- Car design is always subjective. What one person thinks
is a good looking car might be an eyesore to the next. And usually when a new car comes out, the looks are big topic of debate. We are in a time of some
polarizing designs right now, sports cars like the
Toyota Supra and Nissan Z launched with some, let's
say, mixed reception. But no car has caused more confusion, more outrage and more
retching than the new BMW M3, that is unless you count the M4. The M-badged twins were
met with vitriol and hate when they were revealed in 2020, with a pair of big hood to
lip grilles, big old pig nose. Piggy McPiggersons, I call them. I've tried to wait as long as possible to talk about these two cars, to see if they would grow on me. But I gotta say, they still look like the
evil pigs from "Angry Birds", and I'm not the only one who thinks so. So, why is it that the new
M3 and M4 grille design doesn't work for so many people? What is it about the
simple change of a grille that causes such a visceral reaction? Did BMW do this for a
legitimate performance reasons, or is it just style? Are BMW grilles just going
to get bigger and bigger until the whole front of
the car looks like a train? Well, today we're going
to break down the new look and find out what's
cooking on these grilles. (bouncy music) Thank you to Off the Record
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ticket at offtherecord.com/donut. (Instrumental music) The first question we've got to ask is, why did BMW make this new
grille in the first place? The MP3 and M3 are some
of the only vehicles in BMW's new lineup that
have this extra long grille. If they all had the same grille I'd say the reasoning
would be one of style. BMW wanting to differentiate
its current lineup from previous generations. But since this grille, in particular, is only on the performance models, my guess is that it's got
something to do with performance. And if you look behind the
front bumper of the M3 and M4, that's exactly the case. In the 8-speed automatic
version of these cars, there are seven radiators upfront. One for the AC, one for the engine oil, one for the transmission,
and four for the cooling. That is a lot of cooling. All that cooling means that
you need big wide openings for the air to flow into, and the cooling doesn't stop there. The M3 and M4 also have brake ducts to cool the front brakes. These are a way to cool the
front brakes using air flow, but it means you need even
more holes in your bumper for air to come through. All of this is designed so the car has all the comforts
needed in a luxury road car while still being able to
abuse tires at the track. And that explains why the car needs lots events and grilles upfront. What it doesn't explain is why they had to shape them so weirdly and put so much of that grille in the center of the car. For that we have to look at aerodynamics. You wouldn't think it
just by looking at them, but BMWs actually have a decent amount of aerodynamic forethought
in their design. BMW's often utilize an air curtain along the edge of the bodywork. In simple terms, this is a way to motivate
air to stay smooth as it goes around the body. One of the least aerodynamic
elements on a car (indistinct) is a radiator. Radiators are designed to
have air pass through them, but if the air is doing that it can't pass around the car smoothly. So, if all the air hitting
the edges of your bumper needs to be directed around the car, the only logical place
to put all your radiators is right in the center. This way you can have
aerodynamic elements on the edges and cooling in the center, that doesn't interfere with
each other's airflow needs. BMW also moved the main radiator core closer to the front of the car
and further from the engine. This means that there's more space for the air to evacuate the radiator, and it can move faster because of that. But that also means
that there's less space between the grille and the radiator, so there's less room for
the air to change direction once it gets through the grille. With the old grille, the air would have to travel
through a small opening and then fan out to get to
the edges of the radiator for it to perform optimally. Now, with the grille and the
radiator closer together, the grille needs to be
pretty much edge to edge. So, despite how any of us may feel about the actual look of this new grille, it does seem to really be doing its job. The new M4 competition
has 60 more horsepower and 70 pounds more torque
than the outgoing model, and even though it's heavier it's still has a faster zero to 60. So, now we know that the new grille works, but that somehow doesn't
make me feel any better looking at it. BMW changed more than just the aerodynamic and cooling specs of the car, they changed the look and feel of it. It doesn't quite feel like a BMW. And to explain how
deeply rooted my feelings about the BMW looks are, we need to talk about design language. Design language is a set
of rules and principles that guide an organization's
visual identity. It ensures that their designs
have a sense of continuity. Every automaker uses some
form of design language in their car, it's how you can recognize a car without even having seen it before. It's a great marketing tool and different OEMs use
it in different ways. Lexus, for example, for the last decade has used the same hourglass style grille on almost their entire
lineup from Coupes to SUVs. Mustangs have had the
three bar tail lights on almost every model
for the last 60 years, and we recently did a whole video talking about the design
language of Aston Martin. So, if you're looking at a car
that didn't have any badges, a successful design language would help tell you
what kind of car it was, or at least who made it. And for BMW, there's one
part of their design language that has always stood out, and that's the kidney grille. The kidney grille is a staple
of the BMW design language. It's got its name from
