It’s an “eye of the beholder” kind of thing. Like in the Twilight Zone episode of the same name, sometimes a great-looking vehicle stands out as a freak in a world of uglies. Some models we just don’t appreciate like we should. We grow accustomed to a singular form of beauty.
We’ve turned our critical gaze on past and current models before, but this time we’re asking you to to focus on new (or refreshed) for 2018 models. There’s no shortage to choose from. Honda’s all-new Accord; the heavily (and questionably) revamped Toyota Camry; the frowny-face Ford Mustang; the glitzy rolling mass of the newly sculpted Lincoln Navigator. Throw the Kia Stinger in for good measure.
You’re in good company for this question. However, is the Class of 2018 a bunch of lookers, or is it just a pack of duds?
Despite being a die-hard Camry fan — I’ll refrain from regaling you with more wistful tales of my ’94 Coupe love affair — the 2018 Camry doesn’t do it for me, aesthetically.
In sportier trim, the front fascia seems too complicated, too flimsy. The fairly upright greenhouse clashes with the pseudo-sporty fake vents in the rear bumper. Overall, the design makes this viewer yearn for the clean-yet-conservative flanks of the previous generations (and pine for that long-lost beige love — I’m sorry I traded you in).
In contrast, the new Accord’s coupe-like profile, appearance of length, and simplified face scores more marks for style, at least in my books. It’s just a far more cohesive design. No one at the back of the room piped up, “Maybe we should add some extra vents…. Yeah!”
Still, there’s controversy in the new Accord’s design. That massive chrome unibrow up front could easily turn off buyers. I’m not sure what I think of it, frankly — will it grow on me, or will I just end up ignoring it? As well, the junction of the beltline and C-pillar is weird, and the Civic (especially in coupe form) has the same problem.
The refreshed Mustang? Ford got it right in 2015, let’s just say. As for the hulking Navigator, I’m not going to complain about this model donning a new set of clothes.
Does this leave the 2018 Kia Stinger in the running for the best-styled 2018 car? It may just be at the top of my list. That profile! I could quibble about a busy front end, but there’s nothing seriously controversial going on either fore or aft. Thumbs up, Kia.
Actually, we can add Kia’s revamped Rio to that list, too. A pair of former TTACers waxed poetic about the previous generation Rio’s design, especially in hatchback form. It’s something I could never figure out. Sorry boys, but the Germanization of Rio is a good thing.
What say you, Best and Brightest? Keeping the magnifying glass solely on 2018 models that have gone under the knife, which new car or SUV got it right?
[Images: Honda, Toyota, Ford, Kia Motors]
I’d say thE VW Arteon is probably the best looking of the lot, followed closely by the Kia stinger
All Mazdas looks pretty up-there.
The Accord would look quite ugly. If the Camry didn’t exist.
Accord still uglier than Camry in my view
They are all rather grotesque, but ugly sells as proven by the first Lincoln Alligator and subsequent Transformer Robot cars, trucks, vans and SUVs.
They are all angular abominations.
:-(
Wrench is correct.
2014 Accord, next to these, is a STUNNER.
I hope, a person who signed off on ’18 Accord will shoot self from shame.
The CX-5 looks great and the new Regal and Traverse are pretty good looking too
I’ll give you that the new Regal is appealing. The lines are simple, there’s nothing chunky about it, and it will age well.
According to new Hecho-En-Mexico pickup Truck owner Jack Baruth (and presumably, Mark Baruth, owner of many Fords having massive foreign parts content), styling plays a distant 2nd or 3rd to factor to 1) point/location of assembly, and/or % of of parts MAGA’d (made and generated in America – see both Baruths mpassioned diatribes on shy it’s so important to “buy American assembled goods made of American-fabricated parts and components) in said vehicles.
Let’s focus on the real priorities, Trumpians!
“It’s going to be, like, incredible, okay? I’m not a politician, but a businessman worth hundreds of billions of dollars, who will be, like, so incredibly brilliant dealing with countries taking advantage of us, and I’ll bring tens of millions of assembly jobs, coal mining jobs, steam locomotive jobs, printing press jobs, chimney sweep jobs, and other Dickens’ era jobs back to the U.S., okay? Plus, a beautiful, magnificent, 2,200 mike long, 200 foot-tall impervious border wall within a year that Mexico will pay
for will be erected, okay! Plus, the very beet healthcare in the world for every citizen, and essentially at 1/100th the out-of-pocket costs that exist today, okay? You will be blown away at how I’m going to make it rain [translation trickle down golden shower-on-middle- class economics of deregulation and tax cuts for the top 1/10th of 1%] on everyone, okay? You will need to carry a net around to catch the manna from the skies, okay? Trust me, I alone can Make America Great Again,,okay?”
