I used to love cars and trucks. Cars made in the 90s to 2015 had some amazing designs. But for the past 9 years automakers have me wondering what the heck is going on.
Take for example Honda. Look at what they’re doing these days. And Toyota is no different, hence their newly released Toyota Camry.
BMW and Mercedes are just plain ugly. It’s like their designs are aimed at looking futuristic and nothing looks like a real car anymore.
What’s your opinion on current automobile designs? Do you like them?
Everyone is moving into the hybrid world now, which means a battery replacement will no longer cost $100 but rather $3000 - $7000 every 100k to 150k miles.
Basically the government is demanding better fuel economy and lower emissions, there is only so many different ways you can make an arrow and it still be an arrow… So they are all staring to look a lot alike nowadays… It is like they have a templet and as long as they fit in the guild lines of that templet they can do what ever, but the templet is very restrictive…
You still have to still fit an engine and driveline plus steering suspension and brakes etc etc under the hood/body/roofline, fit people or a family in the vehicle, make it safe and still try to make it purty enough that it will sell…
I have to agree. Not much exciting anymore. They all look the same. I’d swear the body parts are interchangeable. Then they add all the useless stuff like start stop, just to make it irritating. I remember the days of getting a sneak preview at the ford dealer to see the new models still hidden in the back. No excitement now unless you are looking for performance.
I remember being able to drive down the road and you could tell what car was day or night from a long distance away, even from the back… Now a Kia looks like a MB and so on… lol
Ford Mustang GT, Dark Horse
Dodge Charger Hellcat
Dodge Challenger Hellcat
Honda Civic Type R
Toyota GR Supra
Chevrolet Camaro LT1, SS, ZL1
Nissan GT-R
Nissan Z
VW Golf R
Toyota GR Corolla
Kia Stinger
Corvette C7 and C8, any trim
Porsche 911, Cayman, any trim
First Hybrid batteries are warrantied to 100k miles, so if it fails at 100k miles you get a free one. 150k is still on the low side of mileage. 200k or even 300k is not out of the norm. And lastly - if you pay to have the EV or hybrid battery completely replaced, then you shouldn’t buy an EV or Hybrid. There are companies all over the world that will just replace the damaged cell at a fraction of the cost.
Like I said, except the performance cars. They are kinda in a class of their own. But most of us just want nice every day cars.
I will disagree though on every generation said the same thing. My folks happily moved from a 57 to a 58 to a 61 etc. as the models changed, and you could tell the difference. Many of the neighbors did the same. My gramma moved from a 39;too after the war to get something newer. When they went to five or more years with few styling changes, things changed. Except for the performance variety that kept their names in the magazine.
When my car was ready at the dealer I asked where it was? In the back lot. Lots of black cars there and I don’t remember the plate. Good thing for the clicker and see which lights go on. No antenna to tie a ribbon to. That hot little integra loaner car was easy to find though in the Lowe’s lot.
Civic and Accord have been looking more and more alike with each new generation. It’s getting so I have to see the 2018 to present model year of both parked next to each other to notice the only real difference now - their sizes!
Another factor influencing car design is, believe it or not:
Pedestrian survivability when hit by a car!
That’s why now you see more and more models with the grill flush with the front bumper, or right down to the ground. Hideous! But could make the difference between death and injured but alive.
Mustangman got it right. Older person syndrome.
I’m fine with Mustang and Miata styling. Would like GM to resurrect the Saturn Sky as a Buick, but that won’t happen.
Now for my own old man preferences, styling rather than performance or safety, many American cars from 1936 to 1972, some are coupes, some are wagons, many are convertibles. My preferences change over time, in 1967 saw a Packard Hawk, in beige (horrible color choice), thought, man that car is ugly. Now, seeing a P-Hawk, it has become a dream car for me.
Just another opinion, full size Pontiac styling peaked in 66, I had a 67, but preferred the 66 my parent’s owned.
But, none of the above can come anywhere near the performance, safety, technology, fuel economy of my base level Mustang.
Yup!
When Chrysler was the first to introduce 4-wheel hydraulic brakes on a “popularly-priced” car, naysayers claimed that passengers would be physically harmed by “stopping too fast”. One of my Psych professors said that, back in the early '50s, some claimed that a driver’s left leg would “atrophy” if he drove an automatic transmission car, due to lack of use of the left leg.
As to “every car looking alike nowadays”, let’s not forget the '20s & '30s, when cars essentially looked alike–with the very minor exception of the shape of the radiator shell. Here–in clockwise order, starting at upper left–are the 1929 Chevrolet, Plymouth, Ford, and Willys:
Every generation definitely does have this type of discussion, whether it is about cars, or about children, or virtually anything else. This is what Socrates said about children, approximately 400 BC:
“The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.”
― Socrates
Essentially, nothing under the sun ever changes when it comes to public attitudes and resistance to change. Some people have a very difficult time adapting to change.
My grandfather could tell the difference, or so he said! It is a generational thing.
I can differentiate Corvettes from '84 through 1990 by the tiny differences from year to year… but I worked with them. Basically they all look identical to most people.
I think the current technology in cars is fantastic. I plug a computer into my car to see what its condition is. No CEL, but there are still early signs of potential issues.
Performance?? When a Camry is humping 301 hp, more than a 69 Camaro Z28, and STILL gets 33 mpg on the highway, and it will beat the Z28 in a 1/4 mile That is progress!
+1–on all counts–to Mustangman’s comments, especially…
Just for the record, my 450h+ would beat that Z28 in the 1/4 mile by more than 1 second, and would be going ~5 mph faster at the end of that 1/4 mile, yet it regularly yields 40 mpg, and has given me as much as 70 mpg on long drives.
And, its passenger comfort far exceeds that of a car from the '60s or '70s. Then, there is the obvious safety factor. If all of that doesn’t represent progress in the automotive world, then I don’t know what would.
Given my druthers, if I had the oppty of a lifetime to spend two weeks in the late '60s-early '70s…
I’d effin’ STAY BACK THERE.
The precedence of dumb and the lack of common sense, plus the regress on many social issues, has worn out my welcome here in the ‘good ol’ 2020s!
Oh, and the cars back then were just simpler to work on, and to dial the kind of handling one preferred. They just drive like normal cars - no electric steering, or tires 12inches wide with no sidewall, no giant tablet stuck on the dash, or other modern weirdness…
It’s not survivability, it is leg injuries. The automotive safety organizations are more worried about costs from medical bills and lawsuits from the injured, not just survival. IIHS was actually created by the insurance industry. That’s why they care as much about a foot injury as they do if someone survives or not. If survivability was the issue, then SUVs would be outlawed. Pedestrian deaths are up significantly in the last 15 years, and it is primarily due to the popularity of taller vehicles.
And I have personally witnessed pedestrian behaviors which could also be contributing to their injuries and deaths:
At signaled or unsignaled crosswalks, crossing without even stopping to look both ways,
At signaled crosswalks, without pressing a walk button.
Pressing the walk button, then crossing without waiting for a WALK signal.
etc…
Modern pedestrians exude a sense of entitlement at crossing zones, striped, signalled, or one or the other. Their attitude: being “in the zebra” is good enough, regardless of the vehicular traffic or pedestrian signals are indicating.
There are two EQUAL parties to the driver-pedestrian crossing relationship, regardless of vehicle design and preference trends.
