Maybe it's just me, and I may be a bit late to the party...

New Civic Hyundota Cobalt.

bravenrace wrote: In reply to t25torx: I agree about the flat fender lips, and Nissan is to blame. While the new Civic is one of the worst offenders, I'm sorry that I don't see a huge difference in the two cars you posted.

Yeah I guess that wasn't the best example, the best one I can think of is the exact same car 1 model year later. Those flat fender sides just kill the car for me, and all newer cars are like it.

In reply to t25torx:

My buddy has an altima exactly like that one in the second picture. That car is mo-fugly, IMO, but he loves it. And while that design element runs rampid amongst nissan products, the king of exaggerated flat fender lips has to go to the...Wait for it...Nissan Juke.

Is the problem wind tunnels and pedestrian impact laws?

After staring at it a bit longer, It crosses into Saturn ION quad coupe territory.

t25torx wrote: Ugh.. when are they going to stop making flat sided fenders? I hate that crap. I blame Nissan for starting that with the 350Z, it looks like they were designing the car, then ran out of space and just chopped them off to fit inside some imaginary box. I miss the rounded edges of fenders . More of this Less of this

Well in the 90s everything was about smoothness in design and now everything is about being jagged and ridiculous. It's "boxy" but not in a cool 80s way, it's boxy like it's a 1990s video game polygon.

whenry wrote: Looks like Honda looked over the fence and hired the designer at Hyundai or Kia.

No, it seems more like Honda looked over the fence and then stomped down to the design department and told the regular crew "Make our cars look more like theirs!"

logdog wrote: I miss the old days when cars all looked different from one another. Take the 57 chevy for example. I dare you to find one other car from that era with tail fins and two tone pastel paint. Cant be done.

Well done ,Sir.

I wouldn't compare the conservative 50's and the archaic technology and materials to 2014. With all the technical advances in design programming and materials coupled with all the young minds, you'd think you could tell the difference from 100 feet away.

aero and milage … pretty much all the designs revolve around those 2 things.. not a lot of variation available … physics is physics

thedanimal wrote: After staring at it a bit longer, It crosses into Saturn ION quad coupe territory.

Ehh, not really seeing that.....the quad coupe looked better.

I don't get why Honda still puts those giant VTEC badges on the side. What is this, 2002?

Maybe the kids still like it.

Gonna go pick up one of these today...

There are a lot of factors but fuel economy, aero and pedestrian impact seem to be the major things. Unfortunately, the manufs also seem to put too much faith in focus groups and polls too.

This should make you feel better about that Civic that was pictured in the OP:

I know it's the weight of newer cars.. But brand new cars don't seem to get much better mileage than the 90s version of the same car. Don't those old civics get 30+ highway? My girlfriends 02 gets like 33 or something. Last time I checked the new ones weren't much better.

I also prefer the mid 90s interiors. To much technology nowadays. New civics have like 3 screens plus those gauges that light up 20 different colors.