#MAGAwithBaruthBros
get a clue, and tell Hilary to get the uranium she sold the russia back.
ps the new Camry looks great.
https://www.snopes.com/hillary-clinton-uranium-russia-deal/
Yeah, Snopes has the Uranium deal marked as false, while writing at the bottom of the entry (due to October 2017 revelations): “Well, there’s new evidence about shady characters and money moving around…but….that doesn’t prove anything! Hillary’s innocent!”
So why isn’t the article marked Yellow/undecided? As always, ask “qui bono?”
Snopes is not credible. It’s political fact checking is totally left wing biased.
“Snopes …. has tried to pose as a political fact-checker. But Snopes’ “fact-checking” looks more like playing defense for prominent Democrats like Hillary Clinton and it’s political “fact-checker” describes herself as a liberal and has called Republicans “regressive” and afraid of “female agency.”
Snopes’ main political fact-checker is a writer named Kim Lacapria. Before writing for Snopes, Lacapria wrote for Inquisitr, a blog that — oddly enough — is known for publishing fake quotes and even downright hoaxes as much as anything else.”
You grabbed that quote from the Daily Caller and expect anyone with a functioning brain stem to take you seriously? You’re not mad that Snopes isn’t balanced. You’re mad that they’re not far right.
Otter: “Germans”? Boone: “forget it, he’s rolling”
https://i0.wp.com/sandiegofreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/trump-made-in-china.jpg?ssl=1
http://www.scarymommy.com/here-are-some-photos-of-the-chinese-factory-where-ivanka-trump-shoes-are-made/
https://mobile.twitter.com/nathanTbernard/status/881920956624711681/photo/1
http://gawker.com/exclusive-photo-ivanka-trumps-shoes-definitely-made-in-1766494870
https://mobile.twitter.com/American_Bridge/status/776825805942853632/photo/1
https://mobile.twitter.com/American_Bridge/status/776828726562594816/photo/1
MAAAAAAGGGGGAAAAAAA !!!!!
ask the people of Haiti what they think of the Clintons.
the grifters and their slush fund is hated there as much as papa doc was
Not sure if the spelling mistakes are intentional or not. Your rant was a bit too coherent though. Gotta dumb it down more for it to be authentic. :)
You mean you actually took the time to read all that? I’d rather listen to Cathy Mitchell screaming frantically about some terrible cookware that only works on t.v..
After the first line or two, I knew it was just a pile of personal insults and attacks, so why give the troll the respect of actually reading his bait?
I’ll take a imperfect capitalist over an accomplished socialist any day. After 8 horrible years the economy is going into high gear & the stock market is going through the roof.
Besides Trump has had better taste in cars than Hillary or Obama.
Simple minds cling to simple patterns.
Or pointlessly complexified ones, if if instructed to by their Man on TV.
Drumpf isn’t an “imperfect capitalist” but a con-man and grifter who has cheated countless (esp. small businesses/tradesmen).
Drumpf would be far wealthier if he had simply invested the fortune his slumlord father left him into an index fund.
Drumpf has little “expertise” even in real eatste (and was totally clueless in many of his other business ventures ranging from casinos, to an airline – but hey, Drumpf U was food at swindling the unsophisticated).
Who, other than a complete MORON, would start a mortgage-lending company in 2007 when even journalists (whom Drumpf has attacked as “fake-news” makers) knew that the RE bubble was close to bursting.
After all the usual blowhard claims about how his new mortgage company was going to be the “best” – quietly closed down after a few months of not doing much.
But hey, Drumpf saw the RE downturn as an opportunity to profit off those in dire financial straits.
That “brilliant” move was almost matched by his son-in-law who spearheaded the most expensive Manhattan office building purchase which is in danger of sinking his family’s real estate empire.
I see a lot of the SS in the Kia, I kinda like it. I still have hard time envisioning that I would ever own a Kia though.
The chrome stache on the Accord has got to go. Here in CO the MagChloride that is laid down in the winter will ruin it in one season. I am not sure how you could bring yourself to have make payments on a car for another 4 years that had a pitted front end. Flip side, I know a lot of Honda owners who wash their Accord once a year whether it needs it or not, so they may not care.
I was thinking the same thing looking at the Stinger. Completely looks like an SS. I like it but I also liked the SS. The Chevy looked good but it was the wrong direction for a car that should have been making a bit more of a statement visually.
