why are todays cars so DAMN UGLY?

Steve J is a pompous dullard who is the symbol for everything that is wrong with modern society. True car enthusiasts will NEVER die, no matter how people like Steve J want us to. Passion is a priveledge he probably will never understand.

I feel the same exact way, this is what happens when you have a group of people design a car and not just a single person. It used to be that a car was considered a classic when it was 20 years old, but look at most cars from 1990. They're hideous, I could never picture something like a 1990 Civic being a classic, could you? It started in the 90's and has blown into some full-scale monstrosity that expects us to drive around in these bloated cars that look like electric shavers. A lot of times, a car company will make changes just for the sake of being different, whether it looks good or not. Look at the headlights on the new Nissan 370Z and Maxima, they're some of the ugliest I've ever seen in my life. On a larger scale, there are a lot better ways to make a small car be spacious and still give it style, the original Mini is an excellent example of this. I agree with you when you say that no one will be restoring these cars in 50 years, they're not worth it at all. Cars are seen merely as appliances in modern society, and it pains me to see things this way. Decades ago, people like Harley Earl, Virgil Exner, Georgetto Guigaro, and Raymond Lowey designed cars based on their own ideas and perspectives. Now, car companies have entire teams of people working on their designs, and as a result, a lot of crap is dished out.

What finally motivated me to ask why cars are getting uglier and uglier was the showing of the new Tesla. It looks like you have to buy a truck to get a vehicle with a little make up on. When I saw the Teslas I said to my son...they look like a wide mouth Bass fish, without the eyes (or headlights). They remind me of the jet fighters in the early 1950 s, gaping hole in the front with no grille....sucking in wind. No definition, no stripe, never a strip of metal over the wheel (whatever it s called) Fox News just rolled out an Invictus...with a lot of OOOhhing and Ahhing....Someone tell them that like the emperor that had no clothes...the Tesla and all of em are UUUU -- glee. Someone tell Tesla and all of the others....they have no clothes. Now, I can begin to see the same trend in the pick ups. Looks like I will have to go back to the 1965 122S Volvo to get a little styling. Maybe I could custom build a beautiful car by sawing off the back half of a pickup and attaching half a car to a big beautiful Silverado, or Ram or whatever Ford s truck name is. It s abundantly clear that I don t know much about cars or trucks, but I do know a thing or two about beauty and aesthetics...can t describe it, but..."You know it when you see it." Maybe I could find a very low mileage Lincoln...that beautiful automobile of a few years back...I don t know what year but it got my attention. I saw a guy drive up in one in our parking lot and I said, How much would it take for you to sell me that Lincoln (Continental, I guess) right here, right now, on the spot? He was too proud of his auto to respond and I don t blame him. I guess I was really surprised to see so many web sites dedicated to the subject of ugly cars...getting uglier by the year. (Someone point out the exceptions, please....I just don t want one 3 inches off the ground where when you get in you feel like you are being strapped into the tiny, cramped Mercury capsule. (the first attempts at getting an astronaut in space (U.S.) for you young whippersnappers out there.) Maybe real people rather than computers designing the cars would help...I don t know...guess there s a lot more important problems in the world that need fixing. Still......over and out.

Well, it depends on what car you are looking at. Yes, the average economy car is not rolling sculpture, but there are many out there that are beautiful. Aston Martin, Jaguar, Maserati, Spyker, Ferrari, McLaren, Audi, Mercedes, BMW, etc.

I do wish "tree hugger" cars could look better, I do not understand why they are rolling boxes, but at least beautiful cars still do exist.

To answer your other question, I have 2 smart cars, and love them. I feel totally safe. It feels so much bigger inside than it looks outside. I have had ours from Delaware to Missouri, to Georgia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and many more places. Made it there great, and they are fun to drive. We put a silverline exhaust system on it, and it sounds great!!! My daily driver is not so good on the gas though. a 2002 Jaguar XJR. I get about 13 or 14 city and about 19 to 20 highway.

Look at the Italian, German, British and Japanese luxury, and sports cars. They all look still look great, but are very expensive. I think manufacturers intentionally make the cars the rest of us drive UGLY, to make the good looking cars stand out more.

there became sturdy song returned then and then there became a lot of actual crap, comparable as right this moment. i myself hated all that pychadelic crap and that stupid music "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" by skill of Iron Butterfly. no longer all became acid rock. there have been some rather sturdy singers like John Denver, Anne Murray, Linda Ronstadt, Gordon Lightfoot, and The Eagles.

There is nothing ugly about aerodynamic styling. It's far more attractive than the "three box" design that most old fashioned cars have. Now that's ugly!

they make them cheap nowadays so everybody can afford a new car and reduce gas usage

i cant think of any car made after 2000 that is actually nice at all.

90s had the nicest vehicles

Skag might be one of the only people on yahoo answers that knows anything at all about vehicles.

Because they are mostly made in Asia in these days.

Sterling,

the sooner people like you are off the road the better - the planet can no longer afford you.

The new cars are attractive, just not to dinosaurs like your good self.

The days of boy racers in angular oversized junkmobiles pushed by huge inefficient engines are over, just get used to it. Those old cars are extremely dangerous, built for looks not usefulness or safety - the number of people speared by steering wheel columns before Nader brought in seatbelts...

Anyway, you are the past and quite rightly so. That car belongs in a museum next to the Kittyhawk.

Cheers, Steve.