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I have a no closed minded people rule. Keeps it simple, too.
Ouch. Your ability to sum up people via the interwebs needs a little work but I have high hopes for your progress!
My mind was open to it at one time. However, I just can't wrap my head around the financials of it. Depreciation kills it for me. Car payments kills it for me. The thought of handing somebody $25,000+ in cash kills it for me (I don't think about what the payments are I think about the total cost of the purchase). The thought of writing a check to cover 6% sales tax on the new car. And of course the higher car insurance payments.
I have always had used cars. I also have the time, skills, garage, and the tools to fix and maintain my cars. So, the if I buy a new car with a warranty I won't dump money into repairs logic doesn't do much for me.
However, if Audi started importing the A6 wagon with a diesel / manual transmission I might have to break my rule
I think what many of us CAN agree on here is that a lot newish modern cars lack that emotional charge/attachment, or spark that one gets when they are very very excited about something. Almost giddy like when you were waiting so impatiently for your presents during Christmas time, and didn't know what to expect. They might look nice, but they don't really grab your attention or force you to break your neck like if you saw a super hot chick walking down the street.
This is how I feel when I see a new car. I honestly think that many of newer basic mid size sedans like the Sonata, Optima, even the Accord, are looking much more upscale and luxurious than mid-size cars ever did during the 90's-early 2000's.
Take the Chrysler 300 that came out in 2005. That thing was a hit, and looked awesome when it first came out. Nicknamed the "Baby Bentley" even though it didn't come even close to possibly being one. Never the less, the car was very attractive in a classic modern sense. This is a rarity though, the 300 is one modern car I always liked a lot and never get tired of.
But, there's nothing like seeing an awesomely huge 60's Cadillac floating down the road in pure elegance and style. There's no comparison. People WILL notice that car cruising on the freeway, not the new BMW X5 or Lexus 460, and the rest of the entire mid-size car segment you see every single day of your life on the roads.
The classics will always stand out much more than the new stuff IMO, not because the new stuff isn't stylish enough, but because the classics just had that extra something about them that made them so uniquely special that can't be replicated. It's possibly the look and feeling one gets seeing all that real chrome trim, and acres of real solid steel is a turn on. The solid feeling thunk of the doors, hood, and trunks and metal trim interiors, really felt like you were in a REAL car, not a big plastic toy machine.
The hard edges, creases, and lines were done much better on the older cars because the government back then didn't put such a ****load of rules and regulations on the automakers like they do now, the designers had all the freedom in world to do whatever they wanted, and this was/is the major difference in why all the new cars are so blandish and lack any sort of an emotional attachment, or truly amazing design. The majority are all "SAFE" looking cars, where the designers are not going far enough to differentiate their cars from one automaker to the next.
The blob shape is here to stay unfortunately due to fuel economy standards. The older stuff had character, and was simply cooler, period.
I also find the newer cars to be boring and lacking style, I always thought the vehicles from the mid/late 2000's looked a lot better yet they still have that new car look, I personally thought the last consistently good era of vehicles was the mid to late 1990's although I do find the vehicles of the late 2000's to be better looking than the early 2000's.
I personally find the 2005-11 Toyota Avalon to be the last great looking vehicle on the market.
The Smart Car.. LOL.. I don't care how Smart it is, I wouldn't buy one, and if I were to buy one, styling would not be the reason.. It also reminds me of those little pedal cars that were around when I was a little kid.
Ford Super Dutys are probably one of the most unchanged vehicles out there in many styling cues. Other than some grill and headlight changes, a LOT od the exterior is still the same from over 10 years ago. I love the subtle changes.
Don't get me wrong, there's some chevy features in their new trucks I can appreciate, but they are getting dangerously close to the "overstyling" point.
If you think about it, gm trucks have retro styling, the new trucks look like the 73-87s with the stacked headlights, the previous trucks look like the 88-95(98 for suv). Ford doesn't really do that. All of dodges trucks have had tall grills, and lowset headlights, since they dropped the Dseries bodystyle.
In terms of what I find interest in, domestic performance coupes, I notice the Hot Wheels/Mad Cartoonist look with oversized wheels, angry squint front end, chopped cupola, and indents along the generally oversized fuselage. I Cannot stand this look.
Even the new C7 for me has too much body excitement as the Japanese used to call the styling back in the 1980s. Endless Undulations here and there.
The matching front fasica among manufacturers ala BMW is not appropriate to American cars as they tend to lose their identity. Example being the Fusion/Taurus/S550 Mustang. And then that KIA/Hyundai/Maserati/etc look is tired now.
Prefer cleaner body styles with proportion between length, width and height. But I guess I am in the minority as folks rave about them. I like the Challenger but it really is large for a 2 door coupe. Not a fan of the 20" wheel rage among OEMs. So I trudge along with my obsolete high powered jelly bean.
The Challenger is hideous, I still say it looks like it jumped out the movie cars. I can't say I hate all new styling, it's mostly what's inside that I hate, such as giant dashboards, nearly foot thick door panels, massive center consoles. You know why a 73-87 Surburban has more interior room(ornlooks like it), because it's a slimmer interior compared to the gmt900 series, some of you already know my opinion on the tech.
Outside wise, most look nice, a few recent camrys look damn sexy, I don't like the urban friendly appearance of "SUVs," not a fan of the new stylinhs of bmws, landrovers, or jaguars. I love hot wheels, so I like the sporty look, and all that. Agressive looking cars, utillitarian looking trucks and suvs, like the silvarado, and Terrain.
The Challenger is hideous, I still say it looks like it jumped out the movie cars.
I love it and if it didn't hold it's value so well, I'd have loved to buy one when I got my Mustang. I especailly love the Plum Crazy R/T Classic, but now the SRT versions are killing it.
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I can't say I hate all new styling, it's mostly what's inside that I hate, such as giant dashboards, nearly foot thick door panels, massive center consoles. You know why a 73-87 Surburban has more interior room(ornlooks like it), because it's a slimmer interior compared to the gmt900 series, some of you already know my opinion on the tech.
In a lot of cases, the thickness is about safety with crush/crumple zones and padding so that cars can take getting hit from all sorts of odd angles and protect the occupants, due to federal regulations. SO you have to blame the government for that. I like it if it's well integrated, though.
And I prefer my GMT900 Suburban to the GMT400 dually I had, as well as the earlier trucks, EXCEPT it's easier to make a hot rod out of the earlier trucks, like my '79 Stepside.
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not a fan of the new stylinhs of bmws, landrovers, or jaguars.
And I love new Jags and Range Rovers, especially the F Type jag and the Range Rover Sport and Evoque. the F type is probably one of the prettiest cars in teh road today, and roundly accepted as such.
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The solid feeling thunk of the doors, hood, and trunks and metal trim interiors, really felt like you were in a REAL car, not a big plastic toy machine.
