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Car reviews & car talk - today's cars

^ Haha, wheels are ugly on both too. There's plenty of good looking cars on the road today but also many ugly ones. I can't belive they still make the Juke.
 
Sadly my passion for cars have waned considerably. But here's the thing. I honestly feel that the age of actually driving cars is short (in a relative term) lived. Meaning, there are already cars that can practically dive themselves, with lane position sensors, adaptive cruise control and safety breaking. If you've ever played with apps like Waze, Google Maps, etc. we essentially have GPS tracking in every car/mobile phone. We are not that far off to where cars will have the ability to drive themselves to a location and interact with each other in autonomous ways so that it becomes a self driving system. Basically a network governed by individual sets of "rules" rather than a giant master computer trying to control everything. In that way, as long as a car knows its own rules (stay in lane, don't crash, etc.) and it knows it's position relative to other cars and their "rules" then it shouldn't be too create a network of self driving cars. Obviously it will be a gradual transition where cars will have to have both functionality but I can foresee very soon HOV lanes being converted over to self driving car lanes so that once you get into that lane, the car takes over. Once off, you would drive cars normally.

How great would it be to be able to watch TV or do work while your car drives itself. However, that would mean the end of car aesthetics as we know it. Performance and looks will give way to functionality and efficiency. Cars will begin to look more like minivans or buses as what's inside the car becomes more important than what's on the outside or in the engine since you'll probably eating food, doing work, watching TV or possibly taking a shower, all within your "car" as it drives itself to work. I'm sure there will still be fancy performance cars, but more for luxury, pleasure and sport rather than actual transportation. Like how people now shoot at clay targets with shotguns as opposed to using them for actually hunting animals for food. In that sense, more and more I'm starting to see cars for their functionality rather than aesthetics and drive-ability.

*Come Debbie Downer, it's time for us to leave. Captain Comedown away!!! :wink: :biggrin:

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Anyone else think the new Lexus RX looks like a Pontiac Aztek that got really bad plastic surgery?

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Actually the more I look at the Lexus, the better the Pontiac looks, especially the grilles. ????

It is time for me to get a new company car, and I couldn't even get my wife on the Lexus lot because it was packed with so many cars she thought were. ugly. We ended going with the Mercedes GLE.
 
The manufacturer's are getting really good and making things that look the exact same as other things.
Every time I hop into a Euro-model Ford (Focus, Escape, Fiesta) for work I throw up mentally. Absolutely horribly styled interior.
Chevrolet has become made of even worse plastic than it used to be (somehow?) and has become a sad memory of what they were in the 90's. I used to sit in a Cadillac or Buick and the first thing I thought was how comfy the seats were. Now I sit in a Cadillac and wouldn't know it from an Impala. That's not a compliment for the Impala.
Dodge is doing OK with their 200... only just. I have a lot of older folks who just bought a fancy new Dodge and it didn't come with a CD player!! I actually have to install an Alpine 6 disc in a brand new Challenger tomorrow for that exact reason. Premium audio, no CD player.
Honda gets a pass because the Accord is understated and has good lines.
Toyota does not, because every one of their models (lexus, too) looks like it's screaming at me, and the 'feeling' has gone out of them. Same as GM.
Hyundai gets a big pat on the back for the Sonata and Genesis (coupe and sedan). Those are nice and actually look appealing to me.
BMW, Audi, and Mercedes are still gorgeous inside and out but need such care to keep the interior from aging poorly.
VWs don't have a spectacular feel to them, interior quality doesn't feel much better than it did back when they were made out of crayons and dreams. The TDI might run forever and get good mileage, but the interior sure shows its age.

I'm a dissenter for new cars.. because unless I look at expensive things, consumer grade stuff just feels like the same cattle car to me with different badges. Do I want to ride in the bland midsize sedan with zero fun in the handling with a Ford badge, and Chevy badge, or a Toyota badge? None, thank you.
 
