Not just the color. Each make and model used to look distinct and unique. Now they all have the same vague SUV shape. It makes sense aerodynamics and safety standards are a thing but it still feels so corporate and almost dystopian.
But SUVs are neither aerodynamic nor safe (for others)…*
*In comparison with normal cars.
There are also things like safety standards and whatnot, there’s more nuance here beyond some shape conspiracy lol
It’s largely roll over protection safety requirements have increased dramatically. So you get massive pillars that have to distribute force into the rest of the body.
Which also has to handle that load, or prevent intrusion laterally from side impacts.
It’s largely driven by safety designs.
safety standards are bs, tho. they still say more blinding headlights are safer than less blinding.
They typically look like a mildly used bar of soap on wheels.
The funnier interpretation IMO is that they’re all trying to be either wagons or minivans while maintaining plausible deniability.
No it’s an SUV! Right right…
It’s carsinisation but for cars. Everything evolves into a type of SUV. It makes sense since physics kind of dictates how aerodynamics works and engineers just have to work around that.
I’m looking forward to the day when we don’t have rear-view mirrors and just use cameras. Kind of surprised we haven’t just gone that direction already. Screens and camera tech has gotten good enough that we can do that pretty efficiently.
The issue I have with some of the more “modern” cars is getting rid of the door handles on the outside. These pop-out things are just a hazard for people in colder climates or places where dust and other ingress can cause problems opening the door. Although, it would be nice to have my kids walk up to the door and not jerk on the handle 2-3 times before I can get the keys out to unlock it.
Mirrors just work. No electricity, no lenses to get covered and blocked.
Cameras are good for the places mirrors can’t see, but otherwise it’s more shoving electronics in places were it’s not needed driving up cost, complexity, and decreasing repairability.
I like function over form for safety items. Simple, reliable, and imo there is beauty in something clearly being designed for a purpose.
Another factor that seems to get ignored with mirrors vs cameras is depth. A mirror is still a 3D reflection and there’s usually enough depth information to judge distances pretty well. You lose all sense of scale and distance with a lens and screen.
objects in mirror are closer than they appear
(i still have zero idea what this means…is the object closer in the mirror or is closer irl?)
That label is used for convex mirrors that show a wider area at the tradeoff of shrinking things. You get some depth perception in a mirror (unlike a camera, as otacon pointed out), but the shrinkage in a convex mirror throws that off. The object itself (not the reflection) is physically closer to you than what your depth perception on the reflection would indicate.
I suppose cameras can give you a better field of view than a mirror can though.
Sure but if they break, it’s a more expensive repair, one that I may be able to do myself whereas replacing a mirror or mirror housing isn’t that hard.
I want less computerization of cars, personally. Or at least a repairable, customizable, and FOSS system, if I have to have computers in my car.
“If they break”, oh yes, let’s fund a strawman.
Go see what a broken mirror costs today.
Glass alone, if heated (many are) $100+. Actual motorized mirror: $300+. Then there’s painting to match.
Cameras would be smaller, less likely to get damaged, and are pretty commodity tech these days.
Try $30 and fuck painting. Old car better.
“If they break”, oh yes, let’s fund a strawman.
…you don’t think car parts break? Or are you the type to just get a new one every few years so you’ve never experienced it?
Glass alone, if heated (many are) $100+. Actual motorized mirror: $300+. Then there’s painting to match.
Who exactly is the one building a strawman, here? 🤔 sources, please
Cameras would be smaller, less likely to get damaged, and are pretty commodity tech these days.
Fair, debatable, and fair. Definitely not cheaper than a mirror, though. Maybe on a luxury car, absolutely not on anything more common.
It ain’t the glass that costs. It’s the sleek custom designed shape of the housing that costs all that money. Not the mirror.
A plain round simple mirror that is externally mounted is cheap and easy to replace. But it won’t make your car look as fast or as cool.
They do, but know what works better? A single panel in front of you with all the views - you don’t even have to turn your head.
As someone who’s raced, "Wink" mirrors demonstrated this fantastically: multi-panel rear-view mirrors where you could see everything behind and beside you in a single mirror.
I used one in my daily driver when I had a neck injury (whiplash) and could barely turn my head for 2 years. Way easier to see all around you, and better too.
The tech for a camera system has been available and trivial since the 90’s. A single 4" tall wide screen on the dash, or built into the center rear view would work.
