To answer your question - its just you.
Applying your criteria (aesthetics and grace) I don't see how anyone could claim that 50 years ago most cars passed and today most fail. As with any product, there have always been both good and bad car designs on the market and there always will be.
Anyway a lot depends on personal taste. FWIW my first car was a Cortina Mk2 and my car now is the current Mazda 3. In my view the latter wins hands down on aesthetics and grace but of course others may disagree.
As LP says, many cars are far larger than their forebears, even compared to versions just 10-15 years ago. It's one of the reasons why I still like Mazdas, as they aren't much different in size from my gen-1 Mazda3 to yours, and the current gen-4 car is bar far the best looking of the four versions.
I also agree about the Minis - obviously the original is a styling classic, but so small, and increadibly dangerous if your involved in an accident, as was the Metro/Rover 100 (a pupil at my school in the year above me in 6th form was kill in one [front passenger]).
The NuMini was a lovely looking car, bigger than the original, but the generations that followed have bloated it, especially the downright ugly variants. I'm sure though they are far safer than the original and Metro/100.
I think that the styling of many a modern car (last 30 years), inside and out, is rather soul-less, probably because of a combination of required safety features, aeordynamics and a tendancy for manufacturers to copy 'what's in fashion' rather than to innovate, although there must be a limit on how varied a car styling can be within the parameters I mentioned.
I would say that, with a few exceptions, American cars are far uglier than their equivalents from the 1950s, 60s and early 70s. Then they lost the plot entirely.
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