Here’s the thing about being in style: it never lasts. It doesn’t matter if it’s cars or clothes, furniture or footwear, music or mustaches (I had trouble thinking of an m-thing): as soon as everyone agrees on what’s totally cool, that’s a pretty good indicator those cool things are rapidly approaching their expiration date. One minute you’re the guy with his finger on the pulse, the next you’re throwing your parachute pants in the trash and crying in your room, face buried in a beanbag chair.
REALLY did the Cordoba dirty, oof ???? pic.twitter.com/81I1xbTBsM
— The Autopian (@the_autopian) February 1, 2023
Now, for cars, styling trends can be particularly perilous. These are major purchases after all, so manufacturers are keen to make sure the new models look super fresh and modernly-styled, and naturally we consumers want our new cars to look all futuristic and rad and whatnot. But looking new and looking good don’t always go hand-in-hand, and time can be very unkind to what was once cutting edge. For example, remember when rectangular headlights were an absolute must-have? Round headlights were for squares, ironically. Heck, even motorcycles were wearing rectangular headlights. Gross.
Today, car-styling trends are more diverse than ever. Some are tired but still innocuous (I can’t get mad at floating roofs), others were dubious when they first arrived and have only gotten dubiouser ever since. Plastic cladding, I’m looking at you. Literally, right now. I’m sorry, Subaru Crosstrek Wilderness, you look like a frickin’ sneaker. And what is the deal with giant, hideous grilles on trucks and SUVs? Sorry if you read that in a Seinfeld voice. They’re like parodies of alpha-toughness. Don’t get me started on phony cheek-intakes so large that they would look at home on an A-7 Corsair. Especially when they’re fake, I mean come on. I could go on.
And so, The Autopian Asks: what are three styling trends, past or present, that you would select erase from history? To the comments!
Top graphic image credits: Subaru Crosstrek/Subaru; 1959 Cadillac Coupe Deville by That Hartford Guy/Wikimedia Commons; Lexus LX600/Lexus; Cylon Warrior by Klapi/Wikimedia Commons
Giant grills, no question.
Landau roofs.
There’s SEVERAL of these that have been added to things like… Cadillac CTSes, newer Toyota Camrys (in particular), etc. I don’t get it. I’m not in Florida either, I’m in Boston.
Can anyone explain why this has been an aftermarket thing on modern cars? Genuinely curious.
Several manufacturers are offering a primer gray paint color that’s just hideous.
I wouldn’t say it’s HIDEOUS per se, it’s just generic. I remember back in the early 2010s or whatever when Audi introduced Nardo Gray I thought it looked cool on some of their spicier models when combined with red and/or black trim pieces. But then for god knows what reason every single manufacturer was like “we NEED primer gray” and now it’s pretty much as common as any other color.
But normies eat that shit up. My dad custom ordered an X5 50e because the one thing he would not compromise on was color. He saw Brooklyn Gray Metallic in person and it was that or nothing. My wife wants her next car to be in that color too. I just don’t understand what’s so cool about it in 2023. It’s not even unique or interesting. I guess I’d rather have it then black, white, or silver, but that’s not saying much.
That being said I do think the grays that are combined with other colors can be pretty good. Cactus Gray with its light green hue looks great on the Broncos and a couple of companies like Genesis do a grayish light blue that I like. They also sold MK7.5 GTIs in that color and called it white silver metallic or something along those lines.
I don’t mind the flat colors, some of them, some of the time. But like 80% of Broncos I see, and a lot of Mavericks, are the flat blue-gray, Area 51. Like, choose a different color!
Couple points on A51 paint choice: 1) It took 509 days for me to get my Maverick, I didn’t know A51 was going to be so popular. 2) A51 was also one of the only unique colors offered. Truly unique not a generic blue or red. I didn’t want cactus gray, because that seemed like the popular color on the forum. 3) I won’t do orange because I’m partially colorblind and I really don’t like it. 4) Same for red.
Just be happy people ordered real colors on the Maverick.
Lift Kits on vehicles that never go off road. Yes, that’s a style.
Fake (like really fake stick on crap) Portholes, hood scoops, and such. Just terrible.
Plastic Cladding, especially the early stuff that dried out in about 3 years in the sun. Just lazy.
I liked the automatic shoulder harnesses. Back in the 80s they were doing anything they could to drive adoption of wearing seat belts. The automatic shoulder belt was safer than nothing, and it reminded people to fasten the lap belt when they might not have done it otherwise.
Forget the past, it’s already gone. We need to get rid of:
1) Tablets as dashes. I don’t care if it’s got a screen, I’m not gonna buy one anyway, but if it has to have one at least integrate the damn thing.
2) Floating C pillars. They’re just stupid to me, I don’t have a better reason.
3) Overly complicated design. This is almost universal it seems, not quite, but close. Everything these days just seems to look busy and I don’t really know why thats what people want.
All personal preferences obviously.. maybe I’m just getting old now. Get off my lawn etc…
Sloped rear ends on wagons that basically cut the cargo space down by 1/3-1/2.
brake lights separate from tail lights
plastic cladding
1). Massive grilles
2). Faux off roading appearance packages/unnecessary cladding
3). Coupe SUVs. The absolute dumbest styling trend in the history of the automobile. DURRRR WHAT IF SUV BUT UGLIER AND LESS PRACTICAL?
