kanaric wrote: Why is every car exempt from the criticism aside from the WRX?
IMO it's because every car Subaru built for so long was so homely that now, even when they build something that's mediocre, it looks good by comparison. Historically, they did a great job of managing appearance expectations to the low end of the scale.
Trans_Maro wrote: I love 80's Japanese cars but I think this was the only tool the designers could afford:
wvumtnbkr wrote: Also... The 80s were awesome. Especially 80s wheels.
You don't need much more for clean and simple....
Trends come and trends go. The current one will be replaced sooner or later. And could be so bad we wax nostalgic for the current styles.
what I find unusual about the latest Trends in Japanese styling.. is all the articles I have read over the years about how the Japanese do not usually like big grills. It is more a cultural thing, but if you look at a car's headlights as being it's eyes and the grill as the mouth, up until recently the "mouth' was subdued so as not to look too aggressive. Now the new cars almost seem to be frothing at the grill
Also...
The 80s were awesome. Especially 80s wheels.
You don't need much more for clean and simple....
Yep. Clean and simple... But that is not what this thread is about is it?
noddaz wrote:
an Audi... Clean and Simple........
LOL! He was talking about the lines, not the mechanicals.
Clean and simple....
[URL=http://s937.photobucket.com/user/MichaelYount/media/0701_z1968_datsun_510corner_zps118271c1.jpg.html]
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Clean and simple
Japan had the coolest looking 80's cars. I'm still waiting for the return of pop-up headlights.
This was the first new car I ever bought, about a year out of college. I loved the look, but not the 68 hp. I sold it for a GLH Turbo and doubled the horsepower.
MichaelYount wrote: Clean and simple.... [URL=http://s937.photobucket.com/user/MichaelYount/media/0701_z1968_datsun_510corner_zps118271c1.jpg.html]
Clean and simp...
wait...
Still cleaner and simpler than most of whats coming out of the island right now...
4cylndrfury wrote: Still cleaner and simpler than most of whats coming out of the island right now...
That's true and we probably won't ever see one on the street. Grill is not big enough 
Clean, simple... and still ugly. My dad had one of these one year only Sapporos with Dodge labels back in 1980. It smelled a little like Mothra inside.
My dad bought one of these in 1978, not sure I'd call it clean or simple! 
My wife's new car. We cross shopped with the CRV, CX5, Edge, and whatever Hyundai is calling theirs. The Toyota was by far the best driving of the bunch. I don't think it's that bad looking either. Toyota may be on the way back!
Im actually thinking GM has thrown down the gauntlet so to speak with regards to cleanliness and simplicity of design these days, showing Japan how its done.
A turbo Cruze eco is likely going to replace the G20 as my personal courier sometime in the next year or 3. Im really liking some subtle exterior mods Im seeing online
The clean straight lines (among other things obviously) helped solidify the Terrain as our choice in crossovers when the missus needed a new steed.
I think both are pretty clean, and have a clear design "language"
It seems to me automotive styling has always the copy and make it bigger/bolder phenomenon. Look at tail-fins on US cars in the 50's. In 1949, Cadillac shows a car with small fins on the back. by 1959, the whole industry had jumped in and fins had grown to ridiculous proportions.
4cylndrfury wrote: Im actually thinking GM has thrown down the gauntlet so to speak with regards to cleanliness and simplicity of design these days, showing Japan how its done.
LOL - GM has been trying, unsuccessfully, for almost 50 years to compete with Japan (and lately Korea) and Europe (primarily VW) in building smaller cars. They're not any closer now than they've ever been. It's now more expeditious for them to list the vehicles they've sold that AREN'T being recalled. A matter of time before round 2 of bankruptcy/too big to fail in my opinion.
MichaelYount wrote: LOL - GM has been trying, unsuccessfully, for almost 50 years to compete with Japan (and lately Korea) and Europe (primarily VW) in building smaller cars. They're not any closer now than they've ever been.
So Vauxhall / Opel aren't part of GM and haven't been massively successful for decades making desirable small cars that sell in massive numbers? OK then.
