Spannerhead Dot Com

Yes, they have happened.

Regular readers here may think I’ve adopted an “Audi can do no wrong” mindset, especially after posts like this, this or this. Certainly, when it comes to beautifully tasteful and understated design, Audi is in a class by themselves. They’re perhaps unique among automakers in that, unlike virtually all their competitors, Audi has never released a car that was a styling disaster. So I can’t critique whole cars; if I’m going to pick apart their design missteps, I’ll have to do it piecemeal. Note that what follows isn’t a comprehensive list; they’re simply the three aberrations that came most immediately to mind:

’88-’95 80/90 C-pillar. This issue could just as easily apply to the C3 5000/100/200 as well, but it’s most pronounced on the 80/90, given that car’s more bathtub-ish below-the-beltline shape. The C-pillar is simply far too visually thin—there’s no “return” to the greenhouse that would accentuate the car’s wedge shape in profile. No, the C-pillar just looks flimsy, and the design suffers from its lack of visual strength.

’05-’08 A4/S4/RS4 Fascia. It’s difficult to determine what Audi was thinking when they put this together. Let’s start with the obvious: The nose could just as well belong to a generic Japanese or Korean econobox. It looks completely plastic, there’s nothing distinctive about it, and the grille’s “dip” is very characteristic of lower-end cars’ styling. The bottom edges of the headlights are inexplicably convoluted. And this being Audi’s first attempt at their now-trademark front plate-surrounding grille design, the rest of the car’s lines weren’t yet in harmony with such a strong nose element.

’04-’10 A6/S6/RS6 Rear. I don’t take issue with the shape of the taillights—although their simple square-ish shape is perhaps a bit too safe—so much as the dip in the lower edge of the trunklid. There are no other lines in the car that agree with this one. The trunklid edge is isolated, random, and as such it draws attention to itself and gives the rear of the car an unfinished look—very atypical for Audi.

Interestingly, in most cases, the offending element is gone by the car’s next generation, or even with a mid-cycle refresh; to their credit, Audi seems to quickly recognize where they went wrong and rectify matters post haste. The A6’s taillights were much more integrated with the trunklid after the refresh, and the ’96-’01 A4’s C-pillar was beefed-up considerably in order to strengthen the rear styling. And the A4’s front end came beautifully back into focus with the ’09-present generation; no more awkwardly tortured headlights or irresolute lines.