Concept Good. Giant Fish Design Bad.

My Nissan Leaf Forum

Help Support My Nissan Leaf Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

evguy

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 4, 2009
Messages
55
What is with car companies and designing ugly cars?

1. They obviously want to make them aerodynamic (or do they)?
- Where are the wheel covers?
- Why is the tail so flat, and the nose so pointy? It's almost a completely backwards setup of the classic raindrop aerodynamics
2. Big mouths are in
- look at the 350Z, althouth that mouth is for scooping air into the intercooler, and the look carries over to non-turbo versions
- Honda Fit, Toyota Prius, Cadillac CTS all have decent mouths on them, but for some reason they avoided the animal like eyes-for-headlights

Maybe Nissan didn't want to leave the Catfish looking Puegeot 107 on it's own at the bottom of the ocean.
107_0811nc004-450.jpg
 
The Mazda 3 is happy about the Nissan Leaf, actually the Mazda 3 is happy about pretty much anything!
 
That is one smiley car... maybe it was an attempt to make the world a happier place? :roll:

I guess this doesn't really relate to the fish look, but more to the overall look of the Nissan Leaf.
Apparently the guy that headed up the design of the Nissan Murano was also in charge of the Nissan Leaf design, and if you compare the two, you'll see that the wheel flares are very similar. So are the headlights... elongated almost the full length of the hood.

Obviously the leaf looks a little different because it's a car, and because it has a short nose because there is no long engine to be housed in it.
 
I will take function over form any day (cough...apple...cough). Besides, beauty is in the eye of the beholder--I personally like the leaf look.
 
I'm not sure why Nissan feels the need for such a big air intake. It's not like there's an internal combustion engine under there.
 
I did this one a while back:

nissan-leaf-catfish-300.jpg


Uncyclopedia has the same tack:

http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Nissan_Leaf#Nissan_Leaf
 
I like yours lots better. I couldn't find a good one so created the one above this morning from pics off the web.

I think rubbery stick-on whiskers would be a great accessory item for the Leaf. :D
 
Sea food restaurants and suppliers should order whole fleets of them and decorate appropriately ;)
 
I thought, from the side view, the front looks like a rabbit head, with the ears laid back.

Paint in a couple of upper teeth in the mouth, then add half of a giant carrot sticking out of the "mouth". Or not.
 
When I saw it in person, the "fish" look didn't really present itself. What did stand out, from certain angles, were the headlight lenses; really bulbous to the point of disfiguring. According to the rep at the event, that shape was to reduce the drag of the side-mirrors. Wish they'd publish the Cd and CdA.

My teenage kid has seen both the Aptera and the Leaf up close; "The Leaf is interesting but not nearly as cool looking".
 
sparky said:
My teenage kid has seen both the Aptera and the Leaf up close; "The Leaf is interesting but not nearly as cool looking".

The Leaf will hit the streets in December of 2010. The Aptera will hit the streets in (insert Karnac Guess here). I'll take real-in-my-garage looks over may-never-see-the-light-of-day looks any day!

JimmyD
 
sparky said:
When I saw it in person, the "fish" look didn't really present itself. What did stand out, from certain angles, were the headlight lenses; really bulbous to the point of disfiguring.

Exactly.

The best EV I've seen so far is Model S. Wonder what is the cd of S compared to Leaf or Volt or Prius.
 
sparky said:
When I saw it in person, the "fish" look didn't really present itself. What did stand out, from certain angles, were the headlight lenses; really bulbous to the point of disfiguring. According to the rep at the event, that shape was to reduce the drag of the side-mirrors. Wish they'd publish the Cd and CdA.

Personally, based on all the photos I don't really care for the catfish appearance, but I kinda like the bulbous headlights. Regardless, the interior looks quite nice. I've never seen it in person though, and I'm sure it looks different in person.

As for the Cd, we do know the Leaf's drag coefficient: 0.29 Cd. Source: http://www.sae.org/mags/aei/vehic/7714
 
johnr said:
As for the Cd, we do know the Leaf's drag coefficient: 0.29 Cd. Source: http://www.sae.org/mags/aei/vehic/7714

Hadn't seen that. Interesting. Wonder if that is correct - Versa has a CD of 0.29. May be they just used that ?

Volt has a CD between .27 & .28. EV1 had 0.195. Prius has 0.25.

I'm fairly sure, Leaf cd should be lower than 0.29 (camry, versa, G35, Accord etc).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automobile_drag_coefficients
 
Problem with Leaf is that it is being catfishish (!) without being futuristic. I'd have preferred a more whacky design. I'm bored with the generic sedan/hatchback look.
 
evnow said:
Hadn't seen that. Interesting. Wonder if that is correct - Versa has a CD of 0.29. May be they just used that ?
Could be. This was the only place I found mention of the Leaf's Cd. Haven't seen any official spec on that.

evnow said:
Problem with Leaf is that it is being catfishish (!) without being futuristic. I'd have preferred a more whacky design. I'm bored with the generic sedan/hatchback look.
The first time I saw a photo of the Leaf, I thought "catfish!", and it bothered me more at first, but now it's starting to grow on me. You know, form follows function - and some other car designs are based on fish. I still haven't grown to like the way the rear lights are arranged, it looks too retro. The design is definitely unique, which is a plus as long as it's not ugly - and people are saying it looks better in person.
 
FWIW, GM claims the Volt is more slippery than the Prius when tested in their tunnel using the same test methods.

I think Cd is one of those specs that cannot easily be compared between manufacturers, kind of like the UTQG treadwear rating on a tire.

Nissan has stated that they sacrificed Cd in the Leaf in order to make the car as functional and comfortable as possible. Seems fair to me.
 
Back
Top