it seems we seldom talk about car design in this forum.
think about how cars are the culmination of a spectacular array of various design studies..... within a car there is furniture, lighting, clocks, stereos, mirrors, storage, architecture, windows, etc........
cars are a veritable cornucopia of individual designs all fused into one cohesive package that you can dismiss or embrace at first site.
attached is a photo that demonstrates good automotive design in my opinion.... as well as an additional link to photos of cars that have redeeming design qualities in my humble opinion.
talks amongst yerselfs and discuss !
porsche 911
excellent example of design evolution.......
when it comes down to it the porsche 911 is the only car in production today that has direct lineage and continuous production back to its 1964 original.
in 2009 its basic platform is the same and the rear 6 cylinder engine and drive-train is largely intact....... the end product of 40+ years of refinement.
i for one think the current iteration of the 911 is pretty darn good. the only period where they lost their way was in 2000-2004 in my opinion.
there is only so much you can do to the 911 and still have it be a 911, and i think thats part of what make sit so cool. aesthetically, my favorite period was 1990-1993.
consider this....... since the 911 has been in continuous production largely in the same format for 40+ years, we are spared the naseauting retro re-do a'la the beetle, camaro, mustang, fiat 500 etc...........
yet another TIMELESS CLASSIC...
yet time to do something different. The Boxster, Cayman, Cayene, and the Pana-whatever are ALL derivatives of the 911. I agree that it is one of the only...well maybe THE only, car on the road that can even be traced to its former self. I don't have a problem with them continuing to make the 911 model, but to just adapt that model to create other models and call them "new" seem like a cop-out. ESPECIALLY with the incredible design heritage of Porsche.
Personally, i've ALWAYS loved the 928.
agreed......
the 911 should be evolved for the next 40 years as the 911, but they really need to stop using it as inspiration for cars like the panamera...... oh my thats an ugly car and it does a dis-service to the 911.
i think the only car company designing nice interesting cars is BMW, though this is changing with their recent introductions and the resignation of chris bangle.
All clichés aside ;0)...
I agree that BMW has really made its mark on many levels. I'm really glad to see Audi coming along the way they are, but there is DEFINITELY a BMW LINE on the new A4 down along the bottom of the car. Their (Audi's) LED's along the bottom of the headlamps also are a little Angel Eye-ish to me. Not a big fan of i-Drive, i find Audi's MMi to be a little more user-friendly.
But what's up with all the paddle shifters and push-button starters? DEFINITELY trend-of-the-month club winner!! Ferrari, ok, I get it, but MAZADA?!?
Grew up with an old Mercedes as the family car (which I just inherited) so have always been bent in that direction, drive Audi now (although it's getting a little long in the tooth and my wife thinks it's a lemon), but if I had my DRUTHERS...Aston baby, Aston.
Have always loved Defenders, but yeah, we can't get them here anymore, big surprise...
I like Porsches as much as anyone, but...
I like Porsches as much as anyone, but doesn't it seem unnecessarily restrictive [at best; at worst, it's just lazy] to maintain that link to the 45-year-old 901 design? I mean, look at the 1998-2004 996 (the "lost their way" car that Chewbacca mentioned): Porsche replaced the air-cooled engine with a water-cooled version and tried to cut costs by sharing body components with another car, but still insisted on trying to make the thing "look like a 911"... Which produced a car that to my eye looked more like a Nissan than a Porsche.
Since the 2005 redesign, the car looks better -- and it's technically impressive that Porsche have been able to keep reusing that old design as everything under it has changed again and again -- but how much longer can they keep doing that before the car starts to look as anachronistic as a Morgan?
Which, by the way, has been in continuous production with the same basic design for far longer than the 911. As has the Jeep, the VW Beetle, the Mini...
Oh, and another thing
I assume that the vehicle in the photo "that demonstrates good automotive design in my opinion" is the Gallardo, not the MP3. If that's true, I have only one thing to say: No one who's ever tried to see out of a Lambo could call it a "good" automotive design. The vision-blocking A-pillars and flying buttresses are inexcusable design flaws. In my opinion.
Interesting here how car...
Interesting here how car talk is gravitating toward the Porsche. It makes pretty good sense I guess on a design site. I was in the midwestern area of the United States - otherwise known as the Great Plains - in the mid 70s when I got my first driver's license - which in small Nebraska towns was issued at the age of 14, and called a school permit. Anybody who thought they were anybody had one.
And anybody who thought they were anybody also had what is now termed a 'muscle car', or was at least dreaming of one.
Technically, the first car I actually bought at sixteen was not one: a 1969 Grand Prix, HO (428 ci/390 hp). Most of my great car memories/sentimentalities are thanks to Pontiac. I inherited my sister's LeMans when I got my learner's permit, age 15, and my last great car was a 1966 GTO, which I owned for a couple years in college in the early 80s, before I became more import sensible.
But the 1969 Grand Prix, I believe, was my favorite, a DeLorean designed dream, with a way too long hood that gave real meaning to that old car term 'boat', but how else would you fit that engine underneath.
Thanks to a certain someone I knew during 11th grade, I am guessing my affection has something more to do with her than the Grand Prix, though not totally.
She was a sweet car, nonetheless.
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