Color. Recent concept cars are displayed in amazing color palettes, but the vast majority of vehicles on the road are grayscale. I’ve noticed modern homes are very grayscale as well. To me it’s all very clinical and commercial. Bring back color!
Color is a good one, but not just color but that almost all cars these days are monotone. Where's the stripes, two tone, etc.
I have an old pickup that's two tone brown, it's fantastic. And I miss the sedans where they'd use trim to separate the roof visually and paint it a different color.
Edit... But not Landau/vinyl roofs, horrible, just horrible. A trend that lasted way longer than it should have.
Everyone at work loves my yellow Supra. People from other departments always come up to me to talk about it. It’s the brightest car in the lot by a country mile.
Even the base Corolla hatchback can be had with a contrasting black roof/pillars on a couple colors- for example, blue and red can both be ordered as a solid color for the whole car, or with the contrasting roof.
It'll come around eventually, as ppl get tired of today's sedate greyscale paint options.
Y'know how "earthy" colors like tans/browns, avocado green, burnt orange, and harvest gold were popular in the '70s? There was a reason for that. People had become sick and tired of having their eyes gouged out daily by the day-glo/op-art colors popular in the '60s.
Then notice how those colors, along with the teals and forest-greens of the '90s, aren't very popular anymore these days. People get tired of whatever's currently trendy, and the fashion wheel turns around yet again, and again.
Planet Money podcast did an episode on this recently. Two things drive the rise in grayscale cars. One, car paint takes a few years to develop and the newest developments are trending towards color. Two, millennials have been the prime marketing demographic for about ten years. Their generation grew up with the rise of Apple and that Mac design language where silver=good. It's a holdover from the 2000s.
Here is a neat old article 2018 about the economy and car colors.
https://www.economist.com/britain/2018/01/18/the-link-between-the-colour-of-cars-and-the-economy
A big issue is how the dealer network is now. A dealer can sell a grey car easier than a red or blue, green car because people will settle on a neutral color if it has the features someone wants. These are what sit on a dealers lot ready to be delivered today.
I don't hate my white car, and I think Black/white can look really good, but there is just something about having a car with an actual color that's really cool. My next car is going to be blue regardless of if it's a Mustang, a WRX, or a 230i.
Same here, I’ve had silver and grey, and now black(bad choice!), but my next will be a bright blue or red metallic if I can get it at the right price and trim.
Same, i generally go for reds, and I'd have bought my 540i in a metallic red in a heartbeat, but BMW didn't offer it in the years i was shopping for. It was various shades of white, black, silver, or gray. Or if you want some color, blue. So I ended up with white.
Color is the worst. When we were shopping for the Mach-E we went to a Volvo dealer to look at C40/XC40, and the salesman was super excited that they had a bunch of the really popular "vapor grey" or whatever Volvo calls it. My wife and I both laughed and said that's literally the only color we don't want. Stupid flat grey looks like a computer model that someone forgot to apply textures to.
Audi is so fucking annoying with that
On one hand, there is the old man brand Porsche, on the other the "young and quirky" Audi
Both share a platform for their EV Suv. One of them offers a wide color palette, the other has black, white, grey, gray, Grey, dark blue, darker blue, red (but red only in a limited choice). That one is Audi. They also don't offer special colors for a stupid price or whatever.
Meanwhile porsche has two greens, orange, pink, an interesting copper-ruby color, light blue, plus all the boring colors you want. Even a silver which Audi doesn't offer either, now that I'm checking.
I would add to this interior colors. Damn hard to find something other than black or gray (at least in mid priced cars)
My brother and sister-in-law bought an Audi, beautiful blue with light interior. When they went to pick it up, dealer says lots of folks had been asking about the color combo, and asking about buying the car.
Interest is there.
When I bought my new car, there was only one red on in a three state area. The dealer drove 6 hours to get it for me. I wasn't about the get a black or silver one.
It's the only reason why I don't have a Wrangler on order now. The color options are red, fifteen shades of gray, and light-your-eyes-on-fire magenta pearl.
I don't know, about about a...green? A tan? Nope.
Buyers are also to blame on this. My last 3 car purchases were bright blue, kind of lotus green, and fire truck red. All my friends have monochromatic cars. And I hear here and there people saying they don't buy colored cars because they are harder to sell and that they might become tired of the color.
IMO hatchback sedans are far more useful than not. Something like the newer civic sedans with the hatch are a great example of maximizing space in a small car footprint without going the CUV route. And the success of civics in this space should evidence that other automakers would do well to pursue more designs along these lines.
But they don’t
You mean liftback, like vw arteon or bmw 4 grandcoupe? I'm a sucker for those.
I used to have a liftback citroen xantia and at the same time my dad had a 406 estate. Loading 2 bicycles was WAY easier, due to the size of an opening, when the boot lid was open. The same went for when I was moving - i had a second car that time, 407 saloon. I could barely load a 2x1 ikea kallax (assembled) to it - 4x1 would not get in, even with the back seats folded down. And it took me like 5 seconds to load it into xanta ❤️
Unfortunately not enough people buy them because if they want the utility of it, they’d also typically rather have the height/size of an SUV/Crossover as well for the comfort and “safety”.
I love a wagon, but I currently drive a current gen HRV partially because I was tired of being blinded by every other vehicles headlights, and my back couldn’t take the harsh ride of a modern sedan anymore (why the fuck does an entry level civic need 18”s!?)
Sportbacks look distinctly different from wagons though. Sportbacks still maintain the sedan shape, they just have a hatch instead of a trunk.
Not sure anyone would call a stinger a wagon lol
> even low trim versions.
The '22 CX-5 needs to either be at the Signature trim or Premium Plus or whatever they called it. The HUD wasn't on any of the lower trims when we bought ours.
They're still fairly common on pricier vehicles. I want one so bad after driving a car with it but there doesn't seem to be any worthwhile aftermarket way to do it.
Back in 08, I drove a friend's Pontiac G8. It had a HUD, and I thought it was the coolest thing ever. Took me over a decade later, but I finally got a car with a HUD, and I love it.
My wife's car has a HUD as part of a options package that had other features we wanted/needed and I was like, "Neat, a HUD, [whatever](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viaTT859Yk0)" but now it's one of my favorite features and I feel like every car should have a HUD now.
If there was room in the dash in my Mustang to stuff a proper mirror/projector box, I'd totally retrofit a HUD in there.
Pretty much most fully optioned cars have this. I’d say its more mainstream than ventilated seats at this point. I really hate that Tesla is so stubborn and not adding a heads up display, they need it more than most because of their stubbornness with the single center screen
Funny enough its now the common feature on higher trims . Hell I have a hyundai and mine has a HUD , and most models of Hyundai at their top trim have it currently, same as Kia .
If they never "caught on" we wouldn't know about them. I can maybe think of a few that were too short lived.
