Great car designs with one bad flaw

[60six]

Spotted this for sale recently and I just can't stop looking at the front 'Grille'. Really good design otherwise - love the rear lights, fuel cap, steering wheel & dash - so much is so well done then BAM. Japanese Vanden-Plas.






Trying to think of some others like this ...

[norm75]

Rear lights on a series 3 e-type are gopping.

Rear number plate on a new LR discovery, but saying the overall design is great is a bit of a stretch.

Headlights on a 2000-2002 Impreza were so derided at the time a quick facelift was introduced in two years. Personally I think they look ok now anyway.

[Dez]

It depends if you mean aesthetically or functionally.

The former is quite subjective, especially on internationally marketed vehicles. Cars that are a runaway success is some markets are derided in others.

Functionally though, there’s loads on even very popular cars.

E30 touring rear lights. I don’t know anyone with a touring that hasn’t broken one.

Any car with electric window switches on the centre console. I ALWAYS reach to the door for them.

Cars that are designed LHD so the column has the indicator on the left half side of the column, but then for RHD it’s still that side. It being on the other side is one thing I really notice on Japanese cars as it means you can click the indicator on whilst downshifting for a junction.

[bstardchild]

Nov 17, 2022 23:03:19 GMT Dez said:

Functionally though, there’s loads on even very popular cars.

Any car with electric window switches on the centre console. I ALWAYS reach to the door for them.

I've clearly had way too many Carltons and Senators - I still put my hand to the centre console to open windows - even when I bloody know they are on the door!!!

[norm75]

Nov 17, 2022 23:03:19 GMT Dez said:

It depends if you mean aesthetically or functionally.

The former is quite subjective, especially on internationally marketed vehicles. Cars that are a runaway success is some markets are derided in others.

Functionally though, there’s loads on even very popular cars.

E30 touring rear lights. I don’t know anyone with a touring that hasn’t broken one.

Any car with electric window switches on the centre console. I ALWAYS reach to the door for them.

Cars that are designed LHD so the column has the indicator on the left half side of the column, but then for RHD it’s still that side. It being on the other side is one thing I really notice on Japanese cars as it means you can click the indicator on whilst downshifting for a junction.

funny you mention the indicators. I’ve got a uk Impreza with indicators on the left, and just bought a jdm legacy with indicators on the right. The legacy feels more natural to me now after 2 months and when I drive the Impreza that we’ve had 15 years it messes me up!

[cjhillman]

Nov 17, 2022 23:32:34 GMT norm75 said:

Nov 17, 2022 23:03:19 GMT Dez said:

It depends if you mean aesthetically or functionally.

The former is quite subjective, especially on internationally marketed vehicles. Cars that are a runaway success is some markets are derided in others.

Functionally though, there’s loads on even very popular cars.

E30 touring rear lights. I don’t know anyone with a touring that hasn’t broken one.

Any car with electric window switches on the centre console. I ALWAYS reach to the door for them.

Cars that are designed LHD so the column has the indicator on the left half side of the column, but then for RHD it’s still that side. It being on the other side is one thing I really notice on Japanese cars as it means you can click the indicator on whilst downshifting for a junction.

funny you mention the indicators. I’ve got a uk Impreza with indicators on the left, and just bought a jdm legacy with indicators on the right. The legacy feels more natural to me now after 2 months and when I drive the Impreza that we’ve had 15 years it messes me up!

My Dads Triumph Spitfire 1500 has indicators on the right with a funny little arrow on the stalk. Always catches me out when i drive it, end up flicking the wipers on to turn.

[ajprice]

This might be a bit specific but from personal experience a Ford Ka mk1 isn't good for tall people. I sat in one, it was great, I could fit in it! (I'm 6'6" so that's not always a done deal). Then I looked forward... because of the curving roofline, my view forward was all sunvisor! , so the Ka came off the list. I ended up getting a mk1 Skoda Fabia.

[rattlecan]

Well how about this thing. What an absolute total pig this was & it didn’t matter which angle you viewed from, zero redeeming features

[droopsnoot]

That silly centre exhaust tailpipe on a Porsche Boxster, I can't stand it. It reminds me of the centre rear fog light on a Peugeot hatch, 207 or 307 or similar.

[Rich]

Well this thread is very quickly going down the route of being against the MO. it’s not a CAR BASHING thread please…

[nickwheeler]

Nov 18, 2022 8:09:00 GMT droopsnoot said:

That silly centre exhaust tailpipe on a Porsche Boxster, I can't stand it. It reminds me of the centre rear fog light on a Peugeot hatch, 207 or 307 or similar.

Any bit of pipe sticking out the back of a car is already ugly. Adding some fancy shaped trim just emphasises that - look at the back on E-type. Some of them are particularly badly done; I followed a new Peugeot(3008 I think) that  had two bizzarely shaped cutouts in the bumper with a tiny pipe visible in each. At night. In the rain.

