I'm currently living and working in the Middle East. A few dealers in the region have the new G05 on display.
Took lots of pics. Adding some of my own personal thoughts and observations.
Differences immediately obvious between the F15 and G05. Both 50i models, comparing apples to apples. Obviously, from the front the biggest thing that grabs you is the massive grill. I've been concerned about it, but like others have said it does look better in person. Standing next to the G05 and looking around the rest of the dealership, every other model's grills looked anemic in comparison. Is this the new BMW standard? Maybe.
Overall, I really liked the G05 appearance in person. Was concerned about the grills and the rear end, but they're not that bad. (I'm not going to say "great", though)
G05 looks more athletic with the new lines, than the F15. You'll notice as you see details, these are Middle East (GCC) spec models.
Here you can also see the ground lighting when the driver's door is open.
And lots of pics of the G05 specifically. Here's what was posted for specs and info. Not a lot of details. Notice no price posted. There were several local Arabs also looking over the car. One said he had heard a local price equivalent to $128,000 USD which would be ludicrous, even for this local market. They were talking about heading to Range Rovers instead. They could have been mistaken, of course. I didn't ask.
Good looking laser lights. And turning them on from the driver's seat, they do appear do be very functional. Me likie. Just wish we got both low and high beams in the USA.
And I'm LOVING the big, aggressive, athletic front fascia vents in the front end. Make the car look very nice.
Very nice, big 22" rims and tires.
So... the grills. Yes. Big. No... BIIIIG. They do look better in person. Still big, but in person they don't overpower the whole car aesthetics so much. Yes, as others have said, I think the grills would look better blacked out. In chrome, it just adds SO much shiny bling to the front end.
Now, notice the front grill louvers. Yes, they open and close. Here are pics of them, in both the open and closed position. Feeling inside, they're just gloss black plastic. Yes, they're cool, but when they're closed, (and we don't know the programming yet as to when they're in each position) if it's while the car's driving, they're just going to rapidly accumulate bugs and grime, and I think the grill's going to get very grody very quickly and look bad.
... aaaaaand the back end. To be honest, seeing pics before seeing the car in person, I think I was more concerned about this than anything else. There's SO much vertical real estate on the back end, and in pics it looks flat and boring. (and to me, looks like a cross of Kia and Jeep) But in person, the styling lines and dimensionality of the back end does make it look much better.
In particular, the tail lights are much better than I feared. While they're still the same translucent red plastic as ever, they're much more 3 Dimensional than before, which makes them look good, more athletic, and aggressive. I've tried to capture the 3 Dimensionality in some of these pics, including from the inside with the trunk open.
Nice trunk. As you can see, this model has a spare tire and no 3rd row seating. The trunk floor lifts up with a nice oil-damped piston to assist the lift, and then keep it raised. Nice touch.
Buttons on the right wall inside the trunk.
Front to back, (left to right in pic) a 12V outlet, button to electronically stow or deploy the tow hitch, a flippable hook to hang trunk cargo (i.e. grocery sack), the pull lever to release the 2nd row seats to fall forward, and then I don't know what the hole is on the far right.
On the trailer hitch... very interesting. I hadn't seen this electronically deployed hitch on a Bimmer before. Aluminum alloy, electrical connections built into the hitch itself. Notice in the top-down picture, that the hitch doesn't stick out straight back. It's actually bent and curved a little bit. Odd... I would think this would reduce the tension strength of the hitch to pull more weight.
Interior very nice. Although not the colors and trim that I would personally pick for myself, it looked nice. I like the all-LCD dash. The LCD control/entertainment screen in the middle of the dash is less ostentatious, and better integrated than other modern vehicle models I've seen.
Very obvious, local Middle East models apparently sell with a big red fire extinguisher strapped to the front of the passenger's seat. Also in the pic, look to the far right and you'll see the control to turn off the front passenger seat airbag.
The center control console was nice. Interesting crystal shift knob. I can see how some people would like it. It's not for me, though. I found it too glitzy and "bling-y", particularly with the other cut glass or crystal accents as well, like on the iDrive control knob. Here are pics of the lighting color differences inside the shift knob, with the car both off and on.
Center console armrest storage ok. Nothing special, but yay on the USB-C port.
I LOVE the heated and cooled cupholders. I didn't get to try their functionality (i.e. how cold it would keep a can of Coke), but I just love that they can have any effect at all on a cold drink as I'm driving. As others have noticed, though, putting them RIGHT next to the cigarette lighter and phone charging pad, just begs for spills where you don't want them, as you jiggy your drink in and out of the cupholders.
Very nice wireless phone charging pad. This is the G05, and as you can see, my new iPhone XS Max, with Otterbox case, fits on the charging pad very nicely, with a tiny bit of wiggle room to spare. The phone started charging wirelessly immediately when I set it on the pad, even with the car turned off.
Now, for comparisons, I jumped in a 2018 640i GT model (which I love) that was near the G05, and put the same iPhone XS Max phone in the 640i GT phone charging pad. As you can see, the same phone is too big for the 640i GT pad, and couldn't even fit in the cubbyhole. This is significant to me.
Remote key.
Personally, I loooooove the luxury seating package. The massage seats and seat ventilation that I'm trying on multiple new BMW models feels really good, and for me these are a top-3 must-have item for my next Bimmer. The top right button on the side door here is for the massage feature, but I can't figure out what the button below it is for, with the number 2 on the seat. (uh... pun here?) Anybody know?
Very nice sky lounge roof. Big panorama roof, colored lights looked nice. Difficult to photograph in the daytime, of course, but the blue lights are showing up in the pictures on the edges of the lounge roof. I can see this being pretty fancy driving at night, kinda limo-like, although the novelty would probably wear off quickly when you own the car.
Lastly, the back seat. Felt nice overall. I do like the color lighting accents that BMW is putting into new models.
Nice seat back. Well done on lighting on the back seat, shining downwards. I can see the accessory attachment port being useful, although I still think it makes it look the seat back look like the back of an airline seat. Yay for the USB-C port!
Which takes me to the last point. One of the biggest frustrations I've had with the X5 is 2nd row legroom. As you can see from the picture, I'm a big guy, and 6'3". My family is also tall, including growing teen kids. When I'm in the driver's seat, I need them to have good 2nd row leg room. For this picture, I put the driver's seat in a reasonable driving position for me as a driver. Not optimal though--if I were driving, my legs would not be fully comfortably stretched out, but still reasonable and I could drive. Even still, as you can see in the pic, when I got into the 2nd row, I still had to straddle the back of the front seat with my knees, jammed up against the seat.
Would that be okay for a 10 minute drive to dinner? Sure. Would that be okay for a 5 hour family road trip? No. And any Bimmer I get, I want to be a family car that we could do long sight-seeing road trips.
AAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!! This one "small" thing may be a deal killer for me on the G05. Overall, I like the car, I love the new tech and toys that is packed in it. I like the driver's seat height, which is another important issue for me, as I get older, being able to easily get in and out of the seat without climbing up or squatting down. Is the 2nd row legroom better than the previous F15? Mmmm... maybe. But it still doesn't seem enough for me.
Perhaps I'll have to go to the X7. I'll at least wait and look at the X7 when it gets officially released for orders here next week.
Hope all of this helps someone. Flame away.