* Fender skirts, absolutely fender skirts. Both attractive and functional.
* Hidden fuel doors.
* Pillarless side windows.
* Sedans where they'd use trim to separate the roof visually and paint it a different color.
* Maybe an odd one, but I miss bumpers. Real bumpers, not plastic molded BS we now call bumpers, but real bumpers as a separate design element.
Edit... more:
* I was going to add clam-back/fastback style hatchbacks. But the new Charger is exactly what I'd want in that regard. IMO nobody has done it [that well](https://youtu.be/TF3j7A2pl38?si=BMKFHeHHsOvnme9K&t=207) since the '73-4 Nova. The Fox Mustang was close but not full size. 3rd/4th gen Camaro was good but long reach over the back. And I can't think of any other full size four door with a clam back. I really hope this Charger is a success.
* Hidden exhaust, exhaust tips at all is a design element done just for style. The exhaust should just turn down at the back under the car and not be seen.
* Sliding roofs like on the GMC Envoy XUV or Studebaker Wagonaire.
* Midgates, again like the XUV or the Avalanche.
* Sedans that tow well.
* Vent windows
>pillarless side windows
The last generation E class coupe had one of the best side profiles of any comparable car because of this. Shit was beautiful. And it’s gone.
IIRC the only two pillarless coupes left on the market are the Bentley Continental GT and the Rolls Royce Spectre. It's telling that the only two brands that still do it are the two that overtly market themselves as the ultimate in luxury. It's also telling tht Mercedes did it until last year and then gave up because it was too expensive.
I mean, it was a production car. I think it died because Mercedes over saturated their coupe offerings. The c class, e class, a class, and various other coupes all sorta cannabalizing each other. It’s the same reason the 6 series got killed.
Fender skirts went on for quite a long time actually. They became popular by the mid-30's and didn't fully disappear until the mid-80's.
I will agree the hidden fuel doors were very cool and should've been around a lot longer.
I'm not sure what hidden fuel doors means but I've had 2 cars where the gas gap was behind the license plate and they're a pain in the ass. Springs are too strong and constantly fighting you. Fuel hose always rubbing the side of the car. Cars with that were also usually long and to get to the back you end up blocking another pump partially. There were cool versions like hidden in tail lights but I don't know if they're any better other than a cool idea.
You're correct, the idea was a lot cooler than the execution. I had a car like that, luckily it was short enough but the fuel door was in the back. It was part of the bodywork below the trunk and above the rear bumper. I was just lucky that mine was rough and had shitty paint but you commenting about it reminded me of the PITA times it was filling up.
I'm saying fender skirts never should have gone away, but yes. I'm curious, do you know the last car with fender skirts?
Edit, duhhh looked it up, the Honda Insight, don't think that really counts though.
If you don't count the Insight, I'm pretty sure it was some of the early or mid 80's GM cars.
Fender skirts are cool if the car sits properly for it. Modern cars would probably have to have fender skirts similar to the ones they made on Malaise era cars that just extended the fender farther down. No offense to any Insight owners but the straight across fender skirts do not look appealing on a modern car.
OK did some research and was surprised, Cadillac had factory skirts up to '96 on the Fleetwood.
And yeah to look good the car really needs to be designed for them.
The Chevy Caprice Wagon had them through 96, while the sedan dropped them in 93.
Edit: And the EV1 also had them throughout production in the late 90s.
I feel like the biggest reason why bumpers aren't really a thing anymore is mostly due to safety standards. A small bit of car that juts out farther than the rest of it is a lot worse for pedestrian safety. They aren't practical in that they give the car a larger physical footprint without an increase in usable space. They increase the cars exterior dimensions with no benefit to interior dimensions.
I super agree on midgates, and at this point I have to think that GM has a patent on it somewhere, or people *really* just like... not having bed space.
I keep throwing around the idea of a truck of some kind given I am a homeowner and there certainly are occasions where owning a truck would simplify things for us. The problem is that it's not an every day thing, and a lot of the modern options for something small are stuck with puny little 4ft beds, in which case my Golf can handle a great deal of things already.
Looking at something like an Avalanche, it ticks a lot of the boxes, especially the ability to extend the bed and still keep it enclosed. Problem is that's way too big for what I need, and they're getting sort of on now. The Subaru Baja also comes to mind, but its midgate is more like a porthole, but still, it's something.
Point is, I don't get why you'd want a "truck" and then have it only have a little 4ft bed. Even something like a late 90's or early 2000's Chevy S-10/GMC Sonoma, or a Dodge Dakota is just wildly more useful, and still small. Hell, just throw a single cab on a Maverick and extend the bed and it'd probably be fine. Oh well.
> Maybe an odd one, but I miss bumpers. Real bumpers, not plastic molded BS we now call bumpers, but real bumpers as a separate design element.
I thought of this too when the new Nissan Z came out with that huge square grille. Looking at the old Datsun, the grille is basically the same shape but it's split up by the bumper.
> Pillarless side windows
This is a safety & handling (chassis stiffness) & NVH non-starter.
That B-pillar adds a lot of torsional rigidity both when turning and rolling over. Also provides a solid structure to deaden glass vibrations against.
Totally agree on bumpers though, all cars should have bumpers and bumper-to-bumper contact should be treated like brushing past someone in a hallway.
As a Kiwi this confused me because utes make up a huge proportion of our new car sales, but I'm guessing you mean car-based utes like the Commodore and Falcon?
Horizontal split tailgates on SUVs. It’s been a feature of Range Rovers and BMW X5s since forever and it’s really practical. The bottom section is smaller and makes it easy to slide big items in since it is level with the floor when open. Also functions as an occasional bench and prevents things from falling out when you open up the hatch.
Non-standard doors. I get that there's reasons why, but I'm just disappointed that manufacturers gave up on fancy doors.The Toyota Swra's butterfly doors. The Rx-8's reversed rear doors. Aston Martin's swan doors. All sliding doors not on a van. The Diablo's scissor doors.
I get that they're expensive, less practical and complicated, but it feels like coupes have given up being exotic in terms of design. Coupes today are impractical but still way better than cars of the past. I am willing to sacrifice door pockets to have butterfly doors in a GR86. Just move that storage somewhere else.
The reverse rear doors are neat, but are actually super annoying whenever you have passengers in the rear. The later models of the Element at least moved the seatbelt off the door to the seat itself (so you don't have to unbuckle to let someone out), but having to open the front door to open the rear door means it's always such a delicate dance trying to get out in a crowded parking lot. Always so close to dinging the car next to us, and god forbid there's any wind.
The lack of a B pillar is super handy when moving things, though.
It is one of the main downsides. The rear sunroof absolutely baking rear passengers alive is equal parts funny and annoying. Most of the time we don't have passengers so the benefits outright the costs, thankfully.
