this post was submitted on 09 Jun 2026
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What objectively ugly car design do you secretly like, and why? (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 day ago by RightHandOfIkaros@lemmy.world to c/cars@lemmy.world
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It doesn't have to be a real production car, it can also be a concept.

For me, it has to be the 1997 Dodge Copperhead. This ugly chungus just speaks to me and I don't know why. It is hideous, Pontiac Aztek levels of ugly, but I kinda wish Dodge actually sold it. It wasn't going to be gutless, sharing much with the Viper, but it also wasn't going to have the same price of the Viper (Viper at the time was ~$75k, this baby would have been ~$30k). For the price, a little ugly isn't that big of a deal for a similar powertrain. Surely a facelift kit could help it out some.

Just thought a discussion like this could be fun. What cars are the same for you?

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[–] chronicledmonocle@lemmy.world 2 points 5 hours ago

I love the original Scion xB. It looks like a toaster oven on wheels, but also gets 40+ MPG, defying the laws of physics and God himself. It should have the aerodynamics of a brick, but yet can still pull this off somehow.

[–] UpperBroccoli@feddit.org 4 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

BMW Isetta, the car that saved BMW. It is a weird little car with only one door that opens to the front. As I child, I actually had the great fortune of sitting in one of those for a few minutes. I think the design is from Italy and BMW licensed it to quickly be able to produce a cheap car after WW2.

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 3 points 6 hours ago

Italian engineers figured out how to make cheap transportation from old war airplane parts. That's how the Vespa and Lambretta scooters were born.

[–] rekabis@lemmy.ca 2 points 11 hours ago

Type 2 VW Jetta. Boxy, angular, but so quintessentially Germanic in design. Much like their language, it is like an engineered concrete retaining block of undeniably overwhelming presence dropped onto your head from a great height. And I love it. Especially the 1995/1996 Carat, which came with all the bells and whistles including AC and power windows.

[–] bigbangdangler@reddthat.com 18 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Daihatsu Midget II.

A Japanese kei-truck. It's ugly but oh-so-functional. I like function over form.

[–] JigglySackles@lemmy.world 4 points 19 hours ago

I love that!

[–] RightHandOfIkaros@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago (3 children)

That is definitely small... it has only got one seat! Functional, but with only one seat I would question its practicality.

[–] tiramichu@sh.itjust.works 6 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago) (1 children)

Practical depends on who you are, right? :)

Imagine you work as a saké distributor in Tokyo, living out of a little shop right on the streetfront with your home as an apartment above.

Your morning is spent shuttling bottles between your shop and little mom-and-pop restaurants in the surrounding neighbourhoods.

You have to carry heavy loads while navigating narrow streets full of pedestrians and bicycles, and park for 10 minutes at a time in places where there is nowhere proper to park - all while not blocking the street.

When you get home in the afternoon the only place you can put your truck is the alleyway between your shop and the neighbour Ryousuke's place, who runs the florist next door. The alleyway is only 6 feet wide, but that's no problem because your truck is only 4-foot-three.

Of course, back in the '70s you used to do all this with a little Honda Super-Cub motorbike! You laugh to yourself remembering how comically high you stacked those crates of bottles lashed together with rope on your pannier rack. But you're not as young as you used to be, and after that accident in '98 your wife made you swear never to get on a bike again. You don't argue with your wife, because she's always right.

Anyway - just as well you have your trusty Daihatsu Midget II, the most practical truck you could imagine.

[–] Geobloke@aussie.zone 2 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

This has strong ugly ink vibes

[–] tiramichu@sh.itjust.works 2 points 8 hours ago

What is that? :)

I searched but only found stuff about various tattoo studios

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca -2 points 6 hours ago

Count how many vehicles are on roads with only one driver on board.

[–] bigbangdangler@reddthat.com 3 points 1 day ago

It's practical for us hermits, lol

[–] JigglySackles@lemmy.world 2 points 19 hours ago

I like so many of the ugly and oddball cars. I'm not talking like "ugly sedan" stuff, like anything that's just strange, odd or one-off, or kooky models, or things that tanked or nearly tanked a company. Big flops and divisive designs. I love the look of so many vehicles like that. I also realize why many of them don't work out so my enjoyment of bad taste is at least a cognizant thing.

[–] Epzillon@lemmy.world 23 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I love the Isuzu Mysterious Utility Wizard.

First off, amazing name, who the fuck named this? Secondly, the design is amazing. So so compact. It looks stupidly goofy and I love it. Just like someone took the design of a regular pickup truck, opened it in blender and scaled one axis. Marvellous. I also have no idea what the use case of it would be since its small which makes it even better ❤️

[–] porcelainpitcher@lemmy.today 2 points 18 hours ago

This car is amazing.

[–] JigglySackles@lemmy.world 2 points 19 hours ago

It's like a rodeo front with a jeep back. Lol I love it.

[–] TaeKwonDoh@lemmy.world 19 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Some folks think the Subaru Brat is ugly but I kinda dig it

[–] JackFrostNCola@aussie.zone 1 points 4 hours ago

If you look at the history of Australian Utes you will find this design direction was quite popular locally with Ford & Holden utes.

[–] JigglySackles@lemmy.world 2 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

I grew up with a Brat! It was beat to hell and we took it everywhere. We went on tank trails and through shallow rivers and places we had no right being. I loved that thing so much. Would love to get one and fix it up.

[–] RudeDuner@lemmy.world 3 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

Have I got the video for you:

https://youtu.be/daYgg2YSA2g?is=O3NcGqbTgVRd41I3

[–] JigglySackles@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago

YES! Love that Pastrana was insistent on the Brat for this Gymkhana.

RIP Ken Block. I think Pastrana is a worthy successor to him for the gymkhana series.

[–] FudgyMcTubbs@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

The Plymouth Prowler was stupid, fugly, but kinda awesome.

[–] kibblebits@quokk.au 61 points 1 day ago (16 children)

Pontiac Trans Sport (1990)

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 1 points 6 hours ago

This was the Dustbuster collaboration.

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[–] fpslem@lemmy.world 40 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I always liked the AMC Gremlin, my friend had one in high school and it was fun-ugly. 2444

[–] JigglySackles@lemmy.world 2 points 19 hours ago

Love those little guys. Also love that it was called a gremlin. I want a motorcycle called a goblin now and an SUV called a troll.

[–] empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com 36 points 1 day ago (8 children)

Isuzu vehicross. It's got stretched proportions in all the wrong places, and yet, I dig the weirdness.

[–] JigglySackles@lemmy.world 2 points 19 hours ago

It looks so bouncy lol, I love it.

[–] lka1988@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I remember when these things came out! Man, that was a weird moment... The hilarious part is that it's literally just a Rodeo under the skin; the mechanicals are identical.

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[–] ExtremeDullard@piefed.social 30 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (7 children)

The Kalashnikov CV-1. I would have bought one of those in a heartbeat if it hadn't been a concept car.

Kalashnikov CV-1

[–] M137@lemmy.today 1 points 9 hours ago

That's not objectively ugly at all, it's very nice.

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