Friday, December 2, 2022

Cookie-cutter cars...


I'm obliged to Phil at Bustednuckles for posting this image (clickit to biggit).



They all look just about the same, don't they?  That's the result of centralized government dictates about vehicle weight, fuel consumption, safety features, etc.  When the laws and regulations outline requirements to such nit-picking detail, designers at the auto companies have no choice but to design to meet them - and that means everything looks very, very similar.  It's gotten so bad that while driving, I no longer even bother to try to distinguish between the various makes and models.  They all look so alike that it's pointless.

I'd love to see an honest car advertisement where the manufacturer acknowledges, "Sure, we use a cookie-cutter design, just like everyone else in the industry.  Our engines are similar, their power and torque outputs are similar, the cars are similar dimensions.  Our only difference is half-a-second here or there in the acceleration parameters, and a different badge on the hood or trunk."  They wouldn't get anywhere, of course, and would probably go bankrupt . . . but it's the truth, isn't it?

I miss the old days, when cars were visually distinct and you could tell the make and model almost a mile away.  I guess that makes me an old fart, motoringly speaking.

Now to get into my own cookie-cutter SUV and go shopping . . .


*Sigh*


Peter


11 comments:

Jess said...

If you remove the manufacturer's emblems, you can drive a Mercedes at the price of a Chevrolet.

Rick T said...

The 2020 Explorer is a near-duplicate of the lower Mercedes..

ErisGuy said...

I see they all look like. Are they all equally durable?

John Ray said...

I thought it was just that I getting too old and senile to discern the difference between vehicles. Now I know better.

LEO to John: "Describe the vehicle the 7-ll robber left in."

John to LEO: "It had four wheels."

Peteforester said...

I'd rather drive the Chevy. I bought a Doge Intrepid with the Mercedes V6 in it. The engine started leaking oil from the rear main at 48K miles, and started burning oil soon after that!

...Remember when Mercedes cars lasted FOREVER? Those days a re LONG GONE! Sam goes for Volvo!

Amahl_Shukup said...

America lost its sense of style in the 1960s and never recovered it.

SiGraybeard said...

As someone over at Phil's place (I think!) said, if you put a lump of clay in a wind chamber and mold it for the required drag to meet highway mileage, those lumps all around the world coming out looking pretty much the same. Especially when you figure in all those things that have to be on that model: number of doors, hood, headlights and on and on.

The standards force it.

nick flandrey said...

The LAW forces it. Smaller back windows, side impact standards, fuel mileage, almost every aspect of the vehicle is regulated and the designs converge to the same "best" solution.

And the designers almost all went to ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena. There they are taught the same design techniques and style, so most of what results (within the reality of meeting the standards and required features) looks very similar.

Have you noticed too that the colors are all drab and muted? Look on the road, or in any parking lot. White, black, silver/grey, red, dark blue rarely, sometimes brown, occasionally on older cars, champagne. Any other color is likely to be an older car, or a re-paint. It's like the Simpsons episode where the kids were put in black and white uniforms. Drab cars for drab times. New housing has a similar palette. Almost everything going up around here is white/black/grey. There are still individuals making other choices but all the corporate and big developer stuff is very limited.

nick

Old NFO said...

SiG is correct, bean counters and wind tunnels now dominate 'style'... if there's any 'style' left...

1chota said...

Man I miss the 50's; when you could durn sure tell what make car it was.

LindaG said...

+1 to 1chota.

We saw this coming with what they did to NASCAR.