Cars that lost the plot

[EyesWeldedShut]

17 minutes ago, Dick Longbridge said:

The lower photo is a Baxi. 

The lower photo is an abomination. I'm still having enough trouble coming over to the R50/R55 Dark Side but the post 2015 Binis simple do not do it for me - I accept that the manufacturers feel that they need to be continually offering different looks so that everybody knows you're in a 2023 model and not the poverty-spec'd 2022 one but, come on,  that Bini is looking more like a blobbed up Yeti than the original.

[egg]

23 hours ago, junkyarddog said:

They are all bloated over complicated shit.

Agree. My only exception is

 

[juular]

Anyone noticed the trend towards car designs looking more aggressive, in that they all either have the 'bigmouth' grille or narrow slitted downward facing lights? 

It's almost like the designers have deliberately styled them to have a rear view mirror presence that says 'I'm angry and more important than you. Get out of my way'.

Ironic given that most of these cars are being driven at 30 in a 60.

In comparison, look at this handsome bastard.  It's actually got a pleasant form rather than all out aggro. It's also quite timeless.

 

Or this. It manages to look quick and purposeful without that sense of 'fuck you' entitlement.

You can't beat the 205 aesthetics though. A quick car that oozes cheerfulness. All 205s smile.

When did car styling become all about aggression?

[Asimo]

40 minutes ago, egg said:

Agree. My only exception is

 

Hmmm - it is at least half a tonne heavier than a '70s A110. That is about 70% heavier! It has power steering and automated gearbox, air-con and other modern trivia which completely spoil the plot. And the engine is in the wrong place.

[grogee]

4 hours ago, EyesWeldedShut said:

The lower photo is an abomination. I'm still having enough trouble coming over to the R50/R55 Dark Side but the post 2015 Binis simple do not do it for me - I accept that the manufacturers feel that they need to be continually offering different looks so that everybody knows you're in a 2023 model and not the poverty-spec'd 2022 one but, come on,  that Bini is looking more like a blobbed up Yeti than the original.

I'm also not a fan. It's just a sorry attempt at milking the Mini brand, and it looks like a melted blancmange. 

I'm all in favour of C-segment hatchbacks and there are some very good ones available, but why would you pay 50% more for something that's not as practical or nice to drive as a Focus? 

In my admittedly limited experience they are needy AF as well. 

[juular]

9 minutes ago, grogee said:

I'm also not a fan. It's just a sorry attempt at milking the Mini brand, and it looks like a melted blancmange. 

I'm all in favour of C-segment hatchbacks and there are some very good ones available, but why would you pay 50% more for something that's not as practical or nice to drive as a Focus? 

In my admittedly limited experience they are needy AF as well. 

I'm glad it's not just me, I feel like I'm always going against the flow with my dislike of all things Bini.  They are one of the least enjoyable drives IMO, needy as hell, ugly, crashy, pointlessly gimmicky, overall a really unattractive proposition to own.  Disproportionately driven by those that value style over substance and like to park diagonally.

Seeing a bini with flagshagger tail lamps is a sure way of knowing I need to give a very wide berth when overtaking.

[egg]

23 minutes ago, Asimo said:

Hmmm - it is at least half a tonne heavier than a '70s A110. That is about 70% heavier! It has power steering and automated gearbox, air-con and other modern trivia which completely spoil the plot. And the engine is in the wrong place.

You're entirely correct, but I do see it as an antidote to current market trends though, and in the fantasy world where I could buy one, would prefer to the Cayman and it's endless options list.

[juular]

6 minutes ago, egg said:

You're entirely correct, but I do see it as an antidote to current market trends though, and in the fantasy world where I could buy one, would prefer to the Cayman and it's endless options list.

I've spotted quite a few of these in the flesh recently and always thought they had decent styling that manages to shun the 'make it as pointy and creasey as possible' trend.  I quite like them.