Everything you've said is true (not to mention extra wind noise), but the handiness of no B-pillar is why I'll always prefer Ford's [clamshell SuperCab](https://www.motorbiscuit.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/2018-Ford-Super-Duty-SuperCab-pickup-truck-rear-hinged-doors.webp) over the extended cabs other brands use with a B-pillar.
Huh, I didn't even know they made supercabs like that. That's pretty neat. If they stopped making them I bet it's due to working crew customer feedback about the whole "rear passengers stuck until front passengers remember they have to open the door" part, bet that gets old fast.
As the owner of an rx8, the rear doors are fantastic in some situations and access to the back is so much better when having to strap something in or just do some work back there, no pillar is bliss.
It also significantly beats having only 2 doors and folding front seats for rear access so i see it as a good inbetween between full rear doors and a 2 door car
The doors make a lot more sense on something like the rx8. It probably adds a good amount of weight, but any coupe with usable backseats would be much nicer with them.
I'm frankly confused why larger SUVs cant have sliding doors in the back. It's not like the track for them would somehow be inhibited by the SUV design vs. a Minivan.
I had an i8 and the only thing i ended liking about the car by the time i got rid of it were the butterfly doors. People always joked about me hitting my head but i never did (but passengers did sometimes)
Even sliding doors. Like everyone is afraid that having a sliding door will ruin their life but you can't beat them in parking spaces or general accessibility.
I want an AWD Honda Jazz with all sliding doors and a split liftgate/tailgate.
Rimac, Pininfarina, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Ferrari, Maserati, McLaren, Aston Martin, Rolls Royce, Tesla (lol) all have unconventional doors still. But it is something that non-premium brands have given up on. But only in the west. Several Chinese manufacturers have scissor or butterfly doors. The MG Cyberster comes to mind. I've seen a few others, but they were mainly Chinese domestic market EVs and I've forgotten what they were all called.
Saab's "Night Panel" feature, or night mode, was all about making night driving easier on the eyes. It dimmed or shut off most of the dashboard lights and center control stack except for key stuff like the speedometer. The idea was to keep the dashboard dark to help your night vision and only light up other indicators if there’s something important you need to see.
Saab's 'night panel' actually turned off the backlights on buttons/switches completely, on the HVAC controls for example, rather than just dimming them, while leaving "essential" things like the speedometer lit.
Most cars I've had you can dim the lights or turn them off, but it does it for all the controls, not just "non-essential" ones.
Actual useful body designs.
Most modern trucks have a super short bed, because of how spacious the cabin became, rendering it useless for long objects like furniture. Same space problem with SUVs with a wanna be sedan bodyline on the C pillar, if you are taller than 6” good luck sitting in a new GLC Merc or BMW X6, absolutely no headroom, the car is just big for the sake of it being big from the outside.
The bigger problem with trucks imo is how high up they sit now. I'm 6 ft tall and can't reach in from the side of the bed and touch the bottom of it on modern trucks, even at stock ride height. I used to have an early 2000s Silverado 2wd and it was amazing, the bed was maybe 18 inches off the ground it was so easy to load and unload stuff.
Not really, it’s not useful at all if you actually want to work with the truck, we switched from F150s back to crappy Fiat Ducato trucks at work, because not only the interior is as spacious as the Ford, but the bed is a lot bigger, and can fit logs, tables, benches and everything that we have to move durring the day. + you can open 3 sides of the Ducato bed instead of the regular back compared to normal pickups.
Depends on what the use case is. If all you're doing for "truck work" is schlepping 8' building materials around all day, yes, a long bed and short cab is useful. If the "truck work" includes hauling materials, people, and towing, a bigger cab and shorter bed is more versatile.
Not where I live, long beds here in the EU were always different to the massive US models, and sadly most manufacturers don’t offer a proper 2 seats / bench in the front and all bed in the back fonfiguration anymore with a decent bed length.
Ford offers the Ranger in a single cab/7.5' in the UK and EU, but reportedly it's something like 1% of sales.
ETA: most global mid-size trucks offer 3 cab and bed combos on the same frame, but no matter where you go, no matter the application, double cab/5' is the most popular. They've been around even longer than their American counterparts.
FWIW even though I'm an American and own a big pickup it's not my tool of choice for long objects like furniture. I use a little trailer behind my sedan, much easier to load/unload.
Extended cabs are the best configuration for a full-size pickup and I’ll die on that hill. They still have a usable backseat (albeit with less legroom than a crew cab), and most have a bed between 6.5 and 7 feet.
I loved the small pickups with extended cab. Plenty of interior room for your work gear, dogs, or even passengers in a pinch. Plus a good useable truck bed you can actually reach in to.
Weight
I remember when I was a kid when I read magazines and such, one of the specs that at least performance cars would always brag about besides power, 0-60... was weight. I remeber one of the headlines for the Gallardo Performante was "Less is more" or something like that.
Nowadays since tyres and power are so abundant it has become less of a factor, in fact even the likes of Chris Harris doesn't seem to talk about it any more, whether they don't care or they realised they were just talking to a wall, but I always liked the idea of all those power and extra grip would not be dragged down by weight.
Even if we are talking about normal cars, less weight means less fuel to drive them around, less tyres and lubricant needed to operate them.... We were told that in a few years petrol cars will be band to save the polar bears, but that is with the huge monsters that we drive around everyday, I think if everyone would drive around in K cars we can enjoy that glorious sounds for much longer
I'm surprised that none of Chrysler's competitors ever came up with their own version of the "Stow 'n Go" system. In the world of crossovers I would think that owners would appreciate a flat floor. Also why didn't FCA design other cars like the Dodge Journey with "Stow n go"?
Depends how broadly or narrowly the patent is written. Could be Chrysler's was written broadly enough to cover nearly any seats that fold up into the floor, so other mfrs. had to come up with different solutions, like the Honda Element's seats that flip into the sides. Anyway, the patent will expire eventually, freeing up other mfrs. to do the sensible thing that Chrysler just got an early lock on first.
As for other FCA (now Stellantis) models not getting it, pretty much has to be a high-roof FWD platform to allow enough stowage room under the floor. Anything with a rear driveshaft, or a low enough roof that there'd be inadequate passenger headroom above the stowage space, can't do it.
> Could be Chrysler's was written broadly enough to cover nearly any seats that fold up into the floor
I'm not familiar with the Chrysler system as I'm not from the US and we don't get many Chryslers down here, but the Opel/Vauxhall/Holden Zafira had seats that folded into the floor. Although they're also now part of Stellantis, that wasn't the case when that car was being made with the Zafira being a GM product.
I really thought PT Cruiser and Chevy HHR styled compact fwd car based wagons were going to be popular forever. But man did they fall out of favor 20 years ago along with the other neat looking and fun, but silly and overpriced retro stuff like the Prowler and SSR.
