A friend of mine wants to buy an Alfa Romeo Spider. "Do you know a good mechanic?" I asked her. Because I explained, if she didn't the car wouldn't move. And even if she found a talented wrench, the car would only run from her apartment to the shop. I told her to get a Miata instead. Bullet proof, plus the Mazda drives seven times better than the solid-axled Italian. Nope. Not interested. She wants the Alfa. Because it looks better. I ran into another friend last night, who against all my best advising swapped her ("ugly") Scion for a ("cute") Volvo 240 Wagon. "What are you doing for Valentine's Day?" I asked her and her boyfriend. "Picking up the Volvo from the shop." Today saw my take on the new Subaru STI. I'll let reader cretinx summarize what most of y'all have been saying, "Its just . . . . so . . . ugly . . . ." Big time. That said, that pig is most likely my next car. Apologies to Sheryll Alexander, but when it comes to driving, I really don't care about looks. You?
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I don’t care about looks all that much. If it drives well (or hauls well in the case of a truck), then I can accept some “questionable” looks.
They’ll learn in time or they are rich.
OMG! That’s the one my dad had with the curved back end! Those Alfa Spyders had a great sound too. I currently have a Alfa 147, and to me, looks are why I bought this car.
But this is because I am in a nice situation where I don’t actually need a reliable car for day to day transport. I bike to work, and commerce is within walking distance from where I live.
So the priorities for me is looks and driving dynamics. When I have kids to schlep around I’ll get the family a Logan MPV, one of the most practical cars for the money anywhere… but damn ugly.
Driving dynamics, reliability, looks. In that order with some exceptions, read: new Focus.
I like functionality and hoonism better than looks, that’s for sure. Actually, I like understatement hiding lots of hoonism the best (from the Audi RS6 Avant to a turbocharged Volvo 740).
This said, given the choice between and Audi A3 and a VW GTI (identical under the skin), I may plump up the $3-4k extra for the audi, mostly on looks.
To add to the debate: many people will buy not a car, but a badge. How else could BMW5-series sell (to people who drive under the speed limit, or spend their time stuck in traffic)?
http://images.google.com/images?q=maserati+quattroporte
I want a good looking car but will not put up with poor reliability or lame functional design (per the cars intent) for beauty.
On that note, I suspect that average driver has no more sense of great design than I can tell if a painting is “art”. I suspect a “beautiful” car to most is one with shiny paint in a color they like from a brand they are happy with. And that’s cool by me.
Frankly a lot of “brand-centric” enthusiasts strike me that way also. Some, not all. Calm down.
If you want the pulse on how critical great styling is to success in this buisness I have two words for you.
Toyota styling.
Cheerio,
Bunter
I’ve never cared about how a car looks. My daily driver has deer damage in two places and has paid for itself insurance wise. It goes point a to b reliably, goes fast, and takes turns fast enough. Plus my neighbor ask me repeatedly when I was going to get rid of it, so that’s an added bonus to keep it longer, or at least back it in the driveway so more people can see the damage. My beat-em-up work truck is nicer looking, so I drive that when appearances count.
It seems if you drive a nice car birds shit on it/
I like a distinctive looking car. The consensus may be they are modern art or urban blight, but if it stands out I’m happy.
I would say there are lots of people who don’t care about the looks of their cars. That would explain all the Azteks, Rendezvous, Elements, and Scions running around out there!
The complete package is what attracts me to a car. The aesthetic should not outweigh the engineering, and vice versa.
I believe that in today’s market no one really cares what their vehicle looks like. (with the exception of the Aztek and a few sorted others). Go to any shopping mall and look at all of the crossovers, along with all the hatches and then finally all of the SUVs. They all look the same!(categorically)
The hatches are all bulbous pods. The crossovers are all bulbous pods with height and 4wd. The SUVs are big intimidating boxes. With the exception of a few production vehicles you can’t really tell one clone from another. It seems that no one really cares if their vehicle looks like the one sitting in the next lane. I guess society dictates that. A good comparison is to look at the cars from the 50’s and 60’s. You could get a glance at one from a half mile away and know what exactly it was but not today.
