Isn’t it lovely the way the light catches the joint between wing and nose cone, just above the headlamp, and the playfully irregular bonnet to wing shut line? Just masterful attention to detail. Bravo!
This night time lighting has certainly exposed the flawed nose design, but I have come to a surprising conclusion.
Compared to its deadly rivals Audi and BMW, Mercedes now has the most cohesively design treatment and best looking range of cars on sale. Of course the ‘sensual purity’ nonsense is grating, but – somehow or other – they have ended up with a set of forms that make sense and set their cars apart.
Audi is disappearing into an increasingly geometric dead end, while BMW’s designers have lost the plot.
I wouldn’t go as far as claiming that Mercedes created ‘a set of forms that make sense and set their cars apart’, for some of the shutlines and graphics remain diabolical (not to mention that the new A-class literally looks like a Hyundai i30), but compared to Audi & BMW, they clearly are the least offensive of the bunch right now.
Mind you, I expect that to change. The next S-class has already joined the Battle Of The Grille Fronts, if rumours are to be believed…
Personally, I find any attempt to pass a shutline wherever there’s
a complex shape “going on”, to be doomed. It will ‘catch you out’ some evening, sooner or later, when lighting plays
a crucial part.
This car/photo is a typical example.
In the past, you couldn’t see a MB with such styling compromises.
This one can get away with it, though, as it literally screams
“pay the price of beauty” in your face, at the first forehead
bump on entering its rear seats. On such passionately
conceived cars, one can forgive many such impurities.
Some other recent MB’s styling efforts, are somewhat
more worrying.
Their overall current styling flavour, however, still has
that special something, which cannot be said
for many others.
I’d take a good look at some particular cars, not their
general direction. Their general styling direction, IMO,
is very suitable to what should a 2020 styled car represent.
The complex surfaces look acceptable from a distance and then as you get closer you see the shutlines wandering across the metal. While every design is a compromise, some compromises are worse than others.
“Oh yes, you will be mine…”
Apologies all, shutlines aside, I am a first generation CLS owner, and this third iteration really warms my loins!!
Driven To Write 
‘Make it look like a Porsche Macan saloon, just without any of the finesse!’
Isn’t it lovely the way the light catches the joint between wing and nose cone, just above the headlamp, and the playfully irregular bonnet to wing shut line? Just masterful attention to detail. Bravo!
‘Das Beste oder nichts.’
This night time lighting has certainly exposed the flawed nose design, but I have come to a surprising conclusion.
Compared to its deadly rivals Audi and BMW, Mercedes now has the most cohesively design treatment and best looking range of cars on sale. Of course the ‘sensual purity’ nonsense is grating, but – somehow or other – they have ended up with a set of forms that make sense and set their cars apart.
Audi is disappearing into an increasingly geometric dead end, while BMW’s designers have lost the plot.
I wouldn’t go as far as claiming that Mercedes created ‘a set of forms that make sense and set their cars apart’, for some of the shutlines and graphics remain diabolical (not to mention that the new A-class literally looks like a Hyundai i30), but compared to Audi & BMW, they clearly are the least offensive of the bunch right now.
Mind you, I expect that to change. The next S-class has already joined the Battle Of The Grille Fronts, if rumours are to be believed…
Personally, I find any attempt to pass a shutline wherever there’s
a complex shape “going on”, to be doomed. It will ‘catch you out’ some evening, sooner or later, when lighting plays
a crucial part.
This car/photo is a typical example.
In the past, you couldn’t see a MB with such styling compromises.
This one can get away with it, though, as it literally screams
“pay the price of beauty” in your face, at the first forehead
bump on entering its rear seats. On such passionately
conceived cars, one can forgive many such impurities.
Some other recent MB’s styling efforts, are somewhat
more worrying.
Their overall current styling flavour, however, still has
that special something, which cannot be said
for many others.
I’d take a good look at some particular cars, not their
general direction. Their general styling direction, IMO,
is very suitable to what should a 2020 styled car represent.
The complex surfaces look acceptable from a distance and then as you get closer you see the shutlines wandering across the metal. While every design is a compromise, some compromises are worse than others.
“Oh yes, you will be mine…”
Apologies all, shutlines aside, I am a first generation CLS owner, and this third iteration really warms my loins!!