I was thinking yesterday that in order to achieve the government's mandated efficiency standards it seems inevitable that all bodystyles will converge into one incredibly similar one that is optimized for low drag. I think this is a shame. It's like mandatory aerodynamics for sculpture. Thoughts of the hive mind?
This has been happening for years.
It's why most super-efficient cars look like a Prius - because that sort of cam-back shape is very aero.
It's why most modern sedans have some variation of the Bangle-butt so derided on the E60 when it came out in 2003.
And how do we stop it?!?
In reply to Carbon :
Engineer something better.
As long as they dont outlaw car modifications, can always strap on the biggest wings (yes plural) you can find as a way to spite "the man"! I have been using this form of protest for the last 5 years atleast. All in preperation for that day! Canards? Yup. Nascar style duck bill? Check. Front aero damns and DOWNFORCE splitters? Of course.
See you in hell commie bastards!
I want to see how they get aero and still pass pedestrian impact regs. They seem to be mutually exclusive.
Look at what happened to bicycles in the name of aerodynamics. To be fair, they all looked pretty samey back when the options were lugged or non lugged steel tube construction.
They have been saying this for decades, the truth is cars tend to look the same because they all copy each other.
Don't be the tool that blames the government for anything you don't like when in fact it is the fault of for-profit big corporations maximizing sales.
They eventually come out with something different just to be different, then they all copy that too.
It is true, they all have 3rd brake lights now. ;)
Carbon said:And how do we stop it?!?
Go "eco-friendly" and resurrect old iron. Old stuff is cool, plus you're saving the planet. Make up for the "not modern" with "more boost."
Carbon said:I was thinking yesterday that in order to achieve the government's mandated efficiency standards it seems inevitable that all bodystyles will converge into one incredibly similar one that is optimized for low drag. I think this is a shame. It's like mandatory aerodynamics for sculpture. Thoughts of the hive mind?
We've been there for YEARS.
I remember when they successfully petitioned the DOT to allow aero headlights vs. sealed-beam. Aside from the aero benefits, the styling guys were gushing over how it would free them from a major constraint.
Now there's 150 flavors of the same generic wedge. That and the dumb sanpaku looking "angel eyes" on BMWs and me-too Mopars, that are somehow brighter than sealed beam HEADLIGHTs were without providing any useful lighting capability, just berk-you to oncoming traffic capability.
BTW - sanpaku (when you can see the whites of the eyes around the bottom of the iris) is generally associated with drug addicts and people who are heavily exhausted, and of "low sexual energy"...
SkinnyG said:Carbon said:And how do we stop it?!?
Go "eco-friendly" and resurrect old iron. Old stuff is cool, plus you're saving the planet. Make up for the "not modern" with "more boost."
Been on that all my life. Also, it's the only way I can afford cool E36 M3.
Oh yeah cars used to look so different from each other
No wait
No that's not what I meant
No no no
OK maybe that's enough. Cars of an era always look the same. I think today's cars have about as much variety as any other decade's cars. It's like movies - Two movies from 1920 have more in common than two movies from 2020.
People are inherently risk averse, and tend to mitigate risk by copying the relative success of their peers. Having it inherently occur at both the producer and consumer levels naturally compounds the effect. This is the real reason that that individuality has always been the exception rather than the rule.
0.26 Cd (if I believe Wikipedia) disagrees 
Though I'm not going to claim that this is a practical packaging solution by a long shot!
Jelly bean shaped cars went away (mostly), in the early 2000's as the manufacturers started finding more efficient power. That allowed them to design cars that had styling cues that did not look rounded and smoothed. The other facet is that the aero development followed on pretty closely with those styling changes and we now have dimple and wedges all over the corners of modern cars to keep the drag numbers creeping down.
There is no fighting the 'progress'. Better to come up with a way to take advantage of it.
People were saying this when the Taurus came out in 1986, and probably way before then. I'm not particularly worried.
nimblemotorsports said:They have been saying this for decades, the truth is cars tend to look the same because they all copy each other.
Don't be the tool that blames the government for anything you don't like when in fact it is the fault of for-profit big corporations maximizing sales.
They eventually come out with something different just to be different, then they all copy that too.
It is true, they all have 3rd brake lights now. ;)
Are you being sarcastic, or...?
The results of my senior project in college (a study of 100 years of American automotive styling) conjectured that design and engineering drive vehicle creation first. Then, as designers get a handle on the new rules, technologies, or materials they begin to differentiate. Cadillac has been a good example of this in the years following my paper (1991) by adhering to a design ethic that uses hard lines or creases. This has hardly held them back stylistically in the face of greater engineering demands and technological changes. The whole of the automotive world follows the same cycle: new tech or engineering creates new problems followed by greater understanding over time and individualized responses.
Trouble is many a design or styling trend gets copied as something proves successful. Plus, we have greater movement between the manufacturers for design talent leading some cars from different manufacturers sharing similar design elements.
Not a jelly bean.
In reply to Jayclay :
Not exactly good looking either.
Knurled. said:Carbon said:I was thinking yesterday that in order to achieve the government's mandated efficiency standards it seems inevitable that all bodystyles will converge into one incredibly similar one that is optimized for low drag. I think this is a shame. It's like mandatory aerodynamics for sculpture. Thoughts of the hive mind?
We've been there for YEARS.
I remember when they successfully petitioned the DOT to allow aero headlights vs. sealed-beam. Aside from the aero benefits, the styling guys were gushing over how it would free them from a major constraint.
Now there's 150 flavors of the same generic wedge. That and the dumb sanpaku looking "angel eyes" on BMWs and me-too Mopars, that are somehow brighter than sealed beam HEADLIGHTs were without providing any useful lighting capability, just berk-you to oncoming traffic capability.
The insurance institute for highway safety is the insurance industry safety influencer and is attacking headlights these days.
https://www.iihs.org/topics/headlights
SkinnyG said:Carbon said:And how do we stop it?!?
Go "eco-friendly" and resurrect old iron. Old stuff is cool, plus you're saving the planet. Make up for the "not modern" with "more boost."
This. If we all buy old cars and make the "man"ufacturers know about it, we can revive the 50's-60's styling cues.
I mean, why CANT u have a 1959 caddy on the roads if it's all electric? Revive the good old days!
You know, I've been thinking that an EV conversion would suit my '66 Cadillac really well...
Warning: this is an opinion. It's worth what you paid for it.
This is why supercars don't look as cool as they used to.
Supercars shouldn't be slaves to aero. Supercars should say "berkeley you, aero. I've got horsepower."
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