[RM7]

BMW vs. Mercedes is a good look at this. It's a 3 or 5 series sedan. It's not going to look much different than the predecessor in terms of the body, because all the proportions and dimensions will be nearly the same...so unless you do something really stupid, like put giant vents on the front, it's not really going to look very different...but then they don't want to be seen as "stale", so they start doing ridiculous stuff to make the new version look different. Mercedes handled it by aggressively shaping and curving the body panels...which tends to be more expensive the more you do it, but they pulled of some pretty smooth looking designs that don't hurt the eyes too much...but then you have the M3 and M4...again, pretty much same layout and proportions...so they figured the only option was giant beaver-teeth...somewhere in a basement. IMO, form should follow function and that means that you don't change it radically if it's not radically different. How a 2003 STi looks way better than whatever the hell Subaru has been making for the last few years. Engine still in the same exact spot BTW.