Fisker Karma

I don't have anything against the Fisker Karma.  Ignoring the fact that it gets mediocre mileage for an "electric" car, and that it weighs almost as much as an Escalade. It's a beautiful sedan.  However, it felt a bit familiar when I first saw it.  Only when leafing through an old magazine did I realize why - it shares some lines with the 1991 Chrysler 300 Concept car, that was effectively a Chrysler branded 4 door Dodge Viper.

You'll note in the above paragraph I stated that it's a beautiful sedan.   There's a reason I clarified.  The Fisker Karma Surf concept that was unveiled at the 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show wasn't exactly a home run.  The sleek lines of the sedan don't exactly translate to wagon form all that well.  The tapered cabin ends in a very narrow backlight that ends up looking squished, as do the windows aft of the rear doors.  This is all capped off with the world's most unnecessarily over-styled hatchback.  I cleaned it up a bit in Photoshop below - it's surprising how much better it looks.

Civic Fugliness Crosses the Ocean

I was a huge fan of the last generation European Civic. It was odd, but in a funky spaceship kind of way. Like it was sent from the future. The 2012 European Honda Civic takes a page from the 2012 North American Honda Civic, in that it's an evolution of the last generation more than a complete reboot. Although in my eyes, it's a bit of a de-evolution.

Where the previous generation was a sleek little space pod, the new one looks like it melted a bit on re-entry. The chiseled lines are now smoother and more organic, but unfortunately now it looks more like a crouching frog than something from outer space.  The taillights have also move vertically, which makes it look a bit tall and narrow when viewed from the rear.  It's almost as if Honda took the worst part of the CRZ and the Hyundai Veloster and called it a day...