Nah, a Satannic car would have horns. That thing’s just another Bland-O-Mobile from Detroit.
Bwahahahahahaaaa!
I think it was Dave Barry who said that Americans feel like water buffaloes while walking through the streets of Japan. Buy one of those and I’d be able to drive like one, too.
Seriously, it looks like the box that another car should come in.
It looks like something out of a Batman comic book. The newfangled Batman with the rubber fetish suit and the 93" chest.
<sigh> Makes a feller hanker for the days of the Pontiac Aztek. Now there was an autoMObeel, by gum.
If you want to think American style, look at the Chrysler 300, or the Dodge Magnum, or the Ford Mustang. While you are at it think PT Cruiser, or Chevy HHR.
None of those are going to be confused with something from Europe or Japan, and all are selling very well.
Although there is only one photo on the page, and the title says ‘this car’, I actually did mean all of those. Oh, and the wagon I was in was the Magnum.
‘Retro’ designs aren’t really what I’m talking about. They do seem ‘retro’ to me; but in a mass-market, hot-rod wanna-be sense. At least for the PT Cruiser.
I actually find the Thunderbird attractive. It’s retro, but not obnoxiously so. But at 40 kilobucks it was overpriced. I wasn’t around when the first T-birds came out, and by the time I was old enough to notice they had become mid-sized coupés. Actually, my dad’s '70 T-bird was a huge coupé. I have a feeling people expected the ‘Retro Bird’ to be a muscle car like the Mustang, rather than a large-ish roadster. Perhaps they mis-remembered the older T-birds, or had a false impression based on movies or songs. I think what people wanted in a ‘retro’ car was a Mustang, and they weren’t willing to pay the price for a less capable car just for the styling. But then, I haven’t really studied the issue so I could be wrong.
I can’t decide if that comes out of a Batman movie or a Dick Tracy comic book. Dang that is ugly. I want my Honda CRX back please.
I think the sooner that the Big Three wake up and realize that, to most people, cars are an appliance and way of getting from point A to point B, the better off they will be.
The problem is that car guys, ones with a true passion for cars, tend to end up in charge of American car companies, and they see it as their mission to get people excited about cars.
People don’t WANT to be excited about cars. They want, in order, reliability, good gas mileage, quality construction, reliability, inoffensive styling, some good gas mileage and maybe way down the list, they wouldn’t be sad if it was “cute”.
The sooner the Big Three stop coming up with concepts that look like this and focus (ha, get it?) on making a truly good small car, the better off their financial fortunes will be.
Of course, I don’t want a characterless orb that gets 40 mpg, never breaks down and has all the personality of a blob of Velveeta, but I am not who the automakers should be aiming at if they want to improve their bottom line.
Bingo. And I drive an SUV. A Nissan. I researched and researched untill I found the best vehicle for me. Styling was way down on the list, if it was even there.
I am now taking odds on how long it’ll be until we have vehicles named the Cockslap, the Bitchwagon, and the Fuck You Buddy.
I disagree with this. To prove my point let’s look at two cars from one company.
In the who cares about style corner we have the Ford Five Hundred. Don’t get me wrong this is one hell of a car for 20 Kilobucks or there about. At least three times the car that the Tarus was. But it has all the style of a refridgerator.
In the Style counts corner we have the Ford Mustang
Tomorrow count how many 500’s you see and how many Mustangs you see, and report back.
I’ll give you a hint, Ford is selling every Mustang they can screw together, the 500’s not so much.
I’m a car snob, looks-wise. I’m in college so I drive a 97 Eclipse, but it still looks and runs well. If I could pick a car now, it’d be a new Eclipse, Acura RSX or a cute, sporty BMW or something like that. I like smaller cars that look neat. I’d never buy a junker even if it looked good though. I’ve almost never liked an American car. I think most of them are ugly. That Saturn Sky Roadster is cool looking, saw one at the mall the other day. But I do not like big cars and most SUVs. I drove a SUV once and felt like a giant. My friend has a Scion tC and that thing is pretty damn cute. For me, the way a car looks REALLY matters. I need to like my car. But once I grow up a bit more, I am sure that will change.
It looks like something my 93 year old grandfather would purchase. So, uh, no, not high probability that I would get one for myself.
The Five Hundred is a full-size sedan that gets only 21mpg (city), and takes more parking space than an Explorer. Most people don’t think of it as a practical, economical car.
I suggest you compare the number of Ford Focus vs. Ford Mustang. I’m pretty sure I see more Focuses out there.
The domestic auto makers are putting out some really nice new vehicles now. Certainly competitive with the major foreign car makers, especially when price is factored in and rebates taken advantage of.
You want to see some nice “American Style” cars? Have a look at the Saturn Sky, the Saturn Aura, the Ford Fusion, the Chrysler 300, the new Camaro, the Mustang, and a whole bunch of other good-loiking, good performing cars that have high quality ratings. There has not been a single recall on the Ford Fusion. It’s supposedly built well, has a nice interior, good handling and acceleration, and so far a near-perfect reliability rating. And it undercuts the competition on price by $2-5K, even without considering the common factory rebates and incentives.
If you want to see some nicer domestic concepts that the article talks about, have a look at these:
Personally, I can’t stand any of these new vehicles because I think they all look like shapeless, bulky, rounded blobs, and they have really ugly trim. The theme of the latest vehicles seems to be “thick’n’chunky.” Huge plastic door handles. Grill emblems that are a foot and a half long. Colossal pillars between the windows. Giant flared fenders, and bulky, curved body styles. All the new cars, even the new Mustang, look to me like scaled down versions of a minivan.