There is nothing like enjoying a Sunday afternoon washing, polishing, and waxing my vehicles and afterwards just staring into the glossy paint, the shiny tires and flawless window glass. Makes me proud to be a 2-Ford owner, proud to be an American and glad to have more water than our greedy neighbors just to the south in Atlanta : )…
I don’t want a dull-looking car. Nothing along the lines of a Mercury Topaz, 1996 Explorer, or 2002 Camry.
Something like the STI is certainly ugly, but it isn’t boring or derivative either, so overall I like its styling.
So I guess a car’s looks are relatively important to me- it just doesn’t have to necessarily be on the good-looking end of the spectrum for me to like it.
Depends a lot on whether you are buying a toy or transportation doesn’t it?
One of the reasons I keep sticking with my old truck is that I don’t find many of the new cars attractive, and my old ‘crusher is still quite reliable.
I suppose that if you NEED new wheels, then looks aren’t that important, but if they want to get you into a new car before you are ready, then it better have nice curves.
Looks and character are everything to me in a car. I’ve got to have some practicality so I usually have two cars — a classic car and some kind of truck to haul the classic car around when need be. But even then, I’ve always been very picky about what trucks I will drive. My last truck was an ’86 Nissan 720, dark brown with neon yellow and orange stripes down the sides. It had a definite sense of style and character for days. My new truck is a bright royal blue XJ. The XJs are to me the last great American automobile. The styling is classic Jeep, and the bones have AMC lineage. It’s even pre-airbag so it has the classic 3-spoke steering wheel.
My real car though, a ’74 Beetle Sun Bug in bright metallic gold.
I quite honestly could never bring myself to buy or drive a car I didn’t like the looks of.
I think looks are useless when the car’s in the garage all the time. I buy cars because they do what I want them to do – get me from point A to point B, some side trips to C, a couple days over at D, E, and F, and do it all at decently high speed, reliability, and with decent fuel mileage, and comfort. Hence, I have an 01 Impala.
I like a car that looks good (though my idea of looks good isn’t everybody’s — I drive a clown shoe for god’s sake) but I won’t sacrifice fun drivability or (too much) reliability to get it. mostly I like understated, classic, q-ship-ish beauty, clown shoe notwithstanding.
My favorite kind of car is a reasonably priced (usually used), somewhat economical, decently powerful, fairly useful four-door sedan that I won’t see coming in the other direction too often, and which offers a decent amount of luxury/tech for a good price. I also like the idea of a bit of a sleeper, occasionally, though speed is nowhere near the most important thing on my list. Luckily, many of these tastes match up fairly well. Rarity comes with poor initial sales – as does low price. Utility comes standard in most midsize four-door sedans, as does a lengthy list of optional features.
Thus, I’ve owned a 1998 Nissan Maxima (great car, if a bit too common for me), a 1996 Mitsubishi Galant (rare in that it lasted at least 11 years on the road, and even more rare due to a special “Premium Package”), and a 2002 Mitsubishi Diamante LS (I go months without seeing another Diamante, even longer without seeing the poor-selling 2002-2003 refresh, and even longer without seeing another in Platinum White Pearl).
Others I considered were: 3.5L Oldsmobile Intrigue (pref. a GL with cloth seats, chrome wheels, standard fog lamps, and a power moonroof – I’m odd with options), a supercharged Buick Regal GS (sleeper), a 1996-99 Oldsmobile LSS Supercharged (sleeper), the 1995+ Volvo 960 (very rare), a Mazda Millenia S, and a few others.
From 100 yards away, who can tell the difference….
Most American men choose cars like we choose our mates…..we want the best looking vehicle we can afford, but are usually unwilling to put up with High Maintenance costs in exchange for high performance(!) and great looks. So, we’ll settle for a Camry, and Accord or an Impala, when secretly we lust after the ‘Vette, the Jag or the Ferrari. (We’ll settle for a Jane, a Barbara or a Mary, when secretly we lust for an Yvette, Raquel or an Ursula!)
reliable, good value and looks good to me.. in that order.
