What current production cars will still be beautiful in 25+ years?

"MegaSuper" (megasuper) 05/15/2015 at 17:28 • Filed to: None

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In 25 or more years, when we look back on the cars currently on sale today, which ones do you think will still be considered “beautiful” ? Not just nice, not aggressive, not interesting, but beautiful, something to stand alongside the Miuras, E-Types, Corvette Stingrays, BMW Z8s, Toyota 2000GTs and Citroen SMs of the world? Something that will feature on the “100 most beautiful cars of all time” lists?

The Jaguar F-Type and Aston Martin DB9/DBS/Vantage/Vanquish/AMV8 are obvious contenders I think...what else?

The Audi R8 convertible, McLaren MP4-12C/650S convertible, and Dodge Viper I think look great from the back, but I think there’s a possibility that the front ends look rather “modern” and may age/date rather quickly.

Are modern Ferraris/Lamborghinis beautiful? They’re not ugly in my opinion, but they look more “scientific” than “beautiful” to me.

Same concern for every angle of the BMW i8, haha.

What does Oppo think? I realize beauty is subjective, but I want to know what Oppo thinks! Is there ANYTHING out there now that will stand the test of time? (Or do modern cars just too large to be beautiful anymore? Have pedestrian-impact laws ruined car design forever? Remember, we’re just taking looks into consideration here, literally nothing else.)

(You can also nominate a car that you feel will have a beautiful/note-worthy interior in 25+ years, even if you think the exterior isn’t.)

Forgetful > MegaSuper 05/15/2015 at 17:30

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TheHondaBro > MegaSuper 05/15/2015 at 17:30

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458 Italia.

Everett Jiang > MegaSuper 05/15/2015 at 17:33

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The Porsche Cayman S, any generation (preferably second), to me is a beautiful car that will certainly stand the test of time.

MultiplaOrgasms > MegaSuper 05/15/2015 at 17:35

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Nothing quite like a japanese sedan from the early 90s.

GhostZ > MegaSuper 05/15/2015 at 17:36

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http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lincoln-Co…

If you’re gonna be a baller...

You can get a Continental in pretty much any year, excepting the late 60s (and there MIGHT be some good 1964-1969 Contis too), in great shape for under $20k.

Most of the cheaper ones have 302s instead of 460s or 429s, meaning they’re actually more reliable and easier to service and upgrade. As long as the paint, frame, and interior is good, you could replace the entire drivetrain for a few thousand dollars. Include the cost of a modern stereo, AC system, and perhaps restoration seats and you’ll be sitting at about $20k.

For Class Per Dollar, nothing beats it.

LongbowMkII > MegaSuper 05/15/2015 at 17:38

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Mazda 6.

Saw a Corvair Sedan at a car show last week, really eye catching today even though I’m sure it was just a compact sedan in the 60’s. I think the Mazda 6 will be viewed similarly.

Rainbow > MegaSuper 05/15/2015 at 17:38

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Sure it’s bigger in person than you’d expect, and that’s a bit awkward, but I think BMW absolutely nailed the space-age styling on this one. It’s going to be sexy in a quirky way like the SVX is now.

Sneaky Pete > Forgetful 05/15/2015 at 17:44

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Nope

ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) > MegaSuper 05/15/2015 at 17:44

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Sneaky Pete > Rainbow 05/15/2015 at 17:44

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Nope

Sneaky Pete > LongbowMkII 05/15/2015 at 17:45

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Nope

spanfucker retire bitch > Sneaky Pete 05/15/2015 at 17:46

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I’d love this time machine that you apparently have.

spanfucker retire bitch > MegaSuper 05/15/2015 at 17:47

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spanfucker retire bitch > GhostZ 05/15/2015 at 17:49

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I had no idea that was a current production car.

spanfucker retire bitch > MultiplaOrgasms 05/15/2015 at 17:50

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Current production car.

AM > MegaSuper 05/15/2015 at 17:50

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This guy right here:

Also his big brother:

I think the 4C will do very well to:

Luke's Dad Sold His 2000TL To Get a Sienna > MegaSuper 05/15/2015 at 17:51

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I'm going to nominate the four door coupe class. Especially the A7 and the first generation CLS.

B_dol > MegaSuper 05/15/2015 at 17:51

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Great styling, but not too over the top that it won’t age well.

Sneaky Pete > MegaSuper 05/15/2015 at 17:51

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Huracan.

F-Type.

GT350.

i8.

MP4-12C.

Sneaky Pete > GhostZ 05/15/2015 at 17:52

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Methinks this was posted in the wrong thread.

