[dr.aviansh]

Facelifts are usually launched by the manufacturers to keep their cars looking fresh during the midcourse of their life cycles and also sometimes to justify a price hike.
Often unintentionally, they end up ruining the original counterpart’s beauty causing a huge negative impact on the sales. While some cars that are bought for their practicality still manage their way out despite having gotten ugly.

Since this is a very subjective thread, I’m sure some would disagree as they might find the facelifts to be better looking. So here are some cars that I PERSONALLY believe have gotten ugly post their makeover :

1.) Tata Safari Storme :


TS to Indians is probably what the Chevy Suburban is to the Americans. It’s a cult SUV with a diehard fan following. But the 2012 facelift was literally a disappointment amongst its fans who loved it for its timeless looks, not to mention that the signature spare wheel was gone too.
Sure, the VARICOR engine was a beast but the trade-in was too big to overlook.

2.) Hyundai Verna Transform :

Mid 2000’s was the era of the jellybean midsize sedans. The 2nd generation Honda City, MS SX4, Chevrolet Aveo and Hyundai Verna all had become curvy.
But later with the sleek 3rd Honda City coming in, Hyundai intelligently realised that this jellybean design would soon be outdated and it seemed like they hurriedly facelifted the cute li’l Verna to an eagle like thing. It looked like it was trying to ‘TRANSFORM’ to a ‘78 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am and had stopped midway. The sales plummeted so much that it found no takers and eventually they had to bring in a new generation worldwide the very next year.

Hadn’t they facelifted it, I think in 2011 Hyundai could have discontinued the Accent instead and sold a stripped down version of the older petrol Verna along with the Fluidic Verna, just like how they did with the Accent GLS/GVS/CRDi in 2007.

3.) Maruti Suzuki Alto 2019 :

The upgrade to the second generation Alto from its first generation itself was criticised because not everybody was a fan of the tallboy shape. I wasn’t particularly against this car till the facelifts started getting uglier and angrier looking, especially with the most recent one. The car now looks like a duck frowning at you! Nonetheless, it will continue to sell and break records as long as two wheeler people are upgrading to four wheels.

4.) Fiat Palio Stile :


Let bygones be bygones but not when an Italian beauty is being talked about. The Palio/Petra was a very beautiful facelift of the older Sienna, all credits to the legendary Giorgetto Giugiaro. But, the 2006 Stile version (also designed by him) just made it a car that would easily get lost in the crowd and had nothing to make one drool over it anymore. Even the colour palette had become boring now.

5.) Ford Aspire/Figo :


Apart from the amazing ride and handling combo which the enthusiasts loved about it, it was also the ‘no nonsense’ design and that Aston Martin like grille that we adored. However, IMO the 2018 update just wasn’t good in terms of the exterior design. The better infotainment, the more reliable AT and the new 3-cylinder 1.2L Dragon series were unanimously welcomed but the chrome-laden honeycomb front grille now looks like an aftermarket one. Also, the bumper design just got bad with that unnecessary use of chrome.

6.) Tata Nano :


Sure this car wasn’t meant to be a head turner, but it really served the purpose of being a decent looking car for the price. It broke all the stereotyped expectations from a 1 Lac Rupee car, thanks to the guys at I.DE.A Institute, Turin. It was a huge surprise for those automakers who claimed that the Nano would be a ‘three wheeler with an additional wheel.’

However IMO, the 2015 Tata Nano GenX ruined the simplistic design that was well suited to the car. Both the bumpers which had a very decent design, were replaced by the new ones which seemed to be smiling for some reason.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS :

1.) Mahindra Nuvosport/Quanto
2.) Toyota Etios 2016
3.) MS Zen Estilo 2009
4.) Toyota Innova 2014 : Oversized Grill

5.) Fiat Linea 2013
6.) Tata Tiago 2020 : Mean looking face on a cute jellybean design.
7.) Mahindra XUV 5OO 2019 : Rear taillights.
8.) Mahindra Verito

Let us know which ones you think have gotten ugly over the years.

[Keeleri_Achu]

As the OP mentioned, looks are entirely subjective. For that reason, I'm only adding one car to this list as it bugged me the most in recent times.

