New car time

[Ttaskmaster]

Zoe e-sport looks sexy as hell mate, so does the Tesla. Get your head out of the sand.

Zoe looks like a kevved up Honda Civic outside and a LEGO™ version of a BMW inside.
Featureless, soulless pile of sadness.....

Tesla Model X - What a Prius should have been outside, a bad memory of what 'The Car Of The Future' looked like in the 1980s, with a large iPad glued onto the dash.
Featureless, soulless pile of sadness.....

Tesla Model S - Aston Martiny sort of generic executive desin outside, same featureless interior.

Tesla Model 3 - Sort of an Astony Beemery general Executive's Wife design outside... and OMG, where is anything inside? A wheel and a screen. They've removed all the features.

No wonder EV fanboys are harping on about car sharing, renting your car out, never owning but just renting a car when you need one - All sense of individualism has been erased from these things!!
It's like 1984, Equillibrium and a myriad of other naff dystopian nightmares all merged!!!

As with my PCs and generally all my tech, I like my stuff to look as complex and impressive as it is.
This stuff looks more and more like the monolith from 2001.

[DanceswithUnix]

As with my PCs and generally all my tech, I like my stuff to look as complex and impressive as it is.
This stuff looks more and more like the monolith from 2001.

Eye of the beholder, it would be a drab world if we all liked the same things.

Personally I find all the VAG group cars dull as heck, Audi being the worst with almost no external features at all like they couldn't decide what it should look like so they just ship cars that look like Mr Blobby on wheels. Even the R8 I wouldn't rate any higher than an Astra. Yet somehow they sell in their millions. Last car they did which I actually liked was the original TT, not the current fat versions.

[Noxvayl]

@Ttaskmaster... what you like, I HATE!

Take your pathetic "features", they are useless if the software behind them is rubbish.

[Ttaskmaster]

Eye of the beholder, it would be a drab world if we all liked the same things.

So why are so many modern cars all trying so hard to look the same?
Apart from the occasional model, everything looks like the same basic design of car class, nowadays.

Personally I find all the VAG group cars dull as heck, Audi being the worst with almost no external features at all like they couldn't decide what it should look like so they just ship cars that look like Mr Blobby on wheels.

But you can at least tell a Golf from a TT, Fabia or Octavia, just by looking.
And while they have an annoying penchant for chrome-rimmed everything on various model interiors, they do offer some semblance of character, rather than just being faceless panels with a GO button...

@Ttaskmaster... what you like, I HATE!
Take your pathetic "features", they are useless if the software behind them is rubbish.

Dunno what features you're thinking about, but mine don't need software in the first place...

But regardless, I hope you're insanely happy spending your whole drive looking down and stabbing at the touchscreen, flipping through reams of menus and amazing software trying to remember where a particular setting is and whether you get the option of changing it or whether the car decides what you get, while I simply reach down and alter the aircon without even looking.

[DanceswithUnix]

So why are so many modern cars all trying so hard to look the same?

Generally I think they don't. Well, apart from Seat looking like cheap knock offs of Alfa but supposedly they were told to do that to weaken the Alfa brand so that VW can try and buy the name *shudder*.

But regardless, I hope you're insanely happy spending your whole drive looking down and stabbing at the touchscreen, flipping through reams of menus and amazing software trying to remember where a particular setting is and whether you get the option of changing it or whether the car decides what you get, while I simply reach down and alter the aircon without even looking.

On the steering wheel I have a button to voice command the entertainment system, and another button to voice command the phone. These screens and menus have been in cars for some two decades now? They aren't an electric car thing, they are just a car thing.

[Ttaskmaster]

Generally I think they don't. Well, apart from Seat looking like cheap knock offs of Alfa but supposedly they were told to do that to weaken the Alfa brand so that VW can try and buy the name *shudder*.

Google for examples of types of car...

Subcompact - SubC - Fit, Fiesta, Rio, Yarris, all looking the same.
Compact - Aside from a Mini or Golf, most things look like a Civic or a Mazda 3/Lancer.
Mid-size and up- Aside from some crossover, most things look like a Mondeo/Sierra.
Even SUVs have started copying design features, now.

Without looking at the badge, it's not immediately obvious whether you're seeing a Volvo S60 SUV or a Merc GLE Coupe...

You could always tell a Jag, an MR2, Supra (mkII, III or IV), Vauxhall Nova, Land Rover, Range Rover, Volvo, BMW... even a WRX Impreza - Horrid, but distinctive.
Nowadays, everything just looks like everything else and it's boring.

