Cars aren’t rational, which helps explain why automotive icks exist. You know, little turn-offs that make our skin crawl. A car could be perfection on four wheels but as soon as one of these icks shows up on it, you can never see it the same again. I’ll start things off by sharing one of my automotive icks, because it’s on an excellent car.
The Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing is spectacular. It’s a supercharged, manual, rear-wheel-drive love letter to the traditional super sedan, an encore for a classic recipe. It’ll break the 200 mph barrier, beat up on supercars of a decade ago around a track, and do it all with Cadillac luxury. It’s absolutely brilliant, but it also has a design element that I just can’t wrap my head around.
See, the CT5 has a swooping fastback greenhouse plucked from the fabulous Escala concept car. Not only does the roofline that comes with that make the car look lower than it is, it helps with visual length. Unfortunately, one big corner was cut with the shift to production, as the quarter window is entirely fake.
Yep, what looks like a piece of glass on the c-pillar is actually shiny black plastic that will acquire swirl marks and fingerprints like nobody’s business. What’s more, it means less light for rear seat passengers than if there was a window there, and potentially larger blind spots. It just feels so repugnantly cheap for a thing on a luxury car, especially when the current Honda Civic has a similar greenhouse treatment with real quarter windows.
So, what are your automotive icks? Whether styling elements that ruin cars for you or user interface choices that cause your eyebrow to twitch, let’s hear those turn-offs in the comments below.
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-Push button electric transmissions like the MDX. This has one redeeming quality: it automatically puts the transmission in “park” when you shut off the engine.
-Push button electric parking brakes
-Angry Jeep grills
-sports cars or any kind of high performance trim/package/model with automatic transmissions (I don’t care that a slushbox is faster)
Angry faces on all the cars. Tablet screens. Virtual buttons. Nanny aides like radar cruise and lane departure programs. Door open chimes. Train grill on Jeeps. Putty colored cars. The sheer size of cars and trucks now. Downgrading flagship 8/10/12 cylinder engines to turbo 4s and 6s. Electric cars that can’t just look like a regular car. Only caring about fuel mileage. Black wheels. Nissan Altimas. The people who own Teslas. Complex turbo/ hybrid systems on vehicles specifically known for their insane reliability intended to spend time offroad in remote locations. Toyota calling the 250 Prado “Land Cruiser” in the USA. DRLs that make the driver think their lights are on at night but they’re not, and they’re too ignorant to consider there’s a real reason the entire highway is flashing their brights at them. DRLs that flicker and move around in my mirror that look like they’re not fixed in their housings. Modern GM products where the reverse lights stay on when locking/ unlocking in a parking lot. Are you backing out? No, you’re already inside of Kohl’s. Fruity scented air fresheners over the smell of a smoked-in vehicle. Calling 4 door sedans/SUVs or an electric Ford crossover “coupes” or “Mustang”. Egg- shaped crossovers. You can pick an egg shaped car from everyone now, you just decide which face you prefer on it. Taking great nameplate and putting them on watered down mirages of what the name used to be just for the sake of mustering nostalgia. That’s you, Chevy Blazer (and Mach E). Catfish looking Mercedes EVs. Some (a lot) of recent/ incoming gov mandates. A lot of the commenters at Jalopnik. Dealer markups. Shitty plastic interiors. An SRT Charger would be a cool daily if not for the interior and then having to be a person who owns an SRT Charger. BMW powered Toyota halo car. Trunks or hatches without an unpainted surface to touch in order to close the trunk. Build quality being less of a moniker of luxury than tech gadgets. Modern BMW grill design. Lexus RX drivers.
1) Key fobs with raised buttons. Put them in a pants pocket and they’re always being pushed.
2) Other people’s cars: DRLs that can be easily turned off.
Touch screens and capasitive buttons. They are the worst trend currently on cars.
Convertibles. Also, cars where I can’t totally close off the sunroof. Better yet, get rid of the stupid sunroof.
996 headlights (or the idea of a 911 with non-round headlights in general).
That Sonata that looks like a sad catfish thanks to that goofy light strip that goes up from the headlights.
Cheap-looking hubcaps.
Unnecessary humps in the side of a minivan’s beltline. Like, why?
Matte paint.
Silver and beige with VERY few exceptions.
Touchscreens that make me click multiple times for basic functions. Looking at you, modern VWs and Tesla. I feel like I’m going to run off the road every time I just want a different freakin’ radio station.