Things you like and dislike about modern car design

[a112]

-Paint jobs look much better now than they used to

Every paint job on new cars I see is full of acrylic paint pattern, I don't have the words to explain that but it doesn't look smooth.


Also I like fuel efficiency and dislike everything else. Especially enormous details.

 

[Keef]

Lack of congruency in a car's design. Lack of elegance.

Many cars today have no rhyme are reason about their design. Often there's no language to it, there's just a bunch of shapes here and there that aren't related to each other. Some companies have gotten better about this while some have gotten worse.

As for elegance, a lot of people think elegance implies complex detailing and luxurious extravagance. It doesn't. Elegance is simple. One of the most elegant designs on the road today might be the Rolls-Royce Ghost. It's long, it's horizontal, it's simple, but then you get to the tail lights and everything goes to hell. The tail lights have a shape that is completely unrelated to anything else on the car, which is a problem with congruency that I mentioned earlier.

The new Jaguar XJ suffers a similar problem. The car as a whole looks feline as a Jaguar should, but the rear end, especially the tail lights, just ruins the whole design.

So many ugly cars on the road with no design language and no elegance. Why can't we just have a long, wide, horizontal slab that looks regal and luxurious?

The closest thing I've seen to that - 1961 Lincoln Continental, one of the best looking cars of all time - has been the Cadillac Ciel...

It's low and wide, tapers toward the rear, and both ends have shapes that talk to each other. The headlights and tail lights are vertical units on the very corners of the car, and there's a shape in the trunklid that echoes the shape of the front grille. As on the Continental, there is a relative lack of chrome, but what is there is used length-wise along the car to help define its massive length.

I suppose the main problem with today's cars is that many of them are small but must satisfy modern safety standards. That makes them crunch a big package into a small space. Ruins the proportions and whatnot. It's hard to make a small car not completely ugly.

 

[tre]

The things I dislike about modern car design:

 

[Keef]

He scarred BMW for life, that's for sure. Mercedes has followed suit with more disasters than I can count. Audi is the only German lux brand that still has any sense about design anymore.

 

[Joey D]

And chevy cruze's ' aveo's and optras also epica are actually daewoo's so they are korean they don't deserve to be called chevrolet's and the 2000 to present Lumina and caprice Are actually are aussie holdens

Nobody in America would buy a Chevy Cruze if it was branded as a Daewoo. Badge engineering is common in manufactures especially in other parts of the world since the preferences and use of vehicles differ greatly.

He didn't say Ram Van.

Would've been a Caravan getting those numbers.

Ah, I just assumed since he said Dodge Van it was an actual van.

Rear wheel drive is better for towing, that & RWD are less crowded under the hood, makes it easier to work on as everything isn't crammed into one area. & I honestly don't think I would want to tow an Airstream with a V6.

A properly setup vehicle is better for towing. One of my buddy's moms drives a '98 Town and Country Mini Van and we've pulled their tritoon boat with it without any issues. Even on the launch ramp it works just fine. On the same note you could easily pull an Airstream trailer with a V6 barring you kept the weight in mind...you know, like you have to do with every vehicle that tows something.

Here's a MINI design project that was done and yes it could pull the trailer.

Or for a real world picture here is a Lexus RX40H (that's the hybrid) pulling an Airstream trailer.

Hybrids & electric cars: There are certain things in this world that lend themselves to dangerous levels of smug. "Green" cars are the worst of them. Enough said.

Not every hybrid or electric car owner are smug, sure there are some but that comes with any vehicle. Go and visit any automotive forum and you'll see it happens in everything, especially any performance oriented car. Just look in the "kill stories" or "racing" section of any forum and you'll see actually dangerous amount of smug, you know the kind that can actually kill people.

Every paint job on new cars I see is full of acrylic paint pattern, I don't have the words to explain that but it doesn't look smooth.

I think you're looking for the term orange peel here.

 

[dylansan]

Lack of congruency in a car's design. Lack of elegance.

Many cars today have no rhyme are reason about their design. Often there's no language to it, there's just a bunch of shapes here and there that aren't related to each other. Some companies have gotten better about this while some have gotten worse.

I completely agree.

I get angry every time I see an older Mercury Mariner, because for some reason they decided to put vertical slats on the grill, but horizontal slats on the taillights. Why? It makes the back look like a completely different car than the front.

In fact, I find a lot of cars have very poorly designed rear ends. Especially with a lot of modern, everyday cars, the taillights tend to be randomly shaped blobs with no relation to the design of the rest of the car.

There are some cars that I hated at first but have grown to like, cars I feel the need to defend because the designers tried something different, but the public just didn't like it. The Pontiac Aztec, for example, is often cited as one of the ugliest cars ever made. But it's actually a very coherent design. It has the image you'd expect from a car of that name. Unfortunately, I think the car is just too strange looking, too bizarre for most people to accept it. It doesn't look like any other car on the road, so it's like seeing an alien when it drives by. I'm not saying the Aztec didn't have other reasons for people to dislike it, but I don't think the visual design is one of them.

