Designs that have stood the test of time well

[Maxym]

I'm thinking of:

Last BMW 5 series - you had to look hard to tell the mid-life facelift, and the new one is indistinguishable IMO

The 5 series before that

E46 3 series coupe - as long as it has decent alloys and preferably in Sport trim

Original Z4 - on the grounds that the new one apes it almost totally

Original BMW MINI - ditto

Last Civic Type R - though 'cooking' old-shape Civics look frumpy (and always did)

Previous Leon - must be FR or Cupra though

Any others?

Spare us stuff like the original Mini and other stuff from way back when, but feel free to start a thread entitled 'Stuff we thought was good then but is crap by today's standards'.

[theironduke]

E38 7?

X300 era Jag?

[Maxym]

Oh, just thought of previous Mondeo and Mk I Focus.

[randlemarcus]

Porsche 911

/endthread

[ewenm]

Lotus 7 => Caterham 7. Over 50 and still going strong with only minor updates, still hailed as one of the best drivers cars available across all categories.

[ArtVandelay]

Ford Puma, still looks fairly fresh IMO.

[kiteless]

Maxym said:

I'm thinking of:

Last BMW 5 series - you had to look hard to tell the mid-life facelift, and the new one is indistinguishable IMO

The 5 series before that

E46 3 series coupe - as long as it has decent alloys and preferably in Sport trim

Original Z4 - on the grounds that the new one apes it almost totally

Original BMW MINI - ditto

Last Civic Type R - though 'cooking' old-shape Civics look frumpy (and always did)

Previous Leon - must be FR or Cupra though

Any others?

Spare us stuff like the original Mini and other stuff from way back when, but feel free to start a thread entitled 'Stuff we thought was good then but is crap by today's standards'.

The oldest design from that list is about 7 years old. How can such a young design be said to have stood the test of time?

[BLUETHUNDER]

[v1paul]

[leginlb]

Peugeot 205, Peugeot 306 - proof that peugeot used to make attractive, practical and good to drive cars. Whatever went wrong?

[J4CKO]

Z4, I think looks awkward and dated.

[Kevin VRs]

E-Type Jaguar

[kiteless]

[Atomic Gibbon]

fiat coupe
With modern loys, they still look good, much better than their competition of the same age.

[arfur daley]

dont 5 series look like ladas?

[Thankyou4calling]

Original Ford Ka, ran from 98 to 2009 and still looked modern.
BMW Mini, even the oldest makes you look.
L322 Range Rover. A few updates but put a private plate on a 2002 and it can pass for new.
X5. Same as above.Though you can go back to 2001.
Lexus IS 200. The first model, in the right colour looks good still.

[busta]

We had one of these threads a few months ago. The only really uncontested entries where both from ford:



Introduced in 1996 and remained largely unchanged until 2008.



Looked weird in 1998 but still looks modern and fresh today.

Edited by busta on Monday 14th June 19:07

[ewenm]

busta said:

We had one of these threads a few months ago. The only really uncontested entries where both from ford:



Introduced in 1996 and remained largely unchanged until 2008.



Looked weird in 1998 but still looks modern and fresh today.

So people contested suggestions such as Porsche 911, Caterham 7 and Land Rover Defender? What were the objections?

[useyourdellusion]

busta said:

Looked weird in 1998 but still looks modern and fresh today.

Edited by busta on Monday 14th June 19:07

I thought it looked great right from the off. It was interesting to see how people reacted to it's bold design though. The usual caution of the unknown - a classic British trait.

I thought it was a refreshing change from the rounded, doughy designs of the time. Somebody had to do it!

...And yeah, to get back to the point - it has aged very well!

[blondini]

kiteless said:

Maxym said:

I'm thinking of:

Last BMW 5 series - you had to look hard to tell the mid-life facelift, and the new one is indistinguishable IMO

The 5 series before that

E46 3 series coupe - as long as it has decent alloys and preferably in Sport trim

Original Z4 - on the grounds that the new one apes it almost totally

Original BMW MINI - ditto

Last Civic Type R - though 'cooking' old-shape Civics look frumpy (and always did)

Previous Leon - must be FR or Cupra though

Any others?

Spare us stuff like the original Mini and other stuff from way back when, but feel free to start a thread entitled 'Stuff we thought was good then but is crap by today's standards'.

The oldest design from that list is about 7 years old. How can such a young design be said to have stood the test of time?

BMW E39 5 series launched in 1995 and the E46 3 series launched in 1998. So easy to lose track of time isn't it.