Question of the Night: What's the most irritating modern design detail?

"boxrocket" (boxrocket) 09/11/2015 at 01:33 • Filed to: Question of the Night, QOTN, design

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Sorry for the late post. I had to take my wife to the airport, and I decided to upgrade my main desktop while she was out of town, and I lost track of time. On the plus side, it was probably the fastest motherboard, CPU, RAM, and power supply swap I’ve done on a custom desktop (factory-made desktops are usually easy already); new guts means my main desktop can actually be my main computer again if I want (I’ve been doing most of my personal computering from my Windows tablet this year); and I’ll finally have all my computers and phones running Windows 10.

Anyway, onto the question!

What recently-introduced or popularized (less than 10 years, 5 even better, bonus points for more recent trends) design detail that is on multiple brands bothers you? I don’t mean design trends themselves, like

Kammbacks, low-roofline/high-beltline with a short greenhouse, or retro, just certain details that are represented in multiple brands.

Mine’s simple: turn signals mounted down low, typically below the bumper up front (new Mazda3, new Ford Mustang, Ford Escape, Lincoln MKZ, etc.), and in the bumper out back (VW Tiguan, Kia Sportage, Infiniti EX35/QX50, etc.). They’re dangerous (more folks drive taller vehicles and can’t/don’t look that low) and don’t see as effective as locating them within the main light clusters at each corner.

The ones in the rear bumper are same especially dumb as there appears to be plenty of room in the higher lighting elements to fit a turn signal in there.

How about you, design-conscious Opponauts?

Supreme Chancellor and Glorious Leader SaveTheIntegras > boxrocket 09/11/2015 at 01:45

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Do fake tail pipes count (see Lexus ISF was the first one that irked the shit out of me)

boxrocket > Supreme Chancellor and Glorious Leader SaveTheIntegras 09/11/2015 at 01:51

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Absolutely! So many fake elements could make this list, but I don’t want to steal anyone's suggestion by naming all of the ones I can think of..

SVTyler > Supreme Chancellor and Glorious Leader SaveTheIntegras 09/11/2015 at 01:52

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This, how expensive is it to build pipes two inches longer? The most egregious example I’ve seen is the V8 Vantage and I couldn’t believe Aston Martin of all people were doing it too.

Short-throw Granny Shifter is 2 #blessed 2b stressed > boxrocket 09/11/2015 at 01:52

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Circular foglights, way too big wheels, exterior matte black plastic, C and D pillars on sedans (3 pillars is plenty), bluish HID headlights, and flattened fenders around the wheel arches, to name a few.

Short-throw Granny Shifter is 2 #blessed 2b stressed > boxrocket 09/11/2015 at 01:53

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Circular foglights, way too big wheels, exterior matte black plastic, C and D pillars on sedans (3 pillars is plenty), bluish HID headlights, and flattened fenders around the wheel arches, to name a few.

Short-throw Granny Shifter is 2 #blessed 2b stressed > Short-throw Granny Shifter is 2 #blessed 2b stressed 09/11/2015 at 01:55

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Also, plastic engine covers, rear window wipers, and DRLs.

CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist) > boxrocket 09/11/2015 at 02:00

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Cars that are ridiculously quiet at stock. Ive heard of the FoSt, the FiST , the new mustang ecoboost, and even my moms Camry with a highly muted exhaust sound. Go back to the days where you could hear the Turbo whine loudly and how loud an stock exhaust can be (loud, at least in my case)...plus the blind will have an advantage of hearing the cars, not hearing a world of goddamn priuses idling

RyanFrew > Short-throw Granny Shifter is 2 #blessed 2b stressed 09/11/2015 at 02:06

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Eh, ever driven a Mini, or something similar, without a rear windshield wiper? Not totally necessary, but definitely helpful.

Shoop > boxrocket 09/11/2015 at 02:20

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Giant mostly fake grills

its not even so bad when they block out behind the grill, its more when it looks like they just forgot to cut out the holes

Oh yeah im lookin at you.

Krieger (@FSKrieger22) > boxrocket 09/11/2015 at 02:56

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Less Kamm tails than what some manufacturers do with them:

Yes, I know that third brake lights are legally required. But surely there’s some way of having them and a Kamm tail and not place a huge opaque bar in the middle of one’s rearward vision?

Spasoje > boxrocket 09/11/2015 at 03:07

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The Tig has its turn signals up here. The elements in the bumper are the reverse lights and the reflectors!

Osiris - I can haz Euro spec? > Short-throw Granny Shifter is 2 #blessed 2b stressed 09/11/2015 at 03:46

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I agree with just about everything you say. And I say "just about" because at one point I agreed with you on the rear window wiper. Then I moved to Alaska. Rear window wipers are almost a must when you've got feet of snow coming down on you.

