Current ugly trends

[K-Man]

The high, blunt front ends on light trucks and SUVs are ugly and unnecessary. The automakers will try to claim those are to help meet pedestrian-impact safety standards, but that's rubbish. The hoods are far more than 100 mm above the hard parts of the engine (which is the Euro standard for a crush zone). These front ends create a huge blind spot just ahead of the truck for the driver.

A secondary problem is that the headlights blind other drivers at night because they are at eye level, since the front end is so high. I drive an older Ranger and regularly get blinded by these newer trucks' low beams.

All of the newer full-sized trucks are just plain ugly and sinister. Some of these stylists must have been using some potent stuff at past Grateful Dead concerts.

 

[paulo57509]

The gigantic split grills on the newer BMWs make me thing that someone is "mooning" me.

I don't care for those HUGE grille emblems on Acura either.

 

[PF52]

Panels over sheetmetal tend to trap moisture and salt against the metal, so they aggravate rust. When chrome panels on lower doors and fenders were the norm in the 1980s, they caused the same rust problem.

This, exactly. Those black wheelwell arch things are going to be surprising a LOT of drivers in a few years when the sheetmetal "suddenly" looks like Swiss cheese.

 

[Frankrank]

Toyota seems to favor the "gaping maw" grille look.

Reminds me of this

 

[SeaJay]

Let's talk about some of today's ugly automotive styling trends. Over sized grills. Grills have gotten way to big on many of today's vehicles, to the point of being hideous looking. Black plastic body panels that go all the way around the bottom of the vehicle. Most, if not all modern SUVs have this and it looks ridiculous. It also turns powdery white over time and has to be treated with some sort of trim restore. Matte paint. To me this looks like primer. Paint should be glossy. And the final, and ugliest of them all...black rims. Regardless of wheel style, or the vehicle they're on, they always make the vehicle uglier. Rims should either be chrome or polished...

Ugly is a matter of opinions, which can and do vary.

 

[Braapdaddy]

How about the lack of actual sedans I'm at the age I wanted a Buick.......now there are none and would never consider the egg shape of a crossover

Bring back regular cab short bed 4x4 V8 with a 5 speed

 

[dogememe]

Both the new Hyundai Kona and Hyundai Santa Fe are SO ugly on the back. Truly disgusting. Not sure WHY they can't make the back end of their vehicles look good.

 

[Tdbo]

Ninety Eight percent of what I have seen captured here in photos is what I would consider ugly.
However, some people give not a flying whatever about a vehicle being aesthetically pleasant.
All they care about is it being attention getting.
Twenty minutes ago, I was looking out my front window, and what passed but a current body style Dodge Charger which was stretched.
To top it off, it was painted Pepto Pink.
It was spewworthy.

 

[Kira]

A stretched, Pepto Pink Dodge Charger....for prom!

How 'bout a powder blue / baby blue stretch?

 

[mbres2000]

RAM pickups. Thought the front end was ugly, since they were brought out in the 1990's.
I would never own one due to that fact, no matter how good they may be as a truck.

Yes, they should be fined for starting the massively ugly trend. But now those early RAMs look small compared to GMC, Chevy, and Toyota. Fords aren't quite as "in your face". And, man, you need a step ladder to do any work under the hood! Also, many are taller than your standard 7ft garage door, and longer than the standard tract home's 19-20ft deep garage. So, during a hail storm, all you can do is back your monster truck into the garage and at least protect the bed. Or maybe let air out of the tires and pull in front first?

 

[mbres2000]

Plymouth beat Lexus by decades.

"61 Plymouth and Late Model Lexus"

Stylists on acid back then; meth today.

 

[Nick1994]

There has always been a mix of ugly and good looking cars. I don’t see any difference today. Plenty of good looking ones now.

 

[dubber09]

Not just the grills, have you driven behind a new Santa Fe or Kona?

 

[jkasch]

I always speculated bottom plastic was done to prevent road salt from rusting lower panels out over time, but I don't really know. I have never lived in rust belt states, and only travel there in the summer. It is plausable?

A lot of them are plastic but more expensive models match the body. It’s a quick way to distinguish a Summit Jeep GC from a Limited, for example. Can’t imagine it’s a big $ savings in manufacturing, though.

 

[jkasch]

I hate the origami look with a lot of superfluous creases going nowhere.

 

[Skippy722]

Whatever these…. Abominations(?) or an affront unto all that is Holy(?) are.

 

[Mechanician]

Ugly is a matter of opinions, which can and do vary.

To quote an old salesman -- "There's an a$$ for every seat"

 

[fdcg27]

Someone once said that it costs no more to stamp out good looking panels than it does to make ugly ones.
There are so many aesthetically pleasing designs from the past you wonder why today's designers can't find some inspiration. Sometimes they do and get it completely wrong. The Camaro is a really good example of this. They took the subtle and attractive shape of the original car and made of it a cartoon caricature that no serious person would be seen in.
The overuse of trim is another downer and the absurdly aggressive looking front ends on so many vehicles are seriously unattractive.
My ideas of really nice looking cars?
How about the E-Type, the BMW 630i or the Lancia Beta coupe. Or maybe the C6, 5, or 4 Corvette (the current car is hideous). In common cars, the 1977 GM B-bodies were quite nice as was the Ford Fairmont. The Volvo and BMW bricks of the day were also praiseworthy. The early Miata was such a pretty little car and Mazda progressively screwed it up over the years. The first-gen Z-car was gorgeous, while the ZX was less so. Finally, if you must have a mid-engined car, is there anything prettier than a Ferrari 308 GTB?
Lots of styling idioms that today's designers could emulate.
Maybe I'm just getting old?

 

[Exhaustgases]

Goes with the latest Toyota theme, they took a great car, LEXUS (LS400) and made it the most butt ugly thing ever with the stupid full front end grill.
I think its been the same grill now for 15 to 20 years or so.
Since they all look the same you can't tell a 15 year old one from a new one.

 

[Exhaustgases]

Someone once said that it costs no more to stamp out good looking panels than it does to make ugly ones.
There are so many aesthetically pleasing designs from the past you wonder why today's designers can't find some inspiration. Sometimes they do and get it completely wrong. The Camaro is a really good example of this. They took the subtle and attractive shape of the original car and made of it a cartoon caricature that no serious person would be seen in.
The overuse of trim is another downer and the absurdly aggressive looking front ends on so many vehicles are seriously unattractive.
My ideas of really nice looking cars?
How about the E-Type, the BMW 630i or the Lancia Beta coupe. Or maybe the C6, 5, or 4 Corvette (the current car is hideous). In common cars, the 1977 GM B-bodies were quite nice as was the Ford Fairmont. The Volvo and BMW bricks of the day were also praiseworthy. The early Miata was such a pretty little car and Mazda progressively screwed it up over the years. The first-gen Z-car was gorgeous, while the ZX was less so. Finally, if you must have a mid-engined car, is there anything prettier than a Ferrari 308 GTB?
Lots of styling idioms that today's designers could emulate.
Maybe I'm just getting old?

Right on. I love it when they think they want to do retro and just mess it up as bad as possible. Its so simple to do retro, just do it the same as it was in the old days. Like how excited we got with the talk of an old 50's suburban, and the huge disappointment of their dumb attempt at it, the HHR. Looks like crap and is crap.