Rainbow > Sneaky Pete 05/15/2015 at 17:52

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Yep.

lonestranger > Forgetful 05/15/2015 at 17:52

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Dat Liquidation World doe.

GhostZ > Sneaky Pete 05/15/2015 at 17:54

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SHIT

Sneaky Pete > spanfucker retire bitch 05/15/2015 at 17:55

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The Mazda 6, while a pleasant looking car, will be looked at similarly to the 94-97 Accord. Not a bad looking car for the time, but will never turn heads and will never be a classic.

GhostZ > spanfucker retire bitch 05/15/2015 at 17:57

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Yeah this was a response to Tavarish’s article here:

http://carbuying.jalopnik.com/ebay-challenge…

Kinja won’t let me edit. All of the correctionist comments I get from here on is punishment for my inability to watch what tab I’m in when I comment.

spanfucker retire bitch > GhostZ 05/15/2015 at 17:59

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for my inability to watch what tab I’m in when I comment.

We’ve all been there.

Sneaky Pete > Rainbow 05/15/2015 at 17:59

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About as visually pleasing as a Nissan Cube or Kia Soul. If it didn’t have the roundel on it, would you feel the same way?

GhostZ > MegaSuper 05/15/2015 at 17:59

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To cover up my mistake with the other comment, I’m donating this:

spanfucker retire bitch > Sneaky Pete 05/15/2015 at 17:59

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Again, I’d like to borrow your time machine. There’s literally no way you could so positively make a statement like that until it’s been 25 years.

Or you can travel into the future. Either one.

Sneaky Pete > spanfucker retire bitch 05/15/2015 at 18:01

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It’s not a great looking car in the present. In 25 years it’s supposed to magically turn into a timeless design? If I have a time machine, you have powerful shrooms.

spanfucker retire bitch > Sneaky Pete 05/15/2015 at 18:03

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See, this is where the whole subjectivity thing comes into play.

The Mazda6 is one of the best looking mid-size sedans on the road, period. This is why so defiantly and assuredly saying “Nope” is ridiculous.

LongbowMkII > Sneaky Pete 05/15/2015 at 18:06

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Right, and it’s my opinion that it will age like the 4 door Corvair and be largely overlooked at the time and when people are finished looking at slab sided Challengers and Camaros, they will stop and see the Mazda and say “Woah, I forgot about these...nice.”

Sneaky Pete > spanfucker retire bitch 05/15/2015 at 18:23

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The 94-97 Accord was one of the best looking sedans in its day, no one could care less about them 20 years later.

Rainbow > Sneaky Pete 05/15/2015 at 18:24

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Maybe. The kidney grille really works with the design, though.

Sam > Sneaky Pete 05/15/2015 at 18:28

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Nope.

Forgetful > lonestranger 05/15/2015 at 18:31

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Dirty Jersey wat?

Sneaky Pete > Rainbow 05/15/2015 at 18:36

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They look more like a Vincent Price mustache than kidneys to me. Lol

lonestranger > Forgetful 05/15/2015 at 18:36

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Bowlertime, yo.

Hot Takes Salesman > MegaSuper 05/15/2015 at 19:16

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AAAAALLLLFAAAAAA 4C

MegaSuper > Sam 05/15/2015 at 19:18

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I’m curious to know your reasons why! I agree on some…

Huracan: The back is incredibly plain, and not in a nice minimalist way imo. I’ve seen the same sentiments echoed on here by other Oppos. The front is sort of too platypus-like and I don’t think it will age well.

F-Type: Not seeing it. I think it’s great from every angle.

GT350: Looks great, except the front 3/4s-view…suffers from “melted jellybean syndrome” like a lot of modern cars.

i8: Really hit or miss, too early to tell if you ask me; it could end up being amazing like the Citroën DS, or looking like what we “thought the future would look like”, like a Mitsubishi 3000GT or Ford Probe or something.

MP4-12C: It’s an attractive shape, especially as a convertible. I have to wonder though if the front will be considered “too plain” in the future. The rear is divisive too; it could come off as minimal, or something that looks like it came from a power plant/HVAC system. Could go either way.

MegaSuper > AM 05/15/2015 at 19:19

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Definitely agree on the Alfa.

The Bentleys though…hmm. I mean it’s all subjective, but most automotive journalists have written that the Mulsanne’s front fascia is a disaster, so I think that limits how people will judge it in the future.

The Continental GT is nicer-looking, but I’m not sure how history will judge a rounded Bentley. (Aren’t the square ones considered a “classic” look and all that?) I think the colour matters a lot for this car. Sometimes it looks elegant, sometimes it looks like a bank vault with wheels...

