Some choice xm images....

[russ92xmsed]

Well it's the first stage. And my rendering is a bit slapdash..I didn't spend a lot of time on it. There is a highlight along the side which tricks the eye into thinking it is a crease. Anyway, I want to calm the front down a tad. But I think your right...French Audi but a bit more interesting, should be the aim.

[casalingua]

Audi have ownership of a piece of design "space" where the idea is that there are the least possible accents on any line. It´s deadly rational. If you look at 60s and 70s Peugeot´s they were doing something similar in concept: really very little by way of deviations from the simplest lines to connect various points. I had a look at the 604. There´s nearly nothing there except the subtlest of inflections over the front wheel arch. The rest is about where the lines relate to each other in space; the lines themselves are very simple indeed. If I was trying this one I´d look back to some Peugeot cues like the lamps and combine that with a package. Some of the character would reside in the surfaces. Audi seem to be doing fuller ones so Peugeot can´t go there. Flatter? Non-linear? Not easy. This is where the temptation comes from to do a busy drawing. A drawing of simple shapes won´t catch the eye and the viewer has to imagine a lot. That´s one reason why cars have busy shapes now: the concepts must first win out among dozens of other drawings in a studio setting.

[kingp]

To me i think it looks pretty good. A bit Vauxhall Ampera ish at the front but with the audi signature lights.
Could the chrome grille perhaps be made into the DRL by use of a solid LED bar maybe?
front indicators i think would maybe look better intergrated into the headlights as the outter units as they would then give a nice smooth line at that point.
The wheels would need to be an inch or two smaller and without such an aggressive offset, maybe using a darker shading on the inbound part of the spokes could lead to a similar effect?
The bonnet formation remind me a bit of the Mitsi Evo's.

The door design looks pretty good to as it could almost do away with the B pillar.

Give that car a nice 4wd system and a good engine and it could be the current WRC replacement for Mr Loeb Bonnet opening forward instead of back would be good to allow a much better flow into the a pillar and wings possibly.

[jorgy]

I'm not a fan of modern car design at all. They all look like they need to visit the gym...
I like my cars slim, lithe and of clean line with no fussy details.

As the years go by the XM (and the Xantia) just looks better and better.

Agree. Do you know though, how the XM looks like parked next to a Xantia? Couldn't believe until *after* I saw photos of my 2 parked as such -from above. The XM is so thin and looks tiny, and the Xant looks huge, pretty much the modern "fat" car effect! Especially as this XM was a dark green, and the Xant was silver. They're both very accomplished though.

[jorgy]

I like the look of the car without the rear spoiler. Some early cars were sold without one of any type. I saw a V6 in Switzerland. No spoiler and no plugs on the rear deck. Does anyone know how much of a difference it makes to have no spoiler?

On french fora I see basic S1 versions that have no rear spoiler, never seen a V6.

Re. rear spoilers, I was wondering what dif between S1 and S2. I doubt we'll ever know though.

[jorgy]

Lovely Pics there Jorgy. Seen those before and they do make the XM look very good indeed. Infact its these type of images that got me hooked on the car when it was brand new. I have always had a strong fascination with XM since I was about 8-9 years old. I just loved it and desperately wanted one. I wanted my Dad to get one....that never would have happened!

Well, when the XM was new, I completely overlooked it. I knew of it, but just didn't care. Didn't even find it weird ! Strange... Basically I bought my first in 2004 only to try the hydropneumatics, not because I especially liked anything else about it. It was a completely technology-driven choice -I rate cars primarily by their driving manners. The little Axel I had owned before while at Uni -chosen for the same reason- had been excellent in the area, a revelation, and so I thought I'll delve more in the brand. And here I am now, completely addicted to the wedge! With its shape, it's true what somebody said that it becomes more and more unique due to modern designs being all so much of the same.

A nice black or blue R25 with hydraulics I'd even consider now...

Are you talking hypothetically (hydraulics), or am I missing something??

Well I like the R25 too. Exterior, interior. I'd sure have one if XMs didn't exist. I was especially suprised when reading of its suspension, quite more advanced than you'd think -e.g. the rear struts where rotating on bearings. However, there's no comparison with the XM in this area. The R25 is a very good *barge* -the XM will easily leave it behind at above 8/10ths driving pace (in the twisties). The other issue is, the 25 is also from an era when turbo lag was huge -check out some youtube vids, the boost shoots from 0 to max in a fraction of a second! But the interior of a leather-clad one, in cream, is a place I'd love to be in every day! Must be the archetype of the french luxo-barge design from that era....

Pitty the Safrane was not interesting outside. But in my books it has one of nicest dashboards of all times.

[russ92xmsed]

It's one of the reasons why I like the Safrane, is the interior. It just looks so comfy. Infact I think it would have looked better in the mk2 XM as a softer evolution of the mk1 dash.
It is very reminiscent of the R25 interior, just tied up and de cluttered a little.

The exterior is bland. Very bland, but in the right colour it is smart...to me anyway!

[jorgy]

Accidentally, the Safrane also used the PRV. I think early Safranes used the 12v as in the XM/605 install. Later, again a 12 valve, bi-turbo'd job from a german house -Hartman maybe?- went into the 4x4 Safrane. 250hp. They made about 1000 or 2000 cars I think, last time I looked they were selling in France for a few thousand euros. Must be some car.

[Vince]

Early Renault 25 Monaco
Series 1 xm
Series 1 Xantia
Early Renault espace
Peugeot 505

Early executive mobiles in one guise or another.....I just love French 80's and 90's design

Being a person who likes to fix up cars to as close to showroom as I can...ive always fancied producing a super clean original early bog standard Peugeot 205

I just think they, like the early Renault 5 were just such a great little car design which if in mint condition and clean still tick the box for me

New car design?.....Citroen C6 = yes....other than that im struggling

[Eddie nuff]

When you consider that for the past 20 or 30 years every designer has had to have a degree tucked under their arm before they're deemed competent why is it that car design has become so bland it's dire. Every marque has it's corporate nose, the boring interior pulled straight out of the parts bin, the drive-train from another manufacturer, is it the designer killing the design or the bean counters?

Two car designs of recent years that had something about them were the Multipla and the Megane, then the series 2 cars were released and the blandness designed in. The Multipla became another faceless MPV and the Megane is now an Astra lookalike.