I’ll start with the Porsche 997, the 996 looked alright imo, but it looks “like a 90s Porsche”, the 997 made it look sleeker and more modern. Still looks good today.
As for cars that looked worse after a facelift? Maybe the facelifted 6th gen Camaro? The 6th gen looked great pre-facelift, but they did something weird with the headlights and now it looks so-so…
Audi A7, the first generations > the new updated cars
Agreed. Love that rear
A few off the top of my head:
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Tesla S (from 2016 to 2017)
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Land Rover Range Rover (from 2009 to 2010)
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BMW 7-series (from 2004 to 2005)
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BMW 3-series (from 1987 to 1988)
Technically, the L322 Range Rover had two facelifts: one in 2005/6 and one in 2009/10. And really, the 2006 was an odd one-year model with the exterior facelift and new Jaguar engines, but most of the BMW-era interior. So, it was more like 2003-2005 -> 2006 -> 2007-2009 -> 2010-2012 (US model years).
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by facelift I mean a minor update to a car, not a generational one
I’ll start with the Porsche 997, the 996 looked alright imo, but it looks “like a 90s Porsche”, the 997 made it look sleeker and more modern.
Bruh, that’s a new generation.
Anyway, mine would be the F20 BMW 1 series. I consider the pre-facelift one of the worst looking BMWs ever (though they’re trying hard these days to knock it down a few spots), while the post-facelift looks great.
OP doesn’t know about Porsche .1 and .2 nomenclature…
Or Mk1/Mk2 for 996 models
Yes, like they said, 996.1 and 996.2…
Little bro knows nothing about Porsche. 997 was a monumental upgrade in interior design and especially materials. The overall mechanical quality also improved in a big way.
The G series is the ugliest 911 generation to me.
E65 BMWs as well. Pre facelift looked goofy and frumpy. Post facelift looks much better and still good today.
The monochrome 2005 and older look pretty good, uts the ones with chrome strips on the bumpers that looked really odd.
Regardless though the E65/E66 was the car that made me fall in love with BMW. Specifically a 2006 750LI that was white with a beige interior. It was forsale by the local Subaru dealership at a special sales event that they had at the local mall, out area didn’t have alot of 7 series status cars and while my parents were looking for a new car I wander around looking at what they has, saw it from across the lot and it was love at first sight. Then I sat in it and it made my titties hard.
Now I own 2 BMWs. A 2006 X3 and a 2013 X5.
Sure it’s not a facelift but it’s not an entirely new car. The 997 was a heavily revised 996 but everyone in this thread seems to forget that.
But it is a new generation.
Never debated that. Just saying it wasn’t the quantum leap like 997 to 991
991 to 992 is not a minor difference though lol
Anyway to answer your first question, ‘99 Escalade to the legendary ‘02 one
Also the first ‘91 gen Lexus GS to the next ‘97 GS was also one hell of a glow up, still one of my all time fav cars ever
2nd one not sure
Better:
99 Fairlady Z version R
02 RX-7 Spirit R
The only visual change the Spirit-R offered were new paint color options.
2019 Audi TT RS
I think 5th gen camaro looks way better with the 14/15 facelift.
The refresh on the previous generation Camry was a massive step backwards. 20012-2014 was very sleek and classy looking. 2015 they made it extremely ugly looking and somehow sales went up. Definitely the worst refresh I can think of.
The only question is: Is a “new generation” with a completely reworked exterior but same platform and powertrain defined new generation or a facelift? Or would that be a redesign but still the same generation?
e.g. 370Z-400Z
Mk8 awwf
Tired but thinking of the recent Nissan Frontier
The new ones look great, seen a few in person and wow do they look great yet still give a true truck feeling
I remember those 90s- early 2000s camaros looking awful. Glad they switched them
8V to 8.5V on the A3-series Audis
16-18 Maxima:
Not a bad looking car
19-23
MUCH better. I’m a sucker for full LED lighting so seeing them go from LED low beams and incandescent tail lights to LED Low and High beams along with LED Taillights and Turn signals made me like them even more.
93-95 Grand Cherokee:
Iconic, ground breaking, truly awesome.
96-98
This to me was the superior one especially with the interior. I never like the early airbag equipped steering wheels on Most Chrysler products including the Grand Cherokee so when they changed to a 3 spoke design I was sold on Grand Cherokees from there onwards.
As far as cars that looked bad post face lift I can’t really think of any at the moment
Nissan’s facelift for the B17 Sentra and the L33 Altima come to mind
This is controversial but the G30 generation of the BMW 5 series went through a nice facelift imo (new headlights, tail lights, grille and bigger infotainment screen) although many did not like the new headlights
The facelift of the G30 5er is one of my favorite “realistic” dream cars