People Prefer Angry-Faced Cars 473
fatalfury writes "Researchers from the University of Vienna asked 20 males and 20 females to rank vehicles based on their appearance. The list of traits included arrogant, afraid, agreeable, disgusted, extroverted, sad, and others. Cars with 'meaner' traits (such as BMW) ranked higher, whereas cars with 'nicer' traits (such as Toyota's Prius) ranked lower. With billions spent on developing new products in the automobile industry, this could spur a trend in meaner-looking cars and perhaps explain why sales of the Prius and other green cars are slow to take off with average consumers."
Re:Yes you're right (Score:2, Informative)
I find the Mark 2 Ford Focus to be an interesting case study - the European and American branches of Ford made significantly [wikipedia.org] different [wikipedia.org] cars as a follow-up to the original Focus. The European Focus uses clean-cut, simplistic lines whilst the American equivalent treats it as a scaled-down large sedan with a much more aggressive tone.
Is this a result of market demand or just a difference in design philosophy? Someone here should be an expert in automotive design...=]
-Aly
In Germany (Score:3, Informative)
you need angry looking cars on the "Autobahn" to get all the suckers out of the way. Serious this is sick. Families are drivin around with their kids in small Fiats and are attacked by old farts with 160mph.
Re:As a non-driver (Score:2, Informative)
on the other hand, people do tend to go out of the way far sooner when you approach behind them in something like a bmw.
my mother sometimes complains when she's driving the bmw that every car just makes way for her on the highway, rather forcing her to overtake them, even when she doesn't intend to.
the few times i could drive it, i also noticed it. i usually drive a ford focus, people respond less agressively to your manoeuvres, but on the other hand, noone is inclined to get out of your way if you want to pass them -_-.
Fiat Multipla - does not look bad (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Fiat Multipla - does not look bad (Score:2, Informative)
It looks like a ninja turtle
Re:Fiat Multipla - does not look bad (Score:2, Informative)
Maybe because Alfas of old used to be some of the best looking cars of the time. Not the most reliable things, granted, but still stunning machines.
And maybe because Alfas of today are both very good cars _and_ also damn sexy.
Check out google images for Alfa 147, Alfa 159, Alfa GT, Alfa Spider, Alfa Brera, Alfa Mito and Alfa 8C.
Probably the only automobile marque of today that hasn't a single dud/ugly duckling in its line up.
Re:Fiat Multipla - does not look bad (Score:3, Informative)
It isn't. But that's just my opinion. Obviously, Slashdot Mods don't know humor when it kicks them in the face ;).
(I wan't to see whether I can manage another Troll rating *g*)
It's too bad that aerodynamics... (Score:3, Informative)
...don't favor angry-faced cars. Alas, anything that has low drag is going to end up looking more or less like a Prius. (Those little longitudinal wrinkles on the roof are not styling, by the way).
The stylists need to get busy on color schemes that suggest angry red faces, or trompe l'oeil designs that make the car look a different shape than it is.Maybe they can design a bunch of terrifying-looking spikes that poke out from the front, but are made of marshmallow and retract harmlessly into pockets on impact.
Re:What about a flex-faced car? (Score:1, Informative)
Take a look at BMW's GINA if you want that.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=kTYiEkQYhWY
Re:As a non-driver (Score:3, Informative)
Multi-Sound Horns (Score:1, Informative)
Multi-Sound Horns:
http://www.jcwhitney.com/Multi-Sound-Horns/600002600.jcw [jcwhitney.com]
Re:In Germany (Score:3, Informative)
Going fast on the average Autobahn is a nice theory, but in practice most of them are old two-laners (two in each direction), in disrepair, and dominated by literally miles of semi-trucks in the right lane that have no problem pulling into the left lane to pass another truck doing half a klick slower than they are. Now throw in construction delays every few miles where you get to drive on the shoulder for awhile or encounter a ten mile slowdown because someone is harvesting white aspargus in a field beside the road and everyone has to slow down to look.
Sure, driving on the A4 past Frankfurt is a joy because the road is modern, wide, and multi-laned, but by far the majority of the fabled Authobahns are more like Autotopia in Disneyland. Your bad-ass BMW 700 series is stuck in traffic like every other tiny SmartCar and tacky Opel in sight.