What cars haven't aged well?

LeVeL

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I was behind a first-gen Cayenne the other day and I kept thinking about how utterly hideous it looked. Granted, it wasn't the best looking car when it came out circa 2002 but nowadays it just looks awkwardly old and outdated. It's a big difference from, say, the X5 that came out in 99 and still looks nice to this day.

What else hasn't aged aged well?
 
Early S197 Mustang GTs. The ones with the big headlight reflectors and bulbous fenders. Amazing how much a mild facelift can do to modernize the look of a car.
 
toyota paseo
i liked it...when a girl drove it...
now it's just fugly!

and the first gen panamera followed the exact same trail as the first gen cayenne
 
First gen panamera was always ugly in my eyes. The newest one is such an improvement.

I agree with the Russian dudes about the Cayenne and the S197.
 
The problem with Porsche is they're taking a 911 profile and streching on things that really shouldn't have the corporate look. Imagine a Mustang SUV, Mustang wagon or do the same with a Camaro or Miata. Now that they're making these vehicles into their own a little bit, the models look much more normal. Porsche 911 style is not like BMW or Mercedes where you can scale the corporate look into any car without it looking terrible. Even Audi to some extent has pulled this off.
 
Early S197 Mustang GTs. The ones with the big headlight reflectors and bulbous fenders. Amazing how much a mild facelift can do to modernize the look of a car.

This. The whole design looked just plain and cheap, and the mirrors looked like they came off an F-150 truck. Besides, pretty much all of those "retro" designs, that were probably conceived as cars that would look good for years to come (or at least I imagine so in my head), don't age so well. Just compare the New Beetle with the Golf IV. It could be just me, but at least the Golf looks less ridiculous.

Another car that comes to my mind is the Mercedes-Benz W210. Not just that the headlight lenses make it look outdated, especially compared to the BMW E39, but they all look like they've done at least ten times the Earth's circumference under their wheels. I recently saw what appeared to be a well-preserved E 300 D, and it still looked like it was used as a taxi in Germany before being imported here. Not shape-wise per se, but what its design evokes to me.

The problem with Porsche is they're taking a 911 profile and streching on things that really shouldn't have the corporate look. Imagine a Mustang SUV, Mustang wagon or do the same with a Camaro or Miata. Now that they're making this vehicles into their own a little bit, the models look much more normal. Porsche 911 style is not like BMW or Mercedes where you can scale the corporate look into any car without it looking terrible. Even Audi to some extent has pulled this off.

And this is true as well. Design-wise, Porsche did great back when they had a classic-shape 911 and another classic shape for their transaxle cars. When the 996 and Boxster came out, things were still fine. But then they decided to make a VW Touareg look like a 996 911, and some years after that, they tried to transfer 997 911's body design language onto the Panamera. Not a good idea in my opinion. But they somehow managed to balance it out with their latest cars, now that the 991 and 992 911's don't have so much of the classic 911 shape, and that they've figured out how to transfer that body language on their SUV's and the Panamera, they look OK.

EDIT: One more comes to mind: the first-generation Opel Insignia. I still remember when it was new how my friend and I though Opel make lacklustre cars, and how the Insignia was a car that had some flair, some refinement in its design that sets it apart not only from other Opels but other cars in its class as well, however, ten years since it came out... I can't say the same thing about it.
 
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Jaguar E-type, it looks like it's wearing ballet slippers and the proportions are all weird.
 
not aged well, never that good looking to begin with? it's a small line
i've never liked the E-type all that much
 
I was never a huge fan of the convertible version, but love the coupe and 2÷2.
 
Early S197 Mustang GTs. The ones with the big headlight reflectors and bulbous fenders. Amazing how much a mild facelift can do to modernize the look of a car.

I think Mustangs suffer from an interesting phenomenon. I don't know quite what to call it or even if I have my finger quite on the problem, but it seems with each generation that the previous generation looks not as great for at least 15 years. The 2005-2009 cars do suffer a bit from interior degradation, but I think they still look good as long as they aren't 100% stock. Just a few things like a fresh set of wheels, lowered a bit and a blower (I know this doesn't have to do with looks) and they still look good to me.
 
I think Mustangs suffer from an interesting phenomenon. I don't know quite what to call it or even if I have my finger quite on the problem, but it seems with each generation that the previous generation looks not as great for at least 15 years. The 2005-2009 cars do suffer a bit from interior degradation, but I think they still look good as long as they aren't 100% stock. Just a few things like a fresh set of wheels, lowered a bit and a blower (I know this doesn't have to do with looks) and they still look good to me.
I only half agree, the early S197s do take better to cosmetic mods than the later ones but stock they looked dated as soon as facelift in 2010 came out.

Another one, I think didn't age well is the Mk4 Supra. It wasn't amazing looking (IMO) when it first came out, but with stock wheels and stock wing and such it looks very 90s and not in a good way.
 
I think Mustangs suffer from an interesting phenomenon. I don't know quite what to call it or even if I have my finger quite on the problem, but it seems with each generation that the previous generation looks not as great for at least 15 years. The 2005-2009 cars do suffer a bit from interior degradation, but I think they still look good as long as they aren't 100% stock. Just a few things like a fresh set of wheels, lowered a bit and a blower (I know this doesn't have to do with looks) and they still look good to me.
I dunno. Every time I find mine parked next to a 2005-2009 car I struggle to believe that its the same generation of the same car.
 
Did they ever get a 4 valve 4.6 or was 3 valve the only one?
 
Even with "just 300" I have seen stick cars run low 13s at 100+ mph. They aren't a slouch.

An eco boost Ford Flex does 13’s and those have 365hp in a brick. I think some don’t realize how much 300hp+ can get you.
 
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