A car’s looks should befit you. A tiny man in a large SUV looks ridiculous. A guy with a combover shouldn’t drive a droptop. No uncouth person is going to look better by driving a sportscar, but a cool car can compliment a nerd.
Apart from being utilitarian devices, there is a social dimension to car ownership (unfortunately, if you ask me). If I drove a toff’s car I’d have to fear being ostracised by my friends. And if I drove a fast Subaru — well, I don’t want to start one of these nasty Clarkson discussions, but at least over here in Europe the brand signifies that you may well have no style whatsoever.
Ironically, An Alfa was the car that irreversably changed me on the looks over driving equation. I bought my first Alfa largely for looks. Now I love the drive of the car so much I wouldn’t care if it looked like an Aztek. In fact over the years I’ve put a couple good dents in it and I can’t bring myself to take it off the road to get them fixed. The thought of not having that experience available for even a short time is too much to overcome.
Good looks are subjective, but good design is self-evident. The two are not necessarily connected. My ’83 Benz Wagon is not a sexy car, but I appreciate its solidity and utility.
Also, I live in Los Angeles. There’s something cathartic about driving a smogma encrusted whip around this image conscious town.
A car’s looks are extremely important to me. I could possibly see myself buying something bland if it performed really well (something like the last gen Pontiac GTO), but I could never actually pay money for a car as offensively ugly as an STi. There is just no way I could personally take pride in owning something that is repulsive to me
I do.
As an OCD car freak, I examine every car I see. I’ve come to factor in build quality in terms of looks. Jeep interiors *look* good, but when you look closer, or touch them, the whole thing seems like it could have taken a lesson from Barbie’s Jeep.
I think a car must look nice, but more importantly, have the engineering content to back. A vehicle that just looks nice, but is a dog to drive is overall less satisfying (for me anyways) than a car that looks plain jane but handles beautifully and is rock-solid reliable.
I’ll take a used Miata (not so pretty, but a dream to drive.) over a new Elantra (very well styled IMO, but boring to drive.)
Something about a car has to stand out and strike you the right way. It could be looks, the way it drives, utility, or some mix. Currently I have four 60s era Mercedes-Benz sedans, (I love the quality and feel, and girls adore the vintage style) I also have a 90s work van, an 80s BMW 6 series, and recently bought a 1991 Mazda 323 beater/commuter. I’ve had plenty of newer cars, but they tend to bore me – and for my use, the overlap in numbers makes up for the age and mediocre reliability of the overall fleet. That said, I’d gladly trade them all, and an option on my firstborn child, for a dead but straight hulk with Figoni et Falaschi coachwork. Damn utility! sometime beauty does win out! I can always ride the bus.
“Step with care and great tact, and remember that Life’s a Great Balancing Act” -Dr. Suess
Looks are important to me in this way: My car has to look good filthy-dirty with little dents all over it.
That’s just how it’s going to end up. I live in New England, there’s no way around it. I see lots of really beautiful cars around, and say to myself, ‘boy, wouldn’t it be nice…’ but then I think about it getting dinged while parked on the street in front of my office, or bending a really expensive wheel in one of Worcester’s cavernous potholes.
Performance is certainly more important to me than looks, but looks aren’t unimportant. But if we’re going to split hairs I’d say design is more important than looks.
I like the new Impreza (and drive a 10-year-old Impreza currently). And Subarus look their best caked in dirt and road salt, unwashed for six months at a time.
You can’t say the same about a lot of other “beautiful” cars.
-Matt
Since I have over a dozen in my name over any given period of time and access to hundreds more, I honestly don’t care that much about looks.
I will say this. If I have to go to downtown Atlanta for any reason I strongly prefer to drive a big beater car. Lincoln Town Cars, Tauruses Station Wagons… really, anything that’s usually $1000 or less at the auctions I’ll bring down there so long as it has a good size and a comfortable highway ride.
