Car design becoming more angular?
 

You guys notice that cars moving from smooth and oval shaped lights and fenders to a more stealth bomber kinda look?

Certainly not in the Mercedes lines. The design issue at the front is pedestrian impact safety rather than aerodynamics or radar resistance. ;)

CTS yes definately

When was the last time a Caddy had curves?

They should stop planning to run peeps over :P

That's what the video and radar automated braking systems are supposed to take care of.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ols5aUOL13s

mid/late-'90s Deville and Fleetwood were somewhat curvy.

Infiniti begs to differ :).

Are Infinitis the only cars that have gotten curvier over the last 15 years? Toyota was getting curvier, but did a switcheroo in the last few years.

EDIT: There's also Honda. The Civic, Accord, Odyssey, and Pilot are all curvier than they were 10-15 years ago.

It would suit me if cars moved away from the current 'organic reptile' kinda look, back to 'form follows function', with practical interior/cargo room and minimal blind spots!

Happy Motoring, Mark

And Mazda.

http://jalopnik.com/is-mazdas-sports-car-concept-the-new-rx-7-weve-been-wai-1733761746

I have a feeling that car is going to look great (albeit a concept). I think most of the angular look has come from GM. It works for the caddies but fails miserably with the Acadia and terrain and those soccer mom mobiles. Hell, my Saturn could definitely be considered very angular.


Sent from an abacus

Not sure -- in a city, you drive very near to pedestrians. If one steps in front of you, there likely wouldn't be time to stop, automated braking or not. You'll still need pedestrian-impact friendly design.

It's the same trend with MB. With the w210 and w211 being rounder, then the w212 became angular. Now the w213 has combined curves with angular design.

Give it a few years and it'll probably be back to being curvy, in a different way.

Just to give an example with MB sedans, look at how the w114/w108 was boxy and very "vertical" then the w123/w116 came in, and became a more "horizontal" and very slightly angular than vertical. The round lights and added curves on the body work helped give it a curvy feel. When the w126/w201/w124 came in, the design became angular. The w126 still has the curviness of its predecessor, while the w201 and w124 leaned towards being more angular. When the w140/w202 came in, the angular design was enlarged giving it a boxy look, but it was combined with curves. The w210 gave the design more curves. The w220 and w203 combined the angular appearance with curves to give the oval shape we see while the w210 got a facelift.

Then it was back to the w211 with the angular look.

That looks sexy.

I like this one too.

That, and do the brake lights illuminate when the auto brake engages? A whole lot of rear enders if they do not.