Hi there.
I've been away for quite some time, since I just came back from 1 month in Portugal.

And there has been something on my mind lately. We seem to be in a time now where there are less u gly cars. I mean, what you see on the street, everything from the new Opel Corsa, to the Peugeot 207 or even the Fiat Bravo, is really plesent for the eyes. You see nice shapes, and curves, and they all have something nice. Just compare to the older cars, even from 2002 or so. More corny, boring...etc. For example look at the new Renault Clio. It really is a little sexy and I love the shapes. The other day I also saw the new Skoda Fabia. Also a huge improvement. And just look at Opel. Their old boring Astras or Vectras. Look at the new Corsa, Astra...beautiful cars! Sure they are very plastic inside etc, but what I'm talking about is the shape, the imagionation. Todays cars are more daring. Even a Citroen C1 or C4 looks cool! It's a really nice time for us car-enethusiasts, that the car industry is in a really nice time

Feel free to debate me on this one.

Actually you are quite right on this. I think that design sells today, rather that the cars themselves. If cars aren't appealing then they are not going to sell, thing that all carmakers know!

2006 was better looking, other then that I agree.

I think what's happening is cars are getting more and more radical, but as all cars get like this they will start to look boring! For example, look at the Renault Megane, when that first came out, it looked really cool, and interesting, but now doesn't really look anything special! I think car designers are just moving the goal posts, but as we get used to that, they have to move them even further!

yep the normal cars are starting to look easy on the eye..that is a new phenomena..
i hope it stays this way

Very relevant post Will. As time passes on things which we once did not like and/or thought were radical eventually start to look "normal".

Best example in my humble opinion is the E60 5er. I remember when it came out I thought it was bloody radical and out of this world - I hated it and still do, but now rather than thinking it's radical, I now see it as being "normal".

Hope that makes sense..

Yes I agree (not with the hating the E60 part )!

I think fashions are changing, and as soon as everyone conforms to one fashion, it changes, hence they start to look boring!

I agree with that, modern cars are getting curvier and easier to the eye. But then again... Aren't they just accomodating to our modern tastes? Maybe for the yesteryear generation, the cars which we thought were 'ugly' were actually nice to them.

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!! ......

Agreed about the subject of the thread.

Everyone is making much nicer cars today than they used to. Clear example is the new Clio Sport! Damn! That little thing look just great. Thinking about buying my wife that one, she loves it just like i do.

I still think there is much room for improvement. A lot of the current designs are still not particularly up-to-date in terms of styling. The concept cars are fantastic and I can see many parallels with current trends in architecture, fashion design, and high industrial design. I realize that for the mainstream market design has to be toned down to sell -- but at the elite end of the market I am continually disappointed by the lack of imagination.

Maybach has so much potential -- they are supposed to be at the highest end of the market ....so why are they so middle-class in terms of their style?. They should be at the cutting-edge of design -- like the Monaco boat builder Wally.

Maybach should be to the auto-industry what Wally is to the boat building industry -- Daimler-Benz should get radical and take luxury automobile design to a new level of aesthetic experience. Unfortunately, I don't think they will. Luckily BMW and Aston Martin seem to be doing just that.