I’ve had vehicles broken into five times in the city of Atlanta over the last few years and a couple of hit and run thwacks as well. I’d rather drive a comfortable piece of junk than endure another $300+ Sirius sound system stolen from the dash.
I want everyone else to have a good looking car to make the roads more beautiful where I live. Everyone in Boston: get classic cars from the ’50s and ’60s, Peugeot 404s, Porsches, etc.
For me, reliability and driving dynamics come first. That said, I thikn looks influenced my purchase of a ’93 Saturn SL2 lo those many years ago, although I didn’t realize it at the time. The driving dynamics WERE great (I’m not that big on power but the handling was very nice), but the turning circle would have killed my interest had looks not been playing a part. It WAS a cool looking car. I used to get complements from women.
My ’99 Accord is inoffensive at best. I put cruiserline ventiports on it to make it look a little bit cool. (Anyone who wants to see what that looks like can email me, motorlegends@aol.com, and I’ll send a photo.)
A lot of cubans seem to care about what their cars look like.
I like having one car that’s a blast on every level, including looks, even if it is somewhat high maintenance. It makes it easier to live with my other cars, which are basically appliances.
I lust after a Maserati Quattroporte but I would never buy a luxury car as a daily driver. It isn’t even a matter of reliability – I feel the same way about BMW, Mercedes, etc.
Bah, the Sexy is such subjective matter. Give me good reliability and decent driving dynamics any day. Practicality is up there, too. Then again, the Pontiac Aztek is high on my list of “next cars” so maybe nobody should listen to me.
If I drove a toff’s car I’d have to fear being ostracised by my friends
What is a toff???!
Used to be not at all…the older I get the more important it is.
One way to read this is I need my car’s looks to compensate for my fading ones.
I truly believe that its more a matter of taste being refined and the realization that the heap you put so much $ and work into should have that extra something that keeps you inspired.
At least that’s what I’m telling myself.
Looks are somewhat important to me, but I can overlook homely if the car scores high in other areas. I bought a slightly used 1978 Datsun 200SX AKA Nissan Silvia, many years ago. I never stopped thinking about how akward and homely it was when I stood outside, but as soon as I was behind the wheel… what a car, I drove it till the floor rotted out and I loved every mile of it.
Looks are the starting point. If the car doesn’t look right, issues of performance and price are never reached.
Considering that my dream car is a 1996 Ford Taurus SHO, I guess looks don’t mean a damn to me.
The looks of a car don’t score many bonus points with me. If it’s between a plain looking 40mpg car and a cool looking 30mpg car, I’ll take the 40mpg car every single time. Bad styling can definitely cost major points though. There’s no way I would ever drive a PT Cruiser or SSR. The embarrassment would be too much.
Number one priority is reliability. If it isn’t rock solid, it’s completely worthless to me. Number two is clutch and throttle feel.
From behind the wheel, you can’t tell what it looks like anyway, so esthetics are about fifth on my list of automotive attributes.
And it infuriates me that every goddamn “road test” these days spends the first two-thirds of its copy doing a Robert Cumberford on whether the curve of the C pillar accurately reflects the bumper-to-body seam. Reminds me of the guys in “Queer Eye for a Straight Guy,” standing there finger-to-lip, arm on hip and decreeing bullshit.
But then I never understood–or cared–what all the Bangle Butt hysteria was about. It’s a trunklid, not the Mona Lisa, forgodsake, deal with it.
I love the looks of my Volvo 240 Wagon.
Jonny, what year is your friends? Hopefully they didn’t purchase a pre ’86 model.
To me, a car has to be quirky. I suppose that’s why my list dream cars include the Citroën SM and the Ferrari 412.
David: Toff: an elegantly dressed man (often with affected manners); synonym: nob. Current use in Britain is pretty pejorative.
2001 Honda Accord EX in Eternal Blue Pearl, and a newly acquired 1988 Pontiac Grand Prix (with crank windows, but some pretty good kick under the hood and 107000 miles)in Charcoal (the big color in 1988, unfortunately), which I had to compound out. I don’t know WHICH one I care about anymore. Dependability is tops, though.
