I spotted a NEW (insert make/model) today!

stickguy

can be a little tight back there for a full size person, and a little claustrophobic with the pillars.

One reason I really like wagon versions (same with a BMW 3 series). Really opens up the back seat.

fintail

Spotted a Kia Forte "Koup" today...Honda Civic called, they want their front end back. Actually, it's not really a bad looking car...I might even prefer it to the styling of the Civic, which to me is way too much like an old Saturn.

ghulet

I was never a big fan of the styling of the current Civic coupe, though I guess that I don't like coupes to begin with has more than a little to do with that opinion. I also still hate the dashboard; whatever happened their 'We Keep It Simple' motto?

ateixeira

The original concepts had these cool fender flares that never made production. They looked much better.

kyfdx

... in black... with the S-line trim pkg... and.. killer black factory wheels...

I think Audis are the best looking.... beautiful cars..

ateixeira

New Sienna in Gold.

The commercials are funny. Especially the "hot babysitter" one.

anythngbutgm

Went for a drive on Saturday morning to grab some coffee and within that 5 mile drive (back and forth) I passed 4 different Tacomas on test drives (plastic still covering and dealer plates).

Also over the weekend I saw a couple of new Siennas. Pretty sharp looking for a minivan.

Friday night outside a bar is Boston I caught 2 Bentley Continental vets, a Gallardo and a Maserati Coupe'. What a weekend! :shades:

fushigi

Saw a bright yellow Lambo in the parking lot of a strip mall yesterday. Not sure if the owner was at the ethnic grocery store or the Kmart. :surprise:

ateixeira

I bet he owns both.

lemko

...black Mercedes S600.

boomchek

was driving in front of us. Black color. My wife asks if that's a Bentley (and she's usually good with cars).

I said no it's a Hyundai. :surprise: She was shocked but got thrown off by the badge on the trunk lid:

fintail

Was it a W221? Those are very uncommon, much less so than previous generations.

fintail

Now whatever you do, don't call a piece of H-K design derivative

ghulet

....it's gotta be an Ed Hardy t-shirt.

boomchek

lol

lemko

Yes.

ateixeira

Saw one all decked out as an elevator repair truck. Pretty versatile.

Also saw a new Mazda6 sedan. When I tried to sit in the back seat it was hard not to bump my head. Silly in such a large car.

Edit: ThyssenKrupp Elevator.

texases

"Also saw a new Mazda6 sedan. When I tried to sit in the back seat it was hard not to bump my head. Silly in such a large car."

That '4-door coupe' thing is out of hand, I don't mind when the company offers it as kind of an option (E350 vs. CLS350, Passat vs. CC), but when mainliners compromise their sedans, it's officially nuts (Mazda 6, Hyundai Sonata, Lexus ES350 (a little)). :mad:

ghulet

.....I'm partial to boxier sedans, I think they just make a lot more sense for most people, plus, yes, I hate sitting in those things (front OR rear, they just feel claustrophobic, despite their exterior mass). Yuck.

fintail

Camaro must be selling OK...I saw five of them today. Red, grey, yellow, and black x2.

anythngbutgm

I was heading to the Cape yesterday and while I was on the highway I heard a loud boom! (like those boomers on the forth of July) and looking over at the northbound side was a yellow Camaro with a plume smoke coming out of the rear end. :surprise:

I was heading southbound and it startled the heck out of me and the wife I almost swerved into the next lane from it...

anythngbutgm

Couple of new Siennas, 4-runner spottings. Couple of new Sonatas as well, they look more substantial in the higher end GLS? models.

Lastly one of those new baja looking Ford F-150's was parked outside the local music store I visit. This thing had such knobby tires I can only imagine the road noise :sick:

fushigi

On Saturday, I saw two different Genesis sedans on the road in one day. One silver & one black. That's a first for me.

boomchek

Kinda boxy looks nothing special.

texases

I have been disappointed with the styling on just about all the new Toyota/Lexus real SUVs (4Runner, Sequoia, Land Cruiser, etc.). They all seem to be very 'heavy' looking, and not that great to look at.

boomchek

I totally agree. Seems like they have styling lines for the sake of having styling lines, not because they add beauty or serve any specific purpose.

fintail

Toyota...their only purposeful design is probably the Prius.

boomchek

I think the Priius and Camry are the only good looking cars in their lineup.