Clearly you’ve never driven in rain, snow, fog. Side mirrors are very problematic. Cameras can be better protected, and done right even deal with rain and ajow a lot better.
I know of those mirrors and surprise, I have driven in adverse conditions.
I’m not saying there aren’t better ways. But cameras in their current implementation isn’t the answer.
There becomes a point where there is too much in front of a driver. I also believe the frequent “feedback” from driving assists causes me, at least, to take my eyes off the road to figure out what it’s beeping at me for and it’s usually because the system doesn’t recognize a bend in the road or the car in front of me is turning.
One of my cars is a Chevy Bolt EUV. The rear view mirror, in place of the classic switch to change between day and night mode, has a switch that alternates the view between reflection and camera.
There are far more sedan shapes over SUV ones on the road, but with that said I agree with your reasoning. It’s natural that the most efficient shapes are adopted en masse so everyone can benefit. Same with other things like safety standards/regulations.
I can’t remember which car magazine did it, but about 6-8 years ago, the cover was a profile of every crossover in the US market. I was able to pick out the Honda but couldn’t tell any of the others apart.
Aerodynamics and safety get everyone to a generally uniform shape, but then they focus group it to death.
Peak automotive engineering!
There used to be a sense of whimsy and fun in stuff.
It’s like we live in a world built out of that gray shit inside that Krabby Patty in the one episode.
Is this what you mean?
Or maybe this?
Well, gray and depressing does fit the times.
Yes.
Sick of the gray in cars, clothing, buildings, etc. etc. etc.
The cars in the second picture are more colorful and interesting than what we have now
yeah, the golden light does a lot of the beauty there
Paging through the 80s and 90s car colour options for somewhat mainstream cars like bmw is crazy in comparison to today. Sure they were the expensive paint option but there were hundreds.
There’s some awful colours today (eg you can get 3 shades of grey, red, or the precise shade of yellowish green that a newborn infant leaves in their diaper for a Prius). I say - at least it’s a colour.
Proudly owns a blue car in a sea of boring.
I had one bright blue one for a few years. It was beautiful. Then management caused issues with the leasing and I had to give it back. Now it’s back to gray.
I have tried so hard to own an orange or a blue car. I owned a blue one for a beautiful four months before somebody rear ended me and totaled it. Since then it’s only been ugly, boring silver.
I wanna buy one so bad, but people who owns it says that, is a pain in the ass to repaint and resell just because of the freaking color. Society is so boring sometimes (-_-)
I know a guy that only buys white pickup trucks because white has the best resale value. He is just as boring as he sounds.
Never heard that tbh and had metallics blended seamlessly on blue in the past. Sounds like excuses for ability tbh.
Concerns for resale are a non-issue surely. I bought mine because it wasn’t a boring colour and I’m far from the only one.
Kind of true also for housing.
Drive the West Davis highway in Utah, north of Salt Lake City, and most of what you’ll see is cookie-cutter McMansions in the same color schemes.
I saw one larger house that looked like an unpaid intern copied and pasted the same set of rooms multiple times onto the standard front entry.
Cheaply built, soulless architecture, tiny lots, on ground that was lake bed less than a hundred years ago.
Reminds me of one of the funniest articles I’ve read: https://www.nplusonemag.com/issue-44/the-intellectual-situation/why-is-everything-so-ugly/
That was a fun read. I bookmarked it.
In my town there are two bright pink houses. I love 'em.
That’s cool. I don’t think I’ve seen one ever.
I hadn’t, either, before I started visiting this town.
that has always been the american way, upton sinclair was writing about this shit over close to a century ago now
You could also get factory colors “custom”. What was available at the dealership was one thing, but they had a host of other color options you could special order. Like upgrading from an AM radio to AM/FM Cassette. You just had to wait for the factory to do a run of that option before your car would get shipped. More options were a la carte and you weren’t forced into trim packages like today that are like cable tv packages - pay for a bunch of shit you don’t want to get the one or two options you do. Want AWD? Sure! But you have to take “premium sound”, floor mats, cargo separator, and exterior trim packages too.
Some still have a bunch of color options. Hell, look at all the colors you can get through BMW Individual for example.
But people are scared about resale values and stuff
For regular makes and models there are far fewer options, like Toyota or Honda. BMWs are perceived as higher tier and have more options. The fact you have to single out a more luxury brand and can‘t just say “Toyota has 20 color options for the Corolla!” proves my point.
