Sunday, March 29, 2015

10 Best and Worst Looking Automotive Grilles

The "face" of an automobile is its grille. With the advent of hybrid, all-electric and other vehicles that have minimal reliance on water-cooled engines, one would think that grilles might be on the way out. Then, one would think wrong.

BAD: THE AUDI A8
Audi deserves special ridicule not only for this example of IGS (Immense Grille Syndrome), but also for actually starting the ginormous grille trend in 2005. Why not just use a mini-fridge as your grille, Audi?

WORSE: THE LEXUS RC
Really, Lexus? You really need to make the entire front end an intricate mesh of wires certain to suffer catastrophic damage if a loaded shopping cart hits it with some momentum?

WORSER: THE TOYOTA CAMRY
When one grille isn't enough, try two!

WORST: THE LINCOLN MKX
Is that really a grille? Or did someone misplace their cheese grater?

WORSTEST: THE FIAT 500
At the opposite end of the spectrum, a minimalistic grille can also take it too far. While it's easy to pick on the 500 (an abysmal vehicle that I had the misfortune to accidentally rent for a week), its grille deserves special scorn. It combines the class of a Pez dispenser with a certain -- je ne sais quoi -- beauty that reminds one of a caulk or duct tape finish.

GOOD: THE FORD TAURUS
Yes, it was ripped off directly from the Aston Martin, but -- hey -- why not borrow from the best?

BETTER: THE MERCEDES E300
Here's how it's done. Try simple and clean. Then integrate the iconic logo. It doesn't get much better than this.

BETTERER: THE INFINITI Q50
Here's how a grille should be incorporated: lace it into the design of the vehicle as opposed to making it an afterthought.

BEST: THE CHEVROLET CAMARO
It just fits. The modern Camaro, which pays homage to the original, just does it right.

BESTEST: THE FERRARI 458
You want minimalistic? Here's minimalistic.


Related:

The 10 Cars With the Most Obnoxious Drivers

The 10 Worst Automotive Love-Children of All-Time


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