What is wrong with motoring journalists? I have a very smart (albeit old) '90 Toyota Celica GTi. I think it looks great (as do most people I meet). I work hard to keep it clean, and it still turns heads (or am I to believe it is with disgust!).
So why do the motoring press, car guides (such as Parkers), and this web-site think it is an ugly duckling?
I accept that the Japanese aren't the best at designing aesthetically pleasing vehicles, but why do writers seem intent on imposing their own ideals on the car buying public?
Surely no one can describe a Ford Escort as an attractive vehicle, but I have never read anwhere that it is ugly.
To use well worn cliches, "beauty is in the eye of the beholder", and "variety is the spice of life". I wish the motoring press would let US decide which vehicles are attractive, and which are not.
After all, it would be a fairly dull world if all cars were Ferraris and all women looked like Melissa Joan Hart (Mmmmm! Put that way, perhaps my car is ugly..........).
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I wanted a GT-4 not so long ago. They are not the most attractive car as standard, though it's hard to work out why. Think they might be a bit too flabby in standard trim. The headlights and general front end is where I think the problem is, a bit confused, sort of diluted if that makes any sense. The bonnet vent on the GT-4 helps this, but only slightly.
The newer supras are more to most people's tastes, the new Celica? Errr... crap.
Still, each to their own.
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I think the mr2 was a suberp designed car
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In my opinion there was a time, 1988-1995 (ish) where all models of car were at their best, (aesthetically as well as performance wise). This is why I persist in buyin cars over 5 years old and frequently nearer 10.
The old MR2's with their boxier style are really quite smart and unique, the later ones though slightly more rounded off were still very nice. The old 3.0i supras look ok but very dated.
Jap car wise I prefer the Mitsubishis, Nissans and Subarus as they still look good and also have the performance to match. All of the old skool car qualities with the benefit of new motoring technology.
Until such time as I can afford something of that type, i'll happily go rep baiting in me 2.0 16v Vauxhall.
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Colin,
I like the Fiat Multipla so I'd be fine with your car!
David
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How can you like a car/mpv that looks like a genetically modified frog? And an ugly one at that.
Damn that's the worst thing I've seen on the roads since the Ka came out.
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I can't understand why Honda changed the Prelude - the previous model was georgeous, the new one is hideous (in my view!)
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90% cars look like bubbles these days.
However, the Honda Integra Type-R is awesome, the older Civic Type-R is very nice as as well as the aforementioned Mitsubishis etc etc.
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They say that people look like their cars ...................
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The very first Celicas, TA22/23, looked great then and do now, and the GT went quite well. Of course they were included in "jap c**p" but who is laughing now?
The late Supras are certainly dramatic, though for me the wing is perhaps a bit much: was looking at some last Saturday and they are rather gorgeous inside.
The Mazda 323 of a year or two back was neat, but apparently they thought another euroblob was an advance!
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What about the Ford Scorpio? What were Ford thinking and why?
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Great chap Alan Clark.
To Amazon, for the book!
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Have to agree with you on this one Alex, he did love his Citroen DS.
Anyway there's nothing wrong with such types on rally jollies, some serious posh totty takes part too. Enough to get Guy interested I'm sure!
David
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Maybe the problem lies not with your car but with motoring journalists. I personally get a bit sick of their flip hair-splitting comments and off-the-cuff personal opinions. They get to drive new stuff every week, they don't live with it, and if they don't like it there's always another model waiting round the corner. Like those ghastly pseuds who write about restaurants in their gourmet columns that most of us never get to or would want to anyway.
What I call "Top Gear" snobbery.
Unlike journos, you and I work hard to save for and run our cars, and if we like what we drive, so be it.
If you like your ride, then good on yer, and to blazes with flaky remarks from poncified pen-pushers!
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What these presenters fail to tell you is how many times they ding the cars they test. I have recently been approached by one motoring mag looking to cover minor stuff who told me they shelled out a 5 figure sum for repairs in the past year. Not such hot shots are they?
I'm just watching Driven and guess what? Jason Plato is doing a Tiff with an M3. Oh dear, here we go again. It's turning into Top Gear Mk2.
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Watched a Swedish car prog last night, thought it was quite reasonable.
Sensible test of the Santa Fe, some motor show stuff, some motor sport stuff, off road racing, looked quite interesting but missed the important bits as the door bell rang, and then........flaming Tiff doing silly stuff in a TVR. Cannot get away from the beggar. (Actually thats not the word I used in the first draft but thought I would tone it down)
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You get it exactly right growlette in your description of some of these poncy motoring journalists.
In this saturdays Telegraph motoring section little big cars!!!! by Anthony ffrench -Constant (is that for real) he describes cars in a language I fail to recognise in relation to mechanical items.
Toyota corolla has been turned into a schizophrenic, does that mean its dangerous?
It suffers from a unfortunate reidual proboscis bonnet.
the Polo safety is USP putsch with 4 airbags.
Civic packaging and shoehorns them into a true B-segment sized offering.
Without the flaps of a small astrologically tainted tent parting in my mind to reveal a cheery wallnut faced crystal ball custodian copping a clip round the ear.
Is all this public school jargon???? if it is they ought to offer interpretations for the unfortunate ones like myself. Where do they get these experts from. I have visions of 18 year old lisping mummy's boys whose dad has used his influence to get them a job as a motoring expert.
the only phrase I understood was the clip around the ear.
I know I will be critisised over my critisicms of others but personally give me the Mike Brewer and his ilk who appear to speak as if they have lived a life similar to our own and actually know something about their subject.
Someone the other day posted one of his pet hates were the Alan Clark upper class ponce types pontificating about their manly exploits on rallies etc.
I couldn't agree more. Sorry I can't remember your name. Hope its not Rupert Algernon Scott-Moresby.
Alvin
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A friend of mine had a Celica, and the only part I wasn't particulary impressed with was the plastic interior. I think a lot of the problems stem from undertyreing - fitting too small a wheel/tyre combination, leaving huge gaps between tyre and wheel arch.
As for the version with four round headlights - too fussy.
Andy
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It's a funny old world that puts the look of a car more important than its primary function - that of getting you from point A to point B with reliability, safety and economy (and in that order).
Old Northern wisdom " You do not look at the mantlepiece when poking the fire"
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That's ridiculous. The way a car looks has a massive say over whether you buy it or not, or at least it does in the majority of cases. This argument does not explain the success of the Fiat Multipla.
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Well on behalf of those of us who regularly suffer from the little voice in the back going "Are we nearly there yet Dad?" when its only 15 minutes into a regular 30 minute journey.
I might accept that the three in a row seating allows youngsters to sit up front and in the action as opposed to being excluded from family life in the back where they cannot see much and its difficult to hear the conversation in the front.
I think I would be prepared to drive around in a cottage loaf on wheels just for that feature alone.
However the thought of all those extra pops in the doorskins due to it not fitting in parking spaces does not bear thinking about.
just my two pennorth @ lunchtime
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