I feel that anyone who says they were let down by the SS styling never actually stood next to one and drove one, rather created their opinions through online reviewers or pictures. The SS, especially with the popular Holden conversion makes the VF2 into a visually striking car when your standing next to one.
Really wish I could edit that…
Overall, too many vents and sharp angle ‘slash’ bits (especially the Camry). The Stinger had so much potential, until the faux vents.
Too much over the top for the sake of getting attention going on in many of these designs. No “Class”.
2018 CTS-V, Genesis G80 Sport, Audi A7, and the Mazda CX-9 all have great lines and fantastic proportioning.
Honorable mention to the carryover Chevrolet Impala, Chrysler Pacifica, and Jaguar F-Pace (the wheel diameter needs to go down about 6 inches or so).
Ah, and one I forgot to add – the Volvo S90. What a knockout.
+1
Honda hit the mark with their Ridgeline pickup. As with some cars mentioned a lot of trucks try too hard to my tastes. Have there been any big changes in pickups for 18?
To me it looks like someone tried to turn a van into a truck.
Is that Ben Bernanke?
Thomas Friedman “The World is Flat”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_Is_Flat
Paul Krugman. If you’re an Nobel economist who goes publicly partisan, you’re gonna end up on some dude’s internet avatar.
hurricanehole, I disagree regarding the Ridgeline styling. The main problem is the rounded Pilot front half doesn’t match the squared off pickup truck back half. The other problem is the wheelbase is too short with too much body behind the back wheels. Maybe Honda can do a mid-cycle refresh that puts more squared off fenders and hood in front. I do like the combination of a bed wide enough to haul sheets of plywood combined with a car suspension, but the front end styling needs an injection of testosterone.
Ridgeline went from hideously ugly to utterly bland. Looks like an Ody that Honda cut the roof from and dropped in a pickup bed.
I could not disagree more.
The El-Pilotamino is not attractive at all.
Back-halving a car to a pickup generally does not do much for aesthetics.
At least the first one was it’s design.
Regal and Rio are at the head of the class. I suspect Kia will be making stunning vehicles in the next generation or 2. If only they could do something with that hideous logo.
Regal TourX would be my pick. If only they’d make it available sans plastic cladding.
That IS lovely, with stick it would be perfect. See haters, wagons can be sleek.
;-)
Yes. I really really hope they do a cladding free, this-is-just-a-wagon trim level.
Digging the facelift A7 myself.
To me The Accord in person is an absolute slam dunk. It has the same effect as an NSX in a way…. it has a ton of presence on the road for a lot less money. It punches high above its category in terms of styling and design, even if you think its not that attractive.
You are essentially getting a car that has the essence of an A7 or Panama for a fraction of the cost. It will turn more heads than most BMW’s or audi’s these days as well. Some might not like the look, but there will be no denying that the car has a strong presence. I think it looks great, and has all kinds of character.
I actually feel the same way about the Stinger and Arteon, though i have yet to be able to see them in person. All three sedans should give people a reason to consider not opting for that mid size Crossover.
I agree that it has a lot of presence, it’s a bold design and reserved.
Nailed it, kc1980. I feel the same way but got shouted down by people calling the new Accord front end fugly in the most-recent thread on the ’18 Accord and Camry. Now if only Honda would address the road noise issue…
Prior to seeing the Accord in person, I thought it resembled the ugly Crosstour from the angles in various photos. After seeing it in person, I also agree it looks better in person. That chrome uni-brow is still hideous to me, but I’m glad they darkened it for the Sport version. My inclination is more towards either the Arteon or Stinger, with the Stinger slightly ahead because of RWD.
Maybe it’s the lighting/angle, but the Accord looks like he rear-ended some pickup with a trailer hitch and broke off the bottom half of his grille. Also looks a bit like they were trying to copy an older A4/CC with some of those lines. Or, maybe the Mustang??
Meanwhile, the Camry looks (again, just going by the photo) looks much more complete and sculpted. Reminds me just a little of the 1st gen Eclipse. I like it much better, based on just a couple of photos. Seeing them for real may change my mind, though.
Lexus LC 500, Lincoln Continental AWD, BMW 240 convertible
The Navigator is FUBAR, like someone smacked an F-pace in the snout with an ugly stick.
The 2018 Expedition, however, I find quite classy. Looks like an SUV should within the larger context of the prevailing softening butter body shapes.
The new Regal, especially in GS guise.
+1. It’s ‘conventionally pretty’.., great smooth lines, good proportions, no oversized fake front grill.
I look forward to seeing what the aftermarket will do with the Accord front fascia. It’s a high volume model that could benefit from a little more Audi styling in the front end.
