[Tarek]

Originally Posted by SDNR

Hmm, not really.

Although we can be fairly certain that Lexus was influenced by the E class with its decision to use quad-headlights, any similarities end there really.

The 2006 (current generation) GS doesn't look like any Mercedes.

Yes it doesn't look like any MB but the influence is clearly there and the one before it was so obvious where it got it's face from.

[salmonpunk]

I also find the shift gate to look like it came out of a 1980's Buick

[cawimmer430]

Originally Posted by salmonpunk

I also find the shift gate to look like it came out of a 1980's Buick

Nah, you mean 1950s Buick!

Column shifts were actually already available on European and American cars in the 1920s but their "popularity" really took off in the 1950s and waned (in Europe) in the early to mid 1970s.

[klier]

Originally Posted by salmonpunk

I also find the shift gate to look like it came out of a 1980's Buick

Seriously! It's extremely cheap, old and ugly...one would almost start laughing about it if it wasn't so sad....

Wimmer, I have to correct you: the new E looks like a quality job, but the inside of the Lexus sure is no quality job. It's maybe quality if you're used to Toyota parts, but that's about it...

[SDNR]

Originally Posted by modena_360stradale

I'm going to dissent from majority opinion here, but it looks terrible in this picture. It's too tall, too angular, the mirrors are gross, the foglights are ugly and the headlights are horrible.

I hope you're right, Centurion

I also notice how it is quite tall -- much like the C class.

The upright and thick appearance of the front section is not dissimilar to the Cadillac CTS.

[Merc1]

Well Rob any car that wants to sell globally is going to have that look because of the pedestrian regulations.

M

[SDNR]

Hmm, I have heard this before .....how is this so? ...I mean, how does this help pedestrians?

[Merc1]

Supposedly it balances out the forces from being hit. A flat, blunt, square front end combined with plenty of space between the hood and engine is supposed be safer than a pointy front end and no space between the hood and top of the engine block. The latter I can definitely see, but the former not as much.

This is why the new 7-Series looks like a Dodge ram from the front and to a lesser degree the C-Class. It also the reason why the SL has a bigger front end in addition to bring it inline with the family look.


M

[coolraoul]

The front of the car is high and straight and without bumper for one main reason:

This high bonnet means there is quite a lot of space between the bonnet end the motor underneath it. So when the head of a pedestrian hits the bonnet, this bonnet is supple and absorbs the shock by deforming itself. With a lower bonnet almost touching the motor this is not possible. A way to avoid this high front is the moving bonnet, sensing the shock and popping up to absorb the shock. You find this in the Jaguar XK for instance.

Also, no bumper and high front means the shock is not only on one little part of the legs (doesn't go straight to the knee and broke it, but hit more or less the whole leg). And the parts who are a bit like a bumper are very low, to hit the low part of a leg, not the knee.

Part of this regulation is also the "Jumbo-ears" mirro: this ensure that the driver can see a kid kneeing behind the rear wheel, while also having the normal vision of the road behind the car. So the mirror has to be bigger.

[EnI]

What's really bothering me is the V-shape design theme - with that central crease all along.

Opel is using it.
Cadillac is using it.
MB is using it.
Honda / Acura is using it.

And many others (eg. Renault, Citroen, Pontiac ...) - yet in milder variation.