Bubba po

Ok, I'm sure most car lovers will agree that Aston Martin cars have produced some of the most beautiful cars ever, particularly with the DB7 models onwards...

But now, who but a real hardcore petrolhead (trainspotter) can distinguish the model of AM spotted on the road? I mean with a fleeting glimpse coming the other way? I certainly can't!

I feel that the stylists have become totally over-conservative recently, and the spur for this thought has come from seeing the DB6 again, which is iconic, utterly individual and beautiful in a completely different way.
The people at AM have turned an exquisite external design, pioneered by the DB7, into a corporate image that makes the new range virtually indistinguishable.

What are the reasons for this?

Dracoro

So you can easily tell the difference between a DB5 and DB6 then?

Bubba po

Nope!



So you have nothing to contribute to the main thrust of the thread, then?

Daz34

But they are such beautiful designs. The same but different.

They are like the Beverley Sisters with sex appeal

Dracoro

I was merely pointing out that this has nearly always been the case with AM. DB2, DB2/4 (mk1 & mk 2), DB4/5/6 are all rather similar, V8 series III/V8 Vantage which seems to evolve into the Virage into the Vantage. There are other similiar looking ones (DBS IIRC), not to mention the really old ones pre 50's. They just realise that evolution is the best way with the odd big advance from time to time.

Bubba po

Maybe it's just me; I'm positive that I wouldn't be able to tell a DB7 from a Vanquish from a DB9 from a new Vantage from a brief glimpse.

Extremely conservative, in my view.

midget1500

i agree

Shark Man

I suppose you could say the same with Porsche with the 911, or boxster even the Cayenne has the naff egg dollop headlamps.

I must say the newer DB9 and forthcoming v8 are distinguishable from the DB7, with much nice proportions. But it is a tweek of the same design form and idea.

Striving for perfection perhaps?

Although tragic it is for me to say this almost every Aston I have driven has been crap or a massive disappointment to say the least (Driving a Vantage shattered my illusion of my dream car - its true what they say - Never drive your favourite supercar NEVER!! )

Here's to hoping they sorted out the handling and driving dynamics on the DB9 and V8 models. And at least hope screwed the interiors together so they don't rattle to peices (they call it hand built "character" ) with something mechnaical breaking on a annual, if not monthly basis - They may look the same, but I pray at least their lastest offering will be better to drive and screwed together than their previous feeble efforts or a Jaguar costing a pittance of the price.

ChristianR

iTrader: (1)

the new 2005 porsche 911 has gone back to the classic look :

jameswrx

iTrader: (4)

Thank ****, soooooo much better

MJW

Well the new Aston's design must have something in it, because the replacement Jag XK takes quite a lot of styling cues from it :

Bubba po

Spot on, MJW. There's no denying it's a beautiful design, but for the "family face" to dominate to the point of making the whole lot look virtually identical, to the casual observer, smacks of either fear or lack of imagination.

Shark Man

Thinking about it now, Jaguar are even worse than Aston, well as far as marketing amd production decisions go at the least. They have the designers, but refuse to let them do their job! It must be so demoralising to be a prototype designer at Jaguar and have your work thrown in the bin.

When comparing DB7 to DB9 the lattter is more aggressive, sharper, more defined. Rather than the previous monogomous bubble shape sharing much with the XK8 and a abondoned XJS replacement prototype; of which the chassis was derived from (using an updated XJS platform).

In short: DB7 Jag in drag, DB9 same body, but with new inners stuffed up its tailpipes

As for Jag - I can't stand that new advanced lightweight wotsit...or shall we call it the "new" XK8 shall we? Afterall that is what it is!

A bad attempt at restyling a design that looked bad to start with, and the latest result looking like a dodgy photofit of styling cues from various cars. Miss matched and badly grafted on using cut and paste in photoshop, nothing more.

Then the XJ, nice shape. The series II looked like the first one, but slightly different, as did the Series III. Bravo to the XJ40 for breaking that mold, even if it was a bit boxy. Only for it to fall back into the same rut with the X300 and X350. And a hopeless spin-off that is better known as the X-type

As for the S-type...do I really need to say anymore? Shoot that ducking now - it'll never turn into a swan...never!

The only exceptions in the modern Jag era is the concept cars, which excepting the lightweight coupe wotsit (new XK8 ), most are great. Such as the F-type and RD6 amongst others. But they'll never get produced, as Jaguar is scared that they may end up producing a bangle monstrosity; actually I think the 5series style is growing on me . They want to appeal to the mass market, but surely they should know that the mass market wants something different?!?

