Stupid design trends in current vehicles

Owen

Seems all the car designers bought the same book. How to make the car your designing look ugly for dummies. Nearly every car I see on the road currently has these ridiculously large wheel arches. Ford have them on every model, Nissan are kicking it off too. There's been a few others I've seen on the road too, but my feeble mind is starved of coffee today and I can't think of the others. Some pics to illustrate it :

Nissan


Ford


Mercedes


Suzuki


I think this sort of big bulging overstated wheel arch design is going to look very dated in a few years. The Juke will probably look worst of all. No matter if you stuck 18's under those arches, they'd still look like shopping trolley castors due to the stupid design.

Nearly every manufacturer now seems to be going for OTT swage/crease lines on the doors too. Opel have it with the insignia, BMW with their new design style, Ford too. Seems like 'more is better' is the way of the future, with designs needing to be overly busy, complicated, aggressive and confusing in an effort to look different and stand out.

What do you guys think? Anything else in current car design which looks pants?

V480

I'm not an expert on automotive design but personally I think pretty much all modern cars look rubbish. Granted, there are few that look that bad (e.g. Ford Scorpio bad) but neither are there any that would make you look twice. Give me a 1980's or 90's 'wedge' design like you see in the Scirocco or Integrale any day. But then I suppose cars have become alot safer in the last ten to fifteen years and apparently more reliable also (I have only been driving 3 years so can't really comment in that regard) so I suppose it is a question of give and take.

For example I have a thing for pop-up head lights. I drive a Toyota MR2 now and before that a Volvo 480, mainly for this reason.
I was wondering recently why no new cars have them and was told that they have been deemed unsafe by some authority or other and consequently will never be seen in any new cars again. The Mazda MX-5 just does not look right without them! I saw a Volvo C30 recently and was admiring it from behind...then I saw the front. Exactly the same as any other Volvo, Ford, ect. Imagine how cool it would look with a pair of pop-ups?! Not gonna happen though. Safe, reliable blandness is the way of the future it seems...

Owen

Pedestrian safety is what happened there. That's the reason we're not allowed to have pop up lights, and it's the reason bonnet heights have jumped considerably in the last few years. Even windshield wipers have to be redesigned to cope with pedestrians being bumped into them. The new shiny Euro NCAP tests are all about Pedestrian Safety now. Nearly every new car is 4/5 star, so this is the new yardstick.

shogunpower

i hear bonnet scoops are or are going to be banned aswell for pedestrian impact:( whats a Subaru with out a bonnet scoop like?

Owen

Doubtful, I'd say it's specifically the shape of some bonnet scoops. The R56 Cooper S was designed to meet these Pedestrian Safety regulations, and it still has a scoop. The Bonnet had to be a certain height away from the engine, the wipers recessed under the bonnet lip, and the front bumper profile altered too, but the scoop met regulations already even in the old model.

x in the city

PaintDoctor wrote: »

Doubtful, I'd say it's specifically the shape of some bonnet scoops. The R56 Cooper S was designed to meet these Pedestrian Safety regulations, and it still has a scoop. The Bonnet had to be a certain height away from the engine, the wipers recessed under the bonnet lip, and the front bumper profile altered too, but the scoop met regulations already even in the old model.

this baby is the worst car design, ever.

past, present, or future....

Stinicker

Isn't there some car than has a bonnet safety system that springs up to cushion the pedestrian fall and that if it goes off it costs an absolute forture to repair. I think I saw it on Top gear or something.

shogunpower

F10 5series has that, BMW brought it in because the previous e60 5series got a 4star ncap,it was let down on pedestrian impact safety.

ottostreet

Safety is good...pity its so ****ing ugly.

stevenmu

Stinicker wrote: »

Isn't there some car than has a bonnet safety system that springs up to cushion the pedestrian fall and that if it goes off it costs an absolute forture to repair. I think I saw it on Top gear or something.

That's Nissan's GTR I believe.

daveharnett

Stinicker wrote: »

Isn't there some car than has a bonnet safety system that springs up to cushion the pedestrian fall and that if it goes off it costs an absolute forture to repair. I think I saw it on Top gear or something.

Nissan GTR. You could have seen it on a thread here actually. It allowed them to skirt around the minimum distance between engine and bonnet.

daveharnett

x in the city wrote: »

this baby is the worst car design, ever.

past, present, or future....

