25 Terrible Design Elements of Great Cars

Even great cars often have that one thing that inspires a firm face-palm. Something as beautiful and timeless as a Maserati Quattroporte Sport GT S has a few buttons on the inside that feel like they were ripped right out of a Fiat Punto. It doesn't stop us from singing said car's praises, but it does make us long for a fix.

Yup, if we were in charge, these are the things we would change post haste on cars that we absolutely adore. These are 25 Terrible Design Elements of Great Cars.

Car: Jaguar XJ

The Jaguar XJ looks stately, sleek, and sexy in black, but it can look pretty bad in just about any other color. Why ruin that perfect roofline and every color that isn't black? Why can't the company even ransom body color C-pillars to customers for $485 like Porsche does?

Seriously, though, the brown is the worst.

Car: Porsche Panamera

This half-assed compromise between a proper hatch, a sedan body style, and a coupe roofline ended up just looking like a severe case of kyphosis. The Sport Turismo concept that was unveiled last year just went all the way to the wagon side, and it was brilliant.

Car: Isuzu VehiCROSS

If you remember Isuzu at all, it's probably because of the VehiCROSS, which was a great race-inspired off-roader with some wins at Dakar to back it up. It was also afflicted with way too much plastic that made it look more like a Power Wheel than a real car.

Car: Ferrari FF

We love that Ferrari was ballsy enough to make an AWD hatchback, and that it looks dead sexy, but why does it have to be wearing that grin that says "I'm going to eat your family."

Car: Mercedes E-Class

You know how bad all of that fake wood paneling from a few decades ago looks now? These strings of LEDs are our decade's version of that.

Car: Ferrari F12

Ever since Jalopnik pointed out the fact that the Ferrari F12 has a uterus on its butt, we haven't been able to see anything else. Perhaps if one buys a 458 and parks it with an F12, a Dino 246 GT will come out.

Car: Shelby Cobra

I always used to dream of having a Shelby Cobra, until I discovered that, as a person who has legs, does not represent the lollipop guild, and did not undergo the outdated and disgusting practice of food binding, I simply don't fit.

Car: C6 Chevrolet Corvette

It might be some of the best performance bang-for-buck on the market, and the exterior might be nice and sleek, but the interior feels like a '99 Hyundai with a premium trim package, and at an MSRP of around $50,000, it's just unacceptable.

Car: Scion FR-S

Seriously, did Toyota find all of this crap up in the back of the attic. Everything here looks like a Toyota from the '90s, rather than the most hotly anticipated car of recent years.

Car: BMW 6-Series

The infamous "Bangle Bustle" or "Bangle Butt," as seen here, ruins the look of an otherwise attractive and capable car. It looks like it got one of those shady, back-alley booty injections.

Car: Pagani Huayra

There's no denying that the Huayra is one of the greatest cars ever made, but we're not really sure what's going on with that grille that looks like a giant grenadier.

Car: Hawkeye Subaru WRX STI

We know we're going to get a lot of hate for this one, but if your car has two spoilers you look like an asshat to 99% of the population. There are much, much more elegant ways to develop downforce.

Car: Porsche 911

The Porsche 911 is a brilliant car. It's fast, it handles amazingly well, and it's still relatively comfortable. This is, however, in spite of the out-dated rear-engined layout, not because of it.

Car: Nissan GT-R

The GT-R is nothing short of monstrously capable. It's an incredible sports car that can absolutely dominate many cars that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars more, but the styling sure is uninspired. We think it went down like this:

Boss: "Draw a car!"
Designer: "What kind?"
Boss: "GENERIC!'
Designer: "Okay."
Boss: "Now add vents and a spoiler!"

Car: Alfa Romeo 4C

Why did Alfa have to change the completely fine headlights from the perfect concept? While the bug eyes are a bit off-putting, what really ruins them is how cheap the material looks. If they were black brushed aluminum they might actually work.

All we know is that someone is going to make a pretty penny selling aftermarket light kits for this car.

Car: Hyundai Veloster

The Veloster might look great, but don't you dare sit in the back without ducking and covering. Plenty of people have gotten a nasty hit from that stylishly sloped glass.

Car: Fisker Karma

We've covered this before, but it bears repeating; the Fisker Karma's grille looks way too much like 19th century facial hair.

Car: Series III Jaguar E-Type

It's so sad that '70s crash regulations forced Jaguar to put this incredibly ugly bumper on what might be the most beautiful car ever made.

Car: Mini Cooper

Why isn't the speedometer in front of the driver? Why is it the size of a dinner plate? Why does it have a radio inside of it? There's no good answer for any of these questions, but at least we've heard that the next Mini will put the speedo in a place that makes some sense.

Car: 1st Gen Dodge Viper

The side mounted exhaust on the Viper might have looked cool and saved weight, but it also burned the calves of just about everyody who ever tried to get out of one ... not cool.

Car: Fiat 500

Never has a car needed a telescoping steering wheel quite so much. If you like to sit leaned forward while driving, you'll love this car, but if you're a normal human, you'l get fed up with it after a while.

Car: Ferrari 250

Ferrari likes to brag that the doors of 250s are usually different lengths, because the panels were all hand-made. This doesn't say "quality" to us, it says "too lazy to measure properly."

Car: 2nd Gen Chevrolet Camaro

The first Camaro was beautifully simple, but it was replaced with this overdone, weirdly pointy, and googly eyed face. The look was modeled after the European style of the times, but we wish it would have stayed a little more American.

Car: Honda CRX

There are four reasons you never see a 1st generation CRX Si that doesn't ride on aftermarket wheels, and they are these four hideous stock wheels.

Car: SSC Tuatara

Not only do these big old dangly-bits ruin the look of the car from the rear, making it look less like a futuristic world record holder and more like a well endowed male squirrel, but it gets worse. As my wife pointed out, "it has balls and it's called 'Twat?'"