Poll
Question:
what 5 things are wrong with cars today? (you can vote TWICE!)
Option 1: Engines too tiny!
votes: 14
Option 2: Headlights suck.
votes: 8
Option 3: Taillights suck.
votes: 1
Option 4: Bumpers too big/huge/low
votes: 8
Option 5: Fire the designers!!!
votes: 42
Here's a short list that I thought up of what's wrong with cars these days, the new Mustang and Charger included, and possible concepts too. And the best part of this poll is........you can vote TWICE!!!
I thought about the last option but decided they are likely saddled with a lot of limitations as to what they can do.
That doesn't excuse Trevor Creed's copout sedan. He should be fired.
I only voted for two but I wanted to vote for all five. :devil:
I only voted for one because I couldn't select "Fire the designers" twice.
I want to do a morph sequence from one car to the next between several of today's cars and see if you can actually see when the morph occurs. Sometimes they have different headlights and many of them have rear headlights (a.k.a. clear taillights). So there would be subtle differences, but that would be it.
I figured that "Fire The Designers" would climb to be one of the most "popular" considering I think that the whole list can be because of faulty designes....
Today's cars are just shapes which can cut through the air. I don't think many of them will ever be considered works of art.
And that is one of things I meant by being saddled with limits. Between fuel standards and crash test standards, those are two huge limits on a stylist. Not to mention the enormous costs of bringing a car to market now does not allow them to take too many chances. You have guys working for the automakers that many of whom went to the same schools and received the same direction. No one can or will take a chance, they look next door to see what's selling and then jump on the bandwagon hard.
If the Magnum sedan generates big numbers, there's gonna be a lot of really ugly cars available in a few years.
You mean to tell me that out of all the things wrong with cars today you could only come up with five? :icon_smile_big: Heres some for ya.
The 10,000 Vacume lines
Computers
front wheel drive
dohnut spare wheel
rubber bumpers
20" rims
made in China, Mexico, blah blah blah
compact
Ok I'll stop ;D
Quote
The reason American cars don’t sell anymore is that
they have forgotten how to design the American Dream.
What does it matter if you buy a car today or six months from now,
because cars are not beautiful.
That’s why the American auto industry is in trouble:
no design, no desire.
~ Karl Lagerfeld
Maybe you can add lack of character/soul or whatever you like to call it.
That would get my vote, opinions and tastes differ so it's very hard to agree on what's beautiful and what's not but imho they just lack character, i haven't seen many 'in your face' type of cars since the seventies.
Just my :Twocents:
NEED MORE CHROME, CHROME, CHROME
Quote from: Doc74 on July 27, 2005, 08:39:17 AM
Maybe you can add lack of character/soul or whatever you like to call it.
That would get my vote, opinions and tastes differ so it's very hard to agree on what's beautiful and what's not but imho they just lack character, i haven't seen many 'in your face' type of cars since the seventies.
Just my :Twocents:
I agree, and the only thing close to that at the moment is the Stang they just put out. :boxing_smiley:
TWO TOO MANY DOORS
I cannot believe that nobody has mentioned price yet!
I see that Ghoste mentioned the cost of bringing a car to market, this also goes for the cost to manufacture the vehicle as well. This is probably the biggest obstacle the Design Engineers face.
Quote from: Ghoste on July 27, 2005, 12:06:50 AM
they look next door to see what's selling and then jump on the bandwagon hard.
Kinda like Chrysler, Dodge & Plymouth were famous for from the mid 60's on?
Quote
I agree, and the only thing close to that at the moment is the Stang they just put out. :boxing_smiley:
Quote
Lets face it guys, Gandalf-The-Gray hit the nail on the head with his mention of Ford's excellent job of blending a timeless look with modern technology. The new Mustangs are "Pure Pussy" as Richard Pryor would say and they have left all the other name reserections in the dust.
It looks like a tricked out 68 but has mega HP, starts anytime, gets 17 MPG with the air on and still chirps the tires at every shift. Lets compare with the new Charger. It looks like a Panzer tank from WW2, it is a massive waste of a Hemi engine, who cares if it starts or gets good MPG is you are embarrassed to be seen in it, and nobody cares if a 4-door car can chirp them.
Kudos to Ford....Shame on the Germans at DC!
I voted to FIRE THE DESIGNERS!!!
If you haven't already seen Subaru's newest creation... WTF ARE THEY THINKING IT'S SO UGLY!!!
(http://forums.autoweek.com/servlet/JiveServlet/download/31-14544-302078-6580/subaru_tribeca_xlarge1.jpe)
Make the engineers replace all the parts on the car BEFORE they are allowed to produce them! That'll fix the rat bastards.
Quote from: moparguy01 on July 27, 2005, 01:43:56 PM
Make the engineers replace all the parts on the car BEFORE they are allowed to produce them! That'll fix the rat bastards.
