I remember reading about this some weeks back. I saw one on the motorway today, it looked reasonable from behind but as I started to overtake it I noticed how strange it looked.

Subjectively, it reminded of some gas-mask wearing beast from Super Mario Bros. If you look at it objectively, the hood comes much too far back over the rear of the car, and the front end just does not look appropriate on a convertible. It looks a little similar in overall shape to the BMW 1 series.

It's so annoying that these days, in general, cars are being designed to look like battering-rams. I pity anyone who buys a new Peugeot, they've just slammed that hideous gaping grille on the front of the entire range, supposedly in order to make it look "meaner", WTF?

I really wouldn't know where to start looking if I wanted something better looking than the S; classic shapes like the RX-7, Nissan Sylvia etc. are my bag.

 

There are a few that live around me. They look rubbish in my opinion.

I saw my first 1 series coupe in the flesh yesterday. Looked like a Noddy car.

 

I quite like the 1 series coupe, however the convertible looks effing dreadful. The A3 cab looks pretty much the same as it imo.
I'm sure they will be very popular.

 

Although there are certain styling elements I detest in the 1 series, I think the 1 series saloon (is that word still allowed?) looks terrific.

The proportions are all right for once.

Maybe it's just coincidence that it's the same size as the "old" 3 series.

Also on the subject of new cars, I saw a Scirocco yesterday. Looked like the Max Power crew has got hold of a Golf from the front. And nothing special from any other angle.

Peugeots are just hideous.

 

It's because the saddoes that buy them want an aggressive-looking car.

Whereas the A6 has a sort of obviously FWD, Nazi-era Auto Union brutal elegance to it, the A3's a bit "ah bless; could only afford a Golf in a bodykit" thing going on.

As for the one series, that's simply an E30 trying too hard to not look like a three series, since they're so closely related. The three volume looks less Austin A30 than the hunchback. The convertible has the inappropriate roof sliced off. A pickup woould presumably lose the ugly arse, leaving only the Scooby-Doo head battering ram front to offend.

The only good looking car in the C segment seems to be the Mitsu Evo-stick, which has a sort of Harris Mann's Princess 18-22 thing going on. Very Sweeney era.

 

Some of it is related to the pedestrian safety regs. The bonnet line now has to be so high that the only way to acheive this is to have a high rise in the centre of the bonnet and consequently the massive radiator grille/open nose effect.

Park your S2000 up next to a new shape TT to see what I mean.

 

There's some truth in that, but it's stillan excuse for stylists to sop to people's vanities.

Kind of like having an Austin 1100 ADO16, whilst the neighbours have to have a Riley grille grafted on.

 

My reference would be a Van Den Plas grille on an Allegro.

 

That reached a new stage of stupidity, only possibly matched by the new Acuras.

Believe it or not, the original sketches for the Allegro were supposed to be more like the Mitsu mentioned heretofore and it might have looked OK.

Gradually the waistline & bonnet were raised to it wasn't wedge-shaped and then the panels went all fat & podgy. Sticking that Jag grille on was the last straw!

It's hard to beleive that no-one ever sparked up, took a lug, walked round the thing and said, "hang on chaps, have you actually SEEN what the hell we're doing here?"

 

The Allegro! aka The All Aggro!

It's more aerodynamic going backwards rather than forwards!

And was designed to compete with the Marina which was also manufactured by British Leyland!

You couldn't make it up!