1) Overly curvy/bubbly design of circa 2005-2015
2) Oversized grills of ~2020+
3) Big rims with low profile tyres. I’m convinced this styling trend is actually what lead to the rise of crossovers and death of sedans and hatches due to terrible ride quality. Now crossovers are being subjected to the same huge wheels and low profile tyres, and people are moving go larger 4WDs and pickups as a result.
The Lexus grill…specifically on the LX. That grill alone can house 6 cats and 4 opossums… 15 spiders from Australia auto projects… and probably a sleeping Jason Torchinsky.
Oversize grills, especially as seen on recent BMWs and trucks, but also on 1st gen Sebring coupes and some Audis (I’m looking at you, R8)
Brake lights entirely separated from taillights
Bulbous rear ends. I cannot stand bubble butt C5s or Pop-The Pig 10th gen Civics.
Because I have become a cranky old man I have more (touchscreens replacing buttons, non-functional vents and scoops, blinding headlights on trucks that my Stratus coupe could ride under Bandit-style, bustle-back Sevilles, CUVs in general, fake engine noises inside a vehicle), but that’s my top 3.
If I could turn back ti-ohm …
>>Continental kits and their inspiration, the fake tire “hump” on Continental Marks going back to the Mark III (the Mark II gets a pass because its spare was directly under the hump in the decklid). Every winga-dinga ’50s car with a giant porch on the back end just looks silly. And more recently, imagine how much better the Mark VII (a modern classic otherwise; fight me) would look without that silly hump.
>>Wire wheel covers. Has anyone ever in history seen a car with simulated wire wheel covers and been fooled into thinking they were Borranis?
>>Headlights, rear indicators and brake lights in bumpers. It’s confusing and potentially much less safe. We all know the worst offenders.
Combine the Continental kit with the Landau roof and you get peak malaise-era big three fake luxury crapmobiles.
Crossovers. I’ll forego my other two choices.
Wagon > Minivan > SUVs > Crossovers
Plastic cladding
Giant grilles
Not strictly *on* the car, but really shitty EPC diagrams with umpteen supercessions. LOOKING AT YOU, PORSCHE
My three would be,
-I understand that the creases started partially as a way to keep weight down yet not have badly panels flex too much, but I just think things have gone way too far on some vehicles
Yo, but dawg, my Corolla really *is* going to eat you.
In all seriousness, the final Toyota Avalon and the current Toyota Corolla are the ones that really have me scratching my head. The Avalon is likely to be driven by someone’s grandma. She’s going to give you brownies and a glass of milk, not eviscerate you like the Predator. The Corolla just seems like a way to unnecessarily increase the repair costs of a fender bender.
—–
Let’s not forget exhaust tips in silly numbers either. “But the perfo“– a 700HP 911 GT2 RS has two and it’s fine. You’re telling me your 180HP four-cylinder economy car needs four?
1.Double eyed faces. Nissan Juke. Citroën C3, Skoda Kamiq, Bentley Continental looks cross eyed.
2.oversculpted body sides Mercedes A-Class W176, Hyundai Ioniq 5, Toyota C-HR
3.Large grilles Chevrolet Silverado, Dodge Ram
Lots of you already hit on the ones I’m interested in deleting (big grilles, big wheels, small tires), but I’ll add one more: the floating roof. You could probably include non-functional C pillar windows on wagons or wagon-adjacent vehicles.
pointless modules, needless modules, and modules in general… how is it better to have a window switch control module that then talks to the body module, that then sends a signal to the window motor module right beside the window switch, rather than just run a 2′ long wire from the switch to the motor.
… I guess that’s not a styling trend, but more a casualty of styling TBH, that was then taken too far
This “intro to modules” type of video popped up in my feed a few months back and thought it might be interesting. https://youtu.be/oYps7vT708E?t=146
Crossovers.
There are other things that are annoying, but the crossover takeover is destroying good cars.
Bad take. There’s no wagons left. What is a wagon buyer supposed to do?
Without crossovers there would be wagons.
Ehhhhhhh some crossovers are wagons (albeit tall ones), but without crossovers we’d probably have more minivans/people carriers or big SUVs.
Black wheels, massive grilles, pillbox greenhouses, four-door coupes, touchscreen controls, angry, slit-eye headlights, and overlanding chic plastic cladding. Sorry, that’s more than three.
Yet how will people take me seriously if my entry-level crossover isn’t “murdered out?”
1) Oversized grilles. A grille should be no larger than it needs to be for the amount of engine cooling needed, and if it can be replaced with NACA ducts, that would be preferred
2) Oversized wheels with low profile tires. Go back to smaller wheels with thick, meaty sidewalls on the tires.
3) Non-functional add-ons, such as fake vents and ornamental plastic cladding. I don’t want anything fake on my cars.
There is a lot more I’d wipe away, but I was given only three items.
(#3 if interiors don’t count: Ugly cladding.)
Tiny-ass windows you can’t fucking see out of
all-touchscreen interiors with no real buttons or knobs and just look like a giant ipad
huge-ass dubs with no-profile tires
Fake Vents, Fake Vents, and Fake Vents! Just no.
Fake exhaust.
Agreed. It’s a very close second.