Toyota does a special color every year for their TRD lineup.
If you’re willing to count the black roof combo option the Corolla has 15 color options or 8 full color options. Red and blue are offered. Just no yellow or orange.
People just don’t want to wait for a special car and want whatever is on the dealer lot. So they make as many of those in boring colors.
Well yes, Toyota and Honda are about cutting costs whereever possible. Having fewer paint options available is cheaper.
I can get a Škoda in orange, blue or red, optionally two-tone with a black roof. That’s also a cheap model of a cost-cutter brand I looked at. Slightly bolder paint options, but also not too many.
There’s no point offering a bunch of different paints if nobody is getting them. Or you can do it like the luxury brands do, and make it possible to get absolutely anything, but it’s a high-cost extra. If you sell it as prestige, some people will pay for it because why not. Plus it’s not like anyone cares about the residual on a BMW, they’ll just lease the next one in 5 years and don’t care if they gotta pay 50 euros more per month due to a lower residual, or maybe the bank eats the cost (residuals are usually set lower than the expected actual value at the end of a lease anyway). But for cheap cars, where people are already cost-conscious, a lot of people just skip out on the cool colors because “oh it’ll depreciate so much worse” and that’s why they no longer offer them. So many car makers now offer one or two bright, showy colors per model and the rest are boring, generic, dependable.
If Toyota could make more money selling you a yellow Corolla than by not selling you a yellow Corolla, they would do it. But apparently not enough people want it for it to be an option, and not enough people want to shell out obscene amounts of cash for completely custom paints on a Toyota, for that to be an option. I wish people bought more brightly colored cars, but I don’t think it’s the manufacturers stopping everyone, it’s the lack of demand.
All the crazy colors and styles originally happened to sell “self expression” because the culture was becoming more anti consumption. Advertisements for most things used to be more matter-of-fact, then they started focussing on manipulating emotions to sell more shit. I guess now the culture is more pro-consumption and status-obsessed, so conformity is what sells now.
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I read a while ago that people are sharing cars more and more. While someone may love a hot yellow, their partner may not, so they both settle for a grey. The market has gone from “I love it!” to “I don’t hate it…”
there’s a study that shows that car colorfulness is positively correlated to being in a good mood for longer periods of time (i.e. not having depression)
so, car colors reflect the mood of a society. and that they’re all gray today is a bad sign.
there’s a number of additional signs to read the mood of society. i was told by a colleague that the length of women’s skirts is another indication (the shorter the skirt length, the better society’s mood is overall).
i also believe that the music they play i.e. in the supermarket is a good indicator. the more love songs on the radio, the better the mood of society. the more break-up songs on the radio, the worse the mood of society.
It’s not just cars. Our whole society is grey.
Everyone wants a car that blends in so that they are less of a target for cops.
Part of why I drive a Volvo.
If you see a Volvo speeding you think “Gee, that doctor must be in a big hurry”
That’s apparently apocryphal. The rate of pullover tracks with the most common car color (currently white). Driver behavior (speeding, illegal turning, etc) and other outstanding features (lapsed registration, broken tail light) are the most common proximate causes for a pull over.
For most of us, that is not a concern at all.
It should be a concern for literally anyone in America right now. Unless you’re white and actively licking boots, you’re a target.
Sounds about white.
I’m white and OP has hella privilege if they’ve never been concerned about cops targeting them. They were all over my ass in the 90s for having long hair and driving beaters. They’d lock on and follow until they had an excuse.
Oh, that’d be an interesting study I’d read about! Any sociology majors out there who need a thesis? lol
Not me! I’ll take a flashy sports car over a boring beige box any day of the week.
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“Mr. Moneybags”? LMAO I can easily name 5 excellent, reliable sports cars you can use as a daily driver for under $10K:
- Nissan 350Z/Infiniti G35
- Mazda Miata
- Genesis Coupe
- Civic Si
- VW GTI
My GTI was good at hiding from cops until I got my exhaust.
Worth it.
Everyone wants a car that blends in so that they are less of a target for
copspredators.Race red mustang gt. I’ll take the heat off y’all.
I miss cars that would last for 30 years more than choice of color.
That’s more like 1974 than 1980.
Blame this on the car insurance companies. They claim that certain car colors are less likely to be in a wreck.
Also blame car manufacturers. Some colors cost more than others. Check the sticker price next time you’re in the market.