EDIT: Venza too is a great looking vehicle.

anythngbutgm

Yes, but the same could be said of all makers out there.

Check out the new Sonata for instance. You would think the lines and creases are for improving drag, which it does, coming in at a slippery .28 CoD (an improvement over the .30 of the 2010 model).

What's humerous is that is the exact same figure as the current generation Camry. The Camry hybrid rings in at .27.

Even more humerous, Toyota models in general are some of the slippperiest out there, model for model. While that doesn't necessarily transfer over in the looks dept. at least there is a function behind it.

FWIW, some Toyotas I find attractive are the Tacoma, Venza, 4runner, LC, Camry SE and the new Sienna.

fintail

I still can't get over the Camry's nose. And I think the Prius is dorky, but it isn't pretending to be anything else, and I do respect honesty.

Yeah I don't mind the Venza either...not the segment I'm looking to drive right now, but I would take it over its RX sibling. It's pretty smooth looking.

Regarding the drag coefficient talk, I remain amused that the angular and somewhat boxy MB W212 E-class has a Cd of 0.25...one would never guess by looking at it.

fezo

Funny thing - I've always agreed with you about the nose one the Camry. Of course now we have one....

iwant12

My Dad has an 08 Camry, which I've always thought looked like someone bopped it in the nose. I have an 07 4Runner Sport, which is a great vehicle but I've always liked the looks of the 2002 style better. Don't like the new body style much at all, plus they took away some amenities.
Saw a new silver Sonota over the weekend. Dual exhaust. Thought it was a Merc at first.
Can't wait to see the new Mustang V6s. I may even test drive one, though I'd hate to give up on utility.

fezo

I think in the right (wrong?) color the front of the Camry looks like a vacuum cleaner. Kind of like you'd plug the hose in right at the Toyota logo.

fintail

I like to name cars...the current Camry is the "pig snout" in my lexicon

A number of Asian cars, other Toyotas included (Yaris and LS-F come to mind) are "Pokemon". Infiniti FX is "catfish", and so on.

Good luck with your Camry...my mother has a previous-gen model, it's been flawless so far.

anythngbutgm

Stopped by an Infiniti dealer after hours last night to look at the G35 convertible.

In the pics I wasn't wowed by the design as it looked like a canoe but in person, it was ridiculously sexy, especially in "S" trim, triple black.

The wife and I promised not to buy any cars this year but after seeing this one I may not be able to accomplish such a feat.

vcheng

The "pig snout" syndrome is partly the result of mainly european standards for protecting pedestrians in a crash. This also means that the rakish BMW profile is also turning more upright with higher hoods and bigger grills. There is a similar issue with new side crash standards causing higher beltlines and "sitting in a foxhole" sightlines.

Of course I agree with the comments that at least the designs can be more pleasing to the eye even with the new regulations.

fintail

It's the goofy dangling emblem that gets to me. A high hood doesn't have to have that. I understand the high beltline issue too...the Camry isn't an offender in that regard, it appears to at least have some visibility. Also, car designers in recent times are really just not very useful...I don't see how many of them actually work, so many just repeat the same old themes and styles. And the detail that irks me most are oversized or exaggerated front lights. IMO it's the laziest design.

The EU having a negative impact on design makes me wish for its demise even more :shades:

vcheng

I agree with everything you've said.

I just have one name to strike fear into your heart: Chris Bangle (of the Dame Edna 5 series fame). I just hope that he stays away, and others do not follow him.

fintail

Bangle is out now of course, and BMW is looking better already...well, maybe save for its weird 5 door things. And the dumb new names.

That 5er is an example of everything wrong with pointless styling...even more shameful because it is apparently pretty good under that skin.

vcheng

Isn't his protege Adrian van Hooydonk still in charge at BMW? In an interview Hooydonk once said that press critics are blinkered, the market was more intelligent than the media, accused rivals Mercedes and Audi of copying the Munich marque, and promised even more avant garde design to come.

