Best family look revamp

[Ingolstadt]

Hi guys, noticed since y2k, a couple of manufacturers revamped their family looks, design philosophy. Which in your opinions, had done best?

Alfa Romeo
From sexy curves of irregular works of art, to mainstream sharp edges with a dash of retrospective chromes.

Audi
The gaping mouth

Bentley
Squarish no more, sleek is the new lux

BMW
Flame, concave surfacing

Citroen
Logo that blends with the grills

Ferrari
Vertically oblongated headlamps and more and more diffusers popping out.

Mercedes
From the widebody on an S-Class? To the boring E, and the sexy CLS. Mercedes is doing it all out.

Volvo
Sexy Volvos? No way! But it seems this is where they're heading.

Volkswagen
Another gaping mouth worshipper, they're moving more and more upmarket. Hence instead of the German Trio, could it well be German Quads in few years to come?

[clutch-monkey]

VW and alfa romeo seem pretty good looking these days

[kingofthering]

Audi or VW or Ferrari. It's too hard to choose.

[The_Canuck]

Volvo is getting better...VW isn't bad...Audis are a massive improvement and look amazing.

[Kitdy]

Volvo FTW! I think all of the other car companies actually look worse than they did before their respective redesigns (but I honestly don't know regarding Alfa and Citroe - and VW and Bentley - meh).

Ferrari - 612 Enzo blues

Benz - S classless, CL so-so, upcoming E class? disgrace!

BMW - just terrible

Audi - shut your mouth (other than the grille, Audis are AMAZING)

Bentley - Meh

VW - NA Rabbit is good, Passat is poor, new Phaeton is pathetic, Jetta is OK, chrome grille is HORRIBLE

[Rockefella]

I <3 Audi's new look.

[Ingolstadt]

I voted for Volvo myself. I think they've done a great deal. Audi on the other hand, though accepted by more mainstreamers, had abandone what made them famous all this while - Subtlety. BMW however, kick started with some arrogant like-it-or-don't-buy-it approch, somehow seems not-so-ultimate when they started to switch backwards to svelte, strong looks rather than downright menacing, monstrous looks.

[johnnynumfiv]

I <3 Audi's new look.
I <3 your mom's new look too.

[Rockefella]

I <3 your mom's new look too.
Tell your mom that the child-support that I pay on your name is cut-off.

[Quiggs]

Tell your mom that the child-support that I pay on your name is cut-off.
I was going to cut off your allowance, so it's good that you're cutting his child support.

[PerfAdv]

Alfa Romeo
Can't comment, haven't seen any in person. Seeing a car in person is a must. Scale, how the light highlights the shape, paint quality, quality...

Audi
The mouth may be big but a number plate breaks up the gape nicely. One of the only cars that looks better with number plates. Overall very handsome cars. The A3 5-door is the least good looking, the lines must work for the 3-door, 'cause the A3 sent to the US is awkwark.

Bentley
Ultimate VWs, what they would look like, what they look like.

BMW
New slogan: It's a BMW, you'd never have guessed.

Citroen
Can't really comment but I really like the uniqueness of the Flagship in the luxury niche.

Ferrari
Proof that no one can always come up with the best. The Ferrari shapes are classy and ageless but they don't cause you to gape. I like the new Ferrari looks, the shape understates, it's more about how good the car is and not about just turning heads.

Mercedes
Overall evolving very nicely. The next Gen cars are bound to be better. It's almost like Mercedes is readying the world for amorphous shape with an interim morphing with softened squares.

Volvo
A lot better than before but then again, how couldn't it. Sheesh these use to look like metal bricks with an abundance of flat panes of glass.

Volkswagen
Latest Jetta took a downturn. The last Jetta was amongst the nicest VWs ever, maybe only after the Corrado. The Golf/Rabit is great. The Phaeton was a gorgeous, it would have made a great A8, if only the A8 wasn't more gorgeous.

[syko]

audi and Volvo look much better

alfa's and bentley's haven't really changed

merc's and bmw's look worst

I have alwasy prefered ferrari's older designs

[Cyco]

Aston Martin :p

[Kitdy]

Volkswagen
Latest Jetta took a downturn. The last Jetta was amongst the nicest VWs ever, maybe only after the Corrado. The Golf/Rabit is great. The Phaeton was a gorgeous, it would have made a great A8, if only the A8 wasn't more gorgeous.

No doubt.

[blingbling]

LOL @ johnny.

[Ferrer]

In my opinion Citroen and Volvo are the two manufacturers which have improved their desings most.

Citroens were always cars that looked bold and futuristic and the take over by Peugeot brung a bit of sanity in the designs, unfortunately. However it seems they're back with the C4 and the C6 (mainly).