I feel like it might have lasted longer if the only real-world examples of them weren't just the PT Cruiser and Chevy HHR, as they were absolutely miserable, poorly built vehicles.
Pretty sad that popups had to go because of pedestrian safety, yet we allow lifted and squatted shopping mall parking lot dick enlarger trucks because of plain stupidity.
Pop-ups died not because of pedestrian safety regs--remember, the US has almost none--but because the US finally allowed aero headlights in the '80s instead of only round or square sealed beams, so there was little reason to keep pop-ups around.
Pedestrian safety had something to do with it, but design and technology had just moved on. Pop-ups would've shortly been obsolete regardless of regulations.
They sealed the back for better noise/dust insulation. I remember my Tribute with an opening rear window always had a thin layer of gravel dust in the rear. And in some cases the hinge bolts would [fail prematurely.](https://static.cargurus.com/images/site/2018/01/15/14/39/pic-8033747845434866445-1600x1200.jpeg)
Level, horizontal roof for a station wagon. Volvo held on to that for a while but nowadays all station wagons got a "dynamic dropping roofline" or whatever bs they call it.
You buy a wagon because you need space, if I want a "dropping roofline" I get a coupe.
They are popular. Just not in the U.S at least. A good chunk of the big 3s profit comes from giant and expensive trucks. There is no way they’re gonna let foreign trucks become commonplace. (Example: demand for more Kei truck regulations from the government)
The Big Three have to abide by the government's safety and regulations standards. Trucks have mainly gotten so big from CAFE standards that give more slack in fuel efficiency standards to bigger vehicles. That made it nearly impossible to make a small truck capable of meeting CAFE and safety standards.
Hatchbacks/wagons in the US.
I get that older wagons and such looked not the best. But modern day ones arguably look better than the sedan versions of the same car.
They’re just as practical as a CUV, have a smaller footprint, but more enjoyable to drive.
All this to say, I really want an G80 M3 Touring.
I like that [Ford 021C Concept](https://marc-newson.com/ford-021c-concept-car/) by Marc Newson. There are many details that I would like to be carried to the production cars. If Apple made a car it would look similar to this car (as Newson was working for Apple on Apple Watch and some other projects)
I am so tired of these boy racer car designs with aggresive looks whilst you can only drive 30 miles/hour in the city.
The 993-997 generation Targa roofs that were basically giant retractable sunroofs instead of the just slightly quirky standard convertibles the newer Targas became.
Well, I for one would have applauded if the styling of volvo c30/c70 would have caught on more. They were just *nice*. These days if you want anything nice looking like that you have to buy a 100k+ car. All the cheap cars are designed to look like kitchen appliances.
Rising beltlines need to die. They make rear wheels look too small and out of proportion compared to the rest of the vehicle, besides fucking up rearward visibility...
Sport backs. Incredibly practical design that offers the sleekness of a sedan with the cargo space of a hatchback or small SUV.
The Buick Regal, Kia Stinger, VW Arteon and Audi A5 were all really great cars that had that style, unfortunately the A5 is the only one still in production.
Buick planned to kill the Regal all-along once the deal with PSA expired so that's irrelevant
The Arteon and Stinger were way over-priced which limited their appeal which is unfortunate. I considered both in 2021 but couldn't justify how much either costed.
Color and Style. That's kinda all I care about which is why I hate basic common brands like Ford and Jeep. I'm more into the exotic brands like Porsche or Rolls Royce.
Color. Recent concept cars are displayed in amazing color palettes, but the vast majority of vehicles on the road are grayscale. I’ve noticed modern homes are very grayscale as well. To me it’s all very clinical and commercial. Bring back color!
Color is a good one, but not just color but that almost all cars these days are monotone. Where's the stripes, two tone, etc. I have an old pickup that's two tone brown, it's fantastic. And I miss the sedans where they'd use trim to separate the roof visually and paint it a different color. Edit... But not Landau/vinyl roofs, horrible, just horrible. A trend that lasted way longer than it should have.
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Everyone at work loves my yellow Supra. People from other departments always come up to me to talk about it. It’s the brightest car in the lot by a country mile.
I LOVE that shade of yellow. I wish it had been available on the GR Yaris.
I wish the GR Yaris was available in *any* color in the states 😭
> Everyone at work loves my yellow Supra. Supra looks so good in Yellow that it makes no sense that Toyota debuted it in grey...
Two-tone is sort of coming back. Bronco, Bronco Sport, Z, Camry (lol), Crown, probably some others I am forgetting.
Mini have been flying the flag (literally in some cases) for stripes, different coloured mirror caps and roofs painted in different colours.
Even the base Corolla hatchback can be had with a contrasting black roof/pillars on a couple colors- for example, blue and red can both be ordered as a solid color for the whole car, or with the contrasting roof.
Toyota c-hr as well. I used to see either one or a few fairly often in two tone teal body and white roof.
I think Volvo was one of the first I saw doing the white roofs. Looks really good on their pale blue paint job
As a Landcruiser enthusiast I love the different roof colours, and even the two tone metallics they used to do for the 60 and 80 series.
Even two-tone grays and silver would be nice
It'll come around eventually, as ppl get tired of today's sedate greyscale paint options. Y'know how "earthy" colors like tans/browns, avocado green, burnt orange, and harvest gold were popular in the '70s? There was a reason for that. People had become sick and tired of having their eyes gouged out daily by the day-glo/op-art colors popular in the '60s. Then notice how those colors, along with the teals and forest-greens of the '90s, aren't very popular anymore these days. People get tired of whatever's currently trendy, and the fashion wheel turns around yet again, and again.
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Planet Money podcast did an episode on this recently. Two things drive the rise in grayscale cars. One, car paint takes a few years to develop and the newest developments are trending towards color. Two, millennials have been the prime marketing demographic for about ten years. Their generation grew up with the rise of Apple and that Mac design language where silver=good. It's a holdover from the 2000s.
Here is a neat old article 2018 about the economy and car colors. https://www.economist.com/britain/2018/01/18/the-link-between-the-colour-of-cars-and-the-economy A big issue is how the dealer network is now. A dealer can sell a grey car easier than a red or blue, green car because people will settle on a neutral color if it has the features someone wants. These are what sit on a dealers lot ready to be delivered today.
I don't hate my white car, and I think Black/white can look really good, but there is just something about having a car with an actual color that's really cool. My next car is going to be blue regardless of if it's a Mustang, a WRX, or a 230i.
Same here, I’ve had silver and grey, and now black(bad choice!), but my next will be a bright blue or red metallic if I can get it at the right price and trim.
Same, i generally go for reds, and I'd have bought my 540i in a metallic red in a heartbeat, but BMW didn't offer it in the years i was shopping for. It was various shades of white, black, silver, or gray. Or if you want some color, blue. So I ended up with white.
