New cars = No style or character

[StrokedXT]

I think the series 2 au xr models and the t series were stunning looking cars, especially lowered to the deck they had a style that screamed euro muscle and style and was probably way ahead of its time (merc CLS anyone). To drive they were unmatched for feeling and chassis response and I really rate them as the best Ford i have ever owned, so i disagree that all new cars have no style or character.

The era from XK through to the XC were stunning in their form and I love them all dearly, To me the 80s fords had nothing on them and were merely a box with wheels with nothing particularly appealing or special in the design. The eb and ed appealed to me as well not sure if that was skewed by my old man teaching me to drive in his cardinal red eb though, ef el was ok but didnt look to different from a vr vs commodore so never appealed to me. Then the AU arrived and yes while in forte form it was a dog in xr guise you could really see what the designers had set out to achieve. The BA - BF were pretty bland in comparison to the AU and never really pull on my heart strings like some of the others have but is still a nice car. The FG is the goods in most of its forms ie G6, XR and GT.

So in Summary i disagree with the original poster

Style and Character - XL, XL, XM, XP, XR, XT, XW, XY, XA, XB, XC, EB, ED, AU, FG
No Style - XD, XE, XF, EA, BA, BF

[HLC]

i love XF's and i really want one as a project. yes its a box trying to be round. maybe thats its appeal to me.

but then again, i own an AU

[almostsane]

I'm a BA/BF man.... I like the simple design and cerves....
I really like the XR6/XR8 look of the BF....

but due to lack of moneies I had to settle for a XT..... still a good car.

[Quicksand]

Originally Posted by GrimmReaper09

Cars since the XF have no style or character anymore.

In terms of cars...what is character?

[STINKY NINJA]

Well i will tell you now what character is, it is what you get when you constantly stuff up and break things(they say it's character building)
Xd is the best car of the 80s(looks anyhow)
T3 is the best car ford ever made, and i also think the au t series were the nicest looking fords ever built
I suppose car character is just like person character, when people say"geez that bloke is a character"they really mean he,s a dumbass.
So a car with character must stand out from the crowd because character is just another way of saying its crap, or something you dont like.

[onfire]

Style drives the are industry.

So I guess the best indication are sales.

Because if it was based primarily on fuel economy as many people think of when looking for a new vehicle, we'd either all be driving hybrids because of the great return on fuel, or we'd be all driving 15 year old EF Falcons and VS Commodores as theres not a great deal difference compared to a new model.

[BENT_8]

Originally Posted by jeep_by_ford

So in Summary i disagree with the original poster

Style and Character - XL, XL, XM, XP, XR, XT, XW, XY, XA, XB, XC, EB, ED, AU, FG
No Style - XD, XE, XF, EA, BA, BF

Interesting you would consider an EB/D to have character, yet an EA doesnt.
They are basically the same vehicle(EA2,3.9/4sp- EB1,3.9/4sp) unless you consider the badge location, taillights, plenum cover and gaurd repeaters make its styling somehow different.
Same style, subtle alterations for mine.

BA is nice but the front bar is boring as compared to the BF.

My favourite...BF2 Ghia

[JimNiki]

We are all unique and individual which is why we all have opinions on which ford is better.
That's fair enough. At lease we all agree unanimously on a few of things...

1] Toyota is for those who treat cars as an appliance to go from A to B
2] Telstra sucks the big one as far as value internet connectivity and service goes
3] smart hoons buy Fords, dumb ones buy holdens cause all their mates have them

any other worldly unquestionable facts of life?

[89.SVO]

Originally Posted by BENT_8

Interesting you would consider an EB/D to have character, yet an EA doesnt.
They are basically the same vehicle(EA2,3.9/4sp- EB1,3.9/4sp) unless you consider the badge location, taillights, plenum cover and gaurd repeaters make its styling somehow different.
Same style, subtle alterations for mine.

BA is nice but the front bar is boring as compared to the BF.

My favourite...BF2 Ghia

um EB1 had the same plenum cover as the EA

[Nikked]

Just a thought, A BA XT is about a bland as a camry, looks wise.

*Flame coat on*

[Dezza]

Originally Posted by BENT_8

Interesting you would consider an EB/D to have character, yet an EA doesnt.
They are basically the same vehicle(EA2,3.9/4sp- EB1,3.9/4sp) unless you consider the badge location, taillights, plenum cover and gaurd repeaters make its styling somehow different.
Same style, subtle alterations for mine.

Agreed. So many people call EAs ugly and EBs stylish. They look pretty much the same! I've always liked the styling of the EA, one of the reasons I bought one

[Windsor220]

Originally Posted by Nikked

Just a thought, A BA XT is about a bland as a camry, looks wise.

*Flame coat on*

Almost all the base models are bland. GL, Forte, XT etc.

