Car styling that grows on you

I saw a Porsche Panamera today and as I watched it drive by I thought, "cool, that looks like a four door 911." I remember when these first came out thinking that they looked horrendous and absolutely disliking the rear end styling.

I know there have been some other cars' styling where my opinion changed over time, but most have not. I can think of a couple other examples, but I am interested to hear your thoughts.

What vehicles did you not like the styling of when you first saw it, but then later found that it had grown on you and you changed your opinion?

FJ80. Hideous and bulbous when they came out. Now I appreciate them .

SSR convertible pickup - hideous then. Appreciate now 

93 thunderbird - hated them when new. Love the red SC now and lust after them 

95 lightning - so ugly and boxy  when new. Love them now 

In reply to T.J. :

I had a Panamera loaner for a few days, and I thought the dealer plate was very appropriate for that car: Excess 911

I went from "that looks cool" to "ugh I hate it" to "that looks cool" over the course of the C7 Corvette's production run.

I used to think E36 and E46 BMWs were kind of bland. Now I think they are pretty handsome cars, especially as BMWs get bigger and uglier by the day. 

New beetle when it first came out versus the last iteration

Every Chris Bangle BMW. 

I never like the C7's but I'm starting to come around to think I might like to have a Grand Sport.

Pacer.

No, seriously.  Park one beside a 00's Ford Explorer, and it fits right in.

C7s

Last generation of the Toyota Celica. Thought they were angular & awkward looking when they first came out. After 4 or 5 years I realized they had grown on me like a sneaky fungus. Might be due to looking at one pretty much daily over that time? 

Maverick.

Any 80's Honda.

NB Miata.

Hornets, Pacers, Eagles of all types.

Bullet nosed Studebaker.

The original Multistrada.

Edit: sorry, clearly not a car.

The Caddys when they came out with the "art and science" design language.  

captdownshift (Forum Supporter) said:

Every Chris Bangle BMW. 

Only because the giant schnozz on the G20 cars demonstrates just how much worse it could have been.

captdownshift (Forum Supporter) said:

Every Chris Bangle BMW. 

I've always liked Bangles stuff, but he was absolutely shellacked by the traditionalists. Ironic that now his designs seem relatively tame. 

In reply to Kreb (Forum Supporter) :

Coming from the fabulous Jaguar XKE which even Enzo Ferrari declared the most beautiful car ever made to the XJS Jaguar was a major let down on myself and most Jaguar lovers. 
in production for 21 years it greatly grew on me. It's still no Jaguar XKE. But it's a fine car in its own right. 

Daimler SP250. It will never be beautiful, but so much worse has been produced since it was available that it is OK now. Also the bullet nose Studebaker.

Every year I've liked Foxy Mustangs more and more and more. Younger(10-15yo) me thought they looked like a cheap economy car, not a Mustang.

Oh, this could also be for a car that went the other way. Some design that you thought was awesome when it was new, but years later look at it and wonder why you ever liked it.

For me this would include Testarossa's and slant nose 911's from the 80's. Neither aged well. I never though Countach's looked good, so no worries there.

AMC Gremlin. I learned how to drive in the one my dad used as his work car. Dad always bought well worn work cars that he didn't care if they got hit at work. His cars had been hit several times in the parking lot. Dad's had dead paint, doors that would swing open under aggressive cornering. After seeing several done nicely, different wheels and tires, and a different stance, makes a huge difference.

In reply to frenchyd :

OK, but what's that got to do with Bangle?

I've always appreciated the XKE, but it never jumped out at me the way some Italian machinery of the same era did. The XKS is a very handsome car, but fundamentally so different from the E that I find them apples and oranges. 

I'm wracking my brain here. There are cars that I blush to admit that I once liked. (Remember the Ford EXP? Yech!) But unlike fine wine, cars rarely have seemed better in hindsight. I've learned to appreciate certain cars that I wouldn't have thought twice about thirty years ago. Lancias for instance are something of a fetish car for me now - particularly pre-fiat.

In reply to captdownshift (Forum Supporter) :

You like all the Bangle-era BMWs now? Even the first iteration of the 7-series?

I didn't/don't hate the Bangle styling as much as some, but I still think that 7 looks awful. 

The E60 5-series looks... okay, now. I saw a clean one today and thought, it's not as bad as people made it out to be, but it's not exactly attractive either. I feel the same way about the first Z4. Some angles I like, some are meh. 

For me, I find I'm now loving almost anything from the 80s, liking most things from the 90s and 2000s, and absolutely hating almost everything from the last 5 to 10 years.

The new Mustangs. For years they have, to my eye, looked like a bloated, past its prime American. Car. The most recent revision isn't amazing, it's still bloated and heavy, but they finally found a design where it carries the size and weight well.

What hasn't grown on me, aside from just about everything, is the Mopar line up. In short, they just look unfinished. Like someone was interrupted before they could make the final renditions to the body lines.

What I've actually done a 180 on is the new Camaros. They're fugly.

Honda Crosstour is top of my list for diminished dislike.