Quote:
Originally Posted by hks786
^ Agreed on the XJ. I like the 7er (A8 is ok but a bit boring) but the XJ looks really special. The interior is amazing and I don't understand why I hardly see them around. It will be interesting to see how the S-class compares. So far I think it looks great. I was worried when I seen older spyshots but now I think it looks more elegant than the current gen but still maintains its imposing boss look.
I found a cool video:
|
That video helped a lot. I completely agree with your last sentence. That "boss look" that's intended for cars in this segment seems to be a result of a large focus on the car's down-the-road-graphics, mainly in the front. Everything surrounds and echos outward from that prominently set grille. You'll recognize this thing from a mile away if it's coming from behind you. I'm still not a fan of the fragile looking lower valance, but I'll reserve judgement until I see it in the metal.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Red Bread
I'm interested in seeing official pics of the rear end. It looks quite soft and unresolved in spy shots. I'm afraid MB is trying to do too much with this car to cover the traditional S-Class market plus the failed Maybach market.
|
There's a reason that lots of cars feature conservatively-styled rear ends these days. The trend lately has been to up a car's front-facing aggression and DRG while rear aggression has somewhat plateaued over the years. Ian Callum cites that we don't get much face-time viewing the fronts of cars in traffic, and most of the time we're stuck with looking at the rear of what's sitting in front of us. Because of this, a design tends to be on the reserved side so it doesn't end up looking gimmicky and worn as time goes on. Very few volume cars go against this trend.
Applying that to this S-Class's rear, we can already see that it's in-your-face up front and rather quiet in the rear. That's unfortunately commonplace for most players in this segment. We can cross our fingers and hope that the eventual AMG and AMG styling package models have a bit more visual oomph.