McMike > boxrocket 09/11/2015 at 05:38

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Big, unnecessary wheels.

Mrs McMike just bought a 2015 Accord (with 17”)and I told the salesman that I wanted to upgrade the wheels, and asked if he had any 16” to show us.

He found that about as funny as he did when I asked him for the Carfax.

McMike > Short-throw Granny Shifter is 2 #blessed 2b stressed 09/11/2015 at 05:42

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Plastic engine covers make engine swaps easier.

How else can I get 280 bhp in a Mini?

BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather > boxrocket 09/11/2015 at 07:10

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I can’t vouch for any of the rest of them, but those lower strips on the Tiguan are just reflectors. The turn signal is still integrated into the larger cluster above.

spanfucker retire bitch > boxrocket 09/11/2015 at 07:23

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Always the fake vents.

Übel > Short-throw Granny Shifter is 2 #blessed 2b stressed 09/11/2015 at 07:49

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Obviously you’ve never driven a car that needs a rear windshield wiper.

Stapleface-Now Hyphenated! > boxrocket 09/11/2015 at 08:05

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Oh man, the Sportage is the worst for that. Just the other day I had a guy in a Sportage wanting to merge and I couldn't even see his turn signal because it was blocked by my side view mirror. And I drive a Civic which isn't exactly a tall vehicle to begin with. Felt like a dick for not letting the guy over, but I couldn't see the signal at all!

Stapleface-Now Hyphenated! > Short-throw Granny Shifter is 2 #blessed 2b stressed 09/11/2015 at 08:06

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Rear wipers should be standard in EVERY car. The last three cars I've owned had one, and I miss it dearly in my current vehicle.

Stapleface-Now Hyphenated! > boxrocket 09/11/2015 at 08:09

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This really isn’t new, but corporate grills really bug the shit out of me. Why does everything in the lineup need to look the same? I'm looking at you Lexus and Acura.

yitznewton > boxrocket 09/11/2015 at 09:36

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Catfish/fang lights.

uofime-2 > Shoop 09/11/2015 at 10:20

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That Jeep is heinous! they almost didn’t make the slats real at all, it looks like they probably could have made them entirely fake, but some one said, “No, that’s a bridge too far, add some holes at the bottom!”

boxrocket > Shoop 09/11/2015 at 10:37

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Good one! There’s so much sacrificed at the altar of aerodynamics, I wonder how much engine cooling is sacrificed?

boxrocket > Spasoje 09/11/2015 at 10:46

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The joys of posting after 12AM and being up for 19 hours. True, I think those are reverse lights, but they’re awfully small and oddly located. It’s another pet peeve of mine having low reverse lights: they may illuminate the ground better for the backup camera, but other drivers can’t see them.

boxrocket > yitznewton 09/11/2015 at 10:51

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What do you mean? Like the new

Camry,

Miata,

and CX-3?

wiffleballtony > boxrocket 09/11/2015 at 11:42

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Fake vents. Fake vents everywhere. Followed by non functional exhaust tips and diffusers.

Tapas > boxrocket 09/11/2015 at 16:29

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Fake. Vents.

touring the brook - now with ZHP! > boxrocket 09/11/2015 at 17:11

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Chrome. While it is not as common as it was ten years ago, I still can’t stand the chrome on stuff like GMC Denali or Cadillac XTS.

Spasoje > boxrocket 09/11/2015 at 21:20

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True, especially when people are conditioned to look for them in the light cluster, like you mentioned!

I mean, as car enthusiasts, we might think to look there, but most people likely won’t...

RedPir8Roberts > boxrocket 09/13/2015 at 22:39

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Super-low, spoilers on spoilers. Ford Mustang GT350 (the last gen Laguna Seca was even worse). They’re so low that there is no chance you’re going to make it out of any sort of driveway without scraping it, and unless you’re tracking it the aero benefit must be negligble. And the car already has a spoiler. At the other end of the car, rear diffusers, which are a must-have eyesore on any new sporty car. Again, how much aero benefit are we really talking about—and are they even functional on sub-$30,000 cars? And why can’t they be body-colored? Once again, the last-gen Mustang was a big offender, the diffuser / rear plasticky cap looked like a diaper. The overall flat and tall front end mandated by European crash standards (see the new-gen Mustang, and the Mercedes SL500) is also an overall crime, leading to the high hoodlines and overall blockier looking silhouettes, but I don’t know if that counts as a design “feature.” How the Corvette skirts this particular requirement is a mystery, most other remaining low-front end cars are mid or rear-engined, since they don’t have an engine block needing clearance above them.