Why the hate for different?

[McWigglebum4th]

A fwd car that is designed purely to look a bit different from the rest of the drab crap on the roads and is utterly hated by PH



A fwd car that is designed purely to look a bit different from the rest of the drab crap on the roads and is utterly hated by PH



A fwd car that is designed purely to look a bit different from the rest of the drab crap on the roads and is utterly hated by PH



A fwd car that is designed purely to look a bit different from the rest of the drab crap on the roads and is utterly hated by PH



So why is there so much hate for cars that are designed purely to be different?

[R6VED]

The rather obvious reason and common theme of all those pictures is:

They look fking ste.

[manmaths]

There's looking good different and looking bad different.

PT Cruiser: bad different (IMO)
New Beetle: good different (IMO)

[hornetrider]

Don't think the latter two are hated, interesting designs. The new bug is a poor pastiche of a brilliant original design. The PT Cruiser is just fking horrendous.

[Martin_Hx]

I like the cube!

[kambites]

Stylistically, I've never been a fan of the whole "retro-modern" thing which manufacturers currently seem to love but to my eye none of the cars posted above look at worse than the MINI or Fiat 500 which people seem to love.

The Cube is a lovely looking little thing.


At the moment, the styling trend that I hate (or at least dislike) the most is the mainstream tendency for weird compound creases which start and stop at random points.

Edited by kambites on Thursday 24th July 08:23

[TooMany2cvs]

McWigglebum4th said:

So why is there so much hate for cars that are designed purely to be different?

Because styling is surface, and because they're all dynamically thoroughly indifferent. No "hatred", just the utter indifference I'd give any 25yo automatic Micra, diesel Golf, or generic hatch from Japan or the US. Which, once you get past the personal preference of the styling, is all they are.

[DanielSan]

Martin_Hx said:

I like the cube!

Another vote here for the Cube. Though I do like the earlier version more. I think it's a brilliantly simple but great looking design.

[Negative Creep]

Drinking a bacon milkshake would be different, doesn't automatically mean it's something that should be done

[Mr Taxpayer]

Sometimes the underlying car is soooo bad that it's only redeeming feature is that it has 'funky' looks. The Beetle is s MkV Golf (never VW's best chassis) with the practicality removed.

The PT Cruiser worked in the US, but came from a period when Chrysler was just about the worst volume manufacturer in the world.

Nowt wrong withthe Nissan Figaro. Harks back to age of stuff like the Sprite and Midget but with distinctly better road manners. Not everyone wants tyre-shredding performance from their ragtop. Look at the new base model Caterham 7.

[kambites]

Mr Taxpayer said:

The Beetle is s MkV Golf (never VW's best chassis) with the practicality removed.

I thought the mk5 was Golf was generally viewed as one of VW's best chassis? It was certainly hailed as a significant return to form after the mk3 and mk4.

[Blib]

I like the last two. Especially the Cube. Any car which has two completely different sides is good in my book. (Except that mini thing with the offside suicide door. That's horrid).

[Chicane-UK]

I never really had a problem with the previous version of the 'new' Beetle but there's just something about the new type that grates - I can't put a finger on it really.

I'm not a fan of the PT Cruiser as it just seemed only to exist for people in the UK who wanted "an American car" - but as none of the American stuff really gets imported here, we ended up with that. Cue a bit of stick on chrome, an American license plate in the window.. I mean it's American in name, but nothing else. If it's any consolation, they seem to be loathed in the USA too, so it's not just PistonHeads that dislike them.

The Cube I think is pretty cool in an "out there" kind of way.. the Figaro I have no problem with, other than I wouldn't want to drive / own one myself

[skyrover]

Brits have a horrendous fear of standing out from the crowd IMO

[Johnnytheboy]

I can't say I hate them, but they mostly look like they are trying too hard to be quirky.

Like fashion victims that take it a bit too far and end up dressing like clowns.

And as someone above said, they are a quirky exterior on deeply conventional underpinnings, so the body is writing cheques the chassis can't bank.

If I was feeling quirky, I'd rather have something like the new Twingo, which is fairly conventional looking, but rear engined/RWD, just for the hell of it. Or a Panda 4 x 4 on a similar basis.

[stephen300o]

Just old fashioned bigotry,
'We' don't like 'them'

[Bill]

kambites said:

Mr Taxpayer said:

The Beetle is s MkV Golf (never VW's best chassis) with the practicality removed.

I thought the mk5 was Golf was generally viewed as one of VW's best chassis? It was certainly hailed as a significant return to form after the mk3 and mk4.

The Beetle was a MkIV Golf, but without the practicality, so without redeeming features. The Chrysler is crap in almost every way.

The Cube and Figaro are good, I would have got a Cube for SWMBO if she liked it.

The MINI is at least ok to drive (I didn't like the interior, a bit too pastiche imo), likewise the Panda and 500.

[McSatan]

I saw a nice PT Cruiser once, it had been lowered/wide arches/big wheels, the roof chopped a bit and a lairy paint job with flames, it looked like a pukka hot-rod. Don't know what the engine was, but it sounded nice,

[anonymous-user]

Leave the Cube alone, they look great

[Mercury00]

I love the Cube and Figaro. The Beetle just looks like a dog dragging its arse along the floor. I have no words for the PT Cruiser...