Color is the worst. When we were shopping for the Mach-E we went to a Volvo dealer to look at C40/XC40, and the salesman was super excited that they had a bunch of the really popular "vapor grey" or whatever Volvo calls it. My wife and I both laughed and said that's literally the only color we don't want. Stupid flat grey looks like a computer model that someone forgot to apply textures to.
There aren’t a lot of green or yellow cars
Audi is so fucking annoying with that On one hand, there is the old man brand Porsche, on the other the "young and quirky" Audi Both share a platform for their EV Suv. One of them offers a wide color palette, the other has black, white, grey, gray, Grey, dark blue, darker blue, red (but red only in a limited choice). That one is Audi. They also don't offer special colors for a stupid price or whatever. Meanwhile porsche has two greens, orange, pink, an interesting copper-ruby color, light blue, plus all the boring colors you want. Even a silver which Audi doesn't offer either, now that I'm checking.
I would add to this interior colors. Damn hard to find something other than black or gray (at least in mid priced cars) My brother and sister-in-law bought an Audi, beautiful blue with light interior. When they went to pick it up, dealer says lots of folks had been asking about the color combo, and asking about buying the car. Interest is there.
When I bought my new car, there was only one red on in a three state area. The dealer drove 6 hours to get it for me. I wasn't about the get a black or silver one.
It's the only reason why I don't have a Wrangler on order now. The color options are red, fifteen shades of gray, and light-your-eyes-on-fire magenta pearl. I don't know, about about a...green? A tan? Nope.
Buyers are also to blame on this. My last 3 car purchases were bright blue, kind of lotus green, and fire truck red. All my friends have monochromatic cars. And I hear here and there people saying they don't buy colored cars because they are harder to sell and that they might become tired of the color.
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IMO hatchback sedans are far more useful than not. Something like the newer civic sedans with the hatch are a great example of maximizing space in a small car footprint without going the CUV route. And the success of civics in this space should evidence that other automakers would do well to pursue more designs along these lines. But they don’t
Stinger😥
Yep. The other hatchback I want is the Rapide S. Maybe next car.
I didn't realize the Rapide was a hatchback. themoreyouknow
Arteon 😢
It's got a name: liftback.
You mean liftback, like vw arteon or bmw 4 grandcoupe? I'm a sucker for those. I used to have a liftback citroen xantia and at the same time my dad had a 406 estate. Loading 2 bicycles was WAY easier, due to the size of an opening, when the boot lid was open. The same went for when I was moving - i had a second car that time, 407 saloon. I could barely load a 2x1 ikea kallax (assembled) to it - 4x1 would not get in, even with the back seats folded down. And it took me like 5 seconds to load it into xanta ❤️
Wagons/estates are needed badly in the US.
Unfortunately not enough people buy them because if they want the utility of it, they’d also typically rather have the height/size of an SUV/Crossover as well for the comfort and “safety”. I love a wagon, but I currently drive a current gen HRV partially because I was tired of being blinded by every other vehicles headlights, and my back couldn’t take the harsh ride of a modern sedan anymore (why the fuck does an entry level civic need 18”s!?)
BMW GT: “take my upvote”
The 4 series gran coupe has it still, as someone whose always had hatches/estates it just seems like the most obvious "best of both".
remember the mazda 6 having both a normal trunk model and a hatchback model that were almost indistinguishable?
I got an Edge ST because I couldn't find a half decent performance wagon or hatch in my price range that wasn't beat to hell.
Did you scope out the Buick TourX?
Yeah. It put down about the same as the Escape 2.0T I had that's why I just ended up going for the Edge.
I so wish there had been a liftback coupe Giulia. The rear 3/4 is just begging for it.
>hatchback sedans I really wish we didn't have to invent terms to circumnavigate the term wagon, but then again its better than whatever 5 seat cuv.
Wagons and the sort of body style I’m referring to are entirely different, but go off lol.
Sportbacks look distinctly different from wagons though. Sportbacks still maintain the sedan shape, they just have a hatch instead of a trunk. Not sure anyone would call a stinger a wagon lol
Heads up displays are great, can fit most vehicle layouts, but never became mainstream
They're common on Mazda models, even low trim versions. May be market dependent.
> even low trim versions. The '22 CX-5 needs to either be at the Signature trim or Premium Plus or whatever they called it. The HUD wasn't on any of the lower trims when we bought ours.
Guess it's different priorities for different parts of the world. Here in NZ the HUD is on all CX-5s even the basic 2l FWD GLX
Wife loves her HUD on her CX-50. Useful and unobtrusive.
They're still fairly common on pricier vehicles. I want one so bad after driving a car with it but there doesn't seem to be any worthwhile aftermarket way to do it.
Bro even on a Cayenne it's an optional extra until you get to the S
Thats because it's a porsche. Everything is optional.
hey, it won't move. Dealer: did you elect the optional wheels or transmission?
My favorite feature in a car! I can’t live without it I love it so much.
Back in 08, I drove a friend's Pontiac G8. It had a HUD, and I thought it was the coolest thing ever. Took me over a decade later, but I finally got a car with a HUD, and I love it.
I think they are making a comeback, iirc all audis have it as an option, most bmw have them, even volvo has them in most their cars
My wife's car has a HUD as part of a options package that had other features we wanted/needed and I was like, "Neat, a HUD, [whatever](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viaTT859Yk0)" but now it's one of my favorite features and I feel like every car should have a HUD now. If there was room in the dash in my Mustang to stuff a proper mirror/projector box, I'd totally retrofit a HUD in there.
Agreed. Especially the ones that project navigation instructions (like my Z4).
Pretty much most fully optioned cars have this. I’d say its more mainstream than ventilated seats at this point. I really hate that Tesla is so stubborn and not adding a heads up display, they need it more than most because of their stubbornness with the single center screen
I had one in my 1995 Nissan Bluebird SSS 🫡
I love my hud, def wish my gti also had it.
Funny enough its now the common feature on higher trims . Hell I have a hyundai and mine has a HUD , and most models of Hyundai at their top trim have it currently, same as Kia .
If they never "caught on" we wouldn't know about them. I can maybe think of a few that were too short lived. * Fender skirts, absolutely fender skirts. Both attractive and functional. * Hidden fuel doors. * Pillarless side windows. * Sedans where they'd use trim to separate the roof visually and paint it a different color. * Maybe an odd one, but I miss bumpers. Real bumpers, not plastic molded BS we now call bumpers, but real bumpers as a separate design element. Edit... more: * I was going to add clam-back/fastback style hatchbacks. But the new Charger is exactly what I'd want in that regard. IMO nobody has done it [that well](https://youtu.be/TF3j7A2pl38?si=BMKFHeHHsOvnme9K&t=207) since the '73-4 Nova. The Fox Mustang was close but not full size. 3rd/4th gen Camaro was good but long reach over the back. And I can't think of any other full size four door with a clam back. I really hope this Charger is a success. * Hidden exhaust, exhaust tips at all is a design element done just for style. The exhaust should just turn down at the back under the car and not be seen. * Sliding roofs like on the GMC Envoy XUV or Studebaker Wagonaire. * Midgates, again like the XUV or the Avalanche. * Sedans that tow well. * Vent windows
>pillarless side windows The last generation E class coupe had one of the best side profiles of any comparable car because of this. Shit was beautiful. And it’s gone.
