Modern car designs ugly?

[Grandea GTR]

No.

 

[Joey D]

@Cowboy, the problem with American trucks today is that their just so massive, so over styled, and this causes them to get really expensive. A loaded Ram 2500 Power Wagon Laramie will get you way over $60,000, and that's more than it should be. The grilles of the Ram and the Silverado are both hideous (what the hell was Ram thinking when they put a big fat logo right on the grille). Full-sized 'Murican trucks today seem real complicated and overdone, and IMO would look better if they were more simple.

My biggest problem with full-sized truck design is that they make the front hang super low now. Which is all fine and good if you are just using your truck like an oversized car, but if you actually want to go offroad in any capacity you're going to be beating up the bumper pretty good.

 

[The87Dodge]

My biggest problem with full-sized truck design is that they make the front hang super low now. Which is all fine and good if you are just using your truck like an oversized car, but if you actually want to go offroad in any capacity you're going to be beating up the bumper pretty good.

Something tells me that Chevrolet is running out of ideas for trucks, because the newest Silverado just looks like a very beefed up, overdone K1500 from the 90's. That's not a good thing.

 

[mister dog]

On a general note, the dude that designs for the Volkswagen group needs some inspiration.

 

[ProjectWHaT]

I personally quite like the simple designs from VAG at the moment.

The new Panamera is a major improvement.

The TT is less of a "hair dresser's" car.

Although, I do agree, they have a bit of a boring business face to some of them.

 

[el fayce]

Speaking of VAG,

no.

yes.

 

[Tornado]

On a general note, the dude that designs for the Volkswagen group needs some inspiration.

What do you mean? It takes a serious eye for detail to take the cars you were selling ten years ago and deliberately remove all of the interesting elements from their designs.

 

[mister dog]

What do you mean? It takes a serious eye for detail to take the cars you were selling ten years ago and deliberately remove all of the interesting elements from their designs.

I like the Audi's though, but for gods sake do something different on the VW's and Skodas

 

[JC_Dude]

I think modern cars look good for the most part. Yeah, there are exceptions, like most Fords, the new Corvette, or some Toyotas, but there have always been ugly cars and good looking ones. I feel like the people who say modern cars are ugly focus too much on the negatives.

 

[homeforsummer]

The trouble with the Volkswagen Group stuff (it's not been "VAG" for years) is that all the brands have actually hit on a fairly good line in styling and it's difficult to break from that without actually making the cars look worse.

While there's very few I'd call "beautiful", there's also very few (at least of those sold in Europe) that are anything less than quite handsome. When everyone else is trying weird shapes and styling trends to try and seek an identity, the VW Group brands have pretty much found theirs.

Now the downside to this is that if one car looks good - plucking say, an Audi A4 out of the air as it's a cohesive, well-balanced shape with neat detailing and good proportions - then it's natural to want to apply that to your other products. The trouble is you then don't want to divert the other products from this ideal too much: if the A4's proportions work well on the A4, why would you deliberately make an A6 less well proportioned? If the grille works and the headlights work and the shoulder line works, then you don't want to change these either.

And so those brands paint themselves into a corner because they've hit a formula that works. They've certainly hit a formula that sells.

In isolation, I'd say that most of the VW Group products look pretty good. It's just a shame so many look so similar. For me, this means I tend to prefer the ones that divert from that formula. In no particular order, the Beetle, the Scirocco, the CC, the Q2, the TT, the Yeti. And realistically, the Yeti looked better pre-facelift when it had more personality, and the TT is still at its best in the first generation when it was setting the formula for Audi styling, rather than aligning itself with an existing formula.

The Scirocco, for me, is (not counting outliers like Porsche and Bugatti, which are still more distanced than the other brands) still the best looking product the group makes. In fact, I'd go as far as saying it's still one of the better looking cars on the road.

 

[Tornado]

The Scirocco, for me, is (not counting outliers like Porsche and Bugatti, which are still more distanced than the other brands) still the best looking product the group makes. In fact, I'd go as far as saying it's still one of the better looking cars on the road.