MichaelYount wrote: It's now more expeditious for them to list the vehicles they've sold that AREN'T being recalled. A matter of time before round 2 of bankruptcy/too big to fail in my opinion.
So GM have the worst recall rate do they?
This is # of vehicles recalled Vs # of vehicles sold since 1980 through March this year.
Hyundai Motor Co: 9.9 million recalled/8.7 million sold; 1.15 recall rate.
Mitsubishi Motors North America: 5.3 million recalled/4.8 million sold; 1.09 recall rate.
Volkswagen of America: 10.2 million recalled/9.7 million sold; 1.06 recall rate.
Volvo Cars of North America: 3.3 million recalled/3.1 million sold; 1.05 recall rate.
Chrysler Group: 63.2 million recalled/63.2 million sold; 1.00 recall rate.
American Honda Motor Co: 31.1 million recalled/32.9 million sold; 0.94 recall rate.
Ford Motor Co: 97.0 million recalled/104.7 million sold; 0.93 recall rate.
BMW of North America: 5.1 million recalled/5.7 million sold; 0.90 recall rate.
Toyota Motor Corp: 38.6 million recalled/48.1 million sold; 0.80 recall rate.
Kia Motors: 3.7 million recalled/4.9 million sold; 0.77 recall rate.
Subaru of America: 4.3 million recalled/6.0 million sold; 0.73 recall rate.
Nissan North America: 19.1 million recalled/26.8 million sold; 0.71 recall rate.
General Motors: 99.3 million recalled/153.2 million sold; 0.65 recall rate.
Mazda Motor Corp: 5.2 million recalled/9.4 million sold; 0.55 recall rate.
Mercedes-Benz USA: 2.1 million recalled/5.2 million sold; 0.41 recall rate.
Don't let pesky facts get in the way of a good prejudice. Could it be that GM recalls more cars than anyone else because, oh, I don't know they SELL MORE CARS THAN ANYONE ELSE?
Source Forbes
MichaelYount wrote:4cylndrfury wrote: I like GM's visual designs of lateLOL - GM is teh sux. I know you werent talking about their mechanicals, but Im going to make some assumptions about their build quality, and rant about them, based solely on my personal prejudice, and the fact that the skylark I had in the early 90s broke down a lot...and then also make no comment on their visual designs....which is the entire point of this thread
Adrian_Thompson wrote:MichaelYount wrote: It's now more expeditious for them to list the vehicles they've sold that AREN'T being recalled. A matter of time before round 2 of bankruptcy/too big to fail in my opinion.So GM have the worst recall rate do they?
Your words, not mine. I simply said it would be more expeditious to list those they haven't recalled. Happens to be true for other companies as well. However, most of those others haven't been slowly going out of business for the last 45 years....that was the point of my comment. Read it again....slowly. GM could have reverse engineered other's small cars -- they don't even seem to be able to do that. ;) Four best selling cars in the US so far in '14 are Camry, Altima, Accord and Corolla. Yup - Japan is struggling.
Adrian_Thompson wrote:MichaelYount wrote: LOL - GM has been trying, unsuccessfully, for almost 50 years to compete with Japan (and lately Korea) and Europe (primarily VW) in building smaller cars. They're not any closer now than they've ever been.So Vauxhall / Opel aren't part of GM and haven't been massively successful for decades making desirable small cars that sell in massive numbers? OK then.
They haven't been successful in the U.S. And, despite Vauxhall/Opel's "massive success" (Opel being MAJORLY overhauled due to failures in Germany) over the decades, GM continues to slowly lose market share and shrink. They've only lasted this long because they were simply too big to die slowly. What blows my mind is that with 40 years "notice" they still haven't been able to do anything about it. Complacency-driven incompetence. It is undebatable.
Having spent considerable time in the new Cruise and Sonic I'd say GM is absolutely competitive these days. We were just in Monterey where my rental was a Cruise, Tim's was a Corolla. (both new, both undamaged) The Cruise was the better drive without question--- actually a good little car. I actually prefer the Cruise to the Civic or the Sentra too. I've also been impressed with the Sonic, although I wish they'd build an "SS" model with Fiesta ST levels of performance.
just my .02, but GM is making some pretty good machines these days......
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