As a class, it’s an ugly bunch to my eye. The exceptions from Mazda and Audi just point out the other styling schools excessive departures from attractiveness. The Lexus LC 500 really surprised me, it not only looks good, it manages to make some of the other grills … less offensive? by showing a better executed delivery of the spindle / waist idea. The Accord isn’t moving me. Camry / Prius etc. are abominations that damage my eyes. Ford is drifting away from some OK stuff. GM still likes to guck the wheels in under a wider body which will never look OK on a car to me. Kia/Hyundai/Genesis are working on something, but it needs more history before they can push that far.
Genesis is the best of a bad lot. Just did a build and price. The basic G80 is an incredibly equipped car at an incredible price. The large standard navigation screen is somewhat of a drawback since I imagine that to get any real time information (traffic, gas prices, etc.) there is a subscription price you pay to get less information for more cost than google maps provides. It would be cool if you could display the google maps from your phone on the larger navigation screen but that won’t happen with the interface choices in today’s cars and phones.
I would be shocked if the G80’s infotainment system did not include Android Auto, which permits exactly that: mirroring of Google Maps from smart phone on the car’s screen.
I just looked at the specs again and the base model G80 includes both Apple carplay and Android auto.
My vote’s with the LC500. Lexus finally found a home for the spindle grill that works.
Very close second is the Regal. Very clean, lacks the overt visual height and tall snout afflicting so many sedans now, and loses nothing in wagon form.
The Accord is more cohesive than the Camry but I’m not fond of either. The Mazda6 and refreshed Fusion look far nicer to my eyes.
The Stinger is trying too hard, the fascias look clumsy and plasticky to me, and the greenhouse is 2012 Optima. The G70, on the other hand, would turn my head.
If it were 2017 I’d say S90 and XC90.
Volvo XC 60.
Nope. Not a single one. They all resemble blobbish, faux predator creatures. Not only that, these cars are so unnecessarily complex. There are many more opportunities to break down. Now it is to the point that a subcompact can have more complexity than a decade-old S-Class.
I am sticking with my ’13 200, ’93 Concorde (registered as a classic) and ’06 Ram 2500 for a really long time.
I saw a pre-production version of the Stinger and it does look as good in person as it does in the photos.
I know I’m supposed to turn in my car guy card if I say anything nice about a volume car, especially the Camry. But I’ll go all the way out on the limb and say the Accord, Camry and Stinger all look good.
The Camry is too busy with the louvers, yes. But the basic shape is good, the stance is good, and thank God that awful false rear quarter window is gone. In the higher trims, it has actual presence in person. So does the Accord, which in pictures just looks like an oversize Civic (and which, mechanically, is).
Ditto. I like all three.
I hope, you mean 2014 Accord
One small thing: I give bonus points to manufacturers that still leave a reasonable-looking spot for a front license plate. There’s far too many nice designs that don’t take this into account and are ruined when made legal (in some states). Looking at you, Mazda 3.
For a SUV the Rangie Velar is pretty damned good to look at.
Tesla Model 3 (of course)
VW Atlas
The new Freightliner Cascadia is pretty sweet.
Mustang.
The 2018 Bentley Continental GT is by far the best looking new car this year, mostly because it looks a lot like the 2017 Bentley, which looks a lot like the 2003 Bentley.
Steph, can you and the HQ boys in TO get our American readers to stay off politics. I have my views but we are all car folks here and let’s use this forum for that purpose, please, I beg you.
Ok, to the matter at hand. Most new cars are handsome but leave me cold. Exceptions: I love the new Camry and really admire what Toyota has done here. The Volvo S90 is stunning, as is (in certain colours) the new Lincoln Continental. Perhaps it is just a matter of scale and presence, but the Genesis G90 is weirdly appealing to me, possibly just as the semi-formal roofline works for the size. And, while not available to us, I am in love with that new Toyota Century. Design Disclaimer: my first car was a clapped out Citroen DS21, an influence at a young age on everything that has happened since. And I think it is a tragedy that all new French cars look like Kias….
I may catch flak for this… but I like the Sienna.
I’d call the Accord a slam plunk — very turd-like profile the more you inspect it
Accord isn’t bad looking in profile but the front end is inexcusable and makes even the Camry look good by comparison. The unibrow and lack of much of a lower grille are both inexcusable. Hopefully the aftermarket comes to the rescue until Honda hires some new stylists.
It is really depressing seeing the new styling. I think they all went to the Art Car Parade and decided the Cockroach Car was so cool, they just had to riff off of it.