[LightBulbFun]

1 hour ago, juular said:

Anyone noticed the trend towards car designs looking more aggressive, in that they all either have the 'bigmouth' grille or narrow slitted downward facing lights? 

yes this is one my biggest pet hates about modern cars, every single one looks so fucking angry LOL so many hard lines and angles and as you say narrow slitted lights, you dont get proper lights anymore just thin strips, glaring in your face!

I wish they would knock it off! especially as it really is just a styling thing, theres no pedestrian safety gained in making your car look pissed off/angry all the time LOL

and it also just does not go well when the rest of the car body is a blobby soft mess

[horriblemercedes]

I actually think the Mustang Mach E is more true to what the Mustang originally was than the current Mustang is.

 

The original Mustang was in that body shape not because of some purism, but because that's what was fashionable at the time. There's a romantic notion that in the 1960s Mustangs were all Shelby or 429 Cobra Jets. Performance models were a tiny minority - most were stuff like base spec sixes with a three speed automatic.

 

The Mach E is an electric SUV which is what is fashionable now, for the same reasons that it was decided in the 1960s that the Mustang would be a two door car 

[artdjones]

33 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

yes this is one my biggest pet hates about modern cars, every single one looks so fucking angry LOL so many hard lines and angles and as you say narrow slitted lights, you dont get proper lights anymore just thin strips, glaring in your face!

I wish they would knock it off! especially as it really is just a styling thing, theres no pedestrian safety gained in making your car look pissed off/angry all the time LOL

and it also just does not go well when the rest of the car body is a blobby soft mess

I think I've said this before, most modern car stylists (and architects) must have spent  their childhood obsessed with transformer toys.

Well styled cars used to have presence without aggression

[sierraman]

Modern Audis and A classes have that arrogant ‘get out of my way I’m on coke’ look about them. 

[artdjones]

18 minutes ago, sierraman said:

Modern Audis and A classes have that arrogant ‘get out of my way I’m on coke’ look about them. 

It's not a look as far as the drivers are concerned, if their road manners are anything to go by.

[DavieW]

Don't know if this is a 2014 Dodge Dart but if it is then he's right.......

[egg]

3 hours ago, horriblemercedes said:

I actually think the Mustang Mach E is more true to what the Mustang originally was than the current Mustang is.

Yeah, maybe we're debating several things on this thread

'cars that incidentally have the same name in different time periods (my Supra example)'

'exploitation of a heritage badge putting it on something different and/or modern (Mustang)'

'cars that have consistently been in production but went to crap (7 series)'

[DavieW]

5 hours ago, horriblemercedes said:

 

The original Mustang was in that body shape not because of some purism, but because that's what was fashionable at the time. There's a romantic notion that in the 1960s Mustangs were all Shelby or 429 Cobra Jets. Performance models were a tiny minority - most were stuff like base spec sixes with a three speed automatic.

You could say that almost any car of any era.

[horriblemercedes]

26 minutes ago, DavieW said:

You could say that almost any car of any era.

Exactly!

[Metal Guru]

12 hours ago, juular said:

I'm glad it's not just me, I feel like I'm always going against the flow with my dislike of all things Bini.  They are one of the least enjoyable drives IMO, needy as hell, ugly, crashy, pointlessly gimmicky, overall a really unattractive proposition to own.  Disproportionately driven by those that value style over substance and like to park diagonally.

Seeing a bini with flagshagger tail lamps is a sure way of knowing I need to give a very wide berth when overtaking.

I was of a similar opinion when my wife wanted a Bini, but I’ve grown to (almost) like it now. 
It a Countryman (same as photo posted), and I’d say it’s quite enjoyable to drive. It’s only a 1.6 D so not a flying machine but you can carry a lot of speed through corners because it handles so well (All4 model).

Needy - not so far , 25-80000, just tyres and brakes . 50 mpg even with the four wheel drive option.

Ugly - not beautiful by any standards but nowhere near the back of the queue for modern  cars either.

Crashy - yeh give you that, not sure it has any actual springs that move.

Gimmicky - the large central speedo? Yeh I get it but it would be better without it and some of the essential switches weren’t so small.

Overall, a decent car that does most things fairly well . 

[artdjones]

5 hours ago, Metal Guru said:

Crashy - yeh give you that, not sure it has any actual springs that move.

