I agree with this. It was a boring time for cars; it amazed me that all domestic convertibles had been discontinued, and the only new ones available were expensive imports. Even the VW Beetle ragtop cost about twice as much as the hardtop. I could never understand how that was allowed to happen given the large California market, where convertibles make sense almost the whole year round.
I wouldn’t say that about the pre-1950 cars, at least from the perspective of 2006. If only because they were so different from what we have today, they deserve some recognition for sheer oddness.
Now that is a pretty car, and I mean it. Minimal frontal area, smooth round front end and a perfect Kammback. The tandem configuration makes sense for minimizing frontal area.
Though the writer of the article seems confused - it’s not a 1-liter engine, it’s a “1-liter car” as in fuel economy of 1 liter per 100km.
Jeremy Clarkson* called it an ‘invalid carriage’, and remarked that it would be all fine and dandy until it gets blown over by a stiff wind or passing lorry.
*whatever you think of his politics, the man knows his cars (and can drive them too)
Looks like someone extracted the cockpit from a jet fighter.
When can we get one? I think it’s a prototype. But it’s licensed and all, so it’s probably close to produceable.
While we’re talking about car aesthetics…
Why are Australian utes so much better-looking than North American pickup trucks? And why didn’t Toyota simply bring in their HiLux series of trucks instead of creating the Tacoma and Tundra for the North American market?
Why didn’t Cadillac finish edgifying their big SUVs? Their other newer cars, like the XLR, look great, but they never finished styling the sides of ther Escalade, and the rounded contours there do not go with the attempted edgy front. Though it’s not as bad as the Nissan Armada referenced upthread.
The beauty of the Element is that it’s suppose to be ugly.
The fuggliest vehical IMHO is that Volvo SUV that just looks like their standard wagon, but someone streached it upwards. Like they didn’t even think to do any redesign, just make each part 1.5x it’s initial height and leave the other dimentions the same.
The Honda Element looks like a Lego car, especially with the mismatched colors.
To whoever said the Magnum was going to be a classic in 30 or 40 years: it’s a station wagon. Never has a station wagon been a classic.
I’m just glad that we’re finally starting to see edges and straight lines come back. The “inverted teardrop” cars of the 90s were bland. The best move Chevy made was reintroducing the side flares on the Monte Carlo.
One of my early cars was a 1963 xke. Mustangs are just the same ratty car they brought ou in the 60s with new trim.Vans and SUVs are just movable boxes. The Vette is nice but they lacked the marbles to make any substantial and sudden change to it for ever.Viper …good. Chrysler shows immagination in fits and starts. Ford is gutless.They slaughterered the TBird in 4 years. Chevy brought the Vette and for it’s time the Z series was very good. Firebirds etc.Since then crap.
Lately I’d been thinking about the traffic problems around D.C., and thinking, ‘our roads could handle a lot more cars if you had cars that were one person wide instead of two…of course, they’d never go for that.’
Kinda neat to see a vehicle like this, even if it is just a prototype right now. And 236 mpg would come in handy if gas prices keep going up.
Um, hum. If the engine badge is correct, that is not only a nice, but a very rare nice car as well. Hi-Po, 271 horsepower engine. K code. Yeah. Seriously nice.
I agree–I think the Solstice (and its Saturn brother, the Sky) are two of the prettiest new cars to hit the market in awhile. We bought one last weekend and we both love it, even though it has practically zero cargo room. People who see it are amazed that something that cool looking was actually built by stodgy old Pontiac.
Our other vehicle is a Honda Element, and we love that one too. What’s the advantage? More room (you can haul just about anything in the back if you take the seats out), ease of cleaning (rubber floor) and quirky looks that you either like or you don’t (we do, you obviously don’t). It doesn’t look like anything else out there, and we like that.
BTW, while we’re talking about ugly cars, let’s not forget the Toyota Smug…er…Prius. That thing is a whole case of ugly rolling around on four tiny little wheels. It looks like a big wallowing pig mincing on feet way too small for it. IMO there is nothing stylish or attractive about that car. I understand that their main appeal is their gas mileage and I respect that–but why can’t a car company build a kick-ass hybrid that actually looks like a car instead of a farm animal?
Around here, people can drive them in the carpool lanes if they put this hideously ugly yellow sticker on the side of the bumper. I didn’t think anything could make Priuses uglier, but this has managed. I wonder if they did a focus group to identify the ugliest sticker they could make?
That’s nice. My fiancee just bought a brand new Mazda MX-5 Miata in a dark steel grey and it is an absolutely beautiful car. She loves it. I like the styling much better than the older models, which were a little too sleek for my taste, the new styling is a bit bigger and more powerfull looking (and it is more powerful at 170 hp compared to something like 145 for the older model).
We’ve been over this. If you want to improve fuel economy, you have to make the car aerodynamic and small. Traditional-shape cars aren’t aerodynamic, and also don’t scale down to smaller size.
There are a few hybrid models that are the same size and shape as the non-hybrid counterparts/prececessors, like the Toyota Highlander. And because of this, the improvement in fuel economy is only marginal.
The closest I’ve seen anyone come so far is Dodge with their Challenger prototype, but last I heard it was still in limbo as to whether it would make it into production or not.
My favorite car of the modern era is Porsche’s recently introduced Cayman S. All time, my idea of beauty has always been something like this.
That Challenger prototype looks alright, but it’s still a little too bulky looking, in my opinion. The interior looks relentlessly cheap and plasticky.
