Uglification - Buster Cambelt
SWMBO said to me last week that she wouldn't have a clue what to replace the trusty A6 with when it goes to the parking lot in the sky (not for some years yet we hope). She is right when she says that modern designs are getting uglier.

This is not an anti-VAG rant but I have to mention four recent products in despatches, having seen them all, and driven all but the new model A4.

The new A6 is ugly, the new A3 sporthatch is very ugly, and the A4 "advance" or whatever they will call it when it gets to the UK, is downright hideous. That grille doesn't work guys, on the A6 it is tolerable if the car is in the right colour but on the A3 and the A4 it just looks daft.

Thought the new Golf was ordinary and bland? Wait until you see the new GTi in the tin, the face that sank a thousand ships or what?

And no, the BMW 5 series has not grown on me, the 1-series is very unpleasant on the eye both in reality and in pictures.

I could go on but it is depressing me.
Uglification - Avant
The Toledo is yet another one with this oh-so-fashionable 'reverse rake' rear door windows. Personally I think this is ugly every time I see it, but I must be in a minority.

The Peugeot 206 is an example - quite apart from aesthetics it means very poor rear visibility, which I would say is unsafe, even dangerous at some types of road junction. The Megane is even worse. SWMBO had a 206 and the blind spot was a retrograde step compared with the 205.

The 205 was pretty by any standards. It's a matter of personal taste I know, but perhaps someone can suggest what it is about the 206 and Megane that people find pleasing to the eye.