By Robert Emslie
I have a bugaboo when it comes to pretty much everything and that is that I can’t stand inefficiencies that are demanded in the name of aesthetics. As a prime example, it’s my great lament that over the past decade Volvo has moved from making iconically boxy products to ones that – while looking as slippery as a used bar of soap – offer less room inside than their predecessors.
Fashion over form has been a noble battle for centuries, with entire cultures enduring discomfort for what at the time might have been considered a socially beneficial norm. When it comes to cars, that means rooflines that are swoopy but constrain headroom, noses that drop off making parking more challenging, and windows narrowed to gun slits which may be of benefit in grimy environs, but when touring natural wonders leaves much of the grandeur unrevealed.
What’s your take on aesthetics? Do you find – like Billy Chrystal’s SNL character Fernando – that it’s better to look marvelous than to feel marvelous? Considering that choice, what’s more important to you, looks or utility?
Jeff Glucker