now there was a time when you could
always tell what kind of car you were
looking at that's a Mustang that's a
Cadillac that's a mess but you probably
have noticed cars look an awful lot
alike these days the realities of
Technology and engineering are very much
part of the reason I'm Brian Cooley with
the top five reasons cars tend to look
pretty much alike
number five bunker windows driven a
Camaro lately you probably felt like a
tank commander and it's not the only car
with windows like slits short
greenhouses our current fashion but also
front ends have become higher for
pedestrian safety as a result the rest
of the car's body has to follow to look
right but you can't just raise the roof
as well or you end up with a clown car
so it stays low while the cars Beltline
comes up and there's not much room left
for glass in between take your
claustrophobia meds number four
fat faces so many cars have huge deep
front ends now even sporty big dollar
cars that could afford the best plastic
surgeon again thank pedestrian impact
standards a fatter flatter bumper and
face tends to not lop off the pedestrian
at the knees and the higher hood that
follows that allows a little bit of
space under it so there's a cushion
between the hood and the engine
protecting the pedestrians head it's all
good news in the crosswalk not so much
in the showroom number three high belt
lines drive with your arm out the window
today and you'll blow out your rotator
cuff the sill or belt line as it's known
is typically very high these days also
as a consequence of the hood being
higher again thank the pedestrian you
can't raise the hood without raising
what follows to the rear so good buy a
rakish arm out driving it also doesn't
hurt that belt lines convey a sense of
side impact resistance to the shoppers
eye whether it's true or not
number two thick horsey pillars you may
as well just face forward these days
there's almost no visibility anywhere
else out of some cars like where's the
periscope for this Acura ZDX
one big reason for the massive pillar
trend are aggressive federal rollover
crash standards and those pillars often
contain airbags now as well so big
pillars will let you walk away from a
lot of crashes but might keep you from
seeing you're about to get into one the
number one way that cars all seem to
look alike these days is big butts
almost every car looks like mrs.
Doubtfire with a big old frumpy room
that's largely for aerodynamic reasons
in pursuit of increasingly critical MPG
now a car that gets hired toward the
rear like a wedge generally creates less
drag and uses less fuel but walk around
the back of a Chrysler 300 and you're
not sure if you found the rear of the
car or the front of the Hoover Dam for
more car tech top fives like this and to
watch the best show for the modern
driver visit CNET on cars.com i'm brian
coulis thanks for watching
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