It is time for me to get a new company car, and I couldn't even get my wife on the Lexus lot because it was packed with so many cars she thought were. ugly. We ended going with the Mercedes GLE.

oh Lexus. What happened since the mid-90's GS? :)

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Car reviews &amp; car talk - today's cars

What does everyone think of all this minimalism applied to cars? Melted soap bar shapes....frameless grilles...

How soon will it be before there's nothing left to remove and simplify?

Feels like we're 5-10 years away from nascar design where all vehicle outlines are essentially alike and grille/light/handle representations are just painted or stuck on.

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I don't like most of today cars, only because it look so alike, especially low-budget ones. Bring something from GM, Toyota and Hyundai for less than $20K and you will see only slight differences in both exterior and interior design. IMHO

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What does everyone think of all this minimalism applied to cars? Melted soap bar shapes....frameless grilles...

How soon will it be before there's nothing left to remove and simplify?

Feels like we're 5-10 years away from nascar design where all vehicle outlines are essentially alike and grille/light/handle representations are just painted or stuck on.

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Imagine NASCAR cars in real life, on real roads *ROFL*
 
Stumbled upon some entertaining links.

http://dougdemuro.kinja.com/attention-automakers-you-dont-need-a-corporate-grille-1496507406
http://jalopnik.com/the-most-horrendous-corporate-grilles-1496529517

"And now we have the Lexus "spindle." Before I tear into the spindle and suggest that we will someday look back on it as the beginning of the downfall of civilization as we know it, I would like to point out that I actually like the spindle. It looks excellent, for example, on the GS and IS. Disagree if you want, but I think these cars are gorgeous. And I'm certain of this viewpoint because I saw these vehicles in person several months ago on an all-expense-paid Lexus press trip.
 
An official sign that auto design may have jumped the shark. First Ford stole Aston Martin & Land Rover grilles after selling them off and now Lincoln is taking a crack at Land Rover's mini-SUV's side profile but with Jaguar's grille signed out from the library. I am truly afraid to announce that everything good & original has already been invented, and from here out it'll be nothing but ugly grilles and design tomfoolery.

http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2016...tor-concept-charts-new-course-for-luxury-suv/

And comes with side staircases.

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"Gear and wardrobe management system."

They have got to be kidding.

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Were I to replace my daily driver tomorrow I'd look closely at a VW GTI. It gets good reviews, is practical and won't break the bank.
 
Wow Lexus wow. No nook & cranny left untouched by the <strike>ugly stick</strike> art school kids, eh?

2018 LS 500.


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Has anyone seen the new Bentley suv? I saw one in the wild the other day. It reminded me of Madonnah. Super rich yet trashy and ugly enough to shake a stick at.
 
Has anyone seen the new Bentley suv? I saw one in the wild the other day. It reminded me of Madonnah. Super rich yet trashy and ugly enough to shake a stick at.

The world is surely going to hell in a hand basket with nothing but misfit unnecessarily convoluted car designs, iPhone interfaces, and presidential candidates. Just saw a commercial on tv for the new Mitsu Outlander whose new grille is a caricature of Lexus's caricature of Audi. Yinz be the judge.

Oj vey. This is the best time to be a car guy in my 48 years of life, while also being the worst time it seems. [emoji855]

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I have been greatly enjoying this little Fiesta ST for my DD. It has incredibly nimble and agile handling, is damn quick, and is cheap to buy, run and fix. The interior is a bit plain, but it is very functional. It also has some really nice Recaros in it.
 
An official sign that auto design may have jumped the shark. First Ford stole Aston Martin & Land Rover grilles after selling them off and now Lincoln is taking a crack at Land Rover's mini-SUV's side profile but with Jaguar's grille signed out from the library. I am truly afraid to announce that everything good & original has already been invented, and from here out it'll be nothing but ugly grilles and design tomfoolery.

http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2016...tor-concept-charts-new-course-for-luxury-suv/

And comes with side staircases.

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"Gear and wardrobe management system."

They have got to be kidding.

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Bentley has it beat. Just in case you go tailgating with the queen of England and you need to break out the fine silverware. WTF?
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I have been greatly enjoying this little Fiesta ST for my DD. It has incredibly nimble and agile handling, is damn quick, and is cheap to buy, run and fix. The interior is a bit plain, but it is very functional. It also has some really nice Recaros in it.

