Hey OPPO, long time no post

"John-Palazzo" (John-Palazzo) 03/19/2018 at 07:36 • Filed to: None

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I hope to post more in the near future. Until then, let’s talk about car design.

I’ll go first: the peugeot 206 is one of the best designed cars of all time.

pip bip - choose Corrour > John-Palazzo 03/19/2018 at 07:44

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poorly designed afterthought

farscythe - makin da cawfee! > John-Palazzo 03/19/2018 at 07:46

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i counter with a clio williams

gorgeous

ThePlasticOne - no diggities expressed nor implied. > John-Palazzo 03/19/2018 at 07:53

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I argue there’s no such thing as a poor car design, only one that’e been meddled with far too much by people who have no idea what it means to design.

duurtlang > pip bip - choose Corrour 03/19/2018 at 07:54

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They sold millions of the 206 and I see countless of them every day. 3-door, 5-door, wagon and convertibles. I’ve never in my life seen a 206 sedan. Horrible afterthought indeed.

pip bip - choose Corrour > duurtlang 03/19/2018 at 08:00

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not sure if sold in Europe or only for Iran

duurtlang > John-Palazzo 03/19/2018 at 08:02

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I think it looks absolutely fine, but I also think the 1998 206 started the horrific design trend at 21st century Peugeot. They took the good looking 206 design and took it to an extreme. Older Peugeots looked stylish and somewhat conservative, newer ones are overdesigned and just horrible looking. They only got themselves out of the design malaise a few years ago.

Examples of the gaping mouth overextended headlight bad design the 206 inspired:

207

407

307 facelift

As such, I see the 206 as the start of a very bad period for Peugeot. I find it hard to like it because of it. And this is coming from someone owning two 205s and a 406 coupe.

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > John-Palazzo 03/19/2018 at 08:02

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Perhaps. But why?

John-Palazzo > pip bip - choose Corrour 03/19/2018 at 08:55

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After though indeed, but to be fair, it was not designed by same people. Afaik the original 206 sedan came from Iran.

John-Palazzo > duurtlang 03/19/2018 at 08:58

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I don’t blame the 206 for that, just because I can’t think of many brands whose design survived that period without getting diluded and horrible. Actually, I think most of them are still recovering, while peugeot is back to being gorgeous.

John-Palazzo > farscythe - makin da cawfee! 03/19/2018 at 08:59

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But that’s a special edition, the 206 is beautiful even without flared arches and the such.

John-Palazzo > ThePlasticOne - no diggities expressed nor implied. 03/19/2018 at 09:00

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I think it’s easier to find examples of the later, but the former still exists.

John-Palazzo > SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media 03/19/2018 at 09:02

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Clean, purposeful, clear about what it is and what it’s trying to achieve as a product, different but immediately recognisable.

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > John-Palazzo 03/19/2018 at 09:23

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While I don’t generally disagree with that assessment... there’s more to car design than just the way a thing looks.

Otherwise, I could say that the previous generation 205 did it better...and made it possible for the 206 to be what it was.

Spanfeller is a twat > John-Palazzo 03/19/2018 at 09:27

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But that could be said of many hatches. The golf might be a boring slab of german steel but it’s still easy to recognize because of the features, so would any pug, Renault, citroen, etc... Fiats are sort of meh but you can still recognize them....

John-Palazzo > SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media 03/19/2018 at 09:34

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I agree, that’s why I said “clear about what’s trying to achieve as product”. IMO there’s a certain abstraction about good design that’s connected to how compatible the product is within its position in the market. Both the 205 and 206 are great designs, and the 205 is certainly more iconic for a number of reasons that are not related to design (success in racing, for example). The 206 is a great design, the 205 is a great car. I’m talking about design.

John-Palazzo > Spanfeller is a twat 03/19/2018 at 09:47

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I think it’s very hard to separate design as its own thing, so this a hard conversation to have, but I love it anyway. As for most hatchbacks, I agree with you, they certainly are easy to recognize. But the 206 is more than the sum of its parts in a way most are not. It has discintive features, but doesn’t depend on them. The whole car has a unity that is very hard to see in car design. Everything belongs, it looks good from any angle, not one thing stands out or screams for attention. And that’s on a car with asymmetrical air intakes!