Right, let’s talk about something known to generate a little bit of wonder — cars that actually look like they have faces. See, humans love to anthropomorphize things, and if headlights look like eyes and a grille looks like a mouth, it’s pretty easy for our brains to piece two and two together and perceive an expression. However, in an age of split headlight treatments and bizarre grills, it feels like the number of cars with a face is dwindling. So, which do you reckon was the last one that nailed it?
Mazda’s early-2010s styling language will likely immediately jump to mind, with smiley faces on the fronts of Mazda 3 compact cars, MX-5 sports cars, Mazda 2 subcompacts, CX-7 and CX-9 crossovers, and even Mazda 5 mini-minivans. It was a joyful time, one where a range of cars smiled back at us, seemingly ecstatic to simply be cars. Good stuff.
Of course, there’s also the mustached face of the Fisker Karma, pictured at the top of this article, to consider. Alright, so its grilles didn’t go full Dali, but they weren’t that far off, two whiskers that substantially influenced how the front fascia of this ill-fated hybrid was anthropomorphized. Not only did they give the Karma character, how many production cars came with a mustache?
Now, if we’re talking candidates for the most recent car to look like it has a face, I’m going to throw the BMW 4 Series into the mix, because it looks like a robotic naked mole-rat. It’s not a human face, but it’s a face, one that’s distinctive yet rather difficult to look at. Those chrome kidney grilles form a pair of elongated teeth that run into the lower lip created by the bumper’s lower edge. I hope it’s not just me who thinks this.
Of course, there have been a number of cars in the past decade with front ends described as faces. The “hey kid, wanna try drugs?” Kubrick smile of the McLaren P1. The almost porcine grin of the Fiat 500e. The slack-jawed, retainer-equipped horror of the Nissan Z. However, I want to know what you think the last car with an honest-to-goodness face is. There has to be something newer than say, Blinky the Safety Car, right?
(Photo credits: Mazda, Fisker, BMW)
Support our mission of championing car culture by becoming an Official Autopian Member.
-
What’s Something From Your Home That You’d Want In A Car? Autopian Asks
-
What’s Your Worst Road Trip Story? Autopian Asks
-
What Weird Driving Skill Have You Picked Up?
Please send tips about cool car things to tips@theautopian.com. You could even win a prize!
There is an entire aftermarket for folks who want to put a Hannibal Lecter grille onto their Jeeps.
But yeah, the preference toward angry grilles is a trend DW (Deutsche Welle) did a good piece on. Link is to English version, 2020:
https://youtu.be/DkXjQzvd-LU?si=yimWoeQmah46laIj
The Emira has Lotus’s’s traditional smiling grill, plus those bonnet vents look like eyebrows over the eyes/headlights (or nostrils under the windshield eyes if you’re doing it wrong like Disney)
It doesn’t look as happy as an S1 Elise, but then the world is a less happy place than it was in the 90’s.
My Europa has the happy face too. It offsets the seriousness of the roof and side intakes.
When my kids were small they used to love the “angry” rear end of a Buick Verona.
The BMW iX looks like a weird owl
One of my co-workers just bought a Toyota Camry and I cant help but see Sid the Sloth when I look at it.
This is one reason why the Cybertruck is so monstrous. There’s no eyes, no mouth, nothing but a battering ram with a lightbar attached. What is it about DYStopia that these guys don’t understand?
I like the analogy and will be referring to the cybertruck near my workplace as Grond moving forward.
That’s a feature, not a bug.
I was always uncomfortable with the way the last gen Kia Soul EV looked at me. It had a judgemental look on its face, as if it was not impressed with my life choices.
A few years ago I was on the market for a second hand minivan, and I based my choice of an Opel Zafira 2016, in no small part, on its happy, “hey, I finally got that reference!” face. I’m a firm believer that a car is a projection of the image you want to convey about yourself, and looking stupid is a great way to carefully craft a narrative that you don’t really care about any of this. That will certainly show them!
And I was specific about the year, because while the model from 2011 to 2016 got that cheeky, dumb grin, the 2016-2018 refresh had more of a “I’ll pretend I understand what this is about, hahaha” smile, typical of someone who realized their company was part of the mess that would soon become Stellantis.
A lot of today’s cars have faces. They just all look like they are trying to push a bowling ball out the tailpipe. I blame the EPA.
Look at a Bug Eyed Sprite. It has a happy puppy face. Happy as in it just made a mess on three different carpets and will leave behind another puddle when you are cleaning up the last two. (You won’t find the 3rd puddle until the morning)
The more emissions controls and the less tolerance consumers had for random puddles in their garage, the more constipated car’s faces got.
I claim causality. I had back surgery a couple weeks ago and was put on a diet of medication that all had the same side effect. My emissions were dramatically reduced and I looked like a C8’s front end for about an hour a day when I was given strong medication to offset the side effects of the other strong medication I had been given.
Before I had Surgery, I was making Bug Eyed Sprite faces after a diet of Taco Truck Burritos and going for long walks in Home Depot to try to keep in shape prior to surgery. I had a really happy-go-lucky face on. While the rest of the customers and “associates” were making Toyota product faces for some reason.
Wishing you good health and a speedy recovery
Thanks doing well. Slept all night without pain pills last night. So, I no longer look like an Angry Nissan Armata, although unless I get control of my holiday cheer, I’ll be the size of one soon.
I see my doctor in a couple weeks. Given I have an office job, I think I might be unleashed upon the world again as a mostly healed man.
