Once seen, can't be unseen

[puddlethumper]

What the hell happened to the back doors. Somebody designed that ?

[Sir Snipes]

It'll be like the rear door on the new Discovery. Some functional quirk that has been pointlessly recreated for bored designers who ran out of ideas 20 years ago.

[Austat]

On 11/25/2019 at 5:13 AM, willswitchengage said:

Insignia estate. Open at the boot and it gives birth to more lights!

Like on the Wartburg estates I believe.

[Eyersey1234]

1 hour ago, puddlethumper said:

What the hell happened to the back doors. Somebody designed that ?

Maybe it was that angry squirrel again lol

[SRi05]

6 hours ago, mullett471 said:

 

 

[juular]

Just what I was thinking

[Spiny Norman]

8 hours ago, Austat said:

Like on the Wartburg estates I believe.

And the 70s Aston Martin Lagonda. A car that had an odd lighting arrangement at both ends.
It was years before I realised they had huge twin pop-up lights at the front too because there is what looks like a full complement of headlights above the bumper and pre=Google I hadn't seen any photos of one with all its lights on. 

[Tadhg Tiogar]

Ssangyong Rodius

[Yoss]

16 minutes ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

Ssangyong Rodius

I'd be surprised if we haven't had that already though I've not checked. Maybe everyone thought it was too obvious and assumed we'd already had it. It would certainly be near the top of my list. 

[martc]

12 hours ago, Austat said:

Like on the Wartburg estates I believe.

These look like reflectors, but..

.

...you can just see them peeping out below the lip.

[PhilA]

None of these address the fact you're not allowed to drive it like that because the number plate isn't visible to the rear.

See: Original Mini with rattly hinged number plate.

Phil

[somewhatfoolish]

Isn't it about having the required reflectors etc when parked at the side of the road, for safety/visibility etc?

[MorrisItalSLX]

^ What he said, plus having the hazard lights on while the boot is open etc.

[rmjbn1]

I'm not entirely convinced about the cupholders on Audi's S6

[rmjbn1]

This, however, is just good design

Side rear vents to keep your sangwidges cool in the boot. How thoughtful.

[Sir Snipes]

37 minutes ago, rmjbn1 said:

I'm not entirely convinced about the cupholders on Audi's S6

That reminds me of some of the spaceship civics where the exhaust tip split, one half down to the ground the other up and back to the triangular trim set in the bumper.

[bunglebus]

9 hours ago, rmjbn1 said:

I'm not entirely convinced about the cupholders on Audi's S6

I guess it's an aesthetic thing to match the other side? Still pony though

[PhilA]

Stops the exhaust tips getting all black and sooty and spoiling the look of the back of the car. It's part of the car an automatic car wash never cleans properly.

Phil

[martc]

On ‎10‎/‎19‎/‎2019 at 8:48 PM, Alfa botherer said:

Have we had this yet? R55 bini clubman rear door. They only have one and it opens onto the road on a RHD car.  Presumably deemed too expensive to manufacture on the other side for non LHD markets. 

I'm a bit late to this and apologies if someone else has mentioned the following phun phact...

Phun phact - Hyundai's Veloster has one back door, but it is swapped over depending on RHD or LHD. Why can Hyundai do this and BMW/MINI cannot? Is it some form of arrogance? See also RHD and LHD window wipers - some companies swap them over, other don't - the ones who can't be arsed are usually French, or BMW - coincidence? And the location of the interior bonnet pull.

UK

Germany

 

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Sometimes when flashing my lights at some dawdling newish 3 or 4 series that’s strayed into the Mercedes lane, at night, it looks as if there’s a silver reflector in the left hand tailpipe. It’s obviously a dummy pipe and made so obvious by the blackness of the right hand pipe. Now, I know some have opening flaps and suchlike but I’m pretty sure they would be a little discoloured if that was the case - I must try and notice which models it is.

[rmjbn1]

I know I shouldn't but I quite like the Renaud Clio. I might consider one in 15 years' time when they've finished depreciating and could be considered rubbish.

Except for that glass in the c pillar... It really troubles me.

Could you beeee?

The most smoll windows in the world?

I can't help but wonder what happens if you actually look through them. It might be a mystic portal to TinyWorld

In fairness, they do help a lot with rear visibility, mind

[FakeConcern]

Some Volvo C30s with a single exit exhaust have a blanking plate on the other side where the twin pipe would be...

[TrabbieRonnie]

 

12 hours ago, bunglebus said:

I guess it's an aesthetic thing to match the other side? Still pony though

 

It's worse... all four are fake!  

[rmjbn1]

16 hours ago, TrabbieRonnie said:

It's worse... all four are fake!  

Sadly true. What is the world coming to? Dodgy Chinese bats and now this. These are the actual exhausts

And here's the back end of an Audi-doodi with four plastic beakers to admire

It's got nothing to do with your Vorsprung durch Technik you know. No really, it hasn't.

[spartacus]

Just there to reassure potential Audi-wankers that when they've purchased their new car nobody will be in any doubt as to the size of their tail.

With sincere apologies to forum Audi owners, surely nobody can defend such a wank, pointless, ego massaging feature.

Edit for further rant...

Surely there are more important automotive conundrums that need solving. I struggle to believe that not only did a design team get paid for that, a big decision maker signed it off!

[Inspiral_Mondays]

On 3/11/2020 at 2:01 PM, NorfolkNWeigh said:

Sometimes when flashing my lights at some dawdling newish 3 or 4 series that’s strayed into the Mercedes lane, at night, it looks as if there’s a silver reflector in the left hand tailpipe. It’s obviously a dummy pipe and made so obvious by the blackness of the right hand pipe. Now, I know some have opening flaps and suchlike but I’m pretty sure they would be a little discoloured if that was the case - I must try and notice which models it is.

The flap only opens at high revs or when the engine is running under load. It‘s done like this to comply with low speed drive-by noise regulations. If you visit BMW forums you will find pages and pages of posts from people discussing how to jam these flaps permanently open so the car sounds wankier sportier at low speeds.

[HH-R]

I always thought the front indicators looked awkward on the mk1 45, but assumed it was done because it meant the metalwork didn't need changing to accommodate the facelift from the 400.

Apparently though the wings do differ between the 400 and 45, so they paid money for it to look like a cheap and hasty facelift.

BMW did the same thing with the 3 series of the era too for some reason.

[Yoss]

What is going on at BMW these days? 

[spartacus]

6 minutes ago, Yoss said:

What is going on at BMW these days? 

Wow, that's unpleasant, IMO.

[2MB]

29 minutes ago, Yoss said:

What is going on at BMW these days? 

What is going on is that they have designed a car so fucking ugly that literally everybody knows what it looks like. See also Tesla cybertruck accidental window breakage and subsequent share price increase. 
No publicity is bad publicity but it’s certainly no E21 or E30