Which makes it a good question how they will screw it up, since it is going on ten years old now.

 

[homeforsummer]

Which makes it a good question how they will screw it up, since it is going on ten years old now.

I suspect they'll screw it up by not replacing it.

 

[TheCracker]

Now the downside to this is that if one car looks good - plucking say, an Audi A4 out of the air as it's a cohesive, well-balanced shape with neat detailing and good proportions - then it's natural to want to apply that to your other products. The trouble is you then don't want to divert the other products from this ideal too much: if the A4's proportions work well on the A4, why would you deliberately make an A6 less well proportioned? If the grille works and the headlights work and the shoulder line works, then you don't want to change these either.

I think that for Audi at least, they've maybe already turned the corner between stylish, well proportioned and trying too hard. I'm only basing that on the latest Q7 (and maybe some other recently face lifted Q cars?) so perhaps it's too early to say. Although it never appealed to me as a vehicle, I've always thought the Q7 to be a handsome SUV - especially when compared to its original VW and Porsche brothers. But the detailing on the latest Q7 is just gross and proportionally it just doesn't look right anymore. The grill is particularly offensive.

 

[homeforsummer]

Yeah, the Q7 is one of the less successful ones, and I suspect the other Qs will join them if Audi repeats the usual bigger/smaller versions of things design strategy. I do think the Q2 looks quite good though (and it's better in the metal than it is in photos) so maybe the Q7 is an uncomfortable one-off.

 

[GTRacer22]

the new Corvette

And why is that so?

 

[TS050]

the new Corvette

Què?

 

[Tornado]

It is pretty try hard.

 

[Wolfe]

The C7's rear end pretty much spoils the car. The "makeup" around the taillights is hideous and the rear diffuser frames the shiny quad tailpipes in a profoundly awkward way.

It could be helped a lot with black exhaust tips and by matching the "makeup" to the paint color.

 

[ScottPuss20]

The C7's rear end pretty much spoils the car. The "makeup" around the taillights is hideous and the rear diffuser frames the shiny quad tailpipes in a profoundly awkward way.

It could be helped a lot with black exhaust tips and by matching the "makeup" to the paint color.

I disagree.

 

[JC_Dude]

And why is that so?

Què?

Pretty much what @Wolfe said. The rear is just awful. The front is ok, but not great.

 

[Danoff]

My only grip about modern car design is scale. Everything's gotten too big for my taste. I think if cars were still on the scale they were in the '90s, we'd see some better designs. Maybe like computer technology, safety equipment can some day be made smaller while remaining at least as effective? Supposedly lightness is going to be the new thing (it's cool that the Ford F-series pickups are using aluminum bodies now), but it's not enough for me.

I would echo this. I think most of the cars today are pretty attractive in photos, especially compared to most of the cars from days past. The problem is just that they're all so big. When I see them in person I'm almost always thinking... just shrink the whole thing about 20% and I'd be happy.

 

[niky]

The problem with the Corvette is it has a lot of contemporary cues that will look horribly dated after a few years.

There's also that nagging feeling that it's ripping off some of Ferrari's worst work, with the overbearing light clusters and that stupid grin of a grille... if there's one car that doesn't need a "face", it's the long and low Corvette.

Corvette styling reached a high point with the C5... it's been going downhill since.

I would echo this. I think most of the cars today are pretty attractive in photos, especially compared to most of the cars from days past. The problem is just that they're all so big. When I see them in person I'm almost always thinking... just shrink the whole thing about 20% and I'd be happy.

We just did the CX3. It's a tiny car, by comparison to everything it goes against, but when I look at the pictures, it's shocking how big it actually is compared to me...

 

[Danoff]

We just did the CX3. It's a tiny car, by comparison to everything it goes against, but when I look at the pictures, it's shocking how big it actually is compared to me...