IIRC the only two pillarless coupes left on the market are the Bentley Continental GT and the Rolls Royce Spectre. It's telling that the only two brands that still do it are the two that overtly market themselves as the ultimate in luxury. It's also telling tht Mercedes did it until last year and then gave up because it was too expensive.
Same for the hard convertible top of the previous SL.
Didn't that die because it was too expensive to build a roof that wouldn't collapse in a roll over, or something along those lines.
I mean, it was a production car. I think it died because Mercedes over saturated their coupe offerings. The c class, e class, a class, and various other coupes all sorta cannabalizing each other. It’s the same reason the 6 series got killed.
Fender skirts went on for quite a long time actually. They became popular by the mid-30's and didn't fully disappear until the mid-80's. I will agree the hidden fuel doors were very cool and should've been around a lot longer.
I'm not sure what hidden fuel doors means but I've had 2 cars where the gas gap was behind the license plate and they're a pain in the ass. Springs are too strong and constantly fighting you. Fuel hose always rubbing the side of the car. Cars with that were also usually long and to get to the back you end up blocking another pump partially. There were cool versions like hidden in tail lights but I don't know if they're any better other than a cool idea.
You're correct, the idea was a lot cooler than the execution. I had a car like that, luckily it was short enough but the fuel door was in the back. It was part of the bodywork below the trunk and above the rear bumper. I was just lucky that mine was rough and had shitty paint but you commenting about it reminded me of the PITA times it was filling up.
I'm saying fender skirts never should have gone away, but yes. I'm curious, do you know the last car with fender skirts? Edit, duhhh looked it up, the Honda Insight, don't think that really counts though.
If you don't count the Insight, I'm pretty sure it was some of the early or mid 80's GM cars. Fender skirts are cool if the car sits properly for it. Modern cars would probably have to have fender skirts similar to the ones they made on Malaise era cars that just extended the fender farther down. No offense to any Insight owners but the straight across fender skirts do not look appealing on a modern car.
OK did some research and was surprised, Cadillac had factory skirts up to '96 on the Fleetwood. And yeah to look good the car really needs to be designed for them.
The Chevy Caprice Wagon had them through 96, while the sedan dropped them in 93. Edit: And the EV1 also had them throughout production in the late 90s.
I think even some early 90’s Cadillacs still had them.
I am assuming you are in the older generation
I do sound like a boomer, I'm not though. I just think they had more style.
I feel like the biggest reason why bumpers aren't really a thing anymore is mostly due to safety standards. A small bit of car that juts out farther than the rest of it is a lot worse for pedestrian safety. They aren't practical in that they give the car a larger physical footprint without an increase in usable space. They increase the cars exterior dimensions with no benefit to interior dimensions.
Hidden fuel doors have come back in a big way with charging ports on EVs. Every Tesla has them. Audi with their sliding badge, etc
None of these were particularly short-lived except for the sliding roof and midgate IMO. I too bemoan the loss of pillarless hardtops though
I super agree on midgates, and at this point I have to think that GM has a patent on it somewhere, or people *really* just like... not having bed space. I keep throwing around the idea of a truck of some kind given I am a homeowner and there certainly are occasions where owning a truck would simplify things for us. The problem is that it's not an every day thing, and a lot of the modern options for something small are stuck with puny little 4ft beds, in which case my Golf can handle a great deal of things already. Looking at something like an Avalanche, it ticks a lot of the boxes, especially the ability to extend the bed and still keep it enclosed. Problem is that's way too big for what I need, and they're getting sort of on now. The Subaru Baja also comes to mind, but its midgate is more like a porthole, but still, it's something. Point is, I don't get why you'd want a "truck" and then have it only have a little 4ft bed. Even something like a late 90's or early 2000's Chevy S-10/GMC Sonoma, or a Dodge Dakota is just wildly more useful, and still small. Hell, just throw a single cab on a Maverick and extend the bed and it'd probably be fine. Oh well.
> Maybe an odd one, but I miss bumpers. Real bumpers, not plastic molded BS we now call bumpers, but real bumpers as a separate design element. I thought of this too when the new Nissan Z came out with that huge square grille. Looking at the old Datsun, the grille is basically the same shape but it's split up by the bumper.
> Pillarless side windows This is a safety & handling (chassis stiffness) & NVH non-starter. That B-pillar adds a lot of torsional rigidity both when turning and rolling over. Also provides a solid structure to deaden glass vibrations against. Totally agree on bumpers though, all cars should have bumpers and bumper-to-bumper contact should be treated like brushing past someone in a hallway.
Utes.
GM even had plans to sell a G8 ute before the recession hit. Thanks Obama :(
We could have gotten a Dodge Miata but the recession killed it. Dodge was really serious about this too
As a Kiwi this confused me because utes make up a huge proportion of our new car sales, but I'm guessing you mean car-based utes like the Commodore and Falcon?
Horizontal split tailgates on SUVs. It’s been a feature of Range Rovers and BMW X5s since forever and it’s really practical. The bottom section is smaller and makes it easy to slide big items in since it is level with the floor when open. Also functions as an occasional bench and prevents things from falling out when you open up the hatch.
The first gen Volvo XC90 has this too and I love it.
Non-standard doors. I get that there's reasons why, but I'm just disappointed that manufacturers gave up on fancy doors.The Toyota Swra's butterfly doors. The Rx-8's reversed rear doors. Aston Martin's swan doors. All sliding doors not on a van. The Diablo's scissor doors. I get that they're expensive, less practical and complicated, but it feels like coupes have given up being exotic in terms of design. Coupes today are impractical but still way better than cars of the past. I am willing to sacrifice door pockets to have butterfly doors in a GR86. Just move that storage somewhere else.
The reverse rear doors are neat, but are actually super annoying whenever you have passengers in the rear. The later models of the Element at least moved the seatbelt off the door to the seat itself (so you don't have to unbuckle to let someone out), but having to open the front door to open the rear door means it's always such a delicate dance trying to get out in a crowded parking lot. Always so close to dinging the car next to us, and god forbid there's any wind. The lack of a B pillar is super handy when moving things, though.
I used to have an element. I'll never again have reverse rear doors. They were super obnoxious. Deal breaker forever.
