Recent Car Body Shapes and Styling = UGLY

Over the past 5 or 6 years the designs of most affordable (and not so cheap) cars just dont appeal to me. There seems to be an obsession with increasing roof heights, higher door lines and sloping bonnets resulting in cars that look like blobs. Also, the general styling features like front grills and headlights and indicator lights aften look cheap and tacky even on $50K + cars. I think the best/worst example of where this is heading is that pox awful tiny Smart Car thing that looks like Mr Magoo's car. Is that what we want to drive ?

When I look at the Honda Preludes and the Nissan 200X or the Mazda MX6 - cars which were at their peak in the mid nineties - I think they looked just so much sexier. Does anyone else here think the same ?

I'm tired of lamps being used as styling features, every year the headlamps and taillamps get bigger and bigger. Keep functional items functional and work on styling the rest of the vehicle.

the thing is that cardesigners nowadays all studied at the same school...
and the cars definitly loose their personality because of the fact that there are so many "co-ops", take the aygo from toyota, the c1 from citroën and the 107 from peugeot for example: 3times the same car with slightly different details that make the mark...
people should learn the value of older cars and re-enjoy the true fun of drivin' a "basic" car... but nowadays we're all pretty spoiled... people want new cars, but the designers are, in my opinion, pretty much out of fresh ideas. so let's all get back to the seventies, or eighties, most of those cars are still running but no one will buy 'em because "too old"... i never owned a new car but second hands never let me down either... so if the new designs don't appeal to you (certainly in my case), just buy a second hand one...
Dare To Be Different!

Quote:

Originally posted by ArtieLange

I'm tired of lamps being used as styling features, every year the headlamps and taillamps get bigger and bigger. Keep functional items functional and work on styling the rest of the vehicle.

Exactly. The last model Toyota Celica had the silliest ever headlight design. Many of the Mazdas have these multi-mirrored things that dont sem any more effective than the ordinary ones and they make their cars look cheap and tacky. I also wonder if they are trying to save money by making body shapes that are easier to press out in the factory. Quite a few designs look like they have avoided any tricky curves.

I know Chris Bangle at BMW caught allot of heat for the 7 series design when it came out, he coined the term "flame surface" and implemented it in that 7 series design. I agree that the 7 series wasn't the most appealing vehicle when it was launched , especially the decklid, but after a few years of looking at it it really isn't that bad. The theme in a more subdued form has trickled down the rest of the BMW product line and in my opinion looks pretty good. I know allot of BMW pureists hate the guy but you have to give it to him, he definitely took the designs in a different direction. I love the M5 and M6, I think his designs really shine with those two vehicles.

Your forgetting some seriously sexy new cars!
All new vw's (apart from the fox) are Beautiful, i mean look at the new golf gti, and the eos!
The new honda civic, design masterpeice!

Safety is a major factor in producing vehicles nowadays, grills and front ends have to meet safety tests fr protecting pedestrian collisions, so therefore it must be increasingly difficult to balance style with safety, particuarly at the front end!

But having said that, i am a retro car lover!

groezel? Who the f*uck are you ?