Styling

Most of those cars you mentioned evolved into what they are now because those Japanese manufacturers listened to their customers. Some did start out somewhat right, but some had years where they were too conservative, bland, or unproportioned. European cars on the other hand more often than not comes out beautiful, proportioned, and tastefully done right out of the bat.

On the other hand, European manufacturers can use some help from Japanese on the reliability side.

 

well, i couldn't disagree more about european cars. they've made some beauties, and they've made some beasts, imo. but as we keep saying, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
my point is, all mfg.'s make attractive and unattractive cars. to state that the japanese can't make stylish cars is just sour grapes because you don't find this one attractive, and now you have to decide whether to buy the car you want, but think is ugly, and the car you don't want but find attractive, because you worry what people will think of you.

 

Headlights, for example. A late model Fiat:



And the 2016 Prius:

 

No need to be personal bisco. and no, none of what you accuse me is true...I'm not even sour graping as I just bought my Prius last year for work so will be skipping this coming gen. My next purchase is 2 years away yet for the family minivan replacement and a Prius is not in that class at all...I'm hoping a Honda hybrid Ody will be out by then (wohoo). As the thread title goes were talking styles here so lets just discuss that, not try putting motives behind peoples words. And no I'm not pissed or hurt at all, just trying to make things right with you. So be assured no offense taken and all is forgiven. Let's just agree to disagree and agree on where we can...and yes I agree with you, styles are in the eye of the beholder and very subjective. But as subjective as that is, a lot here are agreeing it's ugly so Toyota can ignore that at their own peril. Honda did something right with the last Civic. They did a double take and restyled the Civic on it's 2nd year after all the bad press.

 

that wasn't directed at you, i didn't quote your post. apologies, no offense meant. if you go back through the thread, you'll see who is unhappy about the new style, and accusing the japanese of not being able to style a decent car.

 

gotta go with prius here. in fact, i don't find anything attractive about the fiat 500, but my wife does, so there you go.

 

Agree...that Prius headlight alone and by itself is more attractive than the Fiats. But the sum of all the parts of the Fiat agrees with all its other parts better than the Prius and fits its purpose in life pretty well. In fact it isn't even pretending to be sporty or high end like the Prius.

So your totally out on the limb here because your comparing an iconic car that's trying to stick to a style it had when it 1st came out in the 50's for crying out loud (...arrghhh!!!). I think I'm about done with this thread...

 

sorry! i didn't post the headlights, i just commented on them. why is it so hard to think that some people find the new styling attractive, and styling is subjective?

 

Don't deny it!

 

i'm more of a bride of frankenstein kind of guy.

 

yes, of course it was styled by committee. And focus group, too.

"which of these 3 headlights do you prefer?"

 

It's like taking acid and then staring at a Saturn for a long time. Ugly.

 

What with all the angles, I would imagine the new Prius employs the latest stealth technology - at a fraction of the cost of a F-35!
I'll take one!

I can just see myself flying down the freeway and not being detected on police and highway patrol radar...
...Oh wait, I barely drive the speed limit anyway...

 

Sorry guys... posting this comparison again...

 

article is from 2014.

 

IMO - Fiat's taste of exterior colors in combination with interior materials and colors is some of the best.