Why do cars all look alike?

[Rod Sheridan]

I was driving and saw a Jaguar suv that, to me, looks
a lot like a Honda CRV. I saw a Tesla which isn't very different from a Honda Accord. I drive a Nissan Frontier which looks like every other small pickup on the road. The only thing I've seen recently that's different was the Polaris Slingshot , which I guess isn't a car. Why do all cars look alike?

Why do cars look alike?

Mathematics.



Physics determines the shape of the vehicle for passenger automobiles as one of the main drivers of design is fuel efficiency.

Regards, Rod

[Jim Becker]

Just like in any thing "subjective" the market relative to automotive design seems to flow somewhat like a river, with everyone going in the same general direction. And honestly, there's only so much you can do to differentiate these days. A big clue to make/model at this point is the shape of the DRL and rear tail light LEDs. And this is also brought on by buyers...if sales start to skew because the market seems to like a particular design, other makers follow suit to gain back those buyers who are basing a lot of their buying decision on what something looks like. It's also why the first things you always hear after a redesign is "I hate it!". And then it grows on them so that the same people suddenly like the new design.

My pet peeve is more around color choices...I'm tired of the "50 shades of grey" plus a muted red, etc., that's typical for most vehicles. Why are the creamy non-metallic pleasant shades or bold colors only available on Wranglers and Crostreks, etc.? And what's with the constant leak of offering in some manufacturer's highest trims for a light colored interior. I HATE black interiors. And that's an understatement...

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Just like in any thing "subjective" the market relative to automotive design seems to flow somewhat like a river, with everyone going in the same general direction. And honestly, there's only so much you can do to differentiate these days. A big clue to make/model at this point is the shape of the DRL and rear tail light LEDs. And this is also brought on by buyers...if sales start to skew because the market seems to like a particular design, other makers follow suit to gain back those buyers who are basing a lot of their buying decision on what something looks like. It's also why the first things you always hear after a redesign is "I hate it!". And then it grows on them so that the same people suddenly like the new design.

My pet peeve is more around color choices...I'm tired of the "50 shades of grey" plus a muted red, etc., that's typical for most vehicles. Why are the creamy non-metallic pleasant shades or bold colors only available on Wranglers and Crostreks, etc.? And what's with the constant leak of offering in some manufacturer's highest trims for a light colored interior. I HATE black interiors. And that's an understatement...

For the record my friend, when we were in the market last November, my wife bought a new "Sparkly Red" Honda CRV. Red was her determined requirement.

[Dave Mills]

Most people aren't willing to pay for exotic design, interesting materials and expensive paints. Most people are shopping for an "A to B" car, and when that's the demand, that's what car manufacturers make. Home Depot still doesn't carry Lie Nielsen tools...

[Jim Becker]

For the record my friend, when we were in the market last November, my wife bought a new "Sparkly Red" Honda CRV. Red was her determined requirement.

It was good she could get the color she wanted!

Most people aren't willing to pay for exotic design, interesting materials and expensive paints. Most people are shopping for an "A to B" car, and when that's the demand, that's what car manufacturers make. Home Depot still doesn't carry Lie Nielsen tools...

It's become more difficult to buy just an "A to B" vehicle anymore with pretty much every major manufacturer. Creative feature bundling pushes folks into higher trim levels for that one "must have" feature they personally can't live without. The industry has moved away from "basic" for some time now; some of that to satisfy safety requirements and some because of what folks actually want. So volume sales are not at the low end anymore and the average new vehicle sales price in the US is north of $35K at this point.

[Dave Mills]

It's become more difficult to buy just an "A to B" vehicle anymore with pretty much every major manufacturer. Creative feature bundling pushes folks into higher trim levels for that one "must have" feature they personally can't live without. The industry has moved away from "basic" for some time now; some of that to satisfy safety requirements and some because of what folks actually want. So volume sales are not at the low end anymore and the average new vehicle sales price in the US is north of $35K at this point.

But I didn't say A to B was cheap, maybe I wasn't clear. I said that exotic designs, materials and paints, the things I associate with making cars look different, were not priorities people want to pay for. Yes, they'll pay for internet connectivity, and other convenience features that make their lives more comfortable.

[Jim Becker]

That's true, Dave!

[Doug Dawson]

For the record my friend, when we were in the market last November, my wife bought a new "Sparkly Red" Honda CRV. Red was her determined requirement.

Most people just want to fit in. Some people don’t, and more power to that.

Not everyone wants to drive a Jaguar E-Type, for example.

Re another comment, yes aerodynamics plays a big role, but conformity with the current styling fashion plays a big role too (aerodynamics allowing.)

[John Stankus]

Most people just want to fit in. Some people don’t, and more power to that.

