The story was vastly the same with the other redesigns that Bangle oversaw, from the E60 5 Series to the daring Z4. His designs may seem tame now, but in their day, they were seriously polarizing. Unsurprisingly, the traditionalist automotive media were put off by BMW's new design language, but I remember loving the bold new direction as a kid. BMWMany of BMW's recent designs — pre the new Neue Klasse cars, at least — were met with harsh criticism. These shall we say bold designs have contextualized the comparative elegance of the Bangle-era Bimmers.