The PT Cruiser is similar. With all these cars going "retro", it's kind of surprising a car shaped like the older classics was so poorly received by car fans. Yes, it did look plasticy and a bit bloated perhaps, but it could have really gone somewhere. Maybe if it had more defined lines around the fenders and just was in general less bland, people could appreciate it for it's classic design.

Now, there are some modern cars that I think are very well designed, and I'm happy to see that a lot of people seem to agree. The Kia Soul, for example, is just great design. The new (new) Volkswagen Beetle really impressed me too, though it's not perfect. I've liked almost all iterations of the new Mustangs. I've been a fan of the modern Volvo brand in general.

Overall, I'd really like to see design turn to the past for inspiration, not just to bring back old models with modern styling, but to create new models based on the design principles of the past, as you said Keef.

 

[Antonisbob]

I've never felt the need to tow anything with my car so just because of towing you don't like FWD? I don't own a trailer nor do I need one so why would that argument apply? I honestly don't think I want to be that idiot in the BMW I pushed 4 times just trying to get down the mountain last weekend.

Some chrome is okay, more chrome than plastic and we have some issues. Too much chrome looks cheap, looks cheesy, and looks like a 17 year old kid got to go to town on it.

No, it's just my preferred drive train, my current car is FWD.

Yes, true. Too much of one thing is never good.

A properly setup vehicle is better for towing. One of my buddy's moms drives a '98 Town and Country Mini Van and we've pulled their tritoon boat with it without any issues. Even on the launch ramp it works just fine. On the same note you could easily pull an Airstream trailer with a V6 barring you kept the weight in mind...you know, like you have to do with every vehicle that tows something.

Here's a MINI design project that was done and yes it could pull the trailer.

Alright, but this comes back to my first complaint, I really dislike those SUVs and bulbous minivans.

More along the lines of what I want, it's newer ('90s), has a 20 MPG (Going to drop with a trailer obviously) V8, RWD & actually looks good.

 

[ExigeEvan]

Do you drive?

Yep. And while the view they provide is essential it doesn't need to be provided by a fundamentally un-aerodynamic piece of body work. It can very easily be camera and screens.

[EDIT]

He scarred BMW for life, that's for sure. Mercedes has followed suit with more disasters than I can count. Audi is the only German lux brand that still has any sense about design anymore.

Audi, brilliant at making every car look exactly the same...

 

[grrlpurple]

I dislike anything that takes control and decision making away from the driver... rain sensing wipers, automatic lights etc. (not to mention future plans for cars that near drive themselves!)

Mostly I dislike that they have no soul and no face. Look at older cars from the '60s, '70s and even '80s. They had faces, some angry, some smiling... now we just get bland carbon-copy featureless front ends on cars, cars with no soul or feeling. Call me old, but I think it is really sad.

 

[Rotary Junkie]

More along the lines of what I want, it's newer ('90s), has a 20 MPG (Going to drop with a trailer obviously) V8, RWD & actually looks good.

You're in for one hell of a shock if you think a Roadsmasher/Caprice Wagon is going to get much better fuel economy than a 2WD Tahoe. Just saying.

 

[1241Penguin]

The use of a "generic" profile design:

2012 Impreza:

2012 Civic:

2011 Cruze:

Any more to add to this list?

 

[Prosthetic]

Audi, brilliant at making every car look exactly the same...

The only ones that look anything alike are the Q5 and Q7. Everything else looks clean and nice (except not a huge fan of the new A8).

 

[ExigeEvan]

The only ones that look anything alike are the Q5 and Q7. Everything else looks clean and nice (except not a huge fan of the new A8).

Really?

 

[Prosthetic]

They all share similar basic shape but the details are all different.

 

[1241Penguin]

If you asked me to remember which one is which, I'd need like 10 hours to study their differences before I can tell them apart.

 

[ExigeEvan]

They all share similar basic shape but the details are all different.

The details? Like what? The light cluster within the oh-so-similar casing? Or the number of slits in the grill and lower intakes?

 

[aadil717]

The new A8 looks pointless because of the A7. Which looks pointless because of the A6, which looks pointless because of the A4...
Audi has went to far in making too many products. A4 and the A8 would of been fine. The A6 and A7 just feel unnecessary in their current line up.
I hate the way the A8 looks, just looks like an extended wheelbase A6..and that looks like an extended wheelbase A4. I loved the A8 due to the fact that my fathers owned 3 (1996 3.7, 2001 2.8, 2005 4.2 TDI) but now he and I both agree they've messed it up, and my father has now went to BMW because of this.
I'm not having a go at the cars, they're fantastic, I love the way the A7 looks and how far the A6 has come, but I feel as if Audi has overused the design template a bit too much making anything and whatever is possible out of it.

