very good car.

rented one in france, my father went 190/200 kmh smoothly.

hideous

My cousin in Paris loves his. He also could not give a fark about what others think.

Yup, it's awful looking IMHO. The rear-side curved windows make it look it was intended to be a two seater, but they added the back seat so they had to straighten the roof line to make headroom.

Yep my dad had one for a few days when his car was in service, smooth drive. That's the day I fell in love with it. But I admit you must like the style of this car.

Oh yeah ASIMO, you see A LOT of these cars in Paris, it's a bit of a snobby must have car like the Mini over there.

before all the north americans tell you it's ugly, just remember we have totally different cars here because in most cases we have very different driving conditions and roads...so take the opinion with that in mind.
I think it's much nicer (in terms of looks) than a lot of similar sized american cars which lack imagination...
not my favourite tho.

How useful is the rear bulge? Why couldn't they simply have made the back flat or angled and given you that much more storage space?

Sure, they're trying to give it some identity and a unique rear-quarter look, but does it seems like it could have been so much more.

Not a big fan; however, I don't like any car that much....

I liked it from the start, though I couldn't say why. For some reason, the design works really well in real life.

As for North American opinions, they gave the world the PT Cruiser, which is *truly* hideous. Though that is still only second to the unfathomably detestable Fiat Multipla:





-s*

Well it isn't (useful) and it offers a bad view. It's just style. Just like the BMW 3 Touring and Alfa Romeo 156 Sportwagon, style but not real stationwagons at all. The Renault Vel Satis has the same (and the now discontinued Avantime)

Vel Satis:


My dad exchanged his BMW 7-series for the Vel Satis. This car is a much much better ride.

*pukes*

Sir, you forget the Pontiac Aztek.

Far uglier than the PT Cruiser, and I believe a cousin of the Multipla.


It comes with it's own tent as an option.

I have no idea if anybody ever *tried* to sell it in Europe, but I'll bet it would have been *laughed* right back across the ocean.

Good god, that's vile.

-s*

Toyota Echo:



Now that's fugly...

It's not the best looking car on the planet, but if it's fun to drive, that's what really counts.

By the way, how much does it cost? Used or new?

Looks like a hunchback car

Looks worse

They range from around 14000 euros to a whoppin 28000 euros . The one I want costs around 18000 euros. New. You don't find them all that much used.

Something went wrong with the back of that car...

I disagree.

Did they model that one on the effect one would get if they tried to squeeze a fat ass in to a pair of trousers that were too small for them?

Pictures don't do it justice. You have to see it a few times to appreciate it I think.
Anyway, kids these days! I was happy to get my mom's old Renault 5.

(mine was green!)
Mm.

I did not know that. But then again I do not perceive the anti-SUV Mini as being symbolic of snobbery at all, not anymore than I perceive the Mac as being a snobby choice in computing.

Oh no, here were I live the mini is really seen as quite a snobby car because it's outragiously expensive for what it is.

And The Milkman The R5 rules

Is "getting in touch with your feminine side" a required module in car design school these days or something?

Whatever happened to proper guys' cars like the Bandit's Trans-Am?

Why is everything so gay??

Stupid new-fangled car designers. Send 'em all back to Ikea where they belong.

WTF? Have you tried driving a PT Cruiser? That is one beautiful car! And the one of the few to come with a decent built in stereo.

Good looking in Europe..

Well, you can't really argue over design matters - there's Wagenfeld and there's Colani - whatever floats your boat (I hate the PT Cruiser, but since I'm driving a "controversial" car myself I get where you're coming from). But driving?? I had one as a rental for two days - yu-uck! Cheap plastics to the max on the inside and the engine didn't pull the lunchmeat off my sandwich. If you like the design, that's one thing but that car is definitely not the final word in terms of "driving experience".

If you ever come to this side of the pond, you're a welcome guest.