I always follow the rule that you should never make a call on a new car’s looks, style and proportions until you’ve actually walked around it and seen it on the move. It’s said the camera never lies but, as a designer, I know that it’s pretty effective at camouflaging the truth.
I say this having just returned from the new Jaguar XJ preview. After poring over images of the car – the cover star of our new September 2009 issue – for the best part of a week and realising just how angle sensitive it was on paper, I was keen to see the car in the metal for the first time. And it’s completely different on the road – it’s nowhere near as angle sensitive as it looks and that rear end really works.
I could say the same for the new Scirocco. When I saw the official pictures, it looked bland and predictable, and I thought that VW had scored a home goal. But on the road it looks stunning – squat, muscular and with real presence.
It works the other way too – on the printed page the Maserati Grand Sport looks amazing, but in flesh it somehow just doesn’t add up. At CAR we always go one step further when photographing every car that appears on our pages – but don’t pass judgment on them until you’ve seen them for yourselves. Harder said than done in this instant-critique, online debate age…
>> Read more of Andy’s blogs here
>> Read more CAR blogs here