What mainstream car designs were ahead of their time?
Discussion
What high-volume car designs of the last 40 years do you think were ahead of their time? I'm referring to the styling rather than engineering, as I appreciate that a lot of flashy new motors have older, more mundane underpinnings underneath. Here are a few that I can think of. Sorry for all the gratuitous pictures but it is a visual topic!
1970s
Hard to believe the mk1 VW Golf design is 40 years old (must have looked pretty fresh back in the day). Weirdly VW haven't designed anything so revolutionary ever since but their evolutionary approach to design does help them to age well.
Rover SD1
Range Rover - technically more than 40 years old but still looked fresh when it went out of production 26 years later.
1980s
Nothing much happened in the late 80s but some landmark designs early on that made their contemporaries look dated overnight and even some later designs (I'm thinking Austin Montego/Renault 21 for instance). The Ford Sierra and Peugeot 205 set the template for future designs in their respective markets.
|http://thumbsnap.com/bUzGRFhA[/url]
1990s
I generally like the look of (early) 1990s cars but nothing much new happened in mainstream car design IMHO apart from this.
Some interesting niche designs though (none still in production) but I wouldn't bat an eyelid if any of them were released as new models today.
2000s
Perhaps the mk1 Focus paved the way for these two:
but no-one else followed.
The Laguna II broke the (Ford Sierra) jelly mould (but no-one followed)
E60 5-Series shook up the ultra conservative large executive class, which was a shock after the handsome (but conservative) E46 and E39 models (no-one followed though)!
Hated it at the time but quite like it now!
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2010s
I bought a new small Focus-sized car for my wife recently and was disappointed that with the exception of some small design flourished, they all pretty much looked exactly the same. The new Focus and Megane look boring verging on ugly and the latest Honda Civic is an uglier version of the old one! The 5-Series just looks like a generic large BMW saloon. Where has the innovation gone? The only interesting non-"retro" designs that I can think of are:
1970s
Hard to believe the mk1 VW Golf design is 40 years old (must have looked pretty fresh back in the day). Weirdly VW haven't designed anything so revolutionary ever since but their evolutionary approach to design does help them to age well.
Rover SD1
Range Rover - technically more than 40 years old but still looked fresh when it went out of production 26 years later.
1980s
Nothing much happened in the late 80s but some landmark designs early on that made their contemporaries look dated overnight and even some later designs (I'm thinking Austin Montego/Renault 21 for instance). The Ford Sierra and Peugeot 205 set the template for future designs in their respective markets.
|http://thumbsnap.com/bUzGRFhA[/url]1990s
I generally like the look of (early) 1990s cars but nothing much new happened in mainstream car design IMHO apart from this.
Some interesting niche designs though (none still in production) but I wouldn't bat an eyelid if any of them were released as new models today.
2000s
Perhaps the mk1 Focus paved the way for these two:
but no-one else followed.
The Laguna II broke the (Ford Sierra) jelly mould (but no-one followed)
E60 5-Series shook up the ultra conservative large executive class, which was a shock after the handsome (but conservative) E46 and E39 models (no-one followed though)!
Hated it at the time but quite like it now!
[url]2010s
I bought a new small Focus-sized car for my wife recently and was disappointed that with the exception of some small design flourished, they all pretty much looked exactly the same. The new Focus and Megane look boring verging on ugly and the latest Honda Civic is an uglier version of the old one! The 5-Series just looks like a generic large BMW saloon. Where has the innovation gone? The only interesting non-"retro" designs that I can think of are:
EricE said:
This...
Today’s "extremely futuristic" BMW i3 is really just an A2 with carbon and electric motors in my eyes.
Was my first thought (because I see one at work everyday). Wouldn't bat an eyelid if you saw one on a '14' plate (Aside from the lack of Audi DRLs tarting up the lights).Today’s "extremely futuristic" BMW i3 is really just an A2 with carbon and electric motors in my eyes.
Edited by EricE on Wednesday 13th August 23:38
The modern look is (to my eyes) all about the unified body/bumper and the lack of rubbing strips. If you're looking for a car that's ahead of its time, find something made before 2000 (or thereabouts) that has these features. The Audi TT is a great example.
