Ugly new A4

[Matt Suffern]

Agreed.  As written on the NCAudi boards:

"There isn't a cohesive sense about the styling. It's almost as if whoever was in charge of designing the nose of the car didn't really compare notes with 
whoever designed the sides and back. I agree with the comment made that it's a very Japanese look. Something that always made Audis stand out in 
spite of their lack of external ornamentation was the emphasis on proportion over decoration. As an industrial designer that's something I always greatly 
admired about them. With the B7, I think they're losing that emphasis. 

"The silver lining is that Audi's styling seems to come around again every couple of model cycles, so perhaps the B8 will return to the good old Audi 
styling trademarks like stance, class, and taste.

"As far as modern (A4-on) Audi styling is concerned, the B5s were the most iconic of the whole B-series lineage (with the exception of the UrQ, which 
doesn't really count). The B6's styling built on the foundations the B5 established as far as proportion and distribution of visual masses. At that point Audi 
still hadn't strayed into the realm of decoration over proportion: If you look at the B6's headlights, or grille, or taillights, they're not terribly flashy in and of 
themselves--but they serve the cohesive look of the car, emphasizing the overall lines. This is what makes (made? *sigh*) Audis so aggresive-looking 
and yet understated. There was something about them that just looked badass but it wasn't an easy-to-pinpoint detail like a headlight or a grille. It was 
the proportions, something the majority of the car-buying public doesn't notice on a conscious level--witness the popularity of older Pontiacs, or wings 
and mufflers with the ricer crowd. People tend to go for tarted-up crap like that because the details make it look flashy, totally ignoring the fact that the 
proportions scream "economy car," and always will, no matter what they put on the outside. 

"And sadly, at least with the B7, it looks like Audi's given in and gone the 'decoration' route."  :(

Matt
Chapel Hill, NC
'86 4kq
'72 240Z
'88 1JZ Supra (sold!)