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-   -   The most timeless car designs ever... (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/210055-most-timeless-car-designs-ever-2.html)

I think the art of creating timeless (or rather the design which has very long shelf life) is fairly simple, but comes at a huge risk. Stick to the basic form (which is derived from functionality and there is NO forced 'styling') and don't make radical changes to the design language across generations even when the whole world tries to outdo each other by chasing the 'design trends'. Best example to me are Volkswagen, Porsche and LandRover. If you look at these cars, a layperson will struggle to tell the difference between generations and tell the era in which they are made (at least keeping a window of 15-20 years)

Risk of following this approach is, you may be perceived as a car maker who doesn't keep up with the time or not innovating and therefore and therefore not many car makers would do this.

Indeed. In fact, I like the older ones more than the newer versions. Here's one I saw (in fact, the first time I saw one of these in the flesh) at a small town called Robe in South Australia:

Wouldn't be fair if I ignore the timeless 'Italian hot hatch' - FIAT Palio S10. Miss you darling !

For me the Germans make cars with timeless design, be it the mass market small cars, luxury sedans or even the SUV's, these guys get the design proportions spot on better than any other manufacturers.

For me the old Porsches with rear factory spoiler :D are the best designed cars from the past. The Singer designed 911 is a good example how beautiful it looks even today. Function over form and yet still look beautiful! That spoiler though!


Typical German sedan with typical long bonnet & boot.


Duster is something that doesn't look beautiful yet not ugly either. SUVish, low and rugged, I think its a design that is timeless.

Upcoming Altroz on the timeless list already:Shockked:
You're way ahead of the curve on this one brother.

My favorite is the Legendary Tata Safari, just love it for that menacing looks.

I think it is criminal to not have these 2 automotive legends mentioned in this thread.

John Cooper, himself, with an older & later model.



Not to everyone's taste but nevertheless, the "G".

Interesting and a bit contentious topic if I may say so :)

Pretty soon every make and model will make an entry here! At least one crude definition of being timeless could be that despite successive generations, the original design remained as good or even better (Safari, Civic, Swift).

A 5 to 10 year window since launch should also matter, most current gen designs look refreshingly good initially but may not sustain the initial hoopla (Fluidic Verna, Old gen Jetta and Superb).

Seems like boxy well proportioned sedans invariably rule the roost in this category: Contessa, Lancer, W124, All generations of Accord (except last).

And for some, it could be debatable whether the rarity is a head turner rather than timeless design, but watching one on the road is certainly a treat to the eyes.

Ford Mondeo:


Kizashi:

I think everybody will agree with me here. The most dependable SUV, Toyota Land cruiser looks so damn perfect! A favourite car of the Bollywood stars before the GLs and MLs came into the competition. I think the Landcruiser J100 still looks macho.

Highlighted tyre name is my favourite thing since my childhood. No wonder it was on the Landcruiser I had seen it first :)

Awesome thread, and some really great looking cars posted here.

I have been a long time fan of BMWs, and when someone says timeless designs, many BMWs come to my mind. However, sadly, the latest generation BMW designs are bordering on being ugly, especially with those big ugly grills. Given that, in my mind the F10 5-series and the F30 3-series will remain the timeless BMW designs.

Re-posting the F10 530d photo from GTO's ownership thread:


And re-posting the F30 3-series from the team-bhp BMW official review:


These are the last timeless BMWs for me. Clean and elegant! The last ones before BWM went ugly.

And could not resist posting this photo of not one, but two F30s together:



The other car that in my mind is absolute timeless is the Skoda Octavia, just before they split the headlights. What a beautiful car!

The "timeless" Octavia of a friend of mine:


And finally, could not resist sharing a picture of our cars together:

Timeless design refers to cars that have aged gracefully over time.

The youngest car below has been around for more than 55 years:

Most of the modern Jaguars could easily have been from another era. Elegant.

The Loewy Studies. (Not the Avanti).

Unfortunately most of the old elegant designs were space and material inefficient, and pedestrian unfriendly.

Regards
Sutripta

Lost in the midst of more fancier and mass selling cars, is the original Suzuki Baleno 1.6.
IMHO, the Baleno is what all cars should aspire to be, not only in terms of design and lines, but also because of its heart, a naturally aspirated 4-pot high revving petrol with the handling capablities of a rally car.

I am grateful and blessed to have one in my garage, been restored/overhauled twice since 2006 with a bunch of perfomance upgrades.

Take a look at a few examples from various sources,

One glance at the thread title and the VW Polo immediately came up in my mind! To my eyes, it is still the best looking hatchback in its segment and that's really saying something for a 10 year old design. A neat, well-maintained Polo in Red or White still makes me admire it's looks.

Other timeless designs that are my favourites are the first-gen Fiat Linea and of course, the previous-gen Civic.

The list would not be complete without Jazz. Old or new, one of the best designs in India. Sadly, it didn't get the due it should have.