A Trend That Thankfully Never Took Off

Clear headlights are one of those things that make you wonder what took so long. Immediately a huge style improvement even with standard halogen bulbs, the advent of projector and now LED lighting elements has given us headlights as critical styling elements. While clear lenses have done wonders upfront they have made only a minor impact at the back. However there was a time when clear and chrome tail lights were all the rage and it seemed like they would spread to every make and model following the likes of the Lexus RX, Nissan Altima and the Toyota Prius. Thankfully, the shock value soon wore off and only a few other manufacturers joined the clear and chrome party and the latest iterations of the RX, Altima and the Prius have toned down their designs and we are all better off.

Do you have any other trends that you are thankful they never took off?
Read Article

TheSteve - 6/20/2014 8:44:23 AM

-3 Boost

Audi's overly-stylized, weird-looking LED headlights. Some people are doing similar weird stuff, but thankfully, it hasn't caught on.

Car4Life - 6/20/2014 11:15:22 AM

-1 Boost

Unfortunately that is Audi's attempt to make up for otherwise dull, lackluster designs with the exception of the A7 ofcourse

cidflekken - 6/21/2014 2:02:58 AM

0 Boost

Yep, gotta agree regarding Audi's headlights.

nguyenvuminh - 6/20/2014 10:01:27 AM

+1 Boost

The clear lens were popular for a while but I agree with you and in my opinion, thankfully it didn't last. I also agree with TheSteve, those stylized LED of Audi is overdone on a "conservative" look of Audis and I do see more mfrs doing them but I hope it's not a permanent thing. The one trend that I hope loses steam quickly is that matt-paint job. I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder but I have never been impressed by that in picture and it's even worse looking in real life.

jeffy210 - 6/20/2014 10:05:15 AM

+3 Boost

Curious as to which Audi you're talking about? I have a 2013 A5 and everyone comments on how they like the LEDs and give it a much more aggressive look. The face-lifted version though are LED bars like the R8, not the individual dots (which I wasn't a fan of)

jeffgall - 6/20/2014 6:29:36 PM

+2 Boost

Agree with Jeffy. I am on my 2nd A4 with the individual pearl LEDs. I love them and feel the give the car an aggressive, yet refined style. Not as much a fan of the LED tube treatment on the current A4/A5. Other manufactures are trying to replicate with poor success. Honda and GMC LEDs look cheap and blurred in comparison. Mercedes looks like an after thought trying to keep up with the trend. Lexus is trying to copy and either has a boring straight line or that rediculous nike swoosh.

MattDarringer - 6/20/2014 10:23:33 AM

+2 Boost

The clear chrome tail lights were an ugly trend started by import tuner boys on their ricer cars that mainstream manufacturers picked up on. THE SAME is true for the LED styled headlights that are becoming more gaudy and grotesque by the minute. Why does the industry pay so much attention to morons with more balls than brains who drop their cars to the ground, festoon them with ugly plastic body kits from JC Whitney, install a spoiler on top of a spoiler on top of a spoiler, throw in NOS all in with the hope of finding a girl to knock up? It's fun to take the Sagaris to the drag strip and kill one ricer boy after another.

jeffgall - 6/20/2014 6:31:22 PM

+2 Boost

A trend I really dislike is the headlight indentation (not sure how to better describe it) on Nissans (Maxima, Z) and Prius.

MrEE - 6/20/2014 7:17:37 PM

0 Boost

I really like the RX and Prius clear taillights that hide the on state colors, not so much the older Altima ones pictured. The only issue for the Prius is they didn't look great with dark body colors. Outstanding with silver.

40flash - 6/23/2014 11:09:38 PM

+1 Boost

Matt --- Have you considered switching to decaf? lol I didn't know what a Sagaris was so I googled it. Pretty nice ride, Matt. Always liked TVRs.

As for designs I lament, I'm still in morning over the popularity of FWD.