[Singh101]

Voted YES.

The radiator grille can easily make or break a buying decision for me. The car could tick all kinds of right boxes but if it's a minger, it gets kicked off.

However I do believe that it's a matter of opinion and personal tastes. To each their own, I guess.

The X7 IMHO gets a bad rap. I think it was Mat Watson of Carwow that put it well: it's not that the grille itself is too big- it's not. It's really no bigger than its competition- the Mercedes GLS or Audi's all encompassing mouths- it's the headlamps that are too sleek and slender for the mammoth size of the vehicle which doesn't compliment the large kidney grille. And over time, I dunno, I've started to find it alright. Hell I'll go ahead and say it- I actually kinda like it. A shadow line equipped X7 M50d, yes please, absolutely!

[carthick1000]

'Ugly' is a subjective word when it comes to product design. I liked the M3 and M4 current gen grilles, not immediately from pics but after seeing the car in real life. Now it looks normal to me.

When I booked the Tesla model 3, the almost no grill (except for a small patch in lower part of front bumper) gave me mixed feelings. Since the last 2 years, it grew on me. The design is functional too, because I find it much easier to clean than all my past ICE cars with grill.



The way in which the light falls on a grill (or the lack thereof) makes for interesting designs, which the eye perceives and hence very subjective. For eg. I did not like the grill of LS500h normal variant, but did like that of F-Sport variant.

Normal


F-Sport


So, I voted No. Because a grille doesn't dissuade me from buying a particular car. The overall design does.

[Hells Bells]

Voted No. Looks are important but for me, a belter of a car with just a bad grill will not be discounted. If the overall design still comes through (albeit less pretty), I would still buy it. M3/M4 look ok in a black colour even with that chipmunk grill and it is a M car!

[anandpadhye]

Of course, voted YES.

Old jungle saying "If you don't look back at your car after you have parked, you bought the wrong one"

I am sad with the way new BMWs look.

We are in a "grille pandemic"

[skanchan95]

I voted yes.

One of the major reasons why I did not shortlist Hyundais when I was looking for my next car last year was the (in my opinion) oversized and ugly grilles that Hyundais come with these days. I would prefer simple and good looking cars than cars with oversized grilles and over the top styling.

[BlackPearl]

I have voted no. I did not like the grille of the Bolero, but still went ahead and bought it because the vehicle met my criteria. I had hoped to change it someday, but it has been more than 9 years and it has grown over me.

I will still do the same if there are enough reasons to buy the vehicle

[TrackDay]

Voted Yes.

I wouldn't be able to bear to look at my car if it had an ugly grill. Unless one is getting it free or at a steal deal I would never put my money on it. Of course exceptions do exist. For instance when the older generation Innova with the ugly grill came, there was no other option in the market. Unless in such a scenario I would go with a better looking car.

Also what is the deal with the trend of big oversized grills ? Is it to cool the downsized engines faster which might be under strain ?

[Lowflyer23]

Voted 'No', but then again as CEF_Beasts said there should be an option of 'depends on the car'. The X7 in the list is one of my favourite full size luxury SUV, most people who cry foul over BMW's ever increasing kidney grilles on the 7 siblings have barely seen them on road. The design and size does grow on you and the X7 IMO looks gangsta with a blacked out grille and it's got the best ride and handling balance in it's segment too.

I even found the front of the previous gen Innova facelift to be fine, the grille is actually smaller than the one on the Crysta. Also, huge grille designs to grow upon you and one can't strike off a fantastic piece of engineering just because the face is not attractive at first look. The new M3 and M4 are garnering praises from auto journalists around the world and people are saying the face doesn't look half as bad in real life.

[Silver Knight]

Most of the manufacturers want the face of their cars to look similar, with no harm. But for that, they try to adapt the same grille design across the models which may not work out. That can be one of the reasons we see some of the cars with funny or gaudy grilles.

[charanreddy]

Looks like bigger is better for manufacturers!

Voted Yes, but depends on the car. The M3 is an absolute no, while I can live with the Lexus and Toyota. The Avalon is puke worthy though.

Grills need to add character to the front look, if they do, then slightly oversized grills are fine.

[RedTerrano]

Voted YES!

Of course "ugly" is highly subjective.
For me the car's visual impression is very important. Of course this is not only limited to the grille but overall appearance. Does it excite me? Only then my interest will be sufficiently piqued to explore it further for handling, power, comfort, features, FE etc.

This is the reason I chose Nissan Terrano over Duster. They share the same platform and engine, but I think the Terrano is much better looking (with due apologies to all Duster owners). So even though it lacked even the basic features found in the Duster(back in 2014) like armrest or steering wheel controls, I still made that choice. Hell I even paid extra.

[Mustang Sammy]

Originally Posted by narayans80

No. I hated the 2017 S-Cross facelift, liked the lauch S-Cross grill better. The original grill gave the car an understated look. My original plan was to get the pre-facelift 1.6, the perfect sleeper

I would disagree. The original S-Cross design looked too droopy in my opinion.
The new one has a lot more presence and the amount of chrome is also not excessive.

[mak.prasada]

Looks are highly subjective. Sometimes pictures do not do justice. That's what I felt when I saw the new pictures of the new Creta but I really got used and even though it was pretty futuristic when I started seeing them on the roads. I'm guessing it'll be the same with M3/M4 as well because all the reviews do say it looks better in the flesh. So I'd see them in person for a few times before deciding if it's for me or not.

[AKSarkar1]

Voted- No.

Coming from a family of civic employees I can share that we generally don't even get a choice about the cars that we officially get. In such cases, one has to get immune to the beauty or the ugliness of the car because you will be living with it 5-6 days a week.

Most government cars are base or mid-spec models and therefore a 'perfectionist' will have to deal with not only ugly radiator grills but sometimes other eye-sores such as no alloy wheels and/or basic interiors. As long as the car offers great value like govt cars, I'm not too bothered about certain aspects of the look.

IMHO there are very few mass-market cars out there are look perfect and are priced perfectly too. Of course, if I am spending BMW money then the situation is totally different, would expect near-perfect things then because this segment of cars is more to do with 'good-feeling' rather than pragmatism.

[venkyhere]

If I was a car 10yrs ago ---> If I am a car today