They don't really even fit in the garages built in the 80s anymore. As an example, a current Mazda 6 is 192.7 mm long. An FX35 from 10 years ago was 189.1 mm long. A honda odyssey from the late 90s was 187.6 mm long. It's equivalent to a 90s BMW 7 series.

So the Mazda 6 is a good looking car in photos, but when you get up next to it you're surprised how large it is. Put it up next to a legitimately small car and it looks huge.

 

[AlexSWE]

Fun thread to read and big 👍 that the tone is so nice even though the thoughts differ so much.

For me a car must have some kind of character to be of any interest in the first place.
I think that´s what manufacturers are after when trying so hard (Lexus NX300?..) and often fails.
The Nissan Juke posted a few times here feels in some ways more "interesting" then my old moms 2012 Toyota Auris, it at least invites you to an opinion!

I also think that the age of us matter in some way.
For me it´s hard to get around the cars that hung on the wall back in the days (288 GTO, F40, 959, Testarossa, 930, Countach Lp500s, M1. . .) those will always have special place in the hart.
It don´t matter how impressive the P1, Koenigsegg one/one, LaFerrari or 918 is, they can never replace those.
With age i also believe that the interest of older cars often grows, of course there are exceptions both ways.
But referring to my self the racing era of the 70´s were nothing to me when i was young (born 74) today i believe it probably were the golden years..

I also think that i in some way tend to compare cars of the same segment with each other.
I´m not thinking of the new Volvo V90 at the same time as the Bugatti Chiron.

It´s a thin line, and i can´t put the finger on what it is but it´s not always about new or old.

Quite ok

Not ok

Has character

Lacks character

Always beautiful

Always ugly

I guess i could live with this

I live with this

 

[homeforsummer]

Corvette styling reached a high point with the C5

I was about to go on a long tirade about how the C5 was the ugliest Corvette, but I've just looked at a bunch of pictures and actually it's grown on me a bit.

I do think it's a bit too dumpy - I'm not convinced the flowing 90s look worked as well with that body style as the more angular C4 (and broadly, Corvettes have all had a fairly similar look, in terms of proportions, since the C4). It also looked under-wheeled from the factory, which isn't the case with the 4/6/7, and the "hardtop" model is plain weird - hardtop and convertible C5s should be cast into a pit of doom (a bit like the convenient one at the Corvette Museum) for crimes against visual taste.

But actually, a C5 fastback in a suitably vibrant colour and on some slightly larger wheels is starting to look quite attractive. Still not as much as a C6, which was sharpened in all the right places, or a C4 which has a great stance on the road from the factory. But it's a grower.

 

[lxmmy]

My goodness the Q2 is just horrible.

 

[Neddo]

Should I change this thread to general design discussion?

 

[AlexSWE]

BMW X6 must be up there among the ugliest of new cars to.

Audi Q and BMW X 👎

 

[Winters Noble]

I think many designs try to be too futuristic. Many of "pretty" modern cars are slow progressions of old generations. I sorry, but not everything should be hybridized with a stealth fighter.

 

[homeforsummer]

My goodness the Q2 is just horrible.

I don't think it's that bad, and it's definitely a car that looks better in the metal than in photos as the proportions are pretty good. Audi's own press shots (the ones all over Google of the red S Line car) are terrible in particular.

But going back to what I said about Audis further up, I find it hard to describe any of the modern ones as anything worse than inoffensive. I'm not a particular fan of Audis, but they're generally pretty cohesive. Probably the best way I can describe them is they're a bit like that celebrity whose name you can't remember because there's nothing particularly memorable about them and they've never really stood out in a role.

It's easy remembering the beautiful ones (I doubt many people would forget who Natalie Portman was for instance, or misplace the name of Brad Pitt*), and the ugly but characterful ones spring to mind pretty easily too (Steve Buscemi, Mickey Rourke). But you know that guy... the one who was in the film with so-and-so... it was a war film I think... he's the actor equivalent of an Audi.


* Not that Pitt is difficult given his name is all over the papers at the moment anyway