Also, car companies that once had distinctive looks now seem to be making homogeneous-looking products. The new Mercedes, BMW, and Lexus sedans all look kind of like a KIA - bland and indistinct. They’re all so slick, shiny, and flashy, yet their rounded shapes just make them look like jellybeans with wheels.
See, I care passionately about the exterior styling of cars because I believe that the vehicle that you drive is like your clothing when you are on the road - except most people only have one car, whereas everyone has multiple outfits. Some people say “my car is just something I use to get from point A to point B, and so I don’t care how it looks,” but I think these people ought to care because their car is their exterior “clothing” when they’re getting from point A to point B. And you don’t just put on a white jumpsuit every day when you get out of bed. Not many people would say “my clothes are just something I wear so I’m not naked” - they care about what their exterior looks like. So why not care about your car then?
To me, a lot of the new cars now are overly “cute” and clownish. The Chevy HHR, Chrysler PT Cruiser, Mini Cooper, Scion XB, Honda Element - there’s something about them that’s not serious. Personally, I want to be taken seriously. This is just me talking here, and of course everyone will feel differently on this subject, but when I pull up somewhere, I want the people to be looking at my car and thinking “that’s badass,” not “that’s cute.”
A year ago, I had one of the most unique SUVs in my town. It was a dark green 1990 4Runner, with a two inch lift, all-terrain tires, a brush guard, a roof rack, off-road lights, a black bug shield, and a spare tire on the back. It had some scratches and dents, and it was often covered in dirt from driving off-road. I had gotten it when I was 17, and let me tell you, being that age and having a vehicle that badass was like a dream come true. Every time I was stopped at an intersection downtown, people would turn their heads and look at it. 4Runners may be pretty common, but an older one with so many modifications was quite a sight, and a lot of people were impressed by it. And it gave me such pleasure to see people looking up at it from their KIAs and Ford Tauruses. It also made me happy to own an older vehicle rather than a newer one, since the 4Runners after 2000 just didn’t look as rugged. They had thick chunky handles and slick-looking chrome trim and curvy body shapes, and the pre-1996 ones are so much more utilitarian looking and masculine with their straight lines and boxier design.
Unfortunately, I don’t have this 4Runner any more - after it got a bad power steering leak, and my mechanic quoted me a huge repair fee, I just decided to sell it. But I loved it so much, and if someone were to give me a brand new 2007 4Runner, I’d sell it and buy another 1990 one (and have it fixed up, of course.)
At the moment, I’m driving a 1999 Camry on loan from my pops, until this August when I’ll get a new vehicle. I don’t mind the Camry much - I definitely think it looks way better than the 2007 jellybean-style Camry - but I definitely prefer older, rugged SUVs with straight lines. When the summer comes around and I am in the market for a new vehicle, I’ll probably be getting either an 80s Jeep Grand Wagoneer or a late 80s Dodge Ramcharger or Chevy K-5 Blazer. And if someone, by magic, were to give me 50,000 dollars, I would still buy an 80s SUV, or an old, worn 80s BMW or Mercedes. (The 80s were a bad time for American cars, but a good time for trucks and SUVs - the German sedans, though, looked good.)
These rugged vehicles are my passion. They represent my attitude in life, my belief that you should be prepared for rough conditions, and that you should use a car or truck to the fullest, scratch and dent it, get mud all over it, and drive it until it dies - and then have it restored! New, shiny and slick just is not my style and I would never feel good driving a brand new vehicle.
If by “American Style” you mean the Ford Interceptor, and therefore “big and ugly”, then no.
I am also officially boycotting GM until the ultra-retarded “This is our Country” commercials cease to be.
I’m particularly amused by the part where the caption reads, “This is our test track,” and the image is a small child playing with toy cars. “No wonder your cars drive like shit,” is my obvious response 
I think you are WAY overrating the Ford Five Hundred. It’s not selling because it is uncompetitive on multiple fronts (asstastic engine, large car, questionable quality implied by the name Ford on the trunklid, better choices in the segment, even if they are more expensive) not because the sytling is nothing to get excited about.
But I do have to admit that you’ve got me on the Mustang. I’ve never been sure quite why people buy these cars. I understand a group of muscle car devotees, but I don’t understand why so many women drive them. They don’t get great gas mileage, they aren’t practical, they aren’t (in standard V6 form) fast, they aren’t IMHO cute. Why the heck do people buy these cars by the hundreds of thousands? Weirds me out, it does.
But ask your normal 22-year-old what cars they are considering, and my guess is the Ford Mustang (or Five Hundred, or any other American vehicle), does not make the top 10, where you will find things like the latest Honda and/or Toyota interchangable small sedan. People definitely aren’t buying these things in droves because of the styling.
I guess I’m a big fan of form following function. I don’t want to see a lot of fake crap on a car like useless spoilers, brake cooling vents that don’t or elevated hood scoops blocked by a wall of black plastic. It’s why I detest stuff like spinner wheels and custom grills… they don’t do a darn thing even remotely logical.
My current everyday driver has been described by some as looking like a frog. But you know what? It’s large mouthy grill for adequate intake is beautiful out of necessity. It’s aerodynamic lines create a detectable downforce over about 80 or 90 and I love the increased abilities that creates. Every thing about the wntire car just seems so incredibly well thought out and I honestly believe that maybe it’s the best car I’ve ever owned, even though it has some excellent competition and, frankly, I can’t wait to buy another.
No, the linked pic did nothing for me. I’ll stick, quite literally, with my beautiful German frog.
Mad Car Disease. hehe. It looks so angry.