How about the Renault Laguna? I've never owned one or driven one (and I'm aware of their reputation for quality control) but purely on visual terms the Mk1 was ok, the Mk2 looked pretty good, and the Mk3 looks awful.
And the number of sightings on the road seems to back me up
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Judging by everything I've seen about it so far, the new Subaru Legacy / Outback looks like a huge retrograde step. Ugly, expensive, no proper automatic (in the UK, at least - CTV only on the 2.5, apparently) And an electronic hand brake. Tragic.
Still, at least the 'old' model is known for its longevity. Maybe they'll have seen the light and replaced it before I need to get another.
Davros
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Rover P6 to Rover SD1
I think the SD1 did look good, though, while the old P6, while great looking in its original form, had become dated by 1977. But technically, it was a step backwards.
Also another Rover case.... When the 75 was announced, when seen alongside it's predecessor the 600, one could have been forgiven for thinking the 600 was the replacement for the 75.
On purely visual terms, the pretty and graceful BMW Z3 was replaced by the awkward looking Z4, which still looks like a disguised prototype!!!
Edited by Sofa Spud on 25/11/2009 at 12:41
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In my opinion, any manufacturer of small hatchbacks always seem to regress when their mark 2 model comes along twice as long, twice as wide and half a ton heavier than the previous nippy runabout.
Yes I realise additional safety issues make cars bigger and they have to be NCAP compliant etc, etc but the whole concept of a small, cheap economical urban runaround is often lost as a result.
For example:
Corsa, Fiesta, Ka, Punto, Panda, Clio, 207.
Be interested to see how much weight the Fiat 500 puts on when the Mk2 appears
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Er, the Mk 2 500 has appeared. It's a lot bigger than the original.
Biggest regression? 2CV6 to AX.
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Ok I know the current Fiat 500 is the Mk 2 but technically the original had been out of production so long.. you know what I mean.
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Yes, sorry, couldn't help myself.
The originals are known as "Road Blisters" in Hungary. Don't know if the nickname has carried over to the new ones though.
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Quote:...""The originals {Fiat 500} are known as "Road Blisters" in Hungary." I like the term 'motorised number plate' best!
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Biggest regression? 2CV6 to AX.
I thought the AX was a great little car. The 1.0 petrol had better performance than the 2CV, with similar fuel economy. A friend had use of his mum's when we were 17 and I could never believe how peppy the 1.0 was. Then I found out it weighed just 640kg - 200kg lighter than a current Lotus Elise, and 180kg less than a bang up to date, modern C1.
As for the GTi, that was a laugh a minute. 0-60 in 8.7 seconds with 100 bhp! :-)
I wish they could still make cars this light today. Combine kerbweights like this with modern engines and you'd have 50 mpg petrol hot hatches, and 70 mpg diesel ones.
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In my opinion, the biggest "swan back to ugly duckling" faux- pas has to be Vauxhalls Senator to Omega upgrade!!
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The Dame Edna Everage facelift of the Saab 95.
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The Dame Edna Everage facelift of the Saab 95.
Seconded !
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I had a Mk2 Cortina 1600E which was a fabulous car. After writing it off, I bought a Mk3 Cortina 2000GXL which was awful, especially the low roof which I always hit my head on.
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Xantia to C5. Going from what was a good looking car for its time to a real ugly duckling. Since remedied by the new C5
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Agree with Xantia to C5 and Cav to Vectra.
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More on the light commercial side, I would say the Sprinter van update in '06 wasn't particularly successful to begin with. Certainly the place I was working bought three brand new 06 platers and within a year had chopped them in for 04/05 plate old shape models. The main reason was the amount of time the new vans spent off the road for one reason or another in their first year, the older replacements are still ploughing the highways and byways daily, all on 300,000+ miles.
Edited by Dave_TD {P} on 25/11/2009 at 22:44
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Same could be said of the "original" Sprinters being upgraded to the "Mark2"; the older ones were simpler, better gearchange and more reliable, and I found them nicer to drive too. I owned a 310D for a year, cracking van.
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Ford Granada to Ford "I've just been rogered by a rhinoceros" Scorpio.
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They were ugly - but fundamentally fine cars, some had decent engines.
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Morris 8 to Morris 8 series E.
Nice vintage looking car ' modernised ' to a fat lump looking like it's cheeks are stuffed with cream buns.
Ted
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"Morris 8 to Morris 8 series E."
Agreed - that must have been the same uninspired man who gave us the Morris 10 Series M which I mentioned originally in the other thread. Morris were lucky to find Alec Issigonis after the war.
Do you think the graceful Jowett Javelin and the desperately ugly Jowett Bradford were designed by the same hand?
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They were ugly - but fundamentally fine cars some had decent engines.
The 24v Cosworth version was a peach of a car. The nose styling didn't matter - all most people ever saw of it was the back. Lovely big, solidly built sofa of a car with every gadget known to man, and eye opening pace. It even made a lovely noise.
Cheers
DP
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They were still making good money long after they were discontinued.
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Harleyman - The floor change ones had a habit of trying to shatter your left kneecap when you started them, I never had that problem with the dash change models ;-)
The guy I know has 2x R reg Sprinters, one with 590,000 miles and the other with 570,000. Both had new engines around 520k and both still drive like 100k milers. He also has a 53, an 04 and an 05 with mileages from 180k to 350k, all still behaving themselves impeccably. (In deference to the "photos of your car" thread, I took a pic of the 590k miler's odometer last week when I saw him, I'll figure out how to work flickr one of these days)
I had a brand new 03 plater (first of the white rear indicator models) for its first 12,000 miles and was very impressed with how rigid the bodyshell was on corners, hehe- I also did several thou' in a knackered P-reg and was still struck by how solid the build was, even if it displayed obvious signs of prolonged neglect.
Edited by Dave_TD {P} on 25/11/2009 at 23:38
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Mileage display on the R reg Sprinter:
bit.ly/6D9nmS
Just to confirm, that's MILES not kilometres...
Edited by Dave_TD {P} on 26/11/2009 at 00:12
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Thats a heck of a number for a van.
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