Hyundai Elantra

2017


2019

[tushky]

Wish to add one more to the list. Nothing can replace the beauty of 1st generation Tata Indica. Indica vista wasnt as beautiful as first gen. but still the design was acceptable. However Tata ruined it more in the vista facelift with hideous looking chrome grill and headlights.

[boniver]

A similar thread exists here (When the previous-gen car / bike was better than the newer-generation model)

[DicKy]

The Indica



And the facelifted none that came around 2005ish



I know what most of you are thinking. The facelifted one looks contemporary and good looking right? With foglamps and chrome emblesshmints.

Well hear me out.

On advertisements and pictures. Yes.

But on road in real world, the horribly undertyred and misaligned side skirts just made it look worse. Like some aftermarket 'Cross' accessory. Yet to see one without a misaligned side skirt. Just made the poor build quality, more visible

Only thing good that came out of this was the Turbo variant.

Ofcourse they reverted back around the time when the cr4 was launched.



Most of the times, the facelifts turn out to be horrible because

1. Trying to facelift a decades old model and trying to keep up with the times

2. Work done by some junior teams, who didn't have any hands in the original designing. Or in the old days, the Indian arm trying out designs.

3. Taking inspiration from what customers are doing to the cars and trying to make it standard fitment.
Case in point.

The Ignis and Brezza.

From a cute JDM car



To a Jeep wannabe



Also Hate this new trend of adding fake vents and moustaches in the name of facelifts, especially the rear bumper.
Victims, the facelifted Figo and Tiago.

In the olden days, some companies would put a rear black applique to break the visual bulk of a rear bumper.
Now you cant find a clean rear bumper design anymore. Every single one is busy.

[2000rpm]

How did you guys forget the Honda City - First Gen vs Second Gen!

The second gen car was hideous to say the least. I would also say the same with the Civic (Old vs current version)

[roy_libran]

And how come the Fiat Linea hasn't made it to this list yet? The first gen was a stunner, and well maintained pieces would still turn heads even in much more premium company. The revision was a complete dud. Not only was the T-Jet watered down, the entire design went for a toss.

[Reinhard]

Originally Posted by roy_libran

And how come the Fiat Linea hasn't made it to this list yet? The first gen was a stunner, and well maintained pieces would still turn heads even in much more premium company. The revision was a complete dud. Not only was the T-Jet watered down, the entire design went for a toss.

Not just the Linea - an even bigger fiasco has to be the Punto -> Punto EVO transformation. I'm sure the FIAT designers were unhappy about the Grande Punto design. It was so good right off the drawing board - there was no chance that anything could be done to face"lift" it. Anything afterwards was only going to be worse. And so was the EVO.

I'd also add the WagonR F10's transformation into the WagonR K10 Blue Eyed Boy in this list. The new one looked ugly in every aspect compared to the last gen WagonR F10, which looked smart yet cute in its own way. It was one of my favourite Maruti cars on looks.

[Storm2.0]

I have a contender for the list ie Mahindra XUV5oo. I'm not able to digest the hideous design of the tail lamps of the current version on sale.

[WhiteKnight]

Not sure this is only me. But when I looked at the new Vento, I felt they took the car back by a decade. Also, it looks a segment down.

The "new" Vento


The previous one


My colleague took polo delivery this week. Again, looking at the front pic, I could not figure whether it was polo or Vento.

Still trying to figure out what was the gain they were looking for. If it was due to Vento being seen as Jetta, Jetta is no more in the market anyway.

[revvharder]

I'd say the Dolphin Honda City takes the crown.



With its predecessor and successors.

[Balthazar]

I will have to go with the Civic.

It was not "well designed" per se, but it still looked classy, understated. Sober and sensible.




And now look at it.
Look at this monstrosity



Some people like this new bulbous design language, I frankly abhor it.

[ani_meher]

IMHO Civic doesn't belong here. It has simply transformed into a beastly shape, looks just amazing on the road. Sure the old one was nice, but the new one is into a league of its own.

[--gKrish--]

Looks are subjective, no two ways about that; but I was really disappointed when the Octavia facelift was launched. I simply couldn't digest the split-headlamps at first. It surely have grown on me but if given a choice, I'd still pick the pre facelift.

[sv97]

Verna Fluidic and Verna 4S