[nstg8a]

being a xf owner id tend to agree about the lack of any real style, but if character is defined by stuff breaking all the time then yup, it has heaps.

but i love it anyway.

sometimes

sometimes it would be so easy to turn it into a bonfire.

but a xf also has no more plastic than a xd or xe... the xe ghias had the best interiors of the 80s imo, not including esps.

my pick of the new style cars would be the bf2 ghia, the fg's are nice but a little too soft looking to me.

[Giant Cranium]

whats soft about this?

[robbyg]

I am an old ford nut, love the muscle cars of the sixties to the late seventies, but when im driving to work in the truck and see the later model fords that get around, they look so good, styling and the performance, they are the same as the xr to xc back in that era, in 20 or 30 years younger blokes in this era will be talking about these aussie muscle cars, which they are.

[mick10010]

Saw someone post something about the Ferrari 250, so i thought id throw this up...


That, my friends, is a 1961 250 GT SWB California Spyder. Im a bit for a Ferrari fanboy and just about anything with a prancing horse on it excites me one way or another but in my books, this thing is the most gorgeous car ever made. It also holds the record for second most expensive car ever sold if that counts for anything...

[GTWHOA]

lol at the kid on the razer scooter in the pic with the fg.

[BENT_8]

Originally Posted by WILDEB

um EB1 had the same plenum cover as the EA

Sorry, i should have been more precise...to avoid splitting hairs.

I was pointing out that the 2 models are quite alike, right down to the driveline in some cases hence the EA-EB1 comparison.

The rest is irrelevant really as next to nobody apart from a Ford fan would even know the difference in the two plenums and when they changed

[JimNiki]

Here's my curves ...
[I like Chevvies, they taste like chicken]...

[StrokedXT]

Originally Posted by BENT_8

Sorry, i should have been more precise...to avoid splitting hairs.

I was pointing out that the 2 models are quite alike, right down to the driveline in some cases hence the EA-EB1 comparison.

The rest is irrelevant really as next to nobody apart from a Ford fan would even know the difference in the two plenums and when they changed

The ea looked cheap compared to the eb, subtle differences that for mine made a big difference.

[GrimmReaper09]

Originally Posted by JimNiki

Here's my curves ...
[I like Chevvies, they taste like chicken]...

Now that is what I mean by style and character. Looks tough and just oozes attitude

However I think the 1967 mustang shelby gt500 is one of the best looking cars ever made. There's not many that will argue that

[89.SVO]

Originally Posted by jeep_by_ford

The ea looked cheap compared to the eb, subtle differences that for mine made a big difference.

so tail lights, bonnet, grill and C-pillar trims made the EB look better? it's sweet ************ all deifference anyway.

i own a EA SVO so it's not so bad. and a EB S-pac. at least it's not a GLi

[JMO]

For me, new cars have style but not so much character. Maybe it's to do with how cars were put together in the past? Little things like metal door handles and switches, chrome bumpers etc. To me they give off the feel of the car being hand made and not on a mass production line (although this may not be true). Now it seems as though everything in a car is plastic/synthetic and mass produced. I'm not 100% sure about how things have changed in manufacture practices but to a degree all new cars to me are 'whitegoods', it's just that some are more so than others.

[StrokedXT]

Originally Posted by WILDEB

so tail lights, bonnet, grill and C-pillar trims made the EB look better?

Yep pretty much, otherwise they wouldnt have changed it

[trippytaka]

I know a lot of people who would argue that the complex and rounded lines that the modern plastic moulding process allows make new cars better looking and less boring. Personally, I prefer the older muscle.

[BOSHOG]

before i joined FFA i hated AUs, but the terminator has won me over, i think this car is the best ford ive ever seen.

[4117kev]

You have got to be kidding if you think the BF has no character

[JimNiki]

4117KEV, ignore them. All these AU lovers must be smokin' horse manure...
It's distorted their reality somewhat...

The BA onwards was the best thing that happened to the AU.
Even Ford admitted the design was a disaster and they quickly sacked their chief designer.
This information is all public. The Emporer is butt ugly without his clothes on! zip.

The car is a great performer and revolutionary ...no-one is arguing that.

[PepeLePew]

What a interesting thread...I've often said new cars have no character, including my turbo. It had style, but little character. It was fast, but it was clinically fast. It doesnt rock, or roll, nothing falls off, it had NO rattles to speak of. It was equipped with a nice polictically correct quiet exhaust from factory. I can jump in it every day, and it wont break.

I miss the involvement 'character' gives with the car. I miss a car thats in your face. I miss a car that you NEED to get up close and personal with under the bonnet. I miss a car that ROARS down the road rather than whooshs. I miss a car that doesnt have trac ctrl/ ESC, whatever, so I can get in whatever trouble I want, when I want.

And I miss a car that looks like humans bolted it together.

The answers in this thread will be all individual, but thats what to me differentiates the old from the new, the character laden from todays slick offerings.

[samftr]

I had to laugh at the comment there about XD's having steering feel, feel if you like to read in Braille. feels like you are connected through some way through a margarine container full of grease to transfer the turning input from your hands to the wheels. one fingered power steering wooo!