BMW 5-SERIES GRAN SEDAN .... to boldly go where no one has gone before.
First of all I wana thank the entire 5post.com for a really good forum and very much thanks to all the members that contribute from their daily life experiences.
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This will be a long article and cover pretty much everything that is involved in this project, so enjoy.
First of all, I am a huge BMW fan with an E30 325iM (MTech II), E28 525i & 528iA and E38 730iA behind me in terms of ownership and I loved them all. I do not have a car at the moment, but I am planning to purchase on in the future and I wana make sure I get the "right stuff".
I visited my local BMW dealership a few months back and looked around for a few options, they had a Z4 M-Coupe (used) which is a very nice car, they had the E13 and even if it is a nice car, I am not a huge cabriolet fan. I live in an arctic environment and driving with the roof down is something that is not often done, I would rather take the F12 650i. Then of course there is the F06 Gran Coupe .. but let's go back a few years.
2007 and CS Concept.
The thing is, I HATE the Bangles design, it absolutely "killed" my interest for new (back then) BMW's, I was even ready to leave the brand (as a customer). It was and is the worst period of BMW history. The E60 with exception of the V10 engine is probably one of the ugliest BMW's ever made.
Then the E90 series came a along and things changed a bit, they softened the sharp edges and things got a bit better. Then in 2007 they reveal the CS concept and redeemed themselves and I knew they would make it back to what I knew as proper design.
Some time passes and they show the Gran Coupe as a concept and it was debated that this was an exclusive China market car, I was sad and glad at the same time for this was the new - production ready - design compared to the CS Concept. I was ready to consider importing a GC if it was only released in China, that is how much I want it.
2010 and BMW releases the F10 and the GC shape and form was (mildly) adopted on a mid level car and yes, that is the car I will own one day. The thing is, a 6 series is an expensive car when you have a normal income and do not want to find yourself in deep shit over the financial situation, so compromises must be done and the F10 is such a compromise. But wait, there is something very important here and that is the overall reason why one would chose the 6 over a 5 series.
The 6 series (GC) is more or less a more exclusive 5 series. It exist between the 5 and 7 series and the 7 series is a larger climb from a 5 series, so more or less, what you pay for is design. Let's use the 550i as an X - same engine as the 650, in fact the same drivetrain. So the real question is are you ready to pay 2x 550 (roughly) for some design attributes (?) - well, I am not. But there is still something that I am not satisfied with regarding the F10 and that is the rear of the car.
When BMW introduced the F10 in 2010, months before this, they showed the production ready Gran Coupe and two things stood out (for me). That was the rear design and the new angel eyes. The rest is very similar between the 5 and 6 and leaving out that on the 5'er is a disappointment, so I was battling - should I save up for a 6 or 5... well, another solution is available and it is that what I call the BMW 5-SERIES GRAN SEDAN.
We have seen the LCI version of the F10/F11, so the angle eyes is been taken care of, what we are left with is the rear of the car that will not change. That is something I need to change on my own as it seems. So let's get down to business of it all.
The difference.
If we first of all look at the physical size difference (see attachment) we can see that the real difference is actually a few mm. So "bolting on" the fenders, trunk etc shouldn't be too hard. Not saying it is easy, but with some metal skill behind one, one should be able to manage that.
Now, when we come to the esthetic look of the 5 series with the new rear end, I think that we pretty much have done it for the 5 series. This is how it should look, and of course, do notice the CGI rear bumper (not done by me) that is also how the M5 should look like (it's the E90 bumper) meaning we need a custom bumper as well. This is now a BMW 5-SERIES GRAN SEDAN. I hope that I can do this one day .. no no, I am going to make this one day, it's just a matter of time.
Let me know what you guys think - leave a comment.