Just thought it would be interesting to list the cars that seem to have just gotten it wrong in their new model designs.....where they once had a car that looked good and was on your wish list (could be back in high school, college or currently etc...) but then was re-designed and left you scratching your head and saying to yourself, "who the hell approved that design?".............. here go's. This is opnion based I know and sure some may disagree with my first wave of cars..... list your cars!!! some of these were not complete disasters by any means but just left me looking for more!

In no order

1. Ford Tauraus SHO, when younger loved the car but the new SHO just was not the same....

2. Toyota MR2, say what you want but this car especially in turbo was a cool machine, new ones just lost any interest I had in them.....

3. Chevy Impalla SS......crazy large funky 4dr but had some GO for a big cruiser..... the new impallas are terrible....

4. RX8, cool idea but still consider it as the newest RX7 and IMO not the same league as their early Turbo RX7's... missed the mark.

5. GTO, 400hp for 30K, that I like, and I do not "hate the car" by any means but still feel as if they missed the something here.....

6. Benz E series..... the newer ones look like a taurus from the rear. I loved the e55 a few years back but the newer e55's look good up front but IMO bad from the back! Wouldn't say I hate it but think they could have done better.....

7. Miata/MX-5, OK they say its not a miata but it is...... don't like this car period and think they could have done things better.....

9. FJ Cruiser - Hmmmmm, the FJ was a top off vehicle very much like a wrangler.... the new FJ is totally off the mark.... if the roof came off that would be a bit different but it doens't.....

10. ?

 

As for your #1, I'm assuming you mean the 97+ SHO. Ironically enough I was on YouTube listening to videos of a few of those last night, but yea it is weird to have a V8 (with pretty low power ratings) growl in that old soapbar-shaped Taurus. Pontiac totally one-upped Ford on that one. Ford totally folded on that car.

The Impala SS is the same sort of deal. You can't beat the 94-96 model, and the 2000+ one was a total let down if you were able to walk and chew gum at the same time.

The rest of your choices I'm not sure I agree with, but that's me. I would say there are car concepts that were total let downs. For example, I think in 2000 Buick did some concept 4-door Regal GNX that was such trite, unimaginative garbage I still can't believe they thought it was a good idea to call it "GNX". Some here would probably say the lastest incarnation of the NSX replacement was a total let down, but I don't agree personally...yet. The Lamborghini Cala of the mid-90s I think was total garbage too...very unimaginative.

 

1974 Ford Mustang II. Made me vomit a little when I saw 'em.

 

Gen3 taurus. The Gen 1 was the first bubble car and I thought that was cool. Gen2 cleaned up the design. Gen 3 was butt ugly.

996 porsche 911. Ameoba headlights FTL!

 

I had a 91 turbo, best car I have ever owned hands down. Really looked forward to the Spyder but Toyota missed the mark by not putting the 2zz Celica GTS engine in it. (and instead let Lotus put it into the Elise) Cars with that swap do mid 5 second sixties and get mid thirties highway milage. Even with the dubious styling, if it came from the factory that way they would have sold at least twice as many, but Toyota was worried about losing sales of the Celica which was on its way down the toilet anyway.

I plan to take up a cheap project car in the next few years and will either do the Spyder 2zz swap, or the MP62 Hotside Miata for a third car.

 

1994-1997 Honda Accord - good car, bad design change (looks alone). They corrected the looks in the 6th gen, then kind of messed it up again in the 7th gen (MMC did help a lot), then fixed it for the new 8th gen.

2001-2005 Honda Civic - good economy but poor looks, boring design, silly Si model (stock), very bland overall. Again, the following generation fixed that.

Modern BMWs - the old ones were so classy looking, very sleek and elegant without this bulbous, funky-sided look of the new ones. The 5-Series and 7-Series were especially bad, though they can look pretty good at times.

 

Wow, some good ones here. I pretty much agree with most of them so far.

 

Not all the early land cruiser FJs had removable tops either. And to those that understand automotive design, the newest C-class is pretty damn nice.

 

Mustangs.

Back in high school we all died to drive a 5.0 with Vanella Ice... Then that crap mobile came out after it for the next 2 generations. However, the new Mustang design could be classified under the "much better" category.


Ohhh "to punish and enslave" gets me wet.

 

NSX FTW! No wait, the design didn't really change in 2 decades, while Ferrari went from the 348 to 355 to 360 to 430.