Maybe Bangle went over to ruin Acura with the hideous parrot beaks and the pointless ZDX?

fintail

That's fun, more arrogance from a suit who doesn't have much to brag about under his belt, other than the ability to sycophant his way up the ladder and take advantage of a false economic boom.

I don't see much avantgarde design from BMW right now. I don't see which cars were copied by Audi and MB either. I am sure he can't name specific models.

Those Acuras are arguably the ugliest cars on the market right now...bloated, hideous, and shamefully less enjoyable than their predecessors.

vcheng

Or maybe you and I are growing old, just like our parents who did not like the new rock and roll music or that thing called rap "music"!

I saw a new Panamera on the road the other day. That sucker is big, and has Sarah Ferguson's butt before she joined Weight Watchers.

Whatever happened to graceful design that ages well?

fintail

That could be it...I have always believed something was lost when computers took over design. I don't see much timeless design being made today.

Panamera has quite a rump indeed...it is shocking as you really don't realize it until you look directly at it from the rear...then BOOM! Such cars are lucky they have performance to help distract from the looks. A 4-door 911 it really isn't.

vcheng

Well, there are some designs out there today that I find a bit more palatable.

The 911 is still good, but that's because Porsche has the best engineers but the laziest designers so they haven't found the energy to f- it up too much except the fried egg headlights from a few years ago.

The newer MB designs are good for the marque I think, except the GLK being too blocky, as well as Aston Martin, except for the goofy counter-rotating tach needles.

Audi has promise, execept for the wavy LED lines they follow inside their headlights. The Mini is a good design. The Suzuki Kizashi is reasonable but much of the remaining Asian marques are mainly derivative designs. The newer BMW sedans are better than the recent disasters, but they still have a long way to go before they catch up to their previous graceful designs.

Don't get me started on engineering aspects though. :mad: Why have the cars so difficult to service and maintain these days? I suspect it is entirely intentional.

I could find a few more cars but it is much harder than it was some years ago, that's for sure.

fintail

Porsche could have detailed it a little better to look less bloated. IMO the Aston Rapide pulls off the big low supersedan much better. Although for me, all of that isn't necessary. I'll be more than happy with a big tank S-class and a big AMG-tuned engine. I don't need to look sporty, I just want fast :shades:

The GLK looks like a Tonka toy to me. The E isn't bad, but there's a hint of Acura in it. It does appear to be a sales success though, so whatever works....MB still has some work to do to shed the lowered quality image. I do think the new 5er and 7er are improvements, X6 an 5GT hurt my eyes though.

No automaker wants to build something with an infinite lifespan. Everything being dependent on relatively delicate computers should take care of that.

boomchek

Maybe more vehicles have sculpted sides (aka flame surfacing) but otherwise I don't see any direct copies of BMW designs.

And I still don't like the looks of the BMW Z4. It may be a nice car to drive and bring the ooohs and aaahs because it's a BMW but I don't think it's a well done design. It looks like a clown shoe to me.

Audi does have very elegant designs, especially the A6 and A8. The A4 is not bad but changes from generation to generation appear to be very minimal.

As for MB, I never liked the current ML as I think it's overstyled with all the creases and angles (looks like something Kia or Hyundai would have designed 5 years ago), and I don't like the GLK either. Too boxy with odd proportions.

Acura - yeah, the whole lineup looks like a fail in styling excercise.

fintail

MB has gained a kind of side swoop, especially evolving since the W203 and W211. It's not as severe as a Z4 or something though, thankfully. ML tries very hard to be butch.

Audi hasn't changed much in the past 15 years or so, save for the gaping grille and a few new models. They have a theme now in their greenhouse design, and it will last for the foreseeable future. Just like MB and BMW.

fezo

I will say that in black the pignose (or vacuum cleaner) effect is largely muted. The grill is black as well which helps.

Once it suddenly accelerates into something that'll flatten it right out.

fintail

I am surprised there is no market for aftermarket Camry grilles...but then again, the average Camry driver doesn't care.

texases

Pignose? Nah, more like this: