There was a time when cars looked different

CanNik

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I had a Cortina, Sierra, Metro sport, Grand Scenic but the thing I have noted looking for a new car is the all look the same.

My son is probably right because so many are made by the same company.

Long gone are sadly the Sierra days
 
I had a Cortina, Sierra, Metro sport, Grand Scenic but the thing I have noted looking for a new car is the all look the same.

My son is probably right because so many are made by the same company.

Long gone are sadly the Sierra days
But they don’t all look the same, do they. Probably the widest sweeping generalisation I’ve seen on here in a while.
 
Different enough for you..........

2020-Volvo-XC40-.png
 
I had a Cortina, Sierra, Metro sport, Grand Scenic but the thing I have noted looking for a new car is the all look the same.

My son is probably right because so many are made by the same company.

Long gone are sadly the Sierra days

Sorry but that is nonsense.
 
Maybe they don't look all the same, but in 40 years time you won't see a 2020 car being carefully looked after and classed as a classic like you do a 1980's car. Build standards mean newer cars are not designed to last as long, and sadly you don't have the design ambition or creativity that cars makers used to have.

A lot is now dictated by safety standards, yes, but a lot of the more common modern cars look quite similar and a bit plain and boring.
 
Maybe they don't look all the same, but in 40 years time you won't see a 2020 car being carefully looked after and classed as a classic like you do a 1980's car. Build standards mean newer cars are not designed to last as long, and sadly you don't have the design ambition or creativity that cars makers used to have.

What nonsense. I’m sure there were similar thoughts then and there will be in 40 years. People are ingenious and if there’s real value there there will be a way to preserve them. Always has been so far. Realistically a lot of 80s cars were an improvement in quality and reliability from 70s cars but still pretty awful in many cases. There’s a big difference between a car being old and being a classic.
 
n 40 years time you won't see a 2020 car being carefully looked after and classed as a classic like you do a 1980's car. Build standards mean newer cars are not designed to last as long
Maybe that's rose-tinted spectacles. I don't know. I do know, though, that it was fairly typical for a mid-80s Ford to have pretty much rusted away in 3 years, just as with many of its earlier siblings...... Whereas my 2004 Nissan lasted 12 years with hardly a visible mark on the bodywork. And likewise its mechanicals.
 
a lot of the more common modern cars look quite similar and a bit plain and boring.
Of course there will be similarities in styling depending on trending tastes. I wouldn't expect a Cortina, Sierra and Grand Scenic to look the same as they are from different decades. And a Sierra and Metro are in completely different classes.

Take a 2020 baby BMW and compare it to a 2020 Mini, and they're arguably from the same stable.

Edit: Apologies, I missed (and cut off) your point about safety standards and I agree, that will control to some extent how different a design can be and still comply.

If we think of it in terms of evolution where very disparate species are evolving to exploit an increasingly niche (in this case regulated) environment then convergent evolution is inevitable. But as yet there is still room for individual expression.
 
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Looks pretty similar to me:
View attachment 1355294
Ucha fi. It's a Vauxhall.

That to me looks like a jacked up hatchback. The Volvo has much squarer lines both horizontally and vertically. The clam shell bonnet on the Volvo is also more pronounced with deeper shoulders.
 
What nonsense. I’m sure there were similar thoughts then and there will be in 40 years. People are ingenious and if there’s real value there there will be a way to preserve them. Always has been so far. Realistically a lot of 80s cars were an improvement in quality and reliability from 70s cars but still pretty awful in many cases. There’s a big difference between a car being old and being a classic.

I guess we will have to wait and see if the electronics and plastics from 2010 and onwards stand the test of time. The simplicity of some old cars is their saving grace, no ECU to fry, no delicate injectors, electronic throttle bodies etc... Also modern engines are built to be environmentally friendly, small engines with turbos are not built with longevity in mind, in my opinion.

I don't see most of them doing 200k miles without issue, unlike some of the older, simpler designs.

Of course not all old cars are classics, but some really stood the test of time if well looked after or restored. I don't see people sharing the same interest in restoring a heap of plastic from 2015 in 2055, whereas even some of the more ordinary old cars get this treatment.
 
Ucha fi. It's a Vauxhall.

That to me looks like a jacked up hatchback. The Volvo has much squarer lines both horizontally and vertically. The clam shell bonnet on the Volvo is also more pronounced with deeper shoulders.

