If you love cars then what should matter most to you is how a particular model drives. The acid test should be whether, faced with the prospect of a cross-continental trip, you’d want to pick up its keys or go for something else.
But, like it or not, how a car looks is integral to the whole experience as well. Sure, it shouldn’t matter but it does. And that’s especially true nowadays when so many cars are so accomplished from a technical persepctive. Engineering in isolation is no longer enough.
Which is why we have to ask: what are the designers at Porsche and BMW smoking?
We pondered it long and hard and we can’t figure out which is the biggest dog on the road right now? The vulgar, out-of-proportion, Porsche Panamera – with its disconcerting bonnet, heavy flanks and huge, ungainly posterior? Or perhaps the BMW 5 Series Gran Turismo which simply defies description in its ugliness.
What do you think? Tell us by using the poll below.
The Prodigal Fool
Straight-Six
Patito
Lady B
Straight-Six
28 October 2009
Shame the poll doesn’t have an option to vote for both!
The Panamera is an affront to Porsche enthusiasts like us (as was the Cayenne and, to a lessser extent, the Cayman) and indicates that there is no real design talent in-house. The 911 simply gets nips and tucks year after year, with none of the surgery beating the 993 model. But we do salute the latest generation Boxster that personifies the pinnacle of design for a mid-engined roadster and is a genuine improvement over its predecessor.
As for the 5 series GT. Well, um, pass us the sickness bag please…