Stephan Wilkinson :
The view over the hood of my Vette, with the bulge in the middle of the hood directly between the two large fender peaks is nothing short of beautiful (in my opinion). It’s one of the things that made me fall in love with the car
I always buy car by its look. This is the most important to me. Fortunately, good cars are often look good too. However, I will never guy a car if I don’t like the look no matter how good it drives or how much value it provides. Hell, I won’t take Aztek for FREE.
1978 Datsun 200SX
Those were almost as hideous as the F-10!
The view over the hood of my Vette, with the bulge in the middle of the hood directly between the two large fender peaks is nothing short of beautiful
Amen. That’s what I loved about my ’77, because it certainly wasn’t it’s handling, body integrity, or reliability.
I love classically styled cars – the BMW E34, MB 240 series, original GTI, RX-7, Caprice Classic, Protege5 – the cars don’t need to be fancy, but with simple lines.
7 years after I bought it, I still love my Trooper’s lines. Simple, rounded boxes.
Looks are important, but I have a threshold level for performance and reliability. As far as that goes, I have a threshold in each of those categories, below which no amount of greatness in another category will make up for the lacking in the other category. Some cars are just so ugly (to me, anyway) that no amount of performance or reliability would get me to buy one. On the other end, the good looks-lots of comments and smiles from girls-and above average reliability of the red 240SX SE I owned in the 90’s made up for a lack of performance.
the prettiest car I ever owned was an XJ-6. It was also the most unreliable. The pair of 88 528es in my current stable are a compromise. Their aesthetics are an aquired taste, but their ease of maintenance is priceless. The 88 I retired in December never broke down on me in the 11 1/2 yrs and 200k miles I drove it. Yes, I’m in a rut, but it isnt such a bad one.
judging by what I buy and drive, I’d have to conclude that reliability, economy, and utility are higher priorities than looks.
That said, I think my Ranger is a pretty nice looking design -at least for a truck.
I’d have to say I’m repelled by ugliness more than I’m attracted by beauty. Hondas are bland, but inoffensive, so I’ll buy them. Subaru doesn’t have a chance of selling me a car. I wouldn’t drive a free Aztek – I’d take it, but I’d sell it asap and buy something less replusive. Chrysler doesn’t have a chance of selling me anything either – just too replusive.
But I have quirky tastes. I think the 2CV is a beautiful car (but not the Charleston get up).
I’d love to have a DS for it’s beuaty.
The only thing I care about as far as looks is that the car is not boring. Ugly, beautiful, goofy…anything but another boring sedan. I don’t go for flashy cars either. Most of my sports car driving friends get their egos all wrapped up in their rides. Telling ’em you don’t like their car is like insulting their mother…the result of a materialistic society, I guess.
For me, the thing that won me over on the 350Z was the sound. I would have bought a convertible just to hear the sound more, but I just absolutely cannot stand the looks of it. I’m not a huge fan of the 350Z looks either. From certain angles, it can look a bit fat, and the front end is just now starting to grow on me, and I think thats only because I have it in black, where it hides the “bluntness” of it more than with the other colors.
Also, it has to have a nice feel in the gearbox. I would have loved to get a GTO, but the 6 speed they stuck in there must have mashed potato internals. It was absolutely horrible, and I don’t think I could have ever talked myself into buying one, even with that tremendously lovely V8 sound.
I’d prefer my daily driver to be ugly… because its beauty would not last long in most cases. Soon it would get scratched, dented, shit on by birds, rock chips, hit, etc.
Now for a weekend car, i’d want it to be drop dead sexy… it would live in the garage and only driven when there is no traffic, it would rarely be left unattended in public, its beauty cannot be tarnished…
my 300ZX Twin Turbo is subject to daily driving right now because it sustained damage and needs repair. Its a dead sexy car, but its been scarred. of course, once i repair the car, it will be sheltered again.