Obviously not! LOL they'd rather prefer to throw away money on co-developing a diesel with PSA which they could of bought from sombody else. Like Land Rover with BMW, Vauxhall/Nissan with Renault, Ford Duratorq with Peugeot HDi (also seen in the X-type ) why bother? Just dump in a Merc or VAG engine....afterall - why waste money reinventing the wheel when your so far behind the competetion? Then you may end up with a white elephant when diesel in cars get banned (carceogenic - very nasty). By the time Euro IX or whatever emissions regulations get enforced, they'll have to completely redesign a new engine to conform to it.

I suppose Aston have no excuses like Jag do...not being a mass market brand. But perhaps they should nick the prototypes off Jaguar and produce them instead. That would really be a kick in the teeth to the top cheeses at Jaguar!

Dracoro

Are you suggesting that the XK8 isn't a good looking car

Shark Man

Yes...it's awful

Think of goofy then look at the grill

And do I need to mention anything about the positioning of the shutlines and panel seams?

CustomScoobyIOM

I have to disagree. My XKR looks stunning IMO.

Wish

iTrader: (2)

Shark man the New ALC is going to be called XK but they are dropping the '8' from the name.

Now why are they dropping the '8' because they are going to be fitting a diesel and V6 in to the line up.

MJW

It isn't surprising that the designs are similar considering Ian Callum (Jaguar's Director of Styling) was responsible for styling on the DB7 for Aston.

Shark Man

Without trying to be insulting....but it's a bland bubble shape with bling bits stuck on - which at least helps give some definition to reduce the blandness and take your eyes away from the bad bits

Seriously, let’s look at all the problems on the XK8 styling shall we?

First off - the shut line between the bonnet and the front bumper. It sticks out like a sore thumb, it doesn't flow - presumably a compromise by using the XJS chassis or to allow the use of a one piece front section to speed up/simplify/save cost on production.

The toothy grill, the gaff that somebody forgot to make a provision for a license/number plate bracket (aka Alfa 157).

The sculpture of the front lights, bland egg dollops - like the 911s of late. The panel seam on the side section of the front bumper between the light and front wing not flowing with the light cutout - just a straight line.

The afterthought of all the chrome bits stuck on - just to please the Yanks who think British sports cars should have chrome....then the woeful gaff of producing a car to appeal to Yanks and forgetting the cup holders!

Then there’s the side profile of the body shape, the car seems to look like it’s permanently on axle stands. Possibly due to them being forced to raise the ride height for US legislation on bumper height, or due to ground clearance issues.....thankfully the problem being easily resolved by fitting unfeasibly huge 19" alloy wheels

Then the rear, bland, like the side profile - no real definition to reinforce the shape. The lights curved in a large radius at the lower inside edge towards the boot opening - why? It doesn't flow! Then the rear bumper where at the side on the rear quarter section the designer wasn't sure what to do, so slanted the seam to the bottom of the wheel arch.

And finally the boot shut line; again they didn't know what to do. So did a curvy line along the rear wing. Then realised they needed to the end the boot somewhere, so kinked straight up to the curved corner of the rear windscreen, again without any thought to flow of intersecting lines.

And sad to say, the lightweight wotsit carries on with the exact same bad design lines - not even an attempt at making the function work with the style.

I can, and have forgiven the XK8 for such design house errors, simply due to Jaguar at the time being so wobbly with the Ford take over, and were pressured to get an XJS replacement out on the road ASAP. It had to be conservatively styled to guarantee wide public acceptance.

But I won't stop there, because of this it was also massively compromised due to the tight budget and being forced to use an updated XJS platform whilst trying to make the body fit on top of it...This led to many other gaffs on the interior - the XK8 in overall size is almost the same as the XJ-S. But the boot was much smaller! There was less rear legroom than the XJ-S - there wasn't even anywhere to put your feet (under the seat - which you could on the XJ-S). And even though the engine was almost a third shorter than the old V12 lump, none of the extra space was utilised to make way for more driver and front passenger legroom.


So there you have it...the XK8 may look "ok" in the fact it isn't ugly. But it could have looked so much more better if a bit of extra time and money was spent on it. This is what I was hoping for the replacement, which was a huge dissapointment when it was unveiled.

~fin.

Patt@firstime

Stunning

ando

Looks alot like an overweight FTO :P