Super choice. I'd like to drive one some day. As an ex-Ford engineer, I'm happily frustrated that all the good car offerings from them came after I left in 2000! Happy for Ford!
 
Super choice. I'd like to drive one some day. As an ex-Ford engineer, I'm happily frustrated that all the good car offerings from them came after I left in 2000! Happy for Ford!

I think you would be surprised and impressed. Ford is really making some great performance cars lately. They combined all their previous high performance divisions into one Ford Performance division and it seems to be working well for them.

I talked my dad into getting a '72 Capri, an earlier European designed performance Ford, when I was in high school. We loved that car and traded it back and forth through the years, so I have come full circle after many years of mainly Japanese cars.
 
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What do some of yinz think of the floating roof <strike style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana; font-size: 14px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal;">spaghetti-on-the-wall fad</strike> design <strike style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana; font-size: 14px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal;">tomfoolery</strike> that's <strike style="font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal;">strangely</strike> catching on by more and more of today's <strike style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana; font-size: 14px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal;">lemmings</strike> auto manufacturers? Love it, hate it? Take it or leave it? Indiffer-it or basically sh*t? :) Seriously, is this good design and the joke's on me as usual, being the only one not getting it? I'd have thought the schoolyard of automotive manufacturers would've ganged up and made fun of the first one to try it, but now even Aston Martin is falling for this feature that to me looks so random & inelegant, kind of like an improperly seated garbage can lid or a separated roof post-tornado.

Who's lucky enough to love this?

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IMG_0629.jpgI ordered this M4 last year and received it about a month ago. I can say this car is in my top five favorites of all time. I'm loving it!

Hahahhaha it's upside down. LoL
 
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View attachment 143011I ordered this M4 last year and received it about a month ago. I can say this car is in my top five favorites of all time. I'm loving it!

Hahahhaha it's upside down. LoL

Your upside down M4 looks better than any right-side-up Lexus or floating roof junior high school art class project!
 
Car reviews &amp; car talk - today's cars

Maybe this could be the thread where I can say something utterly ridiculous like: the current Chevy Malibu looks fantastic. Really I mean it -- it looks better than all the current Benz & Bimmer sedans IMO.

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Also the Panamera has been fixed and is finally lust-worthy without help from photoshop. Could it be the Tesla Model S we have to thank? I think it sets a high bar styling-wise.
 

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[MENTION=25046]Yinzer[/MENTION] the spaghetti on the wall look is F'ing ugly! I do not know why this fad is currently in... looks like Alice cooper got bumped into while applying mascara.:cool: Prym8, the Malibu does look nice. The new camero looks not too shabby as well. Plus it has 650 hp, a 6 speed manual as a base, and is only 62k!!! Supposedly it is faster around a track than a C7.
 
Maybe this could be the thread where I can say something utterly ridiculous like: the current Chevy Malibu looks fantastic. Really I mean it -- it looks better than all the current Benz & Bimmer sedans IMO.

Not ridiculous at all. See my first thread above that kicked off this thread. :)

I'm generally not a fan of unnecessary reinvention, but I truly think if Chevrolet freshened up with a chrome bow tie and dumped the stodginess that still clings to the gold one, renamed some of their cars appropriately ("Malibu" may have been around a long time -- which is part of the problem -- but sounds as exciting as a glass of warm milk), and makes sure they keeps hitting the mark when it comes to bringing performance, reliability, and the appropriate introductions of e-technology (without all the silly Halloween costumes dropped onto most electric vehicles) together, I think they could possibly become the new "where'd she come from" pretty girl-next-door for the next decade, replacing Audi who replaced VW around early 2000's who replaced Acura around the mid 90s as the "it girl" (IMO).

Isn't it amazing that the Malibu looks fresh and modern by not trying so hard to look fresh and modern with faddish floating roofs, fake fender vents, random sheet metal creases, a garish Audi copycat shield scary-seamonster-facia, fake hood scoops, and head lights that take up a quarter of the hood and a third of the fenders? :)
 
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