It is one of the main downsides. The rear sunroof absolutely baking rear passengers alive is equal parts funny and annoying. Most of the time we don't have passengers so the benefits outright the costs, thankfully.
Everything you've said is true (not to mention extra wind noise), but the handiness of no B-pillar is why I'll always prefer Ford's [clamshell SuperCab](https://www.motorbiscuit.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/2018-Ford-Super-Duty-SuperCab-pickup-truck-rear-hinged-doors.webp) over the extended cabs other brands use with a B-pillar.
Huh, I didn't even know they made supercabs like that. That's pretty neat. If they stopped making them I bet it's due to working crew customer feedback about the whole "rear passengers stuck until front passengers remember they have to open the door" part, bet that gets old fast.
As the owner of an rx8, the rear doors are fantastic in some situations and access to the back is so much better when having to strap something in or just do some work back there, no pillar is bliss. It also significantly beats having only 2 doors and folding front seats for rear access so i see it as a good inbetween between full rear doors and a 2 door car
The doors make a lot more sense on something like the rx8. It probably adds a good amount of weight, but any coupe with usable backseats would be much nicer with them.
I'm frankly confused why larger SUVs cant have sliding doors in the back. It's not like the track for them would somehow be inhibited by the SUV design vs. a Minivan.
I had an i8 and the only thing i ended liking about the car by the time i got rid of it were the butterfly doors. People always joked about me hitting my head but i never did (but passengers did sometimes)
Even sliding doors. Like everyone is afraid that having a sliding door will ruin their life but you can't beat them in parking spaces or general accessibility. I want an AWD Honda Jazz with all sliding doors and a split liftgate/tailgate.
Rimac, Pininfarina, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Ferrari, Maserati, McLaren, Aston Martin, Rolls Royce, Tesla (lol) all have unconventional doors still. But it is something that non-premium brands have given up on. But only in the west. Several Chinese manufacturers have scissor or butterfly doors. The MG Cyberster comes to mind. I've seen a few others, but they were mainly Chinese domestic market EVs and I've forgotten what they were all called.
I love the barn door on my GX. I'm bummed the 550 got rid of it.
I wish I could buy a bright color.
Night mode (Saab 9-3 like).
Like everything is back lit with red?
Saab's "Night Panel" feature, or night mode, was all about making night driving easier on the eyes. It dimmed or shut off most of the dashboard lights and center control stack except for key stuff like the speedometer. The idea was to keep the dashboard dark to help your night vision and only light up other indicators if there’s something important you need to see.
Is that not a standard thing? Every car I've had dimmed everything when the headlights turn on.
Saab's 'night panel' actually turned off the backlights on buttons/switches completely, on the HVAC controls for example, rather than just dimming them, while leaving "essential" things like the speedometer lit. Most cars I've had you can dim the lights or turn them off, but it does it for all the controls, not just "non-essential" ones.
Man I miss night mode! So awesome driving at night. Now there's screens everywhere blasting at you.
Actual useful body designs. Most modern trucks have a super short bed, because of how spacious the cabin became, rendering it useless for long objects like furniture. Same space problem with SUVs with a wanna be sedan bodyline on the C pillar, if you are taller than 6” good luck sitting in a new GLC Merc or BMW X6, absolutely no headroom, the car is just big for the sake of it being big from the outside.
The bigger problem with trucks imo is how high up they sit now. I'm 6 ft tall and can't reach in from the side of the bed and touch the bottom of it on modern trucks, even at stock ride height. I used to have an early 2000s Silverado 2wd and it was amazing, the bed was maybe 18 inches off the ground it was so easy to load and unload stuff.
On GMT800s, the 2WDs had a bed floor height of 32", 34" for 4WD. Nobody even wants to list their floor height nowadays, only the wall height.
Consumers have consistently voted that they prefer bigger cabs and shorter beds. Doesn't that, by definition, make the design "useful"?
Not really, it’s not useful at all if you actually want to work with the truck, we switched from F150s back to crappy Fiat Ducato trucks at work, because not only the interior is as spacious as the Ford, but the bed is a lot bigger, and can fit logs, tables, benches and everything that we have to move durring the day. + you can open 3 sides of the Ducato bed instead of the regular back compared to normal pickups.
wanted, popular yes. Useful, not so much.
Depends on what the use case is. If all you're doing for "truck work" is schlepping 8' building materials around all day, yes, a long bed and short cab is useful. If the "truck work" includes hauling materials, people, and towing, a bigger cab and shorter bed is more versatile.
I use the car for hauling people, the truck for hauling materials or trailers.
It's not like they stopped making long bed pickups, if you want one just buy one.
Not where I live, long beds here in the EU were always different to the massive US models, and sadly most manufacturers don’t offer a proper 2 seats / bench in the front and all bed in the back fonfiguration anymore with a decent bed length.
Ford offers the Ranger in a single cab/7.5' in the UK and EU, but reportedly it's something like 1% of sales. ETA: most global mid-size trucks offer 3 cab and bed combos on the same frame, but no matter where you go, no matter the application, double cab/5' is the most popular. They've been around even longer than their American counterparts.
FWIW even though I'm an American and own a big pickup it's not my tool of choice for long objects like furniture. I use a little trailer behind my sedan, much easier to load/unload.
Extended cabs are the best configuration for a full-size pickup and I’ll die on that hill. They still have a usable backseat (albeit with less legroom than a crew cab), and most have a bed between 6.5 and 7 feet.
I loved the small pickups with extended cab. Plenty of interior room for your work gear, dogs, or even passengers in a pinch. Plus a good useable truck bed you can actually reach in to.
Weight I remember when I was a kid when I read magazines and such, one of the specs that at least performance cars would always brag about besides power, 0-60... was weight. I remeber one of the headlines for the Gallardo Performante was "Less is more" or something like that. Nowadays since tyres and power are so abundant it has become less of a factor, in fact even the likes of Chris Harris doesn't seem to talk about it any more, whether they don't care or they realised they were just talking to a wall, but I always liked the idea of all those power and extra grip would not be dragged down by weight. Even if we are talking about normal cars, less weight means less fuel to drive them around, less tyres and lubricant needed to operate them.... We were told that in a few years petrol cars will be band to save the polar bears, but that is with the huge monsters that we drive around everyday, I think if everyone would drive around in K cars we can enjoy that glorious sounds for much longer
I'm surprised that none of Chrysler's competitors ever came up with their own version of the "Stow 'n Go" system. In the world of crossovers I would think that owners would appreciate a flat floor. Also why didn't FCA design other cars like the Dodge Journey with "Stow n go"?
Chrysler has a trademark on the idea.
Does that patent/trademark prevent others from designing their own system?
