Cars in the modern age are reasonably well-designed. Despite some characteristics like massive grilles, over-styling, and fake exhaust tips, many contemporary vehicles look better than cars did just 15 years ago. There was a period in the early 2000s where many car manufacturers tried going entirely out of conventional styling cues and experimenting.
Granted, it’s not necessarily wrong to have deviant styling. However, for the vast majority of people, perception and image are essential when owning a car. Some of these cars are quite good at their intended and specific purpose, but they come with a bit of a stigma. Sometimes this can add value to it. Other times it makes the car almost unsellable.
10 Isuzu VehiCross
The Isuzu VehiCross was one of the weirdest off-road trucks ever designed, which is shocking because many others are on the same level, like the Toyota FJ Cruiser.
The VehiCross has a disproportionate C-pillar that has the “VehiCross” logo, the strange horns on the headlights, and the general shapes include oddly rounded features. Even in the interior, certain trims have red and black, two-tone leather seats. All of these peculiar design characteristics are just the tip of the iceberg.
9 Chevrolet HHR
GM in the mid-2000s. The HHR is a forgotten car among a strange era where many vehicles are styled unusually. Although GM characterizes it as a crossover, it’s more a hatchback because of the reduced ground clearance.
It has strange styling cures like large fender flares, distinctive circular taillights, and low-slung profile. The shape of the exterior features resembles retro characteristics, like the headlights and taillights. The HHR even came as a panel van.
8 Ford Thunderbird
The Ford Thunderbird is a retro-modern design and is based on earlier generations of the Thunderbird. While it’s not at all wrong to make a tribute car, mixing the cues of the 1955 Thunderbird with the Ford DEW platform at the time led to a different result.
The grille up front certainly was uncommon at the time, along with the hood scoop on a luxury touring car, hard-top convertible design. It;s easy to see parts of the DEW platform.
7 Pontiac Aztek
The Pontiac Aztek is well-known for being the ugliest car ever made. There are so many areas to look at the car and wonder about the design choices. The two-tone design with the plastic cladding made the strange design prominent, with the split on the front end.
There is a random mix of round and boxy features that looks visually uneven. The rear hatch looks hideous on any vehicle, and the overall appearance to seem more rugged simply failed.
6 Buick Rendezvous
It may seem redundant to include the Buick Rendezvous on the same list as the Aztek since they share the same platform. However, it is difficult to overstate how ugly this platform was.
The rear end has windows that line up with the taillights, and the curvatures of the taillights line up with the windows as well. The D pillar is almost blended into the rear end to make the taillights line up with the rear window. Like the Aztek, the back end looks hideous.
5 Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet
SUV convertibles work well for off-road vehicles like the Jeep Wrangler and Land Rover Defender. However, crossover convertibles are not a great idea. The Murano was a relatively simple-looking SUV, and Nissan made the Murano into a coupe design. It looks odd and reduces practicality in a regular car.
The top-down Murano does not quite look right, in addition to shockingly impractical use. The doors and window lines are quite high, which does not fit on a crossover.
4 Nissan Quest
Most minivans are not all that attractive. However, the first generation of the Nissan Quest was a uniquely styled minivan and looked pretty decent. Like the Maxima of the time, it had some aggressive touches somewhat. The second-generation ruined the positive attributes of the first-generation.
The rear end and body-lines of the car are extremely out of place. Typically, a vehicle with rounded features looks a bit awkward, but the boxy back end does not fit the rest of the car.
3 Subaru Baja
The Subaru Baja is a famously weird looking truck. Truck is also a loose classification for the Baja as it is more of a Subaru Outback with a bed. Many believe that a truck has to be a body-on-frame vehicle with a practical purpose, like towing or off-roading.
Because of the existing Outback platform that inspires familiarity, the bed simply doesn’t fit on the design. The two-tone paint to make it seem more rugged doesn’t make much sense when the ground clearance and stance seem car-like.
2 Chevrolet Lumina APV
Many do not know about the Lumina because of its age. But looking at it even at an instance, it is effortless to see the dustbuster vacuum outline on it. The windshield is massive and looks very unusual with the dramatic slope.
The B pillar is also the only pillar that is white, that just seems very odd. These strange characteristics are on a regular Chevrolet minivan, which just makes them more prominent.
1 Chevrolet SSR
The Chevrolet SSR, like the Thunderbird, is a mix of retro and modern styling. It is one of the most famous experiments from GM in the early 2000s. There are many features like the retractable hard-top, headlights, door handles, and very rounded body lines.
With the top down, the SSR looks even more unusual. On a single cab pick-up truck with very prominent fender flares, it seems like an odd mix. The SSR also comes in a variety of unique colors like purple, yellow, and aqua blue.
