How come all the fuel-efficient cars (more than 50 mpg ie: US gallons) have to look so f*cking ugly?
2007-02-04 08:10:48 · 7 answers · asked by sdaoh 2 in Cars & Transportation ➔ Car Makes ➔ Other - Car Makes
The designers live in their own worlds and never bothered to ask the consumer what they like. These hybrids barely have a better coefficient of drag than a standard fuel car anyway (Cd of Toyota prius - .26. Cd of Lexus ls - .26. just examples don't get carried away) and they handle like garbage, so i don't get the looks either. Prudes drive these cars anyway, buy a hummer just to teach them a lesson, lol.
But seriously, it's probably a compromise between functionality and reliability because these cars are expensive to build and ridiculously expensive to repair, so they're small, ugly, made of tin foil to reduce weight and slice through the air to increase mileage all while keeping the sticker below heart attack levels (would you buy an $80k car that ran on tap water? how could you market that and hope to break even?).
2007-02-06 13:49:42 · answer #1 · answered by MrCead 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
While appearance is all opinion and will vary by the person, I believe a lot of the small cars and fuel-efficient cars are rounded and sometimes ugly because the smoother body shapes give the car a lower drag coefficient. I know cars like the second generation Toyota Prius and the Honda Insight were designed with that in mind. The Insight has covers over the rear wheels to help lessen the drag coefficient (wind resistance), and the profile/shape of the Prius was also done for a similar reason. The lesser the drag coefficient, the easier it moves through the wind, and the better mileage it gets.
Also, some more fuel efficient cars might be made with lighter materials or have simpler designs to lessen the weight, also helping the mileage. The lighter the vehicle, the less the engine has to pull, and the better the mileage.
2007-02-04 08:55:01 · answer #2 · answered by pingiechan 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A good con regarding fuel efficient vehicles is that they still use gasoline! That isn't really necessary anymore. I have two cars that run on natural gas (methane), which is a great alternative fuel. It only costs 87 cents a gallon here in Utah, and it's much cleaner for the environment, too (way cleaner than a Prius). As long as we continue to use oil as a fuel source, we will be harming our own economy by sending our money to the Middle East. Natural gas is plentiful in the USA, so our money would be staying in our own economy if we all switched to natural gas vehicles. So, although fuel efficient cars are nice, natural gas ones are way better!
2016-05-24 05:14:30 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because aesthetics have to take a backseat to aerodynamics. Most cars in general have *terrible* aerodynamics. The ideal shape for best aerodynamics would be a teardrop shape similar to an aircraft fuselage.
2007-02-05 02:48:11 · answer #4 · answered by lihtan 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There are a lot of butt ugly large gas hogs out there as well, what's so ugly about the Sentra, Civic, VW Golf, Matrix, etc....
2007-02-05 00:20:18 · answer #5 · answered by wheeler 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
the Corvette gets 28 miles per gallon
and looks pretty damn good
2007-02-06 16:33:49 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
There small and realy unattractive.
2007-02-04 08:52:03 · answer #7 · answered by ? 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