Awkward design details on production cars

[beach bum]

RSteve said:

Passed by two of these on my commute home yesterday evening, had me scratching my head. The strange lighting design I'm not a fan of, especially with the 'X' in the centre, also the big bulky 'double' arches (plastic trim plus body panel) above the diddy wheels seemed quite odd.

I rented one of these recently. It is full of the naffest "real Jeep" design details, like the redline on the revcounter that resembles a mudsplash.

[tobinen]

A fairly clean design but spoiled when the rear windows are lowered. They don't go down all the way, presumably as this is where the front seat belt mechanism is located.

[l354uge]

Bodged on company grilles or 'design language'


Look at this turgid mess


This is somehow worse

and the latest example I know of, here the old Kia Sportage, a handsome thing for an SUV I think...



But as its all about 'brand' these days, kia needed it to look more like thier other cars, so we ended up with this....



Fking awful...
Dont get me started on mercs new range of melted russian dolls...

[wst]

The little chrome surrounds to the cubbies on the top of the dashboard of the C4 Grand Picasso, and the chrome bits on the steering wheel, they are exceptionally good at redirecting sunlight into your eyes.

[marmitemania]

Shakermaker said:

Regarding the headrest movement - I had the same issue on an old BMW I owned. It is driven by a worm gear on a screw and what has happened is either the thread has stripped, or the gear has popped out.

If you can be bothered...

Take the seat cover off at the back, if you can. Once you're into the inner workings you should find that you can either re-set the gear, or, if you need the re-thread it, then use something like a speedometer cable and repurpose that, or, put some old wire coathanger in the end to give it some "bite" again.

yes I have simplified it a bit, but that should be how the mechanism works.

Thanks for that little tip Shakermaker. I will give it a try this weekend. I would think that the motor and workings are possibly BMW bits anyway.

[Nickbrapp]

l354uge said:

Bodged on company grilles or 'design language'


Look at this turgid mess


This is somehow worse

and the latest example I know of, here the old Kia Sportage, a handsome thing for an SUV I think...



But as its all about 'brand' these days, kia needed it to look more like thier other cars, so we ended up with this....



Fking awful...
Dont get me started on mercs new range of melted russian dolls...

Strange, I think the new one looks really good, it was the best selling car in the U.K. For a couple of months, when I first saw one I mistook it for a Porsche macan the way the headlights are swopped back.

Good looking car

[swisstoni]

I thought I was a fussy bd but I'm out of my league on this thread

[ajprice]

Nickbrapp said:

Strange, I think the new one looks really good, it was the best selling car in the U.K. For a couple of months, when I first saw one I mistook it for a Porsche macan the way the headlights are swopped back.

Good looking car

Seconded

[miniman]

I've never quite understood this:

[Shakermaker]

marmitemania said:

Shakermaker said:

Regarding the headrest movement - I had the same issue on an old BMW I owned. It is driven by a worm gear on a screw and what has happened is either the thread has stripped, or the gear has popped out.

If you can be bothered...

Take the seat cover off at the back, if you can. Once you're into the inner workings you should find that you can either re-set the gear, or, if you need the re-thread it, then use something like a speedometer cable and repurpose that, or, put some old wire coathanger in the end to give it some "bite" again.

yes I have simplified it a bit, but that should be how the mechanism works.

Thanks for that little tip Shakermaker. I will give it a try this weekend. I would think that the motor and workings are possibly BMW bits anyway.

The fact you can still hear the motor is in your favour in this matter. Yes I expect it is indeed old BMW bits too.

It's a simple mechanism but just an arse to get to it probably.

[B2UFO]

Not a lot of people like Ferrari Enzo but I love it! The things that need sorting on this car for me is the passenger wing mirror. And the ugly USA side markers, Ferrari never put them on the 288 GTO, F40, F50 and LaFerrari European models so why the Enzo. Got respect for USA traffic laws but they could at least make them blend in.



What it looks like without USA side markers. This one was for sale at RM auctions. It had a accident, owner then rebuild the car and left out the side markers. Looks stunning.



I love my Abarth, but I have this hideous turbo gauge thing in my view. One day when I get a sledge hammer, this thing is coming off.

Edited by B2UFO on Tuesday 24th May 23:43

Edited by B2UFO on Tuesday 24th May 23:44

[Dads Taxi]

RSteve said:

Passed by two of these on my commute home yesterday evening, had me scratching my head. The strange lighting design I'm not a fan of, especially with the 'X' in the centre, also the big bulky 'double' arches (plastic trim plus body panel) above the diddy wheels seemed quite odd.

[Zod]

GSE said:

This thread could run for some time as it seems to me that nearly all new cars just look way too overstyled and messy now. What happened to coherent design? The same disease that has affected exterior styling, seems to have spread to interiors as well. Ford interiors used to be neat, functional and ergonomic:



What was going through their minds when they came up with this mess, it's all over the place!



They can't even make the dial binnacles round, they look like they have been flattened and squashed. Why, just why? Make them round please

Why has it all gone wrong? In the 60's and 70's cars used to be designed by one person using a pencil and paper. I suppose nowdays it is all done by a committe of 'designers' who use computers and work against a tick sheet of required features... result = they all look a fckuing mess!

Erm, they both look terrible to me. Low quality plastics and utterly bland.

[carmadgaz]

Zod said:

Erm, they both look terrible to me. Low quality plastics and utterly bland.

MK3 Mondeo dash is at least easy to use.

[ReaperCushions]

The top door line of rear doors on the QX56 annoy the heck out of me dipping down at the end:



Looks like the roof line is out of shape when its actually straight.

See also 'hidden' handles and odd shaped headlights.

[Zombie]

B2UFO said:

I love my Abarth, but I have this hideous turbo gauge thing in my view. One day when I get a sledge hammer, this thing is coming off.

Edited by B2UFO on Tuesday 24th May 23:43

Edited by B2UFO on Tuesday 24th May 23:44

Why vagazzal it with a tacky ferrari keyring then?

[B2UFO]

Zombie said:

B2UFO said:

I love my Abarth, but I have this hideous turbo gauge thing in my view. One day when I get a sledge hammer, this thing is coming off.

Edited by B2UFO on Tuesday 24th May 23:43

Edited by B2UFO on Tuesday 24th May 23:44

Why vagazzal it with a tacky ferrari keyring then?

Haha! It was a gift I didn't know what to do with. Didn't really want it on my keys as it would get trashed.

[CrutyRammers]

miniman said:

I've never quite understood this:

Simple, it's function over form.

[BrownBottle]

carmadgaz said:

MK3 Mondeo dash is at least easy to use.

Only if you can maintain the will to live whilst using it.

[LukeBird]

Draexin said:

The way the corner of the roof meets the rear three quarter panel.
Awkwardly triangular, something went very wrong there.







They painted the roof black on the later Sports Racer models making it look miles better.

I actually liked that design, something quite pleasing about it.
Plus in those two examples, the latter example looks much longer, the black stretches the look a bit.