Missives from the 6th Floor

I drove the 325 back from breakfast this morning, and all things considered, I'm a bit underwhelmed. I've never been a huge fan of Chris Bangle's design direction, but having now driven a newer BMW, I'm even less a fan.

All of the sensuous curved lines have been replaced with hard angles - and only two outings later, Dawnise has already bruised an elbow on the arm-rest. The gear select - a sculpted bit of wood in our '03 that just begs the driver to caress it - is a plastic and leather stick without any pleasing curvature.

The electronics (stereo, in-dash display) have gotten more complicated, though seemingly only very slightly more feature-rich. The whole of the interior feels a bit 'cheaper' than our '03, despite the leather and wood trim. Save for a few obvious visual cues, like BMW logo on the steering column and the amber lighting, you could be in any compact luxury car made today.

The back seat is more spacious than ours, owing to being a sedan rather than a coupe, but the front-seat feels more cramped, especially if the cup-holders - which must be one of the worst designs I could imagine - are deployed.

The over-the-shoulder rear visibility is markedly better than our convertible. For that reason alone, I'm keeping an eye on the new sectional hard-top 3-series debuting in 2007. Perhaps in 3 or 4 years it'll be time for a trade-up - but I still don't love the lines. I'm just more into curves than angles.