R.I.P. individual styling -
 

I'm up at the mall with my daughter who's about to turn 16 and is quite enthused about the T/A being hers in a few short months.
Anyway we're walking out in the parking lot. Usuallly I blank out into a sea of bland plastic lookalike vehicles that look like they all belong on a Avis lot, but I really noticed how similar all the new cars look, especially when they are the same color.
Their tailights, bumpers and back ends all look so close, you can hardly tell a one make from another.
I remember even in the lowly 80s when you could tell a Chevrolet from a Toyota a mile away, now they almost look like they were designed side by side.
Styling is dead, it makes one wonder if they were all done in pensicl by the same hand.
Daughter looked at the T/A (which stand out) with a gleem in her eye and said there is no mistaking her soon to be T/A for anything else other then a Pontiac.
Now I need to find her my wife something as classic to run to the arrands & store in -

Totally agree,IMO style in cars is dead. With all the computer aided programs available they can't seem to come up with anything. The design pool is empty. :(

Brad,

Have to agree. Hey, maybe you should find the wife a '65 or '66 Catalina wagon in Iris Mist/421 Tri-power combo?

I agree that styling is DEAD at Generous Motors, but I feel(and I know this is opinion,and opinions are like,you know), Mopar,Dodge,Chrysler, has the only appealing looking stuff on the market.
I have a 2011 Dodge Ram, and in my opinion, there isn't a better looking truck on the road, and my wife has a 2011 Dodge Charger, and for a 4 door, I too think it's hard to beat the looks of it.
At least both have some brand identity, and the Charger,even though a 4 door, has a ton of Retro styling touches, plus it gets 30mpg highway, and my wife LOVES the thing.

My truck does everything I need it to do, and it tows better than any previous vehicle that I've used for towing. That, and the thing just flat out moves,which is more than I can say for that limp wristed sorry-ass 6 spd slushbox GM introduced in the 2011 Silverado.
I test drove a 2011 Silverado, and before I made it out of the dealership parking lot,I asked the salesman, "what the hell is wrong with this thing?", I even drove a second truck to make sure there wasn't something wrong with it. Totally uninspiring to drive, that 6spd killed low speed accelleration. For comparison, we had just sold my wifes 2001 Yukon 2 hrs before driving the new Silverado, and even my wife commented that the thing had no responsiveness whatsoever when you pushed on the go pedal.

But back to the topic, Yes there are alot of ugly jelly bean,belly button looking lumps on the road today.

I don't know what the problem is because I can tell every car on the road. Perhaps you guys are getting old? Yeah, I know, everything was better in the past . . .

Remember the Aztek! After that there were probably a lot heels that were cooled.

I don't get how a smart car is a car? I hated those cars and styling for cars are starting to look the same. I can agree on that.

Foreign cars are the worst for bland styling. :eek::eek::eek:

Won't happen; she found this on C/L (http://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/cto/3588584952.html) It needs some minor cosmetics, but it's one of the few decent ones left.


The 80s Firebirds are not my thing, but it is an iconic 80s design.


I thought it was a full enclosed golf cart :confused:

One dumb-ass at work purchased one; he said his wifes Civic averages better fuel economy, and that's a much more practical car.

It's all about wind tunnel results, fuel economy, and crash test crumple zones. The jellybean is the best shape for those. Notice how a now compact ike a Corolla or an Accord will TOWER over an old GTO or Firebird....do the trunks really need to be chest high? LOL. I'll go one step further: there are no original ideas. Look at the movies--everything is a remake of a remake of a remake. Look at the music: insipid rip-off's of real music done in the '60's and '70's. Even the current prison tattoo look is all the rage...for the misguided "edgy" crowd out there. I haven't seen, heard, or experienced an original commercial produck for quite some time!!

Try this then.

Samsung washer commercial.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...&v=Xoe5Vjl90-o

OK, :focus:

styling has been dead for quite some time..it also has to do with who is designing the cars nowadays..back in the day you had "car guys" like harley earl and the like styling new rides, now you have the cheapest bidder from a contract outsourced compay. so like was said, all the cars look like jelly beans. from the 65 gto to the 2003 aztek--we have not progressed.

Welcome to 20 years ago.

Here's ours....daily driver...:)

My thought is this: with manufacturers fighting for every tenth of an MPG, aerodynamic styling helps. I wouldn't be surprised if many of these cars were designed in a wind tunnel. That's probably why you see recessed door handles, laid-back windshield angles, spoilers, and the like.

Doesn't do much for styling, but they have to make the Feds happy.

I'm surprised you guys are surprised by this.

We spend years in the wind tunnel developing cars.

Aerodynamic advantage is "free" - all other fuel economy enablers cost money.

K

Growing up in the 70's and 80's I thought cars had their own "face". Depending on the grills, headlights, bumpers, each car had its own facial expression.

We laugh at the Mercedes that we think are Hondas.

I would more accurately call it DISGUST.

Yep. Hit the nail on the head.

All cars are govt. motors now.