My god yes. I nearly crashed the car in shock when I saw one for the first time this weekend. It put me in mind of a road-going beluga whale for some reason.

_Kaiser_

daveharnett wrote: »

My god yes. I nearly crashed the car in shock when I saw one for the first time this weekend. It put me in mind of a road-going beluga whale for some reason.

Actually, every time I see one of these, the styling reminds me of an old model Merc for some reason - particularly from the front?

Anan1

Stinicker wrote: »

Isn't there some car than has a bonnet safety system that springs up to cushion the pedestrian fall and that if it goes off it costs an absolute forture to repair. I think I saw it on Top gear or something.

AFAIK the Citroen C6 has it too.

Nissan doctor

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

Actually, every time I see one of these, the styling reminds me of an old model Merc for some reason - particularly from the front?

Maybe because ssangyong had everyone convinced that they used mercedes diesel engines when in fact they were 30 year old merc block designs assembled in India using not a single mercedes part whatsoever!:rolleyes:


I'd say the same people bought them as then went on to buy chrysler 300c's with 'bently' grills:p

RedorDead

How about the Mini Clubman Suicide door as one of the most stupid recent designs. Works fine for LHD cars but for RHD they couldnt be arsed changing it around. Very dangerous in traffic.

SomeDude

I wouldn't say it is a stupid design. As you said it works fine for left hand drives. They didn't change it for RHD because the return on investment meant it wasn't worthwhile. In the same way that audi "couldn’t be arsed” changing the position of the pedals in the a4 for right hand drive vehicles.

Owen

They have actually changed it, but the revised model isn't on the market yet. The next Clubman will have 2 suicide/club doors a la RX8. The plan was orginally to do that, but on the current chassis it wasn't possible to relocate the fuel tank due to the Americans having a rear impact test that Europe doesn't. Still a weird place for a door. I had one for a few months and it worked away grand once you got used to it, but it's a door - you shouldn't have to get used to it.

Bodhan

Unfortunatly most car design that you see on the road today was really designed by safety people, the height of the headlamps off the road, the height of the middle brake light at the rear and loads of other stuff.
The car makers respond to it buy changing what they are allowed to, flaring the arches or putting in two sets of lights on the front like the Juke.
It will get worse over the next few years because as the car makers change so do the rules, once the EU see something as a slight hazard they bring in a rule for it.

Plowman

This post has been deleted.

Eric Cartman

PaintDoctor wrote: »

Pedestrian safety is what happened there. That's the reason we're not allowed to have pop up lights, and it's the reason bonnet heights have jumped considerably in the last few years. Even windshield wipers have to be redesigned to cope with pedestrians being bumped into them. The new shiny Euro NCAP tests are all about Pedestrian Safety now. Nearly every new car is 4/5 star, so this is the new yardstick.

Euro NCAP has ruined car design , although it would explain a few things, I love the front end of my isuzu and the huge bonnet scoop , but it also scored 0 for pedestrian safety by E NCAP , i guess nice cars dont do well,

Eric Cartman

LIGHTNING wrote: »

Safety rules have also killed Pop-ups headlights which I always thought were cool (hence why I have a 924).

and why they dont make the 8 series beamers anymore , id love an 850

slimjimmc

Stinicker wrote: »

Isn't there some car than has a bonnet safety system that springs up to cushion the pedestrian fall and that if it goes off it costs an absolute forture to repair. I think I saw it on Top gear or something.

Pyrotechnic bonnets will probably become more common, if not compulsary, after 2013. (Irish Times)

Pyrotechnic bonnets: They lift up away from the engine and suspension hard points beneath. Can reduce serious head injuries by 30 per cent. New rules from 2013 will mean more “active” pedestrian safety equipment.

SomeDude wrote: »

I wouldn't say it is a stupid design. As you said it works fine for left hand drives. They didn't change it for RHD because the return on investment meant it wasn't worthwhile. In the same way that audi "couldn’t be arsed” changing the position of the pedals in the a4 for right hand drive vehicles.

I have an image of a RHD A4 with the pedals in the LHS footwell :eek::eek:

pajo1981

Bodhan wrote: »

Because as the car makers change so do the rules, once the EU see something as a slight hazard they bring in a rule for it.

That's not how it works at all. Safety specs are mostly specified by the car manufacturers.

For example, the minimum height of a car bonnet was originally specified by the industry, not by regulators (or your evil EU :rolleyes:)