Not everyone wants to drive a Jaguar E-Type, for example.

The day-to-day living with "Cool" cars can be a bit of a pain too. My '96 Z28 Convertible is a cool car, but as a daily driver...it's low (looking up at the underside of the pickup trucks around here), it has a stiff suspension, its noisy, the doors are freaking long (not great in parking lots), it leaks in the rain (common convertible problem) and did I mention it is low (it can be fun getting in and out of). Under the right conditions its a helluva lot of fun, though.

John

[roger wiegand]

My Mini doesn't look exactly like every other car on the road, one of the things I like about it. It gets decent (>30) gas mileage without identical aerodynamics.

We're looking for new vehicles, both of ours could use replacing. At least one will probably be a full electric. Which brings me to my newest pet peeve. If you want a Tesla in something other than the hideous white it will cost you an extra thousand bucks. If you want a red one it will cost an extra $2000. Too many MBAs at work figuring out how to maximize profit opportunities.

[Jim Becker]

Which brings me to my newest pet peeve. If you want a Tesla in something other than the hideous white it will cost you an extra thousand bucks. If you want a red one it will cost an extra $2000. Too many MBAs at work figuring out how to maximize profit opportunities.

Did Tesla change things? It used to be that the default exterior color was black and any other color was an upcharge...white I could enjoy. (I drive two white vehicles now) Black...not in a million years for me. Then again with Tesla, for the most part, the color is the only real option unless you're opting for full autonomous.

[Bill Dufour]

Neighbor has a Porsche SUV the front end looks like a 1955 Citroen. DS. Those cars were ahead of the times in styling and suspensions. They updated to new body in the 1970's. that is still recognizable as a citroen. Not a CV2.
Bill D.

[Brian Elfert]

Some of the federal safety regulations also affect vehicle design. To me, today’s car designs are a lot better than many of the 1980s designs.

People complain that today’s vehicles are harder to work on, but they also require a lot less repairs than older vehicles. I worked at a place in the late 80s into the late 90s that was still running old vehicles for 12 days per year. The vehicles probably spent an hour or more in the shop for every hour on the road. A mechanic spent overnights servicing the dozen vehicles. Each vehicle spent at least a week in the shop during the off-season getting worked on. A mechanic checked the vehicles half way through each 16 hour day and had to add oil to all of them.

[Mike Henderson]

Some of the federal safety regulations also affect vehicle design. To me, today’s car designs are a lot better than many of the 1980s designs.

People complain that today’s vehicles are harder to work on, but they also require a lot less repairs than older vehicles. I worked at a place in the late 80s into the late 90s that was still running old vehicles for 12 days per year. The vehicles probably spent an hour or more in the shop for every hour on the road. A mechanic spent overnights servicing the dozen vehicles. Each vehicle spent at least a week in the shop during the off-season getting worked on. A mechanic checked the vehicles half way through each 16 hour day and had to add oil to all of them.

I'm with Brian. I worked on quite a few old cars and new cars are a LOT better. Maybe a lot is better oil now than we had back then, but they all used oil. If you're old enough you'll remember that people used to check the oil every time they did a fill-up. And it was common to have to add a quart of oil. Do young people even know what a dipstick is?

Also, if you got a 100,000 miles out of your car, you had a celebration. Few people kept a car beyond 100,000 miles.

It was a number of things. The cylinders/rings wore and oil would get into the combustion chamber and get burned. But the big problem was wear in the valve guides. Since the intake valve had suction on it, when it wore (and it always wore) oil would be sucked into the cylinder and burned. It was common to see a car start off with a big cloud of (oil based) smoke. You had to have a valve job about every 50,000 miles.

No, when people found out that I did some restoration on older cars, they would say, "They don't build them like they used to" and I would say "Thank Goodness - they build them a lot better."

One thing you discover when you restore an old car - when you're finished what you have is an old car.

Mike

[And that was only half of it. Water pumps failed on a regular basis, radiators leaked, the hoses to the radiator leaked, mufflers got holes in them, alternators failed, fuel pumps failed, spark plugs had to be replaced on a regular basis, and the vehicle wouldn't reliably start on a cold morning. In an accident, you were more likely to be injured or killed in one of those old cars than in a new car.]

[And that doesn't include the transmission. The older automatic transmissions were dogs and they failed on a regular basis. There were companies who specialized in transmission repair and today, you rarely see a transmission shop. And almost all cars have automatic transmissions.]

[Brian Elfert]

I think the real reason oil was checked at every fill-up in the real old days was because so much oil was burned.

My parents had a 1977 Ford LTD II. The engine went out at 85,000 miles. My father put a junkyard engine in it, but my father junked the car at 100,000 miles as it was shutting off on the highway. Not worth fixing.