looking like kidney beans. Speaking of beans, we got
some new merch coming soon, give her the beans. In 1933, the BMW 303 had a grille made of two long vertical ovals, designed to optimize
cooling and aerodynamics. Sound familiar? It's almost exactly what
the new grille is doing, and for the same reasons. But while we may be able to draw parallels to these two designs
nearly a century apart, the kidney grille look
that we all know today is very different. But throughout each era, even though the kidney grille
has changed in size and shape, the BMW essence has always been there. Even with the swoopy
coup lines of the 1950s, a car like the BMW 507
still feels like a BMW. The split kidney grille is
not the same as you'd expect, but it still tells you
where the car came from and what it's all about. In fact, while we're talking
about design language, if you look at the
fender vents of the 507, you can see how BMW kept them as a part of their design
language decades later in the BMW Z3. But apart from a small things like grilles and fender garnish, BMW doesn't have many tools in
its design language toolbox. For more boutique manufacturers, design language can be a broader thing that encompasses the whole
shape of the car itself. Think about how all Lamborghini's have really similar
proportion in the front and nearly identical silhouettes. Think about Porsche and the fact that so many of their cars have the same headlights,
and same rear end, and same vendors, and same-- (beep) But for BMW, they make a
little bit of everything. SUVs, sedans, coupes, roadsters, even EVs. So, their design language can't be something as broad
as a roofline or proportions. Sure, they have those things that are occasionally consistent, but one thing that ties
the whole line together across multiple decades
is the kidney grille. BMWs like the 2002 and E30
M3 had similar taler kidneys, while their super car, the
M1, had a really tiny version of what became the BMW
standard for the next 20 years. It seems like there's almost no wrong way to design the kidney grille, as long as you got two
holes and a BMW badge. The grilles can be big,
small, wide, narrow, anything you want. So, why does a new M3 and
M4 grille not feel the same? I've been staring at this
grille for a while now, and I think there's one thing that really makes me feel weird. One Cardinal rule about the kidney grille that BMW forgot about, one line they never should have crossed, and I mean that literally. If you look at BMWs from
the '90s, '80s and '70s, even back to the '30s, there've been many different
versions of the kidney grille. But they all have one thing in common, they never cross below
the crash structure. The kidney grille always
ends above the point where the bumper actually sits. Even with the classics
that it's super long and skinny grilles, the
bumper was always lower. In regards to design, this is a line that divides
two planes of the car shape. The top half that curves or
rakes back towards the hood, and the bottom, that either
rakes back towards the ground, or in the case of some of the older cars, doesn't exist at all. Regardless of how high
or low this line is, it's the part of the car
that is the furthest forward. That is by design. The crash structure is there
to catch any collision first and help protect the important
parts of your engine bay. So no matter what the front
of the car looks like, that bumper line is often
the furthest thing forward. Now, with that in mind, take a
look at the M3 and M4, again. (ticking sound) The grille extends past this line and continues onto the
bottom half the bumper cover. Now, kidney exists on two planes
of the car instead of one, and I think it's this one detail that throws everyone for
a loop with these grilles. As far as I can tell, no other BMW that
supports the kidney grille has ever had the kidney
on two planes like this, and it definitely hasn't
happened on the car as high profile as the M3. BMW broke a rule of
their own design language that they didn't even know existed. There've been plenty of people with much, much more
design experience than me, that have tried to fix
the design of this grille and I really recommend
that you go check them out. But I don't think that
anyone has been able to put into words what
is actually incorrect about the new grille design. So, with any luck, I'll be teaching automotive design at my local community college
coming this winter semester, you can call him Mr. Sykes. Actually, just call me
Nolan, we're all adults and can dispense with the formalities. At the end of the day, it's just styling. And what really matters about a car is how it feels to drive, and BMW's feel pretty damn good. I thought the M235i Gran
Coupé was kind of ugly, kind of fat and funky,
but then I drove one and it was awesome. I drove a 428i the other
day and it was also awesome. I think BMW is probably going to refresh the three and four series
face, hopefully quickly. And the pig nose will
soon be a distant memory or it'll take over the entire line, there's really only two
routes they can go with this. But that's just my
theory, what do you think? Is my hypothesis on the new grille correct or do you think there's
something else wrong with it? Does the car need to look better or as a fast car enough for you? Let me know down in the comments. I am actually really curious to know what your thoughts on this is. I thought seeing it in person
would make me like it more, but that was not the case. I want to know what you think. Like I said earlier, we got a
lot of new merch on the way, you don't want to miss it
so go to doughnut media.com, sign up for our mailing list,
you'll get our newsletter or you'll be alerted to it, but you'll also get 10%
off your merch order, which is awesome. Follow "Donut Media" on all
social media @donutmedia and follow me @nolanjsykes, if you'd like. Be kind, have fun with your
car, I'll see you next time.