Volvos, on the other hand were probably the least designed cars in the world. You just drew some squares and you had a Volvo. However they have improved spectacularly and now we could even call a Volvo desirable. They might have a problem, though, the current design cues wich all Volvos share (pronounced shoulders amongst them) are getting old, and there no signs of renewal of the range design.

The other are either more or less where they were (Ferrari or Mercedes-Benz), or are clearly doing worse (BMW and Audi).

[jorismo]

I think I gotta to with Audi and Citroen.

Current Citroen's are just amazing. They have shown they have balls coming with some great futuristic and spacy designs. I saw the new C4 Picasso the other day and I immediately thought: good bye, Touran, Scenic, Espace, 807. It is such a great car to look at.

Now Audi is really cool. Nowadays Audi's look just so solid and unbreakable. The grill has become a fingerprint of the Audi's. And be honest, how can you now like the new TT and R8?

[Kitdy]

OK, the TT and the R8 are good. But not amazing. And I think the rest of their cars would look way, way better if they only had the old, reasonable grilles back. Those grills were sick!

DAMN IT! Audi is winning the poll!

Come on the Swedes!

[Ingolstadt]

I for one doesnt like the new TT, it's something that tied up Audi real badly. They need a new sports roadster/coupe; but it wasn't different enough from the predecessor, TT wasn't about the flowish, futuristic looks of the car, it's about being conceptually different from everything we've seen. If Audi had produce the Shooting brake as the next TT, or the R8 as the next TT, that would've been stunning. They could even produce a RS-TT of the new TT since the R8 couldn't be placed better than the Gallardo.
That sort of makes = New TT < R8 < Gallardo

In short, the new TT and the R8 is the most embarressed ever cars made by Audi, weird, lost positioning within the family chart.

[Kooper]

Personally I think that if the 8C is anything to go by, Alfa's improving by leaps and bounds. Also, the return of RWD is welcome which will hopefully see the current massive front overhangs (except 8C) shrink.

Audi? Personally I liked the A6 of 1998 to just after 2000 the most. It's Bauhaus styling was excellent. The current deSilva penned cars just don't make a huge impression on me to be honest, grilles notwithstanding. The current A6 for instance looks just like the previous one only with an increase in wheelbase, slightly different detailing and a bigger grille...

BMW, well what can I say? The first Bangle batch just didn't make the grade did they? The 6 being the exception, most look just downright akward. The Z4 is just too many lines all over the place.
There is hope though, as the newest cars seem to be returning to classic BMW-ness. The new 3 coupe is excellent looking in my estimation, and that's from having seen it in the metal. If it's anything to go by, there's hope...

Citroen? Quirky styling. Quirky is what they do best though..

Renault? Something different. Experimented with edginess, but it seems like they're returning to softer lines once more.

Bentley I don't know. They have the Merc previous CL thing going up front except they swapped the left and right clusters, which I don't like. The sides are nice, the rears don't appeal, especially the oval break-lights (??) within the square clusters. Overall though, a definite improvement over their usual dinosaurs.

Merc? I think currently they're sliding down the same slope BMW did in 2000. In fact, I think Merc's duplicating some of BMW's moves, witness the new S's interior and tell me that's not blatant copy-cat-ing. There's the wheel-arches on the S that look alarmingly out of place on a luxo-barge, the huge head-light clusters, the Maybach rear clusters (that actually looks nice). My biggest problem with Benz at the moment though is that the alloys look strangely too small, no matter which Class we're talking about here. Kind of like a Jetta 3...

Porsche - except for the Cayenne, it's all good just as it always has been.

Ferrari - 612 looks ugly (seen only pics), 430's tail-lights suck (it's based on the Enzo's after all), but overall I'd still shag it. 599 looks good in my estimation, EXCEPT if it wears those pentagram alloys.

Volvo's still boring, Saab's too GM, Peugoet seem to focus on the triangle headlights/ huge mouth/ jewel rear cluster look which I guess works for them.


Alfa ftw!

[Eurocar]

Alfa Romeo. A brand of fast, affordable and always beautiful cars. Alfas have definately changed over the years. The change from the 155 to the jaw droppingly gorgeous 159. The GTV to the Brera.

Audis have also changed significantly. But the design i shall never forget is the beutiful quattro. But the changes of the old A4 to the new one with the whale's mouth.

Mercs have changed. But i see how people accuse them of BMW copying. But i actually think that its a good thing. Now who can say that the new S500 is uglier than the S500 from a decade ago?

But my favourite brand change is Aston Martin. They have changed in a huge way. Like a child going through puberty. No really. Compare the old Vantage to the new one. And everything else has changed. Build, reliability and design. Everything. And Ford is to thank for this. As well as a few great pen wielding men.

But from the given choices i would have to say Alfa.