A Good Year for the Outlaw

2. Toyota Scion xb

Not to be outdone by rival Honda, and in an amazing coincidence, a Toyota exec found another drawing by the four-year old Mr. Issagawa (see Element, below) and reproduced it for his company.

Seriously, what is up with Japan’s automakers if this is what is coming off their drawing boards? Anyone who reads Motor Trend, Car and Driver, and Road & Track has known for years that these magazines are on the take to the Japanese auto industry, constantly telling us how wonderful the vehicles from Japan are. But they lie. I’ve never had a friend with a Japanese car (I’ve never owned one, and probably won’t) have it be completely free of flaws, but the auto mags tell us that Japanese cars are made of the finest quality and never break down.  Um, yes, they do, and when they do, it’s damn expensive to fix one.

When it comes to styling, which is one of my MOST important parts of a car, the auto mags also brag up the Japanese cars for their “clear, concise styling”. I call that boring. Or ugly. As a matter of fact, Japan lags so far behind the curve, or is so far off the styling curve, it’s amazing. This list is showing you UGLY cars. If I were to show you BORING cars, Japanese sedans and current Chevrolet models would be the entire list. So I’ll give Japan credit for one thing…they’ve finally gotten away from boring look-alike four door sedans and into ugly look-alike pseudo-SUV’s that make such “ugly American” cars as the Aztek look positively dashing.