I was always a "car guy". Crossovers & SUV's are ending that.

[freebeard]

No it is not just you!!

Maybe when they are 60 years old they will start to show a little personality? I keed.

[Kingofwylietx]

OP, I think it is mostly you. You may have lost your excitement for cars, but lots of younger people still have it. It is probably generational or age related...I'm not calling you old, but it's time to stand up and take a good look around.

The youngsters are hyped up about cool headlights and tail lights. They also identify with some pretty exciting cars/trucks/SUVs that are available today. They know which vehicles are fast and cool.

My son likes all sorts of cars and trucks. He digs the Porsche Cayenne, Ford Raptor, and anything exotic (Ferrari, Lambo, etc)...much the same types of vehicles I dug when I was his age. I love seeing him get excited about yellow cars, which goes back to his age and Bumble Bee from Transformers.

I could always and can still mostly tell the vehicle make by its headlights. Though it is a little tougher today to know all of them since there is frequently an HID or incandescent version of the headlights on lower spec trims....then an LED version on higher spec trims. That is slowly changing...where today even the least expensive Honda Accord has LED headlights.

The exhaust note you mentioned no longer indicates ultimate power. Many of the best performing mass-market vehicles use turbos. The thing with turbos is that they tend to kill the exhaust note. Loud no longer means fast...it now just means loud. One of the quickest mass-market vehicles is basically silent, the Tesla Model S P100D. It is only 0.1 seconds slower that the raucous Dodge Demon (another car that should put a tingle in your pants).

To say all SUV's are lame is to ignore the Durango SRT (or it's cousin, the Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk), which is fairly reasonable on price and seats 7. It does come with a great exhaust note, especially at startup.

Back when I was a kid, they had a Lamborghini SUV....the LM002. The new Lamborghini SUV is much cooler, quicker, faster, and handles a lot better.

Are those too big? What about the Jaguar I-Pace or F-Pace, BMW X6 M? Just this year the MB G Wagon was fully updated....I think that is the first total makeover since 1990. Perhaps the Maserati Levante Trofeo with it's sleek style and almost 600 HP will wake you up? It has an exhaust note...

There are others out there too. Maybe it's time to subscribe to a magazine like Car & Driver, Motor Trend, or Road & Track to reinvigorate your Car Drive....use it like a Vehicular Viagra. Get excited about what's slinking about on the roads these days. Then, grab a bunch of one dollar bills and hit that car show!!!! Go get'em Tiger!! Even if you can't touch'em....you can still look and ogle!

[freebeard]

I think the best example is VW Beetle =>Golf=>ID.3. I went looking for an example when I found this:

http://www.speedhunters.com/...party-in-the-rear/
...kids these days!

[JSH]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

I wonder if there's a correlation between losing interest in new cars, and impending onset of shouting "GET OFF MY LAWN" at young people.

There is a very strong correlation. My father says in the 80’s cars turned into “jelly beans that all look the same”.

[Fat Charlie]

Oddly enough, that was around the time cars started becoming more aerodynamic. They all look the same now because the designers are all trying to do the same thing. That's why all toothbrushes look the same, all shoeboxes look the same, all pickup trucks look the same, etc.

[freebeard]

AS Scott Adams would put it — when you're at an impasse, shake the box!

[Shaneajanderson]

Originally Posted by Kingofwylietx

Vehicular Viagra

I will be stealing this term for future use.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by Fat Charlie

Oddly enough, that was around the time cars started becoming more aerodynamic. They all look the same now because the designers are all trying to do the same thing. That's why all toothbrushes look the same, all shoeboxes look the same, all pickup trucks look the same, etc.

Except cars don’t all look the same today any more than they did back when cars where boxes. It seems at a certain age people just stop caring about the differences. My grandfather thought good design ended in the 50’s.

EDIT: Two CUVs made by the same company, on the same platform and built on the same assembly line

Images from Car and Driver

[Istas]

The rise in popularity of SUVs has been very discouraging. But really, -if- cars are getting homogenized to the point of lowering interest, I think that's a good thing; having individual vehicles per person is rather inefficient. Having so many different vehicles just makes that even less efficient (and SUVs in particular compound that even further, not to mention costing more).

A shift away from car culture would be a good step towards sustainability, and helping us get to a place where maybe global warming will just be a major expense/disaster, instead of an incredibly huge one.

[darcane]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

(Generic crossover)

In the last couple of years, I've started seeing new vehicles on the road and realized I have no idea what they are. And I don't care to know.

Is it just me? Now I know how most people see all cars?

I still love cars, and I think I always will.

With every generation of cars, there are some that are exciting, and some that are entirely forgettable. As you state, the ones that you don't care to know what they are.

There are still some stellar examples of exciting new cars. I don't know how anyone can look at the new Vette and not feel a strong urge to get behind the wheel.

What has changed is the ratio of exciting:forgettable. In the 50's and 60's I'd put it around 75:25. Today, 10:90.

As that trend dwindles in the wrong direction, my fleet of cars is getting progressively older.