car design thread

John, your probably a lot smarter than them!! No way this works. Putting a bigger front end on makes the likely chance pedestrians will go into the car rather than over it. If I wanted to kill a fly better I would use a bigger fly swatter so they are off on their study. Bigger front end, more dead people. The government types have this wrong. Does that surprise you really?? Common sense does not prevail anymore.

 

I read the idea was pedestrians would see a bigger front end coming better wich is just stupid reasoning. The impact zone in the front to protect from the motor is for front engine cars, so that is supposed to save the lives if you make it past the huge grill. Stupid reasoning on their part.

 

Seeing how the odds are zilch to begin with, no I don't. Somewhere out there in the ether is the video of the Uber driver hitting a gal at 40 mph. It's not pretty.

 

Well, that's not what the European standard started out as(they are the leaders of the free world now . The original idea was when driving in cities people could see a bigger from end coming better, and I guess jump out of the way. They also added protection at the same time to protect from the hard points in the front of the car.

 

To prove this regulation is BS I would like to see a test dummy get hit by a Lamborghini Countach followed by a new SUV or modern car from any brand and see which one does better.

 

European standard high front ends were implemented due to higher headlight heights. That European regulation was set up due to people getting killed in cities. The idea was higher headlights would warn pedestrians of oncoming cars sooner thus allowing pedestrians to stop in time. They than added a crash zone for hard points. The rest is history. Common sense never came into play with this regulation!!

 

All this talk of regulations ruining car design is completely off the mark in my opinion. Every designer has always had to deal with packaging constraints, budget constraints, federal regulations etc., but the job remains the same: design something great! It is the designers responsibility to work around the constraints to make a great product. Some fail, and blame the constraints, others succeed. The successes prove that the constraints are not to be blamed.

 

Excellent article!

I'll say it again: J.C. Whitney must be making a small fortune on all those fake vents!

 

Perhaps, but sometimes it takes a monumental effort to conform and design. How about exploding hood hinges?

https://www.popsci.com/12-gauge-shotguns/article/2006-03/hood-explodes-safety

I have also read where several manufacturers are looking at making windshield pillars of folded metal with an explosive charge inside to "unfold" the pillar into a stronger, box section beam in the event of a roll over.

The real downside to all this is the death of the used car. Cars are likely to have a useable lifespan, after which all the explosive devices would either have to be replaced or the car will need to be recycled.

 

The Cubists strike again?

 

Here are my top 10 favourite Chris Bangle Cars.

1. Fiat Coupe
2. N/A
3. N/A
4. N/A
5. N/A
6. N/A
7. N/A
8. N/A
9. N/A
10. N/A

 

Im having a hard time thinking of any manufacturer that isnt guilty of it

 

In homebuilding, we call this canine design. Picture a circle of dogs sniffing each other's butts. In defense of homebuilder and car manufactures, when you have that much dough on the line, taking risks doesn't help you sleep at night.

 

Actually, his 6-series grew on me with time.

All the best,
Andrew.

 

I agree, I liked elements of the concept for it too. But the boot lid ruins the production car for me, especially in side profile. The shut line allows you to imagine if it wasn’t there, and it could be a reasonably nice body. It’s also one of the last cars you can get the non turbo charged straight six, but unfortunately the driving dynamics are not up to the old standards. The rot had set in imo.

I like the Z3, even though it’s totally retro, but I don’t really think it’s his philosophy at all.

And the Phantom, but I’m pretty sure the great Karl-Heinz Kalbfell is is the BMW executive who gave Ian Cameron the autonomy to create it. Although Bangle was BMW design boss the Phantom boot didn’t stick up a mile in the air and it wasn’t hacked about with a machete. So I think he left them to it.

 

I've never actually been in a Bangle 6-series, but my Dad got a Z4 when it first came out and that was a pretty fun car. What was the matter with the driving dynamics on the 6?

All the best,
Andrew.

 

It worked ! The debigulator worked !

https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/a715df1a-c704-442e-89ca-391fd24ec796

 

Nice spindle grill?

 

I had one of these in the Dr. Pepper color - perfect for me - and with nicer cast wheels, but I always thought the front end was a model of simplicity, and you could tell it was a VW without the badge. I got a LOT of compliments on that car, back when it was, "a poor man's 3 series." Now every design shouts when a whisper would communicate better.
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