Ugly American cars

[cantdrv55]

I was just flipping through the channels when I saw a couple of car ads. There has got to be plenty of design engineering talent in Detroit but why do they keep coming up with ugly cars? The ones I'm ranting about is the Chrysler 300 and the Crossfire. Man, the 300 looks like a miniature tank, IMO. The grill's too big and the trunk and hood are too short. Not proportional at all and just doesn't "feel" right. Not feng shui. Same with the Crossfire, I think. Way too busy and more rice, IMO, than anything I've seen the kids in the SF Bay Area has come up with on their own. They have a near hit with the new Pontiac GTO but it's just on the bland side. At least the proportions are right.

Lastly, the Elise (I know it's British but...). While it may end up in the Hall of Fame, it won't make it there on looks. Talk about rice and the design didn't even originate from Japan, or did it? End of rant and thanks for indulging me. Please feel free to offer opposing views as I know you will.

[island911]

"Man, the 300 looks like a miniature tank"

I was thinking that they out-soursed its design to Russia.

[84porsche]

I won't disagree. Most American cars are quite ugly but their are a few exceptions in my opinion.

Exceptions:
1) Dodge Viper (still cool)
2) Chevrolet Corvette (2005 looks nice, older models (1996-2004) seem like they cut the budget on design.
3) The new Ford Mustang

The performance cars they put a little love into. The rest are just plain ugly. Of course I love the Nascar editions of the American cars but not the everyday versions. I am just scared with the size of cars going back to the size in the 60s and 70s. Those vehicles were huge gas guzzlers. I don't mind a vehicle that uses alot of gas, the problem is when their 8 feet tall and the p-car is 4 feet tall and you can't see a damned thing.

[mikester]

American Cars seem to all be about as quality as the Pontiac Aztek is in style.

I agree with the exceptions, the Corvette has always been an art project in my mind - a successful one too. The recent ones are very pretty.

[Moses]

Originally posted by mikester
American Cars seem to all be about as quality as the Pontiac Aztek is in style.

I agree with the exceptions, the Corvette has always been an art project in my mind - a successful one too. The recent ones are very pretty.

A car magazine described the Aztec as being designed by a bipolar art student in one of his darkest hours.

I agree about the Crossfire. Fugly.

[bigrubberjeep]

I like the crossfire - I think it shows Amrican desing willing to make changes towards light weight v8. If you really look at it, it has abit of 911 design to it in the rear, hips and all!

the 300M I think looks the part with the Hemi motor in it. I think they are going for the Big Benz look of the 1990's of the 500

[vash]

i saw a show, i think it is called "test drive" where two racer dudes take new cars through the paces. the show i saw had the 300 featured. once they turned off the traction control, those two guys started having way more fun than they deserved in a sub 40k american sedan. they were drifting those suckers like nothing i have ever seen. i like some american cars. the lincoln LS is nice, and i even like the new 300. and i like the detroit trucks, chev, ford, and then dodge. in that order. to each their own. personally i think alot of the japanese offerings are the "track homes" of the auto industry. cookie cutter cars, without any soul.

[Eric Coffey]

Originally posted by cantdrv55
They have a near hit with the new Pontiac GTO but it's just on the bland side. At least the proportions are right.

This is the only point I would argue. The "new" GTO has got to be one of the biggest automotive disappointments in years. I have never been a "muscle car" guy, but even I think it is a shame to put a classic label on such a POS. By contrast, I think the new Mustang and GT40 concepts are good examples of how to go about "reviving" a classic.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

The new GTO is reminiscent of the "Quad 4" Olds 442. And we all know what happened to Oldsmobile shortly thereafter. . .

Perhaps Pontiac is next.

[Zeke]

There is NOTHING uglier than the whole Cadillac line up. I would drive an Aztec before owning one of those Caddys.

See, I thought the 300M was kinda neat with the Ferrari-esque nose. Do I have the wrong car?

[Eric Coffey]

Originally posted by Zeke
...See, I thought the 300M was kinda neat with the Ferrari-esque nose. Do I have the wrong car?

I think the original post was regarding the new Chrysler 300 (not the 300M).