:iagree: :2thumbs: :punkrocka: :haha: :iamwithstupid:
The thing DCX has done (that I consider a major flaw) is limit themselves to a single grill design on all of the Dodge products. I know the college-educated marketing fools, especially the European ones, say that it creates product recognition but I think it does more harm than good. Why doom such a major part of the design to looking like a truck? Especially since the trucks have had that grill design for well over a decade. I think it's ok on the minivans but now everything that has the Dodge name on it has to have the crosshairs. It looks stupid and it's stupid to limit design creativity to a single look. Back during the muscle car era they didn't do that and yet everyone knew who made what. Maybe they think we're all morons.
Just 5?? ??? ??? How about fire the board that makes the decisions" No imagination at all >:(
The engineers are stuck with a board that makes the decisions, Every thing is money :'(
LETS SEE How many beans does it cost to make? Can't we do it for less??
Epa regs and the trend for plastic electric cars" Junk is still junk. I ate these new cars .
They are way to compicated to work on. wires and hoses every where. You have to take half the engine apart just to repair a small problem' They need to go back to school to learn the kiss method of building a new car. KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID'''
Welcome cicero! Definitely some valid points there!! (http://bestsmileys.com/expressions/2.gif)
And Bull, they do think we're stupid. We are foolish children in North America who think they know what they want. 200 years of history isn't enough time to develop taste and culture.
im not sure about other things, but taillights/headlights that bs man, todays cars got one of best designed lightning than before using LEDs and projector lightning esp on more expensive cars, im not talking about kia rio or some korean crap for under 10K brand new
QuoteI cannot believe that nobody has mentioned price yet!
I havent looked at one long enough to notice if it had a price tag on it. If they want more than $1,500 for it they want to much.
Quote from: 70charginglizard on July 27, 2005, 01:13:47 PM
TWO TOO MANY DOORS
So, some cars should come with no doors? This is not about the new Charger, this is about new cars in general. :eyes:
Quote from: 69hemi on July 27, 2005, 01:36:37 PMnobody cares if a 4-door car can chirp them.
That ain't quite true....
Quote from: Silver R/T on July 27, 2005, 08:49:32 PM
im not sure about other things, but taillights/headlights that bs man, todays cars got one of best designed lightning than before using LEDs and projector lightning esp on more expensive cars, im not talking about kia rio or some korean crap for under 10K brand new
I was meaning how they look, not how they perform.
I guess I opened a big can 'o worms on this topic, didnt I? :icon_smile_big:
Quote from: FastbackJon on July 27, 2005, 01:43:25 PM
I voted to FIRE THE DESIGNERS!!!
If you haven't already seen Subaru's newest creation... WTF ARE THEY THINKING IT'S SO UGLY!!!
(http://forums.autoweek.com/servlet/JiveServlet/download/31-14544-302078-6580/subaru_tribeca_xlarge1.jpe)
lol tell that to yo momma
on lexus, bmw, merz, some other high-po, higher end cars headlights look good and as well as perform well too
Quote from: FastbackJon on July 27, 2005, 01:43:25 PM
I voted to FIRE THE DESIGNERS!!!
If you haven't already seen Subaru's newest creation... WTF ARE THEY THINKING IT'S SO UGLY!!!
(http://forums.autoweek.com/servlet/JiveServlet/download/31-14544-302078-6580/subaru_tribeca_xlarge1.jpe)
:icon_smile_dead: :puke:
don't you( not me, too young) when cars were cars and engines were engines
Man there are some miserable old gits on here arnt there. There are some great looking and driving modem cars out there.....and the tastes of a small group of classic car fans and not going to be the tastes of the average person or middle America where the sales are made and where the car builders aim their cars. Lots on here would/could not even buy a new car...me included....so why should they care what we think! Some great looking German and Italian cars out there for sale especially (IMO)....money permitting I would buy an Alfa Giulia Quadrafoglio tomorrow ....and there will shortly be a two door version to join it too....for those that think good cars should not have four!!
Sure the Stang looks OK...but what's with all the retro design on so many cars....we are never going to move forward and build future classics if we keep looking backwards for design inspiration.....not to mention that if you buy one just make sure you don't crash it....the Stang has the worst EVER recorded Euro NCAP crash safety test result in its class!....and Ford must have known it was weak as they would not even supply one for the test!
Price wise I have to agree...they have gone up far more than inflation....this pasted below is a few years old now (from Hemmings) ...but you get the idea. But with most people leasing their cars for three or four years now and then returning them foe another, the sticker price becomes less relevant.
In 1965, the sticker price of a new V-8 powered Ford Mustang coupe was $2,734.00 (the equivalent of $19,900 today), and the average production worker made $3.00 per hour; to purchase a new Mustang coupe with a V-8 engine, therefore, required 911 hours of work, or about 23 weeks. By 1985, the cost of an eight-cylinder Mustang had risen to $9,885.00 (today's $21,100), while production wages had risen to $12.50 per hour, meaning that one needed to toil for just 791 hours (120 hours less than in 1965) to buy one. In 2005, the scales tipped in the opposite direction: the V-8 Mustang was priced at $25,815 (today's $30,300), and a production worker made $23.92 per hour, requiring 1,079 hours of work to buy the car. The picture darkens a bit further in 2013, where the $31,545 Mustang requires a worker earning $27.15 per hour to put in 1,162 hours in order to pay the Ford off.