Best: I think Volvo is killing it right now but I've also been pretty impressed with Hyundai

Worst: Nissan/Infiniti. I'm having a hard time thinking of any infiniti that looked okay, and while Nissan has never been great their latest design language with the weird headlights is terrible. I get the impression that Nissan designers have photos of their 1990's Kia dream cars hanging up in their offices.

[Edited on March 25, 2016 at 3:03 PM. Reason : .]

3/25/2016 3:03:34 PM

volvo is a nightmare for any person that has problems with asymmetry. freakin never changing butt fugly grill designs

i do like hyundai's genesis designs so far tho

[Edited on March 25, 2016 at 7:28 PM. Reason : ]

3/25/2016 7:27:40 PM

I have not liked any Volvo design since the bricks and brick-wagons of the 90's. It's one of those things I never understood about car mags 'cause they sure love them some Volvos.

--------------

I'm not digging the Lexus style at the moment. It works on the sporty cars like the RC, but don't slap it on the entire family line.
http://www.consumerreports.org/content/dam/cro/news_articles/cars/2016-Lexus-RX-350-F-SPORT-pr-NYIAS-598.jpg
WTF

I think Ford has knocked truck design out of the park with their current F150. Come to think of it, I do like their Mustang, Focus, and Fiesta designs within with their respective classes. The sedans need a lot of work.

3/25/2016 10:54:40 PM

Who cares

3/27/2016 2:19:33 PM

most people

3/27/2016 5:15:56 PM

my anecdotal bout the new Lexus styling is that women like it.

My wife/mom/female co-workers all really like the new RX and NX.

I'm in agreement with dtownral though on the new Vo's, I like um.

3/27/2016 7:05:45 PM

lincoln is coming off one if it's worst with the whole baleen whale thing.


best..... uhh.... aston? shit always looks gooooood

3/27/2016 10:28:06 PM

* clarification footnote: i too like some of volvo's designs... the grill just gets me

^ aston martin is certainly a rare miss imo. they don't do much though, stick to a good formula. i think some automakers try to hit every demographic possible and end up all over the place

[Edited on March 28, 2016 at 12:22 AM. Reason : ]

3/28/2016 12:19:21 AM

I'm starting to wonder, in general, if I just dislike most current/new car design languages.

As already mentioned, Nissan/Infiniti is a train wreck at the moment.

Honda is currently trying too hard. Car and Driver put it best when they called the Accord's styling tweaks for 2016 akin to "bling". And the new Civic is very polarizing - personally I think it looks horrible.

Acura is drowning in a sea of mediocrity. Other than that horrible "beak" all their cars were bland as hell. Now that they've toned that done, their cars are just bland.

Mercedes has finally got their shit together. For a while there their designs looked a bit chitzy/cheap. Like the mid-cycle face lifted C & E Classes. But the current S C & E (coming later this year) Class sedans look stunning, and they have the best interiors on the market, bar none (until you get up to Bentley price range).

BMW is take it or leave it these days. Definitely an improvement from the Bangle days, but I feel like they don't do a very good job of disguising the front end bloat required to meet those fookin' EU pedestrian crash requirements.

Mazda has been kicking ass and taking names. They have the best car designs in the affordable car market by far. The Mazda3 and Mazda6 look way classier and more expensive than they have any right to be. That goes for their interiors as well.

[Edited on March 28, 2016 at 9:06 AM. Reason : ]

3/28/2016 9:05:32 AM

Volvo and Mazda are both doing it right at the moment. The new XC90 is one of my favorite SUV designs ever, and there's nothing in Mazda's lineup that I dislike at the moment. (Okay, I'm lukewarm on the new Miata).

Nissan, on the other hand, needs to fire...pretty much their entire design staff. That goes for the Infiniti folks too, though for different reasons...Nissans are ugly and Infinitis are forgettable.

The Lexus spindle annoys me, about as much as the Acura can opener did.

Cadillac and Audi both seem to have reached the point where they may have taken their current design language about as far as it can go. I like both, they produce attractive cars, but their new designs are too hard to tell apart from their older designs. It's a less severe version of the problem Jaguar faced after the "traditional" XJ shape became so iconic they were afraid to touch it.

4/3/2016 8:23:59 PM

Volvo, Audi (for cohesion amongst models, but not boundary-pushing), Mazda (for economy cars)

Tesla's almost got it right, but fuck their nose/lack of grill is a fucking eyesore.


I agree 100% on Nissan/Infiniti being the worst. Their cars all look like lumpy, misshapen turds.

[Edited on April 4, 2016 at 6:18 PM. Reason : .]

4/4/2016 6:17:44 PM

On the civic... I, personally love the new sedan look. HOWEVER, it looks nothing like a civic should look. it looks like a heavy mid sized car not a lightweight plane compact car.

Audis look good but to be honest i hate the whole uniform design language where nothing really changes from the a4 to the a8 other then sheer dimensions.

I agree mazda is killing it.

If you don't fall into the whiney crowd saying lincoln is ripping off a Bentley design crossed with audi i think the new lincolns look good. I will reiterate if they ever make an S550 based lincoln 4 door which they entirely should do i will own that car.... Especially if it looks anything like the new mkz



make something that looks like this compete with the CTS-V and i'm sold buddy....

4/5/2016 8:05:13 AM

^I thought that was the new Continental.

Also it's FWD based so it'll never compete with a CTS-V.

4/5/2016 8:23:52 AM

Read son... READ!...

*S550 based* aka 2015+ mustang based.

and yes speaking of uniform design language.



This is the conti...a bigger slightly more emblished mkz also FWD



[Edited on April 5, 2016 at 8:28 AM. Reason : .]

4/5/2016 8:26:53 AM

I'm liking the new Continental quite a bit, and that new corporate nose also works quite well on the MKZ. IMO it looks kind of stupid on the Navigator though, or maybe it's just that the rest of the Navigator looks interchangeable with one from ten years ago.

Basically Lincoln needs to get serious and produce something RWD though. They're really the only luxury manufacturer who is FWD-only, unless you count Volvo (who doesn't slot neatly into the traditional luxury playing field anyway). Even if they're waving the white flag on the sports sedan market (a mistake IMO) and claiming to be the company of "traditonal" American luxury, they still need something that looks and feels like a flagship. The Conti might be very competent, but a flagship it's not. The Mustang platform is the only RWD passenger car platform that Ford has at the moment, but it's not sized right--I think they need to spend the cash, use the S550 as a starting point, and build a new Lincoln flagship that doesn't share with any other Ford (which would be the first time since the suicide-door Continental, if I'm not mistaken).

4/6/2016 12:17:03 AM