Question of the Day: What Makes Ugly?

Jonny Lieberman
by Jonny Lieberman

Reading through the comments in the post about Alfa/Fiat returning to the US I was shocked to see our own William C. Montgomery say the following in regard to the Fiat 500's looks, "…or out-ugly the Aztek." Now, I'm picking on William because I can. But, what?!? Ugly? Fiat? Maybe the Panda, the car the new 500 is based on, but… Huh? Of course, it's not just William. My girlfriend for instance doesn't think very much of the Audi A5, while I think it's the most stunning car I've seen in months. And she knows good looking cars when she sees them (usually), as she's still fawning over the Maserati GranTurismo. Then of course, there's me. Most people look at the R8 and schwing! When I went to see Iron Man they had Tony Stark's R8 parked out front of the theater and the people just loved it. Yet when I look at one, I see a porpoise with thalidomide poisoning. Why? Mid-engine cars (almost) always have odd proportions, and Germans can't do sexy. They just can't. But I'm asking you — what makes a car ugly in your eyes?

Jonny Lieberman
Jonny Lieberman

Cleanup driver for Team Black Metal V8olvo.

More by Jonny Lieberman

Comments
Join the conversation
4 of 54 comments
  • Gottleib Gottleib on May 29, 2008

    I agree with MagMax----where are the Lincoln Continentals of the early 60's, the Jaguar XK-E and the Lancia Flaminia when you need them. Those are all cars that hardly anyone would not think of as beautiful designs. As for ugly its all about proportion and function. The Checker Marathon was a perfect design for a taxi cab while the Aztek lacked grace and proportion for being a multipurpose vehicle. Other ugly attributes were: Opera windows, vinyl tops, fender skirts and continental kits.

  • Zeitgeist Zeitgeist on May 29, 2008

    SherbornSean I don’t think designers like Pinin Farina, or Giorgio Guigiaro ever made an ugly car. I quote from "The World's Worst Cars" by Craig Cheetham: In 1998, Italdesign issued a book to celebrate its thirtieth anniversary. The only model missing from the publication was the one car to bear the name of the famed Italian styling house - the Morris Ital. And it's easy to see why.

  • Kjc117 Kjc117 on May 29, 2008

    The A5 is ugly. What makes the A5 ugly is the ugly corporate grill. The rest of the A5 doesn't flow with that grill but then again what does? The A4 and TT design integrates the Audi crap mouth the best. Unbalanced design=ugly but then there are total disasters like the Aztec and 99% of all Chinese cars.

  • Gardyloo Gardyloo on Jun 17, 2009

    If you think the Audi R8 is ugly, then you have not seen this one! http://www.europeancarweb.com/features/epcp_0903_oemplus_2008_audi_r8_knight_industries/photo_03.html This car is flat out sexy!!! Chris

Next