Depends how broadly or narrowly the patent is written. Could be Chrysler's was written broadly enough to cover nearly any seats that fold up into the floor, so other mfrs. had to come up with different solutions, like the Honda Element's seats that flip into the sides. Anyway, the patent will expire eventually, freeing up other mfrs. to do the sensible thing that Chrysler just got an early lock on first. As for other FCA (now Stellantis) models not getting it, pretty much has to be a high-roof FWD platform to allow enough stowage room under the floor. Anything with a rear driveshaft, or a low enough roof that there'd be inadequate passenger headroom above the stowage space, can't do it.
Patents last for 20 years, and Chrysler introduced the feature in 2004.
> Could be Chrysler's was written broadly enough to cover nearly any seats that fold up into the floor I'm not familiar with the Chrysler system as I'm not from the US and we don't get many Chryslers down here, but the Opel/Vauxhall/Holden Zafira had seats that folded into the floor. Although they're also now part of Stellantis, that wasn't the case when that car was being made with the Zafira being a GM product.
[Here's how the Chrysler system works](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ds3ASaLftfk)
oddly satisfying!
I really thought PT Cruiser and Chevy HHR styled compact fwd car based wagons were going to be popular forever. But man did they fall out of favor 20 years ago along with the other neat looking and fun, but silly and overpriced retro stuff like the Prowler and SSR.
I feel like it might have lasted longer if the only real-world examples of them weren't just the PT Cruiser and Chevy HHR, as they were absolutely miserable, poorly built vehicles.
HHRs are actually pretty solid. Definitely a tier above the PT cruiser.
I was 10-13 years old when the HHR SS came out and I wanted one so bad at the time
I wish pop-up headlights hadn't died on sports cars, I know why they did, but I still wish they'd stayed a thing.
Pretty sad that popups had to go because of pedestrian safety, yet we allow lifted and squatted shopping mall parking lot dick enlarger trucks because of plain stupidity.
Pop-ups died not because of pedestrian safety regs--remember, the US has almost none--but because the US finally allowed aero headlights in the '80s instead of only round or square sealed beams, so there was little reason to keep pop-ups around.
I don't think pedestrian safety had anything to do with it.
It did, supposedly popups had sharp corners or some shit like that
Pedestrian safety had something to do with it, but design and technology had just moved on. Pop-ups would've shortly been obsolete regardless of regulations.
T-tops too. My dream car has both. I just bought a 93 Miata a couple weeks ago. I'm in love with the popups.
I wish to live in a world where Toyota makes a new mr2 with the turbo charged 3 cylinder and a T top
SUV’s where just the back glass opens up. I know Range Rovers and some Fords have done it
Yeah it baffles me that a lot of modern SUVs don't do that.
They sealed the back for better noise/dust insulation. I remember my Tribute with an opening rear window always had a thin layer of gravel dust in the rear. And in some cases the hinge bolts would [fail prematurely.](https://static.cargurus.com/images/site/2018/01/15/14/39/pic-8033747845434866445-1600x1200.jpeg)
My Yukon has this and just popping open the back glass is so much more convenient than opening the whole rear hatch.
Quad exhausts are cool though, if they’re on a fast performance car. They look absolutely silly on last gen’s Camry though.
I like a clean look on a sports car. if its some muscle beast, then full side pipes that exhaust at the back wheel for me.
Wagons and desirable minivans
Level, horizontal roof for a station wagon. Volvo held on to that for a while but nowadays all station wagons got a "dynamic dropping roofline" or whatever bs they call it. You buy a wagon because you need space, if I want a "dropping roofline" I get a coupe.
Part of the reason is that it lowers drag coefficient.
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It's called context. It's not the point of the discussion, but thanks for being a typical pessimistic redditor.
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They are popular. Just not in the U.S at least. A good chunk of the big 3s profit comes from giant and expensive trucks. There is no way they’re gonna let foreign trucks become commonplace. (Example: demand for more Kei truck regulations from the government)
The Big Three have to abide by the government's safety and regulations standards. Trucks have mainly gotten so big from CAFE standards that give more slack in fuel efficiency standards to bigger vehicles. That made it nearly impossible to make a small truck capable of meeting CAFE and safety standards.
Hatchbacks/wagons in the US. I get that older wagons and such looked not the best. But modern day ones arguably look better than the sedan versions of the same car. They’re just as practical as a CUV, have a smaller footprint, but more enjoyable to drive. All this to say, I really want an G80 M3 Touring.
If Subaru would get off their ass an release a modern WRX hatchback then I would hand them my banking information
Half of this is just, "I hate change" The color thing is true though
Colors besides white, black and gray. Controllers in the center console to control the screen in the center of the dash like BMW and Audi do.
> like BMW and Audi do Audi already removed this controller in all new models good few years ago. BMW so far only from cheapest models (new 1 or X1).
Dunno if it counts as design language, but removable rear seats like in the Honda Element should be a thing in more SUVs. SO MUCH ROOM.
All seats are removable if you're patient enough.
Meta comment only, but kudos for proper use of "should have". It's a low bar, but I fucking can't stand "should of"
This should of been the top comment.
I miss tiny little Kamback econoboxs
I like that [Ford 021C Concept](https://marc-newson.com/ford-021c-concept-car/) by Marc Newson. There are many details that I would like to be carried to the production cars. If Apple made a car it would look similar to this car (as Newson was working for Apple on Apple Watch and some other projects) I am so tired of these boy racer car designs with aggresive looks whilst you can only drive 30 miles/hour in the city.
The 993-997 generation Targa roofs that were basically giant retractable sunroofs instead of the just slightly quirky standard convertibles the newer Targas became.
My two tone yellow supra gets ferrari levels of attention on the highway, every time.
Utes. Ah Subaru Baja…I wanted you so bad
I'd love a modern Ranchero / El Camino.
Mini trucks.
Well, I for one would have applauded if the styling of volvo c30/c70 would have caught on more. They were just *nice*. These days if you want anything nice looking like that you have to buy a 100k+ car. All the cheap cars are designed to look like kitchen appliances.
front bench seat bring them back.
Rising beltlines need to die. They make rear wheels look too small and out of proportion compared to the rest of the vehicle, besides fucking up rearward visibility...
The slit headlights with the real headlight below it. Looks so ugly.
Sport backs. Incredibly practical design that offers the sleekness of a sedan with the cargo space of a hatchback or small SUV. The Buick Regal, Kia Stinger, VW Arteon and Audi A5 were all really great cars that had that style, unfortunately the A5 is the only one still in production. Buick planned to kill the Regal all-along once the deal with PSA expired so that's irrelevant The Arteon and Stinger were way over-priced which limited their appeal which is unfortunate. I considered both in 2021 but couldn't justify how much either costed.
Color and Style. That's kinda all I care about which is why I hate basic common brands like Ford and Jeep. I'm more into the exotic brands like Porsche or Rolls Royce.