It has virtually all the same design elements in all the same places. The fact that they might be a slightly different shape doesn't stop it from being a very similar design.

It has the same dent in the lower doors, the same black plastic trim around the lower edge of the body and wheel arches, the same air intakes at the front, the same headlight shape, the same logo bar, the same side profile for the rear lights, the same oversized five spoke alloy wheels, the same door handles and so on.

It's hard to see how they could be any more similar without being china-style clones.

Of course, it's often been like this in the past too. The 80s equivalents to the XC40/GrandlandX in the Volvo and Vauxhall ranges also looked very similar to each other, sharing many design features:
1598370038744.png

1598370090360.png


That beautiful cars that stand out like the current Grand Scenic or Mazda or Peugeot's offerings are almost always the exception.
 
It has virtually all the same design elements in all the same places. The fact that they might be a slightly different shape doesn't stop it from being a very similar design.

It has the same dent in the lower doors, the same black plastic trim around the lower edge of the body and wheel arches, the same air intakes at the front, the same headlight shape, the same logo bar, the same side profile for the rear lights, the same oversized five spoke alloy wheels, the same door handles and so on.

It's hard to see how they could be any more similar without being china-style clones.

Of course, it's often been like this in the past too. The 80s equivalents to the XC40/GrandlandX in the Volvo and Vauxhall ranges also looked very similar to each other, sharing many design features:
View attachment 1355307
View attachment 1355308

That beautiful cars that stand out like the current Grand Scenic or Mazda or Peugeot's offerings are almost always the exception.
That Volvo wasn't a car. It was part of a Stephen King horror story. First brand new car I ever bought was a Vauxhaull Astra GSi. Last Vauxhall I ever bought was a Vauxhall Astra GSi.:mad:
 
It has virtually all the same design elements in all the same places. The fact that they might be a slightly different shape doesn't stop it from being a very similar design.

It has the same dent in the lower doors, the same black plastic trim around the lower edge of the body and wheel arches, the same air intakes at the front, the same headlight shape, the same logo bar, the same side profile for the rear lights, the same oversized five spoke alloy wheels, the same door handles and so on.

It's hard to see how they could be any more similar without being china-style clones.

Of course, it's often been like this in the past too. The 80s equivalents to the XC40/GrandlandX in the Volvo and Vauxhall ranges also looked very similar to each other, sharing many design features:
View attachment 1355307
View attachment 1355308

That beautiful cars that stand out like the current Grand Scenic or Mazda or Peugeot's offerings are almost always the exception.

True, the new Mazda 3 is a lovely looking car, and quite different.

1598371593524.png
 
Maybe they don't look all the same, but in 40 years time you won't see a 2020 car being carefully looked after and classed as a classic like you do a 1980's car. Build standards mean newer cars are not designed to last as long, and sadly you don't have the design ambition or creativity that cars makers used to have.

A lot is now dictated by safety standards, yes, but a lot of the more common modern cars look quite similar and a bit plain and boring.

Cars are designed to not last as long - Are you serious? Cars these days last for years.
Take some heap of crap Ford from the 80s, damn thing would be on the scrap yard in a few years.

Most cars these days can easily do 200K on the engine with no issues at all if it is properly serviced.

You've obviously got an issue with something about modern cars, but your memories of 80s cars are clearly failing you!
 
We'll forget that you owned a, wait for it.........Kia. Volvo make very nice Fire Engines.:thumbsup:

Now a Octavia, that is a good looking car. (Played my get out of jail card there.:))

I shall soon be the proud owner of a Volvo XC40. So it's a good looking car. Kapish.:lesson:

I think you missed the point. Which is that if you take two cars decades apart they will look very different, as per the OP. I was being ironic :D
 
We'll forget that you owned a, wait for it.........Kia.

Hold the front door there sonny. :laugh:

Kia's make lovely cars now.
 

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Cars are designed to not last as long - Are you serious? Cars these days last for years.
Take some heap of crap Ford from the 80s, damn thing would be on the scrap yard in a few years.

Most cars these days can easily do 200K on the engine with no issues at all if it is properly serviced.

You've obviously got an issue with something about modern cars, but your memories of 80s cars are clearly failing you!

I'm only 26 😂

Yes cars no longer rust like they used to, but the small 1L turbocharged engines really aren't designed with longevity in mind, and the vast amount of plastics in cars become brittle with age. So some things have got better yes, but not everything.
 

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