If car enthusiasts called the shots at a major car company, crossovers wouldn't exist and every car would be a sport model with 800 horsepower. So what would we do if given the reins at a major automaker like BMW? BMW makes some of the world's best enthusiast cars, however they are also responsible for the abominations that are the X3 and the 5 Series Gran Turismo. Both of these cars are terrible. Anyway, let's start out redux from the bottom. BMW needs to offer an affordable car that people will want to drive.
The current 320i is simply too slow and basic to be considered a great BMW. BMW should offer a new 1 Series in both sedan and hatchback body styles. These cars could be front-wheel drive in order to lower costs. While that may sound sacrilegious, we think that BMW could easily build a great-handling car with front-wheel drive. This would compete with the Mercedes CLA, Audi A3, and even the Volkswagen GTI. BMW could use the 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine and build an M Sport version with all-wheel drive to deliver around 300 horses. Next we think that BMW needs to build a new 8 Series. The new S-Class Coupe is one of the prettiest cars on the market and is available in two AMG versions.
An M8 from BMW would give Mercedes some stiff competition as well as compete with the upcoming Lexus LC500. It could be powered by a range of BMW V8s and V12s with an M version making well over 600 horsepower. The 8 Series would be a stylized version of the flagship 7 Series sedan. We already know that BMW can turn its sedans into gorgeous Gran Coupes like it did with the M6 Gran Coupe. How about an M8 Grand Coupe to really make us all happy?Slotting at the top of the M range should be a mid-engined supercar. BMW has not ventured into this territory since the original M1 in the 1980s, but we think that reviving the nameplate as the M9 would bring back a much needed prestige to the M brand.
People have been loosing faith in the M brand because cars like the X5M and X6M dilute its racing heritage. A supercar could bring faith back to the BMW enthusiasts. BMW could use the i8 platform or an elongated version of the platform from the upcoming Z roadster. The engine from the M5 could power this car, like the original M1. This would give us the 600-plus horsepower mid-engined BMW that we have always dreamed about. Finally, we will take a look at BMW's naming scheme, changing it for the better. Currently, BMW has a dizzying array of model names that's supposed to designate the engine in each model. We miss the days when a 328i actually had a 2.8-liter engine.
In order to fix this we propose that BMW could easily go back to using displacement to name its cars. But consumers are likely so entrenched in the current lineup that even this logical change would mess them up. We'll make a deal BMW: keep the naming, get rid of the 5 Series Gran Turismo and we'll call it even! While we are at it, cut the 3 Series Gran Turismo, the X1, and the X3. Why can't we have nice driving, good looking wagons instead of ugly, high-riding crossovers and whatever the heck the 5 Series GT actually is. Which one of these proposed models would you most like to see? Or do you just think we are nuts?