 

[Prosthetic]

If you asked me to remember which one is which, I'd need like 10 hours to study their differences before I can tell them apart.

I think that speaks more about you then the car its self.

The details? Like what? The light cluster within the oh-so-similar casing? Or the number of slits in the grill and lower intakes?

The picture you showed already highlights plenty of differences from the rear.

Also would like to mention that BMW has used the same grill on every single damn car as far as I can remember.. Yet you guys have no issue with that. Funny.

I agree, I don't like the new A8 is fugly. But so is the 7 Series and S class. :/

 

[poolhaas]

I hate the way the A8 looks, just looks like an extended wheelbase A6..and that looks like an extended wheelbase A4. I loved the A8 due to the fact that my fathers owned 3 (1996 3.7, 2001 2.8, 2005 4.2 TDI) but now he and I both agree they've messed it up, and my father has now went to BMW because of this.

Your father went for BMW because Audi designs similar cars? I hope he likes the new BMW designs then.

 

[MatskiMonk]

Same sausage different length comes and goes for BMW, Audi and Mercedes Benz.. the problem with Audi, is they've been doing it a little too long now and, to me at least, it's not a great design in the first place, especially the recent LED treatments making the cars look like angry gaping mouthed insomniacs, but then their fans will counter with "smart" or "understated" - which is a characteristic of most Volkswagen/Audi products.

 

[ExigeEvan]

The picture you showed already highlights plenty of differences from the rear.

You're kidding me...

Also would like to mention that BMW has used the same grill on every single damn car as far as I can remember.. Yet you guys have no issue with that. Funny.

Where did I state I had no issue with BMW, or anyone, having the same horribly similar corporate face?

My original statement was merely in response to Keef's praise of Audi design.

 

[Danoff]

I don't know why anyone would complain about there being too many Audi's looking similar to each other. They all look fantastic compared to just about every other car on the road. If every car on the road were an Audi it would be a step up from the econoboxes and minivans we deal with now.

 

[Prosthetic]

Same sausage different length comes and goes for BMW, Audi and Mercedes Benz.. the problem with Audi, is they've been doing it a little too long now and, to me at least, it's not a great design in the first place, especially the recent LED treatments making the cars look like angry gaping mouthed insomniacs, but then their fans will counter with "smart" or "understated" - which is a characteristic of most Volkswagen/Audi products.

Its funny because everything you used to describe an option on the Audi can be used to describe basically every BMW in the last decade except the new 3 Series coupe which looks fine. But everything else is over designed with dumb lines that lead to nothing. There is no flow its a what happens when someone with rage problems goes on steroids and someone hands them a pencil and says draw a car, slap the exactly same BMW grill they've been using for 30 years and call it a day. ZOMG ITS SO DIFFERENT AND KEWL. At least it doesn't look like a cheshire cat (Mazda 3).

You're kidding me...

Nope.

Where did I state I had no issue with BMW, or anyone, having the same horribly similar corporate face?

My original statement was merely in response to Keef's praise of Audi design.

That bit was an edit and directed towards aadil717's post. I should put a little note their but didn't. Mah bad.

Anyways, back on topic.. Cars these days headlights and taillights are massive. They need to make them have the size and not look like a lump of mash potatoes.

 

[Tornado]

Also would like to mention that BMW has used the same grill on every single damn car as far as I can remember.. Yet you guys have no issue with that. Funny.

Probably has something to do with how that isn't remotely the same thing. You wanna claim hypocrisy, you need to make sure that the person you are arguing with actually holds the views you claim they do and that they are actually comparable in the first place.

 

[1241Penguin]

I think that speaks more about you then the car its self.

Was hyperbole. Still, they do look very similar.

 

[poolhaas]

Anyways, back on topic.. Cars these days headlights and taillights are massive. They need to make them have the size and not look like a lump of mash potatoes.

Too big, or too small... why not both?

 

[Prosthetic]

Probably has something to do with how that isn't remotely the same thing. You wanna claim hypocrisy, you need to make sure that the person you are arguing with actually holds the views you claim they do and that they are actually comparable in the first place.

Perhaps read my last post.

 

[savage388]

Cars today look far too bulky with the ridiculously high belt lines and the overused but oh so similar "character" lines. What ever happened to decent sized windows and pillars. Then there's the obsession with having the biggest wheels you can find on absolutely everything including trucks. I miss the late 90's and early 2000's.

 

[ExigeEvan]

Cars today look far too bulky with the ridiculously high belt lines and the overused but oh so similar "character" lines. What ever happened to decent sized windows and pillars. Then there's the obsession with having the biggest wheels you can find on absolutely everything including trucks. I miss the late 90's and early 2000's.

That's all safety related, much like the general bloat of cars

 

[Tornado]

Perhaps read my last post.

I did. Doesn't change anything.