[Type941]

Originally Posted by Torpedo Fodder

I'm thinking mainly of function over form; After all, almost nobody disses BMW for having some of the blandest styling in the history of automobiles .

Ok, I'm by far not a BMW fan, but to compare the styling of BMW to the people mobile boxes that GM/Ford produced in the 90s in the US is blasphemy. BMW has made some damn good looking cars in that period, notably the E34, E39 and E36. Those were gorgeous cars, an iron fist in hugo boss suit. VEry proportional, agressive looking, and it's unfortunate that they were mostly driven around by arseholes who dissed the others on the road. But to compare something like an M3 E36 style or Even E46 to some Oldsmobile... I'm lost. The Bangle designed Beemers aren't for everyone, but at least they are different and have a style. The 'function over form' approach might be great in 1930s in Ford T. But comon. American's used to be leaders in design, they built fantastic cars in the 'golden age of capitalism' - 50s and 60s. Than from 80s onwards, it's downhill - boxy, all look alike cars, absolutely no character - just people carriers. I drove quite a few of those - I worked for a car dealership, and the tradeins I had were very colourful. I've driven a LOT of american and european cars through work, and there's very few i actually liked. Yes, I prefer the Audis to anything else, and Audi's aren't cheap, but I liked them since the mid 80s. The looked the real deal, the coupe quattros. Sorry, no way this form over funtction can justrify the crap they made in the states in 80s and 90s for mass cars (I don't refer to Corvettes, Vipers, Mustangs (ehem) and such).