As the season change from summer to autumn, its a reminder than nothing in life stays the same. We all go through seasons. It’s the same with cars as well; some have a glow up with an amazing new redesign and some see the sun set on their awesomeness, much to the chagrin of the car community.
I asked you about formerly fabulous cars done dirty by subsequent refreshes and you guys did not disappoint. My complaining about the Charger turned into a we-hate-the-1970s moan-a-thon, but I tried to get a good diversity of opinions into this answer of the day. One thing is definitely for sure; all my homies hate the early ’00s Mitsubishi Eclipse.
Total Eclipse of the art
The evolution of the mid-90s Mitsubishi Eclipse and the Talon/Laser derivatives to that side-raked FWD model a few years later really bothered me. They went backwards, not forwards, with that change. Both in styling and mechanicals.
and
This! I more or less loved my ’96, rode it hard, put it away wet, and scrapped it after the second engine blew. Replaced it with the generation after the mis-strakes.
I always thought that that version was designed by three different teams, who rarely communicated.
and
You could make an argument that each successive generation of the Eclipse was worse than the one before it, but turning it into yet another dull crossover was a bridge too far.
From Rick C., Sam Tombs, Mike Szekely and others
Thunderbirds, No!
Eighth gen (80-82) Thunderbird.
I read it was described as the only car ever that was ugly from every angle. Combine that with being saddled with the Thriftpower Six, and the slow decline of a storied name became a free-fall.
Thankfully, the aero-bird saved it. For a while.
From Stillnotatony
Oh no Lexus, what did you do?
2001 Lexus SC. Went from a design that was memorable, sleek, and smooth to one that was bloated, dull, and forgettable.
From Giantsgiants
The beginning of the end for AMC
AMX. The 68-70 design was great. And it nipped at the Corvette’s heels on the track. After that it was a parody of itself.
From LBJsPNS
So many decent cars turned into blobs in the last decade
I still can’t get over the lack of a proper redesign for the Plymouth Prowler. Oh, what could have been. But in the real world—what in unholy heck was Jeep thinking with the 2014 Cherokee? Children, kittens, and ponies wept at its unveiling… and so did rednecks and soccer moms. It went from being a respectable, slightly more civilized Wrangler sibling to a melted crossover blob. Ugh. Just… the most ugh.
From Papa Chris
Mess with the bull and you’ll get…a pretty boring design
1992-95 to 1996 Ford Taurus. Ford had the best selling sedan in the US and absolutely blew it with that redesign (blew it with other things too like terrible transmissions). I learned to drive on my family 94 Taurus Sedan and 93 Wagon and when the redesign came out even my father couldn’t believe how bad it looked. We never bought another Ford after that and my dad got a 98 Subaru Outback as his next car.
From Matt G.
It’s certainly a car shaped car, as least
Has to be the 4th generation of the Camry. We had a 1985 Camry which later was traded in for a new 1992 Camry. The 92 Camry felt like a huge quantum leap. The Camry that replaced it was absolutely plain in comparison.
From john doe
It’s still pretty quick! But…you have a point
C63 AMG. Went from Thor’s Hammer with the god-like sound of the 6.2L V8, to a hybrid 4-cylinder. What on earth were they thinking.
From bricktop252
Scion tC! Scion tC!
Scion tc 2.5 it looks better but they nerfed the automatic and didn’t fix the input shaft bearing problem from the previous gen it looked more aggressive but felt softer
From Hereforcarsagain
