Is this the year Bangle BMWs become the hottest cars on the road?

Words: Jack Shepherdson

In the late 1990s a young designer by the name of Chris Bangle stepped up to the plate as BMWs Design Director, eager to modernise their brand with some radical ideas as they moved into the 21st century. Yet when Chris Bangle’s BMW designs began to hit the showrooms to usher in the Y2K era, everyone hated it.

These shapes were incredibly polarising and radical in the early 2000s, but that's a theme shared across a lot of the era's product design. Computer Aided Design and panel pressing allowed designers to create complex, organic curves in mass production. With technology starting to become a bigger part of our lives, designers were inspired to create objects that blend the organic with technology, creating liquid metal shapes that today we would call blobjects.

Think Oakley glasses, the original iMac, and these BMWs - they all fit right into that early 2000s biomorphic design language.

Chris Bangle is the one responsible for taking BMW away from the boxy 80s and 90s cars to these contemporary, curved cars across the entire product lineup. You can usually spot them by their signature ‘Bangle butt’ - the unorthodox boot shape. When they debuted they were universally panned, but as with a lot of early 2000s designs, they simply needed twenty years to age. Now we’re starting to experience a renaissance and appreciation for these cars.

What was the ugly duckling BMW is starting to look contemporary, minimalist, and beautifully proportioned, plus their drivers are starting to look like trendsetters. Compare them against BMW’s latest cars, and then try and tell me that the Bangle BMWs are ugly. Even better, the tech levels of these early 2000s cars are perfect. Each one has analog controls in a well-designed layout, and a built-in screen you can hack into if you really can't live without Carplay. They’re arguably the best modern classics you can daily drive today - so here are our picks for the best Bangle BMWs.

The BMW 7 Series.

BMW 7 Series

When it came time for BMW to replace the 1990s BMW 7 Series (the E38 series), they had a problem. How do you follow up one of the best super saloons ever made? The word ‘icon’ is thrown around far too often, but it really does sum up the E38. It’s Jason Statham’s wheels in The Transporter, it was inseparable from Tupac (who ultimately was killed in one); doing justice with the next generation was a serious challenge.

When the replacement 7 Series dropped, it was far from popular and arguably hated. Whilst in-period it was perceived as frumpy and ill-proportioned, that ugly duckling has aged into a perfectly sized, understated swan, especially in light of how overstyled modern big saloons have become.

It’s the perfect age for a neo-classic daily driver that offers all the technology you want without unnecessary distractions, with impressive comfort and a sleek, under-the-radar, incredibly refined design. The optional 6-litre V12 engine is not a bad thing to have either.

The BMW Z4.

BMW Z4

A two-seater convertible, rear wheel drive analog sportscar with a Y2K design? Sign me up. As is the theme with Bangle’s designs, the BMZ Z4 is ageing perfectly, with enthusiasts slowly starting to wake up to the charm of these little roadsters.

In terms of value for money, it still represents one of the best entry points into a convertible sports car. It’s a genre of cars that tend to be designed looking to the past for inspiration, but the Z4 is the outlier, with shades of frutiger aero. It is wholly a product of its early 2000s time.

The BMW X5.

BMW X5

If you told me only a few years ago that I’d be looking at first-generation BMW X5s with envy, I’d have told you you'd lost your mind. Launched in 1999, the X5 was BMW’s first-ever SUV, and a big part of its success can be directly attributed to its straightforward nature and purpose. As SUVs have become overstyled and watered down, I’ve found myself looking at the early generations like the Porsche Cayenne and X5 with some interest. They’re packed with luxury features like heated real leather seats and tech features that were advanced in the early 2000s. At its core it’s a big, comfy, high riding sofas on wheels.

I think the X5 is getting more handsome by the day - something I thought I’d never say - and presents a captivating proposal as a daily driver: all the tech you need and nothing more, practical, safe, refined, luxurious, cheap as chips, and it’s high-riding enough to cope with the bumps of the Westfield carpark. But most importantly: it is understatedly cool, a perfectly designed product of the 2000s.

The Maritime Edition Series 7.

The Maritime Editions

These are something BMW would never do today, but my goodness am I glad they did. Introducing the Maritime Edition BMWs - special editions with a nautical-themed interior.

A product of the Bangle era, the Maritime edition interior pack was actually available across all three of our Bangle BMW picks listed above, pairing perfectly with a blue exterior. They featured some impeccable teak timber dashboards and nautical carpeting - BMW basically robbed the closest French Riviera marina of their luxury fittings for their range of cars.

It goes without saying, but if you can find one of these super rare interiors on a 2000s BMW for sale, grab on and don’t let go. I struggle to think of a cooler daily drive right now.