[thomfr]

Nov 17, 2022 23:09:00 GMT bstardchild said:

Nov 17, 2022 23:03:19 GMT Dez said:

Functionally though, there’s loads on even very popular cars.

Any car with electric window switches on the centre console. I ALWAYS reach to the door for them.

I've clearly had way too many Carltons and Senators - I still put my hand to the centre console to open windows - even when I bloody know they are on the door!!!

I drove Alfa 75's and Alfa 90 for more than 10 years and more than 250.000km, but this is  more than 15 years ago. Still sometimes reach to the roof (near the inside mirror) to open windows..   Thom

[droopsnoot]

Nov 18, 2022 8:59:43 GMT nickwheeler said:

Nov 18, 2022 8:09:00 GMT droopsnoot said:

That silly centre exhaust tailpipe on a Porsche Boxster, I can't stand it. It reminds me of the centre rear fog light on a Peugeot hatch, 207 or 307 or similar.

Any bit of pipe sticking out the back of a car is already ugly. Adding some fancy shaped trim just emphasises that - look at the back on E-type. Some of them are particularly badly done; I followed a new Peugeot(3008 I think) that  had two bizzarely shaped cutouts in the bumper with a tiny pipe visible in each. At night. In the rain.

I think my big problem with both is that they're in the centre. Even if they're only fitting a single fog light, I think it looks weird that it's there rather than near, or preferably in, one of the light clusters.

[Dez]

Nov 17, 2022 23:09:00 GMT bstardchild said:

Nov 17, 2022 23:03:19 GMT Dez said:

Functionally though, there’s loads on even very popular cars.

Any car with electric window switches on the centre console. I ALWAYS reach to the door for them.

I've clearly had way too many Carltons and Senators - I still put my hand to the centre console to open windows - even when I bloody know they are on the door!!!

I think it’s because in my formative years all my cars had keep fit windows- if they wound at all, a few you just slid the window or pushed the 1/4 light open. Tbh the majority of my fleet are still like this now. So to me I always turn to the window to open it- it makes no sense for the switch to be as for away as possible from the thing it operates, it isn’t intuitive.

[pseudonymous]

Nov 18, 2022 10:21:25 GMT Dez said:

Nov 17, 2022 23:09:00 GMT bstardchild said:

I've clearly had way too many Carltons and Senators - I still put my hand to the centre console to open windows - even when I bloody know they are on the door!!!

I think it’s because in my formative years all my cars had keep fit windows- if they wound at all, a few you just slid the window or pushed the 1/4 light open. Tbh the majority of my fleet are still like this now. So to me I always turn to the window to open it- it makes no sense for the switch to be as for away as possible from the thing it operates, it isn’t intuitive.

After years in BMWs, its muscle memory to go for the centre console.

I remember the first car I got with electric windows, it felt like I was driving a limo. Ah, simpler times...

[60six]

Nov 18, 2022 8:34:12 GMT Rich said:

Well this thread is very quickly going down the route of being against the MO. it’s not a CAR BASHING thread please…

Hating the car just because of one thing isn't where I want to go, but those cars which have otherwise been very well designed which have a single visual design 'quirk' that just makes you think 'What if they didn't do that ...'

The argument about electric window switches for me is I much prefer them in the centre console. More convenient, less electricals in the door, and all saabs have them in the centre. Not biased at all.

With the scorpio granada it looked fine from the sides, and the interior on the top models have some of the most luxurious leather seats going. Properly messed up front with the wide mouth frog styling. Not too bad on the rear but the smooth edged boot looked odd.

[Frankenhealey]

Nov 17, 2022 23:09:00 GMT bstardchild said:

Nov 17, 2022 23:03:19 GMT Dez said:

Functionally though, there’s loads on even very popular cars.

I still put my hand to the centre console to open windows - even when I bloody know they are on the door!!!

That's age, that is!

[pseudonymous]

A bit OT as it's modern (penance below) and no, it's not a 'great car design' but the little touchscreen in the Pug 208 drives me bonkers. It's a major annoyance in an otherwise perfectly capable car.

You can't turn it off, unless you go into a sub-menu on the settings screen (which you cannot do while driving). Even then, as soon as you do anything, like change DAB station etc, it comes back on and you've got to go back into the menu. It's mind bendingly irritating.

I've no idea if other moderns have this whopping annoyance as well but I did drive a Fiat 500 the other day and that at least had a little physical button to turn the screen off.

[thomfr]

I agree on displays. Drove (mainly as rentals) several VAG (already also an old name) products which on which all if dashboard lights dimmed to minimum the bloody displays where shining black with a lot of disturbing light instead of just turning off. That black panel from Saab and the red very well dimmable dashboard light of older BMW's was far superior in the dark.
Thom






But the horn knob at the end of the right light stalk in my Alfasud sprint was also a high runner for most idiot.. ;-)

[ToolsnTrack]

In fairness, mounting the electrics on the door always struck me as odd. That said, I have the window down a LOT, and probably find wet electronics more than most... but it still seems more sensible to have the switches in the middle....