Interesting how BMW & Mazda etc. are imitating Volvo style. Eh ?

I was just at the MSN portal and there was a head-on shot of some new
BMW, an M5 or somesuch.

I was struck by how much the front profile resembled that of the Volvo.


The BMW wasn't the first Volvo-wannabe that has crossed my eyesight
recently either. There's a TV ad for Mazda that shows a similar head-on
profile, of their G6 (or is it M6 ?) series.

My, my. I can remember a time not that long ago that people would
sneer in derision at the "bland", "boring", "old-fashioned" etc styling
of our 240s and 740s.

 

Mazda 6?... The G6 is a Pontiac (and the M6 hasn't been built by BMW yet,
but it's coming soon I hear)... I don't find the 6, either one of them to
look like any Volvo - but then again I seem to have the image of just about
every car on the market memorized since i'm quite a car obsessed person...
The G6 I'm not overly familiar with, but I know it isn't similar (it looks
like a Pontiac, nuff' said - actually now that they took the plastic
cladding off the Pontiacs are looking sexy - too bad about the engineering
underneath them tho :-( )... the Mazda 6 is more Japanese style then
anything - the lights are slit like... very short in height, but wide, with
projector beams... Fairly good looking, but typical Japanese styling of this
modern era. The BMW has projector beams also, in a very Euro inspired front
end, but the Europeans are leaning maybe a little japanese, due to the
simple fact that they are streamlining the vehicles more and more... The
Japanese started this streamline the whole front end like it was being hit
by way too much air in the wind tunnel look a few years ago - Toyota is
really into it with some of their Lexus products, their Sienna, and
Camry.... Most of the German/Swedish creations seem to have left the metal
forming wind tunnel on a more tame setting, and we're getting fantastic
styling out of it.... The only one staying a bit old fashioned is Audi -
those new chrome sheild grilles are astonishing!! they are less obvious in
person then in print too for those who were worried they'd be ugly and
really stand out.

Check out the flame effect on the Bimmers lights, these touches were done by
Chris Bangle (it's the tapering blend of the light housing into the body)...
Volvo still has fairly squared lights in comparison, however they look very
good... I'm drooling over the S40 as a potential car maybe next year... and
the V70 wagon still looks like a new design every time I see it - it's
truely a classic style.

If you are refering to projector headlamps all looking somewhat alike...
well they all do.. kinda, it's just the clear cover over top that gets
styled a little differently - then again, how different can you make a
squarish opening.

With the old 200 and 700 series cars, there were some similar looking cars
too... especially with those US style headlamps up front... I still remember
being told "yah they have the same car as you guys" (We had a 1993 960
wagon, these people my friend was refering to had a Cavalier station wagon,
early 90's vintage..... I was offended to say the least, the only thing
remotely similar was the colour - too bad theirs wasn't metallic paint tho)

New cars in general are all looking really good tho. We still have
overstyling (Mazda 3 Sport - the hatchback version... the sedan is
handsome) and we still have understyling - cars that have been out too long
(Taurus maybe... can't think of a real good one, tho I saw a Suzuki Areo
today, and I couldn't help think that in 10-15 years some will still be
around still as ugly as ever - it was a new one too, and the hubcap had
fallen off... so it was already looking QUITE outdated... it's not an
understyled car tho, just styling gone wrong)... there are also classic
designs (Volvo V70, Audi's A4, BMW's old 5 Series and 3 Series... to name a
few).... IMO of course for car styling, you like what you like.

 

My GF just painted a room in this horrible green color. It's straight
out of the '70s, but the hot new color.

Styling just spins like a lazy susan.

My brick is admired by many these days. I've converted a few too, just
by having driven with me and looked over the car.

 

http://www.ardice.com/Recreation/Autos/Makes_and_Models/BMW/3_Series

 

Re:

No it's the other way around. BMW, in my opinion has always had nice looking
cars. Volvo, on the other hand has always had dogs. They run good, are safe
and are reliable, but they look like DOGS. Only recently has Volvo decided
to do something about design, and the end result is a rather generic-looking
line of vehicles. If you are looking for a Swedish car that actually looks
good, look at a Saab 9-3 Aero.

http://www.saabsverige.com/main/SE/sv/forms.xml?modelcode=93_S&form=aero

 

I don't think most people buy BMWs for the looks. Their forte is engines.
And traditional Volvo proponents would ask whether you want to drive
something that looks like a car or something that looks like a jelly bean.

 

....or maybe something that looks like a Vovo or a BMW perhaps...