The Old Vs. The New

[RDF97]

The best looking cars from the current period are really the top end sports and supercars like the Aston's and the Maserati's, but stuff like the Alfa Giulietta and the Citroen DS3 really float my boat.

From the current period. I like the following: Alfa Romeo Giulietta, Ford Falcon (FPV's), Aston Martin One-77 and Vanquish, Maserati GranCabrio and GranTurismo, Citroen DS3 and the VW Scirocco.

From the past periods. I like the original Mustang, original E-Type, Aston Martin DB5, stuff like that.

 

[niky]

While there are, indeed, a whole lot of ugly cars around today... I've lived through five decades (still confused as to how I did that, considering I'm not even forty yet) of cars, and there have been ugly cars in all of them. Very ugly cars.

That said, there is a question of whether any modern car can be considered "timeless". I think maybe there will be, but with the nature of plastic trim and light clusters, as well as the poor durability of modern, environmentally friendly finishes, it will be hard to keep them in shape for long enough to find out.

I think designs like the Alfa GT, RX8 or perhaps even the much-ballyhooed X6 could make it into museums in the future. Looking further forward, I think the cockeyed Jaguar XF and the (even more controversial than the X6) Evoque are stunning designs.

People don't see modern cars as iconic or beautiful because they grew up with something different. But as an (admittedly amateur, though I have been paid... at times) artist, I appreciate the fine detail that goes into some of today's cars.

Like this:

One of my favorite shoulder lines, ever. The dramatic tension and the way the surface breaks? Wonderful.

Also a big fan of the second generation Mazda6. The way the lines flow kinetically and interact is amazing.

As long as you can open your mind and ignore what experience tells you a car should look like, you'll find a lot of good design and some fantastically cutting edge and even expressive work being done in the field. If there's one problem, actually, it's that "regular" cars look so much better than before that "exotic" manufacturers really have to push the envelope to differentiate themselves. They now tend to go for "shocking" or "outlandish" to elevate themselves above the Alfas, Mazdas and Fords.

There's nothing really "classic" yet within this time period, but for a design to become classic, we have to be looking back at it across the decades. Thus, it's a question that can only be settled ten or twenty years from now.

 

[Tornado]

I think in about 5 years there will be another massive design shift like there was in 1960.

 

[niky]

Maybe. We're midshift through a design-focus change right now. Smiley faces out, bizarre, mean, growling faces are in. There's still a sharp divide between those who go for the broken shoulder and those who go for the Tornado-line (straight shoulder). We're also seeing much more in terms of free-form light design. People still can't figure out what to do with LEDs, so they're all over the place up front, but I'm digging how they're being incorporated into the rear lights.

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Also, I see design finally moving away from the Audi "goatee" and more towards something else. "Blade motif" front and rear seems a nice trend, breaks up the front and gels better with the smaller grille openings on modern cars.

A refreshing change from the overwrought false grilles and stretched plastic-surgery stretched (the Malibu look) front ends of some current cars.

Obviously one of the worst offenders. Look at all the cheater panels up there, too...

Of course, the problem with the blade is what to do with the lower grille area. Which means:

More megamouth. Yeah... errh...

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As for major changes in shape, we're starting to see them with the new Mazda6 and Accord. Designers are trying to shrink the envelope around useable space instead of chasing big overall dimension numbers, nowadays. I hope that trend continues.

 

[homeforsummer]

As long as you can open your mind and ignore what experience tells you a car should look like, you'll find a lot of good design and some fantastically cutting edge and even expressive work being done in the field.

This. So much this.

I think in about 5 years there will be another massive design shift like there was in 1960.

The next few years are already intriguing to me. A few big manufacturers are completely turning around from where they were a few years ago.

One or two years ago, Renault showed the DeZir concept, which has since become the backbone of their new range. The design language is based on something awful like "the flower of life" or similar, with pass-the-sick-bucket themes like "love", "friendship" and similar, but the designs themselves (Laurens van den Acker) are fantastic to my eyes. Curved, organic shapes in bold colours. A real brand identity without making everything look identical (hi, Audi).

The new Clio is particularly successful - I've seen a few on the road now and they stand out a mile. Close up, the really smooth surfacing and deep paint finishes have a glass bead-like look which is really appealing.

Really excited by what BMW is doing in its Project i range too. So very, very different from its usual fare, but still distinctively BMW. The i8 is the most exciting BMW in years - my outlandish bet is that one day it'll be ranked alongside that BMW E9 coupe as one of their best designs.