Overhang 'em high

Let me illustrate a basic principle of automotive design: Pinocchio is ugly. Don’t make cars look like Pinocchio.

I’m sad to report that the manufacturer which most flagrantly violates this rule is one of my favorites: Citroen. Their new luxury sedan, the C6, has the biggest schnozz ever seen outside a Nazi propaganda poster.



I don’t know why this look (properly called a “long front overhang”) is so offensive. Rather than spout more anthropomorphic twaddle, let us simply agree that it’s a bad idea. Here’s the C6 that should’ve been:



I can tell you this much: long front overhangs are typical of front-wheel drive, compact cars. FWD and compactness are tricks to boost fuel economy. Rather than optimize the experience of driving one’s car, they optimize the experience of PAYING for it. This is ignoble.

While some people (99% of people, more or less) don’t give a rat’s ass about the nobility of their overhang, it’s the sort of thing I obsess over. Just as you might look out your window and feel heartened to see a child planting a tree, I get the same feeling from a tidy little overhang: Nice job, kid, it’s good to see someone has his priorities straight.