Maybe it is the 30 years of back pain before surgery, but the pain after surgery has been a lot less than I expected it to be. The first 2 weeks were a bit rough if I got behind on my pain pills, but I didn’t have to take the stronger ones other than at night. The biggest problem I’ve had is insurance (of course). Because I was using the weaker pain pills, I went through my 7 day supply in about 9 days. When the doctor called in a refill, insurance said that they didn’t think I needed pain pills after surgery and denied it. Fortunately, I was on the same pills before surgery and had some left, but insurance saying “We don’t think you need more than 1 week of pain pills after a two level back fusion” is a bit nuts. It’s only $4 they are saving too. I’ll pay out of pocket for a refill if I run out.
The 2025 Audi A8 to my eyes looks like Stitch (of “Lilo and…”
BMWs look like Angry Robot Beavers
The Chevy Malibu looks like a demented Catfish.
The Mini looks like a Goldfish sticking out it’s tongue.
I really liked the Opel Adam – It looked like a happy car with dimples.
And the Ora Funky Cat? Well, it looks like that.
Our Jetta Sport wagon in navy is known as Stitch given it looks like it with the mirrors as the ears
Lots of modern Ferraris have faces, like the mean F8, the chummy 550 Maranello, the sharky GTC4 Lusso, the mischievous Portofino, and the downright devilish Roma.
Automotive designers put a lot of thought into a vehicle’s face, and far less into its ass. But when you’re driving around the faces of other vehicles zip past in a second or two, but the rear ends of the vehicles in front of you are there much longer. Back in the 50s and 60s when everyone was imitating jets and rockets, it was easy to tell what brand you’ve been following the past few minutes. Vertical fins, diagonal fins, horizontal fins, double fins, big fins, small fins, single double and triple afterburners… But these days, with a few exceptions, it’s as if the brands are trying to be anonymous. Vague shapes that look pretty much the same. I’m guessing even taillight-obsessed Torch has trouble identifying brands from behind.
Except the 2001-2010 Volvo S60, which was designed from back to front.
There has been a trend in modern taillight design for at least the last decade, maybe more, that I can only describe as the taillight having a dewlap, that is described as a “small, fleshy excresence that is a normal part of an animal’s anatomy.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dewlap?wprov=sfti1
I’m talking about that extra piece of the taillight that wraps around the rear corner and becomes a marker light or pseudo-intake vent. It seems to show up most prominently on minivans and contributes to the 3D-fication of the whole assembly.
Or there was the trend where the have a large taillight molded into the corner with an extra dewlap about the third the height on the trunk lid. Or several brands copying the vertical D-pillar taillights on Volvo wagons. Or bullshit like a small chrome strip over the license plate recess (which everyone else has copied). So little originality—except for the Koreans.
On the whole, automotive designers think that the more “3D” all the parts of a car look, the more high end the car seems. I don’t necessarily agree but alas I don’t have as high a hit rate with my sketches getting picked as some of those that fall in line.
Source: am an automotive designer.
Is that what’s really going on?
Well that explains how Mercedes-Benz cars keep getting uglier.
Sometimes the random 3D design details in one side of the car make want it look at the other side of the car to see if that’s a design detail or parking lot damage.
I like some of Frank Gerry’s buildings, actually most of them, but it’s not a good look on a car.
The buck-toothed BMWs all look like beavers going through a messy divorce.
The EV Cadillacs look like someone grinning in sunglasses, so those.
https://youtu.be/ZOq5BsDPQfo
It’s the trailer for “Hundreds of Beavers,” a movie definitely worth seeing when you need some goofy laughs.
Some car faces are great, and some are bad.
Then there is Jeep angry grill bad.
Most cars have faces, they just either look aggressively pissed off (mostly) or like alien insects at this point.
That gen Mazda3 went too far in the other direction, IMHO. Maniacally happy is not a good look either.
I think the current gen Ram 2500 Power Wagon definitely has a mustachio’d Bulldog vibe going with it.
ND Miata springs to mind, but it’s not exactly new.
We are siame-ez if you ple-ez
My 2014 VW Beetle always seemed to be in a good mood.
My 2012 Scion iQ has just the cutest widdle face, it’s the only car I’ve ever owned that was given a name (“Flapjack”).
https://images.app.goo.gl/gn5D5sQ56Z9mUTRd8
“Good stuff” wasn’t the consensus in the press (or among commentariat) at the time. I was fine with the front end of my 2011 Mazda 3 hatch but I remember a lot of people online mocking the “happy to see you” smiley face grille. I thought it was good. Now we’re cursed with all cars being angry. At least the current Mazda design language doesn’t look “angry,” albeit it is more aggressive.
The mob definitely didn’t appreciate it. I enjoyed it at the time, and I think this crew (on the old site) were fans, too. I’m especially glad to see them now where they’re outnumbered dozens to one by stupid angry Heeps.
While the shape of the Karma’s grilles did resemble a fat ‘stache, my brain sees a Cheshire cat smile.
since getting a mk 7 gti I’ve noticed the headlights and lower grille make a pretty definitive 😀 face. The foglight trim even looks almost like cat whiskers. The GR86 has a pretty serious scowl to it as well
Judging from all of the angry eyed jeeps around here, I’m going with the Wrangler
it’s so bad
I have a neighbor who lost one of their angry eyes then promptly ordered and installed another. Every couple of weeks something else gets added to their Wrangler to make it look even angrier. Their other car is an AMG GLE 53 “coupe” so taste is not exactly something they have in spades….
I think you mean “Wrangrier.”
How about the perpetually-surprised Rivians?
I usually go with vaguely Asimov-ian murderous robot myself.
^^this^^
I like the Rivans. They are not beautiful but they aren’t hideously grotesque like all he angry cat anus cars.
What’s the thinking behind making the bumper look like a grill anyway?
“and if headlights look like eyes”
Them’s fighting words! #torchbait