One of the driving characteristics it shares with the original Mini.

[EyesWeldedShut]

18 hours ago, grogee said:

In my admittedly limited experience they are needy AF as well. 

In my admittedly limited experience they are needy AF as well. 

Yes

[EyesWeldedShut]

6 hours ago, Metal Guru said:

Crashy - yeh give you that, not sure it has any actual springs that move.

Gimmicky - the large central speedo? Yeh I get it but it would be better without it and some of the essential switches weren’t so small.

Overall, a decent car that does most things fairly well . 

Trick is to get a model with decent seats - the poverty spec Binis tend to have hard seats so your arse gets bruised (a lot). Rear seats are just terrible for long journeys. Early full leather R50/51 seats are, IMHO, the best in the < 2012 era cars.  Nestled in those you can really chuck the thing around (Eats tyres proportional to my heavy right foot).
Large central speedo is, indeed, mega-gimmick. On our my wife's R55 you can switch the display on the steering wheel rev counter to include the speed which is much, much more convenient.
They're actually no worse to work on than a BMW 1 series of the same age other than the Bini has a shite reputation for gearboxes. Our current 15 year old R55 is OK tbh but it needs annual tlc - front subframe last year, rear now for Nov. MoT. News discs/calipers all round last year - that's kind of expected in a car that age. I'm hoping that I can keep this one going for a few years yet as I know every inch of the little blighter as we've now owned it for 5 years.

Still don't like the new ones though - but then I don't look at many altra modern cars and go 'wow'.

 

[cort1977]

20 hours ago, juular said:

When did car styling become all about aggression?

One of the first ones I can think of was the 2014 Jeep Cherokee.  

[purplebargeken]

I thought my silver R50 Cooper looked quite nice. 

[TheOtherStu]

On 9/7/2023 at 1:29 PM, horriblemercedes said:

I actually think the Mustang Mach E is more true to what the Mustang originally was than the current Mustang is.

Whilst I agree it was probably of a time, you can still buy a Mustang that's of the current generation of Muscle cars. I just don't understand why they put the Mustang brand onto something that it doesn't possibly resemble.
I mean, if Ferrari decided to come back with the Testarossa as a family SUV, we'd all be scratching our heads.

I mean, there are plenty of sanguine Fords kicking about if you want one. The Puma as mentioned above, for one. Another car that was a 3 door coupe and is now an SUV.

Chevy haven't turned their Camaro into an EV, neither have Dodge changed the Charger into an SUV.

 

[MiniMinorMk3]

Old David Brown Tractor

New David Brown Tractor

[vanmartinrooy]

On 9/8/2023 at 8:34 AM, cort1977 said:

One of the first ones I can think of was the 2014 Jeep Cherokee.  

I'm not sure it's an entirely new thing... 🙂

 

[vanmartinrooy]

On 9/7/2023 at 3:52 PM, DavieW said:

Don't know if this is a 2014 Dodge Dart but if it is then he's right.......

I've spent some time in Florida recently - the one that really breaks my heart is the Chevy Malibu

1960s:

 

Now?

 

 

[Metal Guru]

30 minutes ago, vanmartinrooy said:

I've spent some time in Florida recently - the one that really breaks my heart is the Chevy Malibu

1960s:

 

Now?

 

 

I had a Malibu as a hire car in Canada around 2000. It was pretty much a Vectra but uglier.. It had a 3.1? V6 but probably only about 150bhp so hardly exciting.

[Rocket88]

Most modern stuff has appalling ride quality…. Becos Nurburgring….

[vanmartinrooy]

11 hours ago, Metal Guru said:

I had a Malibu as a hire car in Canada around 2000. It was pretty much a Vectra but uglier.. It had a 3.1? V6 but probably only about 150bhp so hardly exciting.

Sounds about right! I was also seeing 'Dodge Rams' that were clearly those big Fiat/Citroen panel vans (Ducato?) that had been rebadged. Absolutely no chance that any American would have bought one if they knew it was really French/Italian designed 😅