MegaSuper > TheHondaBro 05/15/2015 at 19:21

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If you don’t mind, what angles do you specifically find to be nice on that car?

I think the rear is OK, I like Ferraris better with quad lights rather than dual.

The front…just not seeing it. The headlights look too long to me (although not as bad as the FF), and if a car’s grille is its “face,” then this one has braces. I find the little aerodynamic bits at the bottom very distracting.

MegaSuper > Sneaky Pete 05/15/2015 at 19:23

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While car’s grille is often considered to be its “face”, the i3’s is too much like an actual face to me.

I really hope future BMW i Division cars lose the 2-tone/2 cars in one!/1 car with body armour look. I think it’ll age very poorly, but maybe that’s the point so people buy a new one ASAP.

On the other hand, the i3’s interior is fabulous. Shame they couldn’t just scale it up for the i8.

RustedSprinter > MegaSuper 05/15/2015 at 19:25

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None in my opinion.

MegaSuper > LongbowMkII 05/15/2015 at 19:26

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I’m glad this is the top-rated thread, it’s a really fascinating view.

I almost feel this is one of those cases where brand perception comes into play or something.

It is a great design, I agree with you there. I also manage to agree with trapster though, in the sense that the #1 thing holding this back from being a “classic” is people saying “well it’s just a family car…”

I mean, a 57 Bel-Air was too, right? But there’s a certain design ethic of the 1950s that we will/can never see again. So unless people get nostalgic over mega-crash-reinforced cars/the overall “jellybean” shape of this era, it won’t happen.

I have to wonder if people would feel differently if Mazda had something akin to Acura/Infiniti/Lexus (or heck, even Nismo/Mugen/TRD/STI/Tommy Kaira), slapped that badge on the front, dropped in a twin-turbo V6/V8 and called it a day. That’s what I mean by brand perception.

LongbowMkII > MegaSuper 05/15/2015 at 19:37

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I don’t think there will ever be another generation defining car like the 55-57 chevy. there are just too many options these days. Nostalgia does play a big part in determining what a classic is and the mazda probably won’t bring that but I think in a sea of 2000-2020 cars it will stand out.

MegaSuper > LongbowMkII 05/15/2015 at 19:46

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It sounds like you’d be a good person to ask: This is probably the 3rd-4th time I’ve seen mentioned on here “There are too many options these days”, especially with regard to cars appreciating in value.

In the 1950s, was it literally only possible to buy American cars in the USA? I realize Japan still had a ways to go, but were there literally no European car dealers? Was there an older form of the “25-year import law” that made it impossible for someone to bring in a BMW/Austin/Fiat/whatever from that era? I just find it interesting that there is “more” choice now, and yet so many smaller companies have died or been absorbed.

not for canada - australian in disguise > MegaSuper 05/15/2015 at 19:51

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QCGoose > MegaSuper 05/15/2015 at 21:33

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From the front wheels on back, I could see the 458 as somewhat “timeless”. But that front fascia... Hell no. IMO it looked awful when new, and years from now I can’t imagine those ugly catfish whiskers and awful, AWFUL headlights being attractive to more than a handful of people.

If anything, I can see people 25 years from now looking back on the 458's front end and thinking things like "Remember when this was Ferrari's "thing"? What the hell were they thinking?"

MegaSuper > QCGoose 05/15/2015 at 21:43

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I agree 100% with this. Phew, I thought I was alone!

LongbowMkII > MegaSuper 05/16/2015 at 00:21

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You could definitely import Jags, Mercedes and VW beetles (by far the most popular import of the 50’s) but were generally prohibitively expensive and had poor dealeships and repair networks. So the import appeal was limited largely to high end luxury and sports cars, and the beetle. Europe and the US had drastically different car needs after the war. European family cars were tiny compared to american ones. A 1955 6cyl sedan would be middle of the road in the US, but a beetle was considered the middle for Germany. So only the biggest most powerful European sedans could sell in the US. There were more domestic car makers, but the big 3 (chrysler, ford, GM) held the lion’s share of the market. They just had more divisions. If you wanted a standard family sedan you essentially had 3 choices.

MultiplaOrgasms > spanfucker retire bitch 05/16/2015 at 03:46

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Haha you see, Toyota is still making the damn thing for the asian market. (Not the one pictured, that was a special edition with a supercharged 3S-FE, some suspension mods and bodykit) There are actually three versions of it on sale right now. There is the Florida special Crown Sedan , and the taxi special Crown Comfort and Comfort .

Old-Busted-Hotness > MegaSuper 05/16/2015 at 07:33

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Challenger, if you can find one without the flavor-of-the-month blackout look.