Why are so many new cars so badly styled?

[marmitemania]

Here are some examples (Executive cars admittedly) of large, possibly to some peoples eyes overstyled, and fairly aggressively styled cars. They run from the 50's to the 2000's in my opinion none of them are dull or boring, but they do have a lot of road presence in a in your rear view mirror get out of the way style. What do you chaps think?


Facel 50/60s



SEL6.3 60/70s



Jaguar V12 70/80's



Vauxhall Senator 80/90s




Lexus LS 90/00s



I'm lost after this thinking of cars in this sector I really like.

[Justin Case]

No one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American people.
-- H. L. Mencken ( American writer 1880-1956)

This philosophy has spread to the UK, and a lot of the rest of the world also

[ooid]

The answer is sort of below;



Every mass-produced product reflects its own target user and society. So our society currently looks for aggressive, bold and mean looking objects unlike 50s or 60s things could have been more, elegant and modest.



And than, this is where the nostalgia "trend" would start and push the classic cars/product prices up more than they deserve (one might argue)

[nyxster]

When they did the 75 arse to the whole range I knew Mercedes had joined the Audi 'fk it that will do, small, medium and large car book of styling.'

Park a new C, E and S alongside each other and take the badges off and they are literally like McDonalds fries boxes. I pulled alongside a new C and couldn't tell if it was a C or an E because its so fat now and is almost identical.

[blindswelledrat]

Mr2Mike said:

MitchT said:

It's not just cars with too much detail and awkwardness. It's also cars that are fundamentally good looking (in my opinion) such as the BMW 4 Series, but are let down by the recent practice of having a bonnet that's almost horizontal until about a foot from the nose where it suddenly tapers off, instead of having a smooth, progressive, taper that runs all the way from the bottom of the windscreen. I know it's supposed to be about creating a gap between the bonnet and the engine for pedestrian safety but, seriously, what happened to the green cross code?

Comparison between 4 Series and E92 3 Series below to illustrate my point ...

That's a very good example, you can see just how slabby the extra bonnet height has made the sides of the car. Even the additional of numerous ugly swage lines down the side can't hide it.
.

I suspect this proves that most of the answer is just 'taste' as I think the newer one looks far better than the older one. There is also an effect of cars looking increasingly dull the more you see them. So with the older three series, whilst I liked them when they first came out, once you have seen thousands and thousands of them day-in, day-out they just start to look very dull and ordinary.

[ooid]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Yup, its like "Hummer" trend all over again but on paper all of them look "green" and enviromental friendly, which is non-sense. - Look at my new mean looking sports-car! But hey, emmissions are super-low!

I recently drove a new Ford Fiesta, blimey even that car's styling looked very aggressive! (Both inside & outside). But ironically, lifestyle trends like yoga, sustainable living or healthy living/eating are massive. Its very common to see yummy-mummies driving hardcore X6 or similar SUV's to whole foods.

I think it might reach a point where people would prefer more modest looking thingies again as almost all consumer products are quite saturated with bold looks currently.

[ChiggyWiggy]

Leins said:

TSCfree said:

Just how big can the Merc grill get!

It's also a shame the star has been relocated, but I guess it doesn't fit with the modern design or is it the modern audience?

A certain section of Mercedes customers have wanted this for quite some time

Yup, the badge on the grille, for me, reminds me of the SECs and that particular 190 look I love more than the more common grille.

I really like the look of modern Mercs. Didn't like the C-Class at all before the 2007/8 model launched - loved the 2011 refresh, and the new E's look lovely too.

I also loved classic Mercs, but in between, since the bug-eyed E-Class, it all looked a bit poo to me.

PetrolJosh said:

Depends on the manufacturer. You look at the new Mazda's and imo they look fantastic, way better than the old ones. The new line of Volvo's also look great. Look at the new Ford's however and I really don't like em. Much prefer the look of my MK2 over the latest gen Focus's which is ironic considering the stick that car got on its release for looking dull.

I liked the Gen 1 Mazda 3 in Saloon (I have one) and still feel it looks good today. Prefer it to the hatch. Mazda 6 looked great in MPS guise, but, admittedly, the new ones are gorgeous, especially Mazda 3 Fastback and the Mazda 6.

Focus wise, I disagree the Mk2 looks better than the latest gen. I still like the Mk 2, especially in Asbo and RS trim, but the new generation looks great (with Aston fishmouth grille vs the smaller, badged grille IMHO). Same with the Fiesta - great lines. I actually prefer the more reserved current ST model over the RS's flair, though even that doesn't look bad in my eyes. Mk1 Focus was always a looker to me in the past, but over time, with the exception of the RS, the Mk1 has aged (but it is really old now!). The Mk2 Focus shouldn't have got the stick it did, because it's aged quite well, but they definitely look better with the sporting bodies.

Others I can say look better now than before would be the Toyota Yaris, Hyundai i30 (only been around 2 gens, but whilst the first was just fine, the second has a great look to it) and Kia Cee'd (same as i30 - 2 gens, first fine but plain Jane, second much nicer).

[egomeister]

nyxster said:

Those two images really highlight what an elegantly styled car the 75 is. The details on the Merc really don't add anything.