The key with the bumper is that it has to avoid looking like... well... a bumper. The Ka is a bit of an exception, because while it's obviously got a separate bumper, and it's obviously this plastic thing, it looks (visually) like it's part of the front bodywork. The BMW E46 (since somebody mentioned it) though has this unit that's clearly a separate entity, and often has an obvious plasticy bumper bit as well. That dates it! The Laguna suffers from the same problem. The Audi and the Accord don't, which is why they still look fairly fresh.
I'm not sure this is the be-all and end-all of modern car design but it always strikes me as the main thing separating cars from the last 10-15 years from cars from the 10-15 before that. (And what mainly separates them from the generation before is the newer organic look compared to the older boxy one... of course not every manufacturer revamps their designs in sync, so the timings are a bit vague. But I think you can really spot these waves of fashion, and in time they'll appear as obviously of their time as the chrome and wings from the 1950s do today.)
The key with the bumper is that it has to avoid looking like... well... a bumper. The Ka is a bit of an exception, because while it's obviously got a separate bumper, and it's obviously this plastic thing, it looks (visually) like it's part of the front bodywork. The BMW E46 (since somebody mentioned it) though has this unit that's clearly a separate entity, and often has an obvious plasticy bumper bit as well. That dates it! The Laguna suffers from the same problem. The Audi and the Accord don't, which is why they still look fairly fresh.
I'm not sure this is the be-all and end-all of modern car design but it always strikes me as the main thing separating cars from the last 10-15 years from cars from the 10-15 before that. (And what mainly separates them from the generation before is the newer organic look compared to the older boxy one... of course not every manufacturer revamps their designs in sync, so the timings are a bit vague. But I think you can really spot these waves of fashion, and in time they'll appear as obviously of their time as the chrome and wings from the 1950s do today.)
EricE said:
This...
Today’s "extremely futuristic" BMW i3 is really just an A2 with carbon and electric motors in my eyes.
Yes, I forgot that Audi used to be about design and engineering and not just soft-touch plastics and image! Audi 80 was a good shout as well.Today’s "extremely futuristic" BMW i3 is really just an A2 with carbon and electric motors in my eyes.
Edited by EricE on Wednesday 13th August 23:38
Just out of interest EricE, why were you going to say the E46? Was it an engineering reason or the advanced rust protection?
Genuinely though, I like to hear about innovative engineering.
I think that the 2006 Honda Civic fits the bill perfectly. I owned one with all the toys and it was awesome. The styling was amazing and I remember thinking that I had to own one when I saw one for the very first time on a car transporter.
If that car was released today, maybe with slightly updated tech in the interior but ultimately the same layout and with the same exterior styling, I think it would be a hit all over again.
If that car was released today, maybe with slightly updated tech in the interior but ultimately the same layout and with the same exterior styling, I think it would be a hit all over again.
CR6ZZ said:
A bit more than 40 years old, but surely the Citroen DS is the archetypal "ahead of its time" car?
Absolutely, any car that can stay in production for 20 years and still look fresh has to be pretty special. I capped it at 40 years though because there were lots of forward-looking designs back in the day e.g. original mini, E-Type, even the original XJ when it was first introduced. I guess it's becoming more and more difficult to come up with something wholly original and futuristic. You could say that Citroens were the car of the future in terms of styling and innovative engineering up until about 1990 - DS, SM, GS, CX, AX, BX, XM. Just a shame they had to get so boring and conventional! I guess the DS range have some more visual pizazz these days but pretty boring and conventional underneath.white_goodman said:
Absolutely, any car that can stay in production for 20 years and still look fresh has to be pretty special. I capped it at 40 years though because there were lots of forward-looking designs back in the day e.g. original mini, E-Type, even the original XJ when it was first introduced. I guess it's becoming more and more difficult to come up with something wholly original and futuristic. You could say that Citroens were the car of the future in terms of styling and innovative engineering up until about 1990 - DS, SM, GS, CX, AX, BX, XM. Just a shame they had to get so boring and conventional! I guess the DS range have some more visual pizazz these days but pretty boring and conventional underneath.
I'm biased but the DS has to be up there not just for looks, but the innovations in ither areas.But as far as looks goes the DS was introduced in the mid 50s and stayed largely untouched (aside from the headlights) for 20 years and it still looked futuristic when they stopped making them.
Geeky DS fact, they used them in the second back to the future film as taxis in the year 2015!
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