QOTD: What's the Most Aged Car Design of the Past Ten Years?
“God, that looks awful.”
We’ve all uttered the sentence above at one time or another. We’re sitting in traffic and are suddenly faced with something grotesque, something which was undoubtedly “of the moment” for only a moment, and which is now part of recent history best forgotten. But enough about the hooker leaning on a Crossfire.
Today I’m going to ask you to think back in time — up to ten years ago (which may be a challenge for some of our more wizened commenters) — and reflect on car designs. Tell me your pick for the most aged design of 2007-2017.
In following my own restrictions, my pick is now quite different than it would have been last year. But I can still use my prior choice as an example, which is off limits to you, the commentariat, because of my privilege. You see, 2006 was the final model year for this very elite Nissan Altima.
“Man, that Altima 3.5 Luxury was rare!” I hear you typing. But wait — that is, in fact, the very final version of the flagship Infiniti Q45, which ran through the 2006 model year as mentioned above. The Altima-carbon-copy styling, droopy rear end (which was factory spec), expressive blob headlamps, and slightly-too-old interior accoutrements made this my pick for the 2006-2016 era. It looked a bit dated when it was new, and very dated within a couple of years. It is understandably worth very little today.
Now, on to my rules-compliant pick, for 2007-2017.
Look at it. There are few things more sad than a Malibu Maxx when you see them in modern traffic situations. Yes, this Epsilon platform stunner was still on sale in GM showrooms for the 2007 model year. Hard to believe, as I’d always assumed they died a much earlier death.
But I think you get the idea. What’s your pick for the most aged car design of the past ten years? As a bonus, I’ll give you my runner-up answer — the 2007 Suzuki Reno.
Interested in lots of cars and their various historical contexts. Started writing articles for TTAC in late 2016, when my first posts were QOTDs. From there I started a few new series like Rare Rides, Buy/Drive/Burn, Abandoned History, and most recently Rare Rides Icons. Operating from a home base in Cincinnati, Ohio, a relative auto journalist dead zone. Many of my articles are prompted by something I'll see on social media that sparks my interest and causes me to research. Finding articles and information from the early days of the internet and beyond that covers the little details lost to time: trim packages, color and wheel choices, interior fabrics. Beyond those, I'm fascinated by automotive industry experiments, both failures and successes. Lately I've taken an interest in AI, and generating "what if" type images for car models long dead. Reincarnating a modern Toyota Paseo, Lincoln Mark IX, or Isuzu Trooper through a text prompt is fun. Fun to post them on Twitter too, and watch people overreact. To that end, the social media I use most is Twitter, @CoreyLewis86. I also contribute pieces for Forbes Wheels and Forbes Home.
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Couple of marques where their entire range look dated a decade later: - Jaguar - X type, S type and last of the 'old school' XJs - Peugeot - the pointy lights and blobfish styling of their x07 generation hasn't aged well, the new x08 range seems to be a bit sharper I would also say that the Mazda 6 introduced in 2007 hasn't aged that well, especially as the replacement model is such a good looking car.
The newest Honda Civic. Does anyone like that strip of chrome across the front?