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Thread: Today's Cars Look too Much Alike?

  1. #16
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    You all know my opinion on this after the Alfa 4C/Lotus incident. I do think most cars are just copies with a few tweaks in styling now-a-days. I was even disappointed with the new Gumpert b/c when the first one came out it was completely unique and the new one is just blah, like i've seen it before. I can't tell the difference between 50's and 60's cars but i do know there are differences that set each manufacturer apart. Every car nut can recognize a '57 Chevy or a Ford Skyliner. Cars today are really difficult to tell apart, you really need to pay attention to the grille style or now with all the re-badging, the logo on the hood. Case in point, the Civic and the Kia Forte and the new re-badged Chrysler Lancias

  2. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by csl177 View Post
    ^^^ Perhaps more a function of the cars in popular use by a particular generation. Younger people may not recognize distinct car styling differences of the '40-'60s, while older people can't tell what a '80-'90s anything is. Or for that matter, find it in a parking lot.
    You absolutely hit the nail on the head.
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  3. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ferrer View Post
    That not only defined styling but pretty much the entire car. Cars grew different because of the different conditions, and still are. I find it funny when Alan Mulally recently said that car tastes around the world were converging. I think this is simply not the case. Not matter how they've come a Toyota Camry or a Ford Taurus would work here, in the same way no one would pay $20,000 for a 110bhp Renault Megane in the US.
    Design convergence is what they WANT us to believe. Manufacturing made so much easier. Do want Megane II RS but nnnnooooooo.
    Never own more cars than you can keep charged batteries in...

  4. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by ScionDriver View Post
    Thoughts?

    When this topic comes up, i think of the Chrysler PT Cruiser.

    It is deplored by vast sections of car fans. Most of the disgust is entirely deserved. poor engineering/performance/build quality. But what i dont understand is how hot rod/muscle fans can be so disgusted at its looks.

    At long last a car comes along that has been given a bit of character & it gets rubbished for it!

    So many new cars are just aerodynamic blobs its maddening.

    Audis all look the same. Toyota's all look the same, even the crazy little 911 has been all smoothed over.

    with the CTSV & the SSR & the PT & the Prowler, for me american makers have managed to make the most unique models of the modern era
    Last edited by Badsight; 03-08-2011 at 09:01 PM.

  5. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dino Scuderia View Post
    People aren't even paying 17k for Mulally's Fiesta here.
    And the supersized Fords don't seem to be working as well as previous normal-size Focuses, Fiestas and Mondeos.
    Quote Originally Posted by csl177 View Post
    Design convergence is what they WANT us to believe. Manufacturing made so much easier. Do want Megane II RS but nnnnooooooo.
    What you actually want is the entire RS lineup.
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  6. #21
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    owning a 911 i'm not sure i'm qualified to comment/disagree on this subject

    but case in point look at subaru.. most people think they are daewoo's at first glance now.
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  7. #22
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    In my day, we had to walk 20 miles through the snow to find a car that looked like another one!

    Or something.

    To me the early to mid 90s was the duldrums of humdrum 'everything looks the same' school of car design, then things improved dramatically. I think at the moment it's probably true that there are a lot of similar looking cars about, but that's partly because there's really only so many ways you can make a car efficient aerodynamically, partly because the more.. 'unique'.. designs tend to fail more often than not and partly because there are more models in each market segment nowadays. With all that going on, there's bound to be more overlap than before. Also, manufacturers seem to be aiming more and more towards a 'corporate design' so there's also little difference throughout their whole range - just look at Audi.
    Life's too short to drive bad cars.

  8. #23
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    Cars are looking the same these days. They're always just either silver, or black, or grey or some kind of dull blue or red. It's all because people buying new cars think about re-sale, and so they think that that if they buy, say, a BRIGHT ORANGE car, no one will buy it afterwards, and if somebody does buy it, they'll lose money. Which is why they pick dull colours, and thus all cars look the same.

    And yes, the styling of cars is down the drain too. Walk down my street and you just see a Perodua Kelisa, 2 grey Civics, a Perodua Myvi, a Yaris Verso and so on. They're all cars which don't stimulate the mind at all.
    No.

  9. #24
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    Cars look the same because they share a lot of the same architecture underneath these days. The proportions are bound to be similar.

    Agreed, the "brand imaging" is the only differentiation usually. The details are generally a large element of the ability to differentiate the older cars (japanese ones especially), But there is about 15 different "Organic" form type designs going on that are exactly the same.

    Who'd have thunk it, when you have a similar set of techniques using a similar set of design tools to create products designed to be similar in nature, appealing to the same market and focus groups, you'd end up with a similar product?
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  10. #25
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    any car that tries to look different within the given proportions is boud to be heavily criticised anyway....by the so-called respected journos.
    "I find the whole business of religion profoundly interesting, but it does mystify me that otherwise intelligent people take it seriously." Douglas Adams

  11. #26
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    Quote Originally Posted by henk4 View Post
    any car that tries to look different within the given proportions is boud to be heavily criticised anyway....by the so-called respected journos.
    The problem isn't the styling.

    It's the badge.
    Lack of charisma can be fatal.
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  12. #27
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ferrer View Post
    The problem isn't the styling.

    It's the badge.
    would you think a Multipla would have been praised if it had a BMW badge?
    "I find the whole business of religion profoundly interesting, but it does mystify me that otherwise intelligent people take it seriously." Douglas Adams

  13. #28
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    Quote Originally Posted by henk4 View Post
    would you think a Multipla would have been praised if it had a BMW badge?
    Isn't an X6 praised and bought massively over the world? O a 5er GT?

    And yet the Avantime failed miserably.
    Lack of charisma can be fatal.
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  14. #29
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ferrer View Post
    Isn't an X6 praised and bought massively over the world? O a 5er GT?

    And yet the Avantime failed miserably.
    yes, and the corresponding Ssangyoung was ridiculed....and of course the Avantime was French.
    "I find the whole business of religion profoundly interesting, but it does mystify me that otherwise intelligent people take it seriously." Douglas Adams

  15. #30
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    I really want an Avantime.
    Life's too short to drive bad cars.

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