These screens and menus have been in cars for some two decades now? They aren't an electric car thing, they are just a car thing.

High end only, I assume?
They're not fitted as standard... and certainly not with one screen comprising the entirety of the internal controls...

[directhex]

Make your mind up, mate! Either everything looks samey and boring, or the i3 is an abomination!

[Noxvayl]

Who looks to change their aircon anyway!? what world do you live in?

[Gerrard]

So why are so many modern cars all trying so hard to look the same?
Apart from the occasional model, everything looks like the same basic design of car class, nowadays.

I asked something similar once at work as general discussion a while back and someone just said "wind tunnels". I guess those generic types of shapes are the best for wind resistance to package an engine, 4-5 people and meet high safety specs. On the other hand, "old" cars still look OK because there doesn't seem to have been much evolution over the last couple of decades; well compared to the change between the 80s and 90s anyway.

[Gerrard]

Who looks to change their aircon anyway!? what world do you live in?

It is one of the concerns I had with the Tesla, having only sat in them but not driven them, and that was the large screen with no real controls. With buttons you at least have some sort of feedback as to what you are touching or controlling without needing to divert your eyes from the road. With no haptic feedback on a screen, I felt it would be difficult to control accurately without diverting more concentration to it. You may just get used to it. I think it was also a little low to be used a SatNav screen, but it was a couple of years' ago I last sat in one, so might be mistaken.

[Ttaskmaster]

Make your mind up, mate! Either everything looks samey and boring, or the i3 is an abomination!

The i3 looks pretty generic modern sub-compact SUV outside, but does at least have some internal features on its interior rather than being faceless panels.
The i8 looks better outside, but like some awful late 70s concept car inside.

Who looks to change their aircon anyway!? what world do you live in?

This is England.
The weather can change quite quickly... especially this Summer. When you set out, it's baking sunshine blasting through the windscreen. The next, it's chucking cold rain down from a rapidly darkening sky.
Also, I frequently get into a car while soaking wet. I whack the aircon on to clear the steaming-up windscreen, then switch it off again before I freeze.

I guess those generic types of shapes are the best for wind resistance to package an engine, 4-5 people and meet high safety specs.

That's what I would have thought, except there are still a few vehicle models that maintain a distinctive look without such compromise.

With no haptic feedback on a screen, I felt it would be difficult to control accurately without diverting more concentration to it.

I had teh same concern when I first got a touchscreen device.
Years later and with all the haptic feedback in the world, it still only tells me I've touched the screen and I hate it. If they still made full QWERTY folders like the HTC Desire Z, I'd have one in a heartbeat.

Then again, I like the sort of interior you find in a Saab 9-5, or a Vector W8.

[Lucio]

External apperance isn't worth a lot if the interior is uncomfortable. The 55 plate Renault Megane, looks absolutely rubbishrubbishrubbishrubbish, but the interior was the most comfortable vehicle that I've ever owned. First car that I'd driven when you could rest both arms, at the same height, and still have good control over the steering wheel.

[Xlucine]

Climate control is totally worth it over aircon. Just get in and go, and everything is how you like it without you ever having to press a button (by feel or otherwise)

[Noxvayl]

This is England.
The weather can change quite quickly... especially this Summer. When you set out, it's baking sunshine blasting through the windscreen. The next, it's chucking cold rain down from a rapidly darkening sky.
Also, I frequently get into a car while soaking wet. I whack the aircon on to clear the steaming-up windscreen, then switch it off again before I freeze.

Hence the use of automatic climate control... unless you still live in the 90s. Owning a car without that optional extra is not worth the money saved. But alas that comes from African experience where aircons are not a luxury but a necessity if you are to get to your destination without dehydration.

[Gerrard]

Hence the use of automatic climate control... unless you still live in the 90s. Owning a car without that optional extra is not worth the money saved. But alas that comes from African experience where aircons are not a luxury but a necessity if you are to get to your destination without dehydration.

Great if you are buying a new car, but most used cars don't. Mine doesn't and it's a '15 plate. AC was standard but climate control wasn't for the model I wanted, and when looking I think there was only that had it out of the 50+ listed.

[Noxvayl]

Great if you are buying a new car, but most used cars don't. Mine doesn't and it's a '15 plate. AC was standard but climate control wasn't for the model I wanted, and when looking I think there was only that had it out of the 50+ listed.

It is insane how stupid people can be with optional extras... I found it equally difficult looking for my E46 to find something with both cruise control and climate control. Who skimps on those things when they make such a huge difference to driving comfort?