The E60 BMW 5 Series’ Design Was Way Ahead of Its Time and I’m About to Prove It

Bangle was and is still a controversial figure in BMW lore. Born in Middle America, he attended the Art Center College of Design in California before starting his automotive career at German carmaker Opel, where he worked from 1981 until 1985.

He did some work on an old concept car for Opel, then moved to Fiat, where he used his talents on the second-gen Panda and eventually designed the Alfa Romeo 145, which was a good-looking hatchback.

It wasn’t until 1999 that he became BMW’s chief of design, being directly responsible for the stunning Z9 Gran Turismo concept. He then went on to work on pretty much all BMW models, and it was during his time there that the Bavarian carmaker overtook Mercedes as the top premium car brand in terms of global sales.

Now, one design that Bangle approved in his first year at BMW was that of the E60-generation 5 Series. The lead designer for the E60 was a man named Boyke Boyer, while the final design was developed by one Davide Arcangeli. The latter would, unfortunately, pass away shortly after and would never see his creation on the road.

Again, I think Bangle deserves props for approving such a revolutionary design, almost timeless, some could argue. Sure, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but there’s strong evidence that the lines of the E60 could easily translate into something from this decade – more on that later, though.

Aside from its ultra-angular aesthetic, the E60 also became the first 5 Series in 22 years where the center console wasn’t angled towards the driver. Also, it came with a wide range of amazing gizmos, such as active cruise control, bi-xenon headlights, active anti-roll bars, a head-up display, active steering, night vision, and more.

It was a superior product when compared not just to the E39 but direct rivals such as the W211 E-Class. Meanwhile, it also aged a heck of a lot better than the Audi A6 (C6), another rival from that era.

I could have written this editorial just to say that the E60’s design was underrated, especially if all we had to go by were its two successors in the F10 5 Series and the G30 5 Series. However, we now have a pretty good idea what the all-new 2023 5 Series / i5 will look like, and what do you know, it appears to share a couple of very important design traits with the controversial E60.

We’ve shown you a lot of renderings already, some of which we feel are pretty accurate. But even with no renderings, we can tell that prototypes of the all-new 5 Series feature a clean, angular design for the doors and shoulder line, just like the E60. The new model’s headlights could also resemble those found on the E60 in terms of shape. But what I’m mostly focused on is BMW going back to a cleaner, more simplified profile for their new 5er, which in turn validates everything E60 fans have been saying for nearly two decades.

As for our two exclusive renderings, all we did was change the headlight and taillight graphics on an E60 M Sport model from 2005. I specifically didn’t want to change anything else (like grille size, hood, or even the headlight/taillight shape) because I wanted you to see what it would look like in its original form when fitted with modern-day light units.

By the way, we borrowed the headlight graphics from the latest 5 Series in PHEV spec, while the taillight graphics belong to the new 2 Series Coupe. The latter is the only BMW currently with small, chunky taillights, slightly reminiscent of the E60.

So, what do you think? Do you agree the E60 almost looks like a “future BMW model” with these new light graphics? If you do, that means that people who objectively hated its design back in the early 2000s should start eating their words right about now.