how many ski trips (or years of living in a ski town) you could buy for $50,000? Or whatever that number is after 15 years of compounding interest?

Small, fuel efficient, beater cars ftw.

I agree, but only because I don't have that kind of cash to buy such a ride. People who do, do it simply because they WANT to and I see nothing wrong with it.

Chris wrote

5 series.  Hyundi is making some sharp looking cars, I too was just thinking that as well.  What an amazing company, they came from nowhere 10 years ago and now look at them.   7's are too long for my liking, I like shiny things

Hyundai and Kia have come a long way. IMO, they still haven't truly arrived yet. Their residule values aren't all that great, until that happens they wont be a tier 1 manufacturer. Soooooo, if you really want to take one in the shorts go buy one of those 60K Huydai's/Kia's


Subaru is where it's at for residule value....i've never seen any other make have such resale value.

PeeTex wrote

You can buy two or three Subi's for the price of one Beamer and your maintenance costs are a fraction - not to mention how much you loose on resale. But if you want to make a statement - go for the Beamer. My favorite car joke - what's the difference between a BMW and a Porcupine, the porcupine has the pricks on the outside...

New BMWs have a 4 year/50,000 mile full maintenance (you only pay for tires and fuel) warranty.

I have never owned a BMW, but they are a hell of a blast to drive. My brother-in-law had a 2002 540 that I was able to drive. It was a hoot.

I gotta agree with MC2 but I draw the line slightly higher. Even if I was wealthy, I don't think I could spend more than 50k for a car and then I would keep it forever. The cars above that price range are super nice but I just couldn't justify wasting the money. Losing tens of thousands through depreciation would make me cry. I'ld much rather kick that money to charity.

High HP cars are wicked cool but the insurance costs and the inevitable speeding tickets that would hike the insurance through the roof turn me off.

I have a really sharp Mustang convertible, 6 banger automatic. While it will turn the tires, it's no muscle car. That's ok with me as it's cheaper to own/operate and like MC2 says, saves me coin for other hobbies.

Snowballs wrote

I gotta agree with MC2 but I draw the line slightly higher. Even if I was wealthy, I don't think I could spend more than 50k for a car and then I would keep it forever. The cars above that price range are super nice but I just couldn't justify wasting the money. Losing tens of thousands through depreciation would make me cry. I'ld much rather kick that money to charity.

High HP cars are wicked cool but the insurance costs and the inevitable speeding tickets that would hike the insurance through the roof turn me off.

I have a really sharp Mustang convertible, 6 banger automatic. While it will turn the tires, it's no muscle car. That's ok with me as it's cheaper to own/operate and like MC2 says, saves me coin for other hobbies.

To some buying expensive sports cars IS a hobby....for example, I just met a guy who in the past 5 years, yes 5 years, has had the following: 1 STI, 1 Skyline GTR, 2 ZO6's, 1 ZL1 and is now back in an STI. Bought every one of them new and were traded in for the next car. The weathly don't care about losing money, they make it faster than they can lose it.

All I'm saying is these people do exist, and have a blast buying NEW RIDES!!!

mattchuck2 wrote

Small, fuel efficient, beater cars ftw.

Why not have both?

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/2014-ford-fiesta-st-hatchback-first-drive-review

Might be my next car.  They do make a fuel economy version with the 1.0L, 3cyl turbo DI.  I'm a bit scared of having only 1.0L though.  I'm not as Euro as I'd like to be...

I still maintain my MKV VW GTI was the most fun, practical, and affordable car I owned.  It was no race car, don't get me wrong... but it was sporty enough to be fun on the mountain roads and had enough grunt to keep me entertained.  The engine was excellent.  Fuel economy was nothing to write home about, but it was acceptable.  But it really was the jack of all trades.  I did everything from camping, to skiing, to canoeing, to pulling a small trailer and I never once felt compromised.  The resale was excellent as well.  I got rid of it before it became a liability though.  VWs can be a real hassle if something goes south electronically.

And if you want the best resale.  VW TDI.  No questions asked.  I can't quite bring myself to pay the price of admission (and even used they are expensive i.e. high resale) but possibly the best built compromise between efficiency and comfort.  Again, if you can stomach the chance that something may go horribly wrong electronically and no one, not even the dealer, will be able to fix it easily.  Most are pretty good though.

Ask yourself, would you rather have a high end Beamer or a yearly chopper trip in the Bugaboos every year? Until I have enough cash to have my own personal chopper waiting on call for every powder day - I'm not thinking about over priced toys with limited usefulness.