leolo made the mistake of asking me if there’d been a nice-looking car produced in the last ten years. Why, yes! There have! Glad you asked. I won’t go into wine-writing bullshit talking about why I like these designs, but they all please me greatly, the inexpensive and pricy ones both. They are below:
Nissan 350z
Porsche Cayman
Mercedes-Benz CLS
Jaguar XKR
Mini Cooper S
Mustang GT
Maserati Quattroporte
All images are from http://www.seriouswheels.com/ sized down from their wallpapers.
Be My Blog 
We have a lot of common threads here…except for the Jag.
I go back and forth between the Z and its sibling, the G35:
While it’s not really consistent with the cars listed here, I would also add:
Hate hate hate the Cayanne though.
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Weird that you like the Touareg and not the Cayenne in that they’re the same car!
The G35 coupe I don’t really differentiate from the 350Z, either; it’s tiny differences for me.
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totally agree regarding the new mustang. gorgeous car.
i’d only buy a mini if i owned giant floppy shoes and a honkhonk-nose.
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I now requires that you do all three of these things.
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I think it’s interesting how much alike they all look… except for the Mini Cooper, of course. I love those little cars – they’re just so cute! And I would feel no need for big floppy shoes. I’m small, so I think it would fit me fine. And so would that Porsche. I love Porsches.
*sigh* I need a new car so badly.
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i heard from my six-foot-tall boyfriend that minis are actually surprisingly roomy inside, and that it accommodated him (legroom/headroom) well. the only problem with it then, i think, is probably crumpliness factor during an accident. eek.
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Actually they do beautifully in accidents; they’re small but very well-built and with good safety features. The only reason they’re “worse” in a crash is that they’re small and light and not monster Tonka SUVs. The Mini’s crash worthiness is excellent!
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i would be concerned about an SUV driving right over me in a mini. it’s good to know that they are safer than they look.
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I’ve never actually been in one, but as for crumpliness, I’ve been told my Toyota Tercel would be a deathtrap if I were in an accident.
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i have heard tell that randy johnson, 6’10” yankees pitcher (aka “the big unit”), drives a mini. that’s a sight i’d like to see!
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I’ll have to begrudgingly admit that the 350Z and most Infiniti and VWs I’ve had to deal with have been a welcome break from all the Lancer EVOs and Hyundai Tibs (or any goddamned SUVs for that matter).
Doesn’t change the fact that I still hate cars.
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I love the engineering on the Lancer EVO and the Subaru WRX STi (i might even buy the latter), but they are so freakin’ UGLY. Oh god that huge wing, what are they thinking?
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UGH, such a pain to deal with.
I’m convinced that the engineers of these hideous machines have grudges against the people that have to attempt to work their lumpy-ass monstrosities into designs that don’t make designers lose sleep for adding to The Ugly.
And then come the decals…
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Well
Thing is, I don’t find any of those cars look nice. They are all derivative of each other. Apart from the Mini, which while distinctive, is based on a design from 50s.
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Well I think the G35 is much better then the 350z and has more of a styling difference then the Mini and the Mini S(I know why you differentiated though.) I am not a fan of the quattroporte, however. The CLS is dead sexy even in pictures, and pictures do this car no justicemuch like the Jag XK series. As much as I hate the car the H2 is a great exercise in styling… And how can you not post the last few Aston Martins…
As for cars being derivative. Well… not much you can do with cars that hasn’t been done. 4 door sedan, 2 door coupe, 2 door hatch, etc. But there are alot of ugly cars on the road… the last 2 generations of Tauras’s (tauri?) any one?
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when getting rid of the wallet leech – i mean, the beetle – i thought long and hard about the kind of car i wanted. D. and i had huge fights about cars that might look “gay” despite that he would not be the potentially gay man behind the wheel.
but this is what i ended up with (as you know):
and i think it’s a sweet-looking little roadster. it’s certainly a blast to drive; every time i zip around in the city in it, i do it with a big dumb gleeful grin on my face. 🙂
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