I dunno though. To me, the new 300 looks like it's trying to be a Bently in the worst way:

[thamlin000]

I like the Crossfire. The performance and style are good, I just doubt the quality and longetivity of Chrysler cars.

But I am sick of the retro-mobile craze (05 mustang, thunderbird, etc).

[azasadny]

For every Mustang (great looking car), it seems like there is an Aztek (piece of scheiss)

[epbrown]

I like the 300C but I think the greenhouse is too narrow - otherwise, it has a definite muscle car/gangster look to it. Price is reasonable too. A couple of guys that own them aren't fond of the engine note, which is more truck than muscle car, but that's easily fixed I'd guess.

I've never cared for the Crossfire coupe. The convertible is a bit better, but still...

I have to admit that the new Caddys are growing on me. I found them too angular before, but car design seems to be catching up to them.

Emanuel

[SpeedracerIndy]

I kind of like the Crossfire and 300. The are at least different. The 300 is deffinately a love it or hate it design though. The crossfire is basically a reskinned Merc SLK. And they are comming out with a 300hp (?) version (SRT-6), which is the SLK AMG. SHould be pretty quick. The cars I cannot stand are the GM bunch. especially Pontiacs. GTO = glorified gran prix, and when their sales start to slow, they bolt some plastic onto the car to make it appeal to the nastycar crowd. Look at the new Pontiac Grand Am. The new grand am gtxpqrm or whatever, has those stupid non functional nostrals on the hood. What are they trying to show here? Our low tech push rod iron block V6 can't get enough air so lets put some huge nostrals on there to feed it! give me a break. And the RED brake calipers on that new full size car, that was too much for me. There are only a few cars that deserve to have painted brake calipers, and it ain't one of 'em. I do mostly like the newer corvettes though.

[911pcars]

With only a few exceptions from the last 40 years, out of the many hundreds of designs that have rolled off the assembly line, most are extremely dissapointing in terms of design and/or quality. US car companies seem to save the good designs (I know design is subjective) for their concept cars and instead feed us the same $hit cars we've been seeing for a looooong time.

Lutz is supposed to be a car guy. What's happening there? I don't see them getting any better. Shop elsewhere.

Sherwood

[Eric 951]

I think the new 300 is one of the best-looking cars out there. If I was currently in the market, it would be on the top of my list. I also like the Magnum. Wasn't too fond untill I saw one in person--pretty mean looking.
The Caddy sedan and that new roadster are also pretty sweet designs.
Pontiacs have always had too many plastic doo-dads on them for my liking--scoops/vents/flares.

Although, overall I think that recent American car designs are leaps and bounds ahead of 5 and 10 years ago when general blandness ruled.

[oldE]

The guys at Daimler-Chrysler should at least acknowledge the folks at Tonka for the design of the 300. Doesn't seem fair for them to take credit for sheet metal which couldn't possible be their work. The exterior of the Magnum is helped by the extended roofline which falls away to the rear, helping to break up the boxy shape.
Les

[911pcars]

eric wrote:

"......I think that recent American car designs are leaps and bounds ahead of 5 and 10 years ago....

Yes, I agree. However. Their corpulent leaps and bounds still leave them many years behind the imports. One example: What do the domestics offer to counter the hybrid-technology cars from Toyota, Honda and soon-to-be Nissan? A hybrid Ford Bronco? Okay, it's one of their big selling, big margin vehicles; but is that the best one of our companies can do? What does GM have to offer? Nada. Sure. they have hydrogen fuel-cell engines "under study". Seems like ever since Smith took over GM back in the 80's, they have settled into producing a commodity for the masses. Nothing more. The Corvette, attractive as it is, could have been an even a better car now had GM decided to move the engine to mid-ship and do away with outdated suspension, poor quality and poor design in the 80s. I say that because it takes a lumbering behemoth like GM that long to get their act together.

BTW, as usual, GM allows 1% market share slip away every year. Thinking they had the truck and SUV market to themselves (w/the help of current administration energy policies), both GM and Ford were content to concentrate on these max-profit gas guzzlers. The Japanese now have this market in their sights.

Sorry for the rant, I had such high hopes when I was younger.
Sherwood

[Serge914]

I know that the retro look is in but why did they copy the front of the Chrysler Cordoba on the Crossfire ?