As far as modern car design elements go, the current (G80/G82) BMW 3 and 4 Series floor-to-ceiling front nostrils (also referred to as beaver teeth, angry sea lamprey face, etc.) have been, uh, among the more controversial. The design has grown on me personally over the last few months. But apparently, enough people still hate it for the aftermarket to create a facelift. If you miss the aesthetic of BMW’s more conservative era, you might dig this.
Evolve Automotive, a UK company that makes a big range of upgrade products for BMWs, has a fix, er, alternative that’s pretty nice.
I think this looks so good and compliments the rest of the M3 and M4’s bodywork so well. That’s the thing about this latest generation: it’s kind of a bummer that the Bavarian brand decided to do something so wild and unorthodox to finish off an otherwise great design. In the past, it seems like the 3er has always been about slow, methodical design progression. But not this time: BMW went hard in the paint when they replaced the old F80/F82.
EA, on the other hand, kind of came up with its own slow design progression with this product. It has some semblance to the old F80/F82, particularly regarding the size of the kidney grilles, but still meshes with the rest of the body brilliantly. Plus, they made sure to let as much airflow through as possible, which is part of the reason why BMW went HAM in the first place. There are five pieces of cooling behind there: three radiators, one oil cooler, and one intercooler.
Pricing hasn’t been announced yet, but it won’t be cheap. Evolve Automotive gets about $4,500 just for one of its carbon fiber front lips. According to the video, EA is doing an initial run in carbon fiber to keep its costs down. I think that’s a good move, as the G80/G82 could look quite good with an all-carbon front-end painted glossy. Or properly matched, of course. Though, I imagine any serious prospective new owner won’t find pricing too atrocious, considering the cheapest new full-on M you can buy is a base M3 at just about $70,000.
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