Photo: Andrei Nedelea for autoevolution
What’s happening in the automotive industry that is forcing manufacturers to putting big, fake, exhaust-like ornaments on the rear bumpers of some of their cars?
They have to be the epitome of pointless, redundant design and the fact that they’re not going away, instead becoming bigger, bolder and more prominent, does raise several questions.
Do automakers have such a bad opinion of their buyers that they feel it’s right to essentially lie to them? There are so many cars out there whose rear bumpers feature two exhaust-like ornaments, yet in most cases, these cars have just one much smaller and far less sportier looking exhaust that’s angled downward and pokes out a foot behind the end of the car.
This is especially evident when it’s cold outside. You immediately notice the bumper exhausts tips are not real and that fumes are coming out only one side of the car. To make matters worse, the worst fake exhaust offenders are expensive cars adorned by premium badges - the ones you’d think would woo buyers by being just that little bit better engineered and thought out than cheaper cars.
Audi and Mercedes-Benz are some of the worst offenders, but they are by no means the only ones. Audi recently launched the new S6, a sporty looking wagon that has to be one of the coolest looking load luggers at any price point.
That being said, it has the worst fake exhausts of any current production car. Whereas on some models it’s easier to spot the fact that the tips are fake, because they clearly look tacked on, in the new S6, Audi has gone to the trouble of making them look like the real thing, complete with the bumper cutout around them.
But if you take a closer look under the car and behind these daft looking ornaments, you will see that the actual exhaust is a few inches behind. What’s most perplexing about this is the fact that Audi decided not to add a few more inches of pipe to make the tips functional - there must have been another way to do it...
And the S6 isn’t the only Audi with fake exhausts that are sure to get car lovers’ blood boiling: the S4 TDI only has functional exhausts on the left side of the car, they are fake on both sides on the SQ5, just like they are on the Q8. The list could go on, but these are the worst offenders from the Audi stable.
Mercedes-Benz is the other manufacturer that inexplicably puts fake exhaust-like bits of trim on the back of some of their cars. Take the Mercedes GLC 300d that I recently tested - it has a single exhaust that’s angled downward, yet it has two quite sporty looking faux tips on the bumper. Imagine backing the car into some snow in winter, then driving with both of them filled with snow - then even non-car people will spot the fakery.
And it’s really every single Mercedes model, not just some of them. Even the latest GLA crossover has what appear to be sporty chrome-rimmed exhaust tips underneath the bumper, yet if you take a closer look, they do not lead anywhere. This is the very latest Mercedes model to be revealed and it has them, so the manufacturer clearly isn’t thinking of bucking this trend.
Listing which Mercedes has these fake exhausts is really pointless because it’s pretty much all of them. So far it has not given its line of AMG models fake exhausts, but judging by the way things are going right now, it’s not out of the question for the future.
Other unworthy mentions in this company are some models under PSA’s premium brand, DS, but its non-premium brands, Peugeot and Citroen are also guilty. Skoda is also guilty (the sporty Kodiaq RS only has one functional exhaust tip), as are Kia, Toyota, Volkswagen and Renault. Other manufacturers do it too, but certainly to a lesser extent.
You may, at this point, be asking yourself the question “Why?” are manufacturers doing this. It couldn’t cost them a fortune to add an extra bit of pipe, and the truth of the matter is it doesn’t. But since probably 99 percent of buyers won’t notice the exhausts are fake and the manufacturer saves a few cents, I’m sure it’s seen as a win-win scenario, or at least a scenario where the manufacturer wins and the buyer can’t be bothered to notice he or she is being shortchanged.
Another reason why manufacturers may be doing this, at least on models running diesel engines, has to do with soot buildup ruining the bumper over time. But since the very latest diesels have particulate filter that really do a great job of preventing them from spewing out black residue, this is probably not the case.
Manufacturers are also doing it to differentiate their sportier models from lesser ones. In the Audi A6, for instance, the fake exhausts are more toned down and more evidently fake, whereas in the sportier S6, their design is much closer to the real thing. It doesn’t cost Audi that much more to make the S6 bumper, yet the extra visual impact it has is undeniable.
Completely fake exhausts, just like fake scoops, vents and intakes are a symptom of a larger problem, not necessarily a problem in and of themselves. Manufacturers have figured out that for most buyers (which, by the way, are not car people) having something that looks fast and sporty is more important than having an understated car that is faster than you think.
In other words, they are less inclined to make a factory sleeper, an unassuming car that is actually really fast, and they instead prefer to make an average car look faster than it is because it helps with sales. This is the sad truth, and since the average buyer won’t morph into a a car connoisseur overnight, this (sad) trend that angers car guys will continue to thrive.
What I really wonder is whether or not they will keep putting fake exhausts on cars even after most of them have turned electric. If that will be the case, then maybe one idea to prevent widespread depression and misery among car people is to move to Mars and start a new society of car lovers there. Or you could ask Santa for it, although moving to Mars seems like a safer bet.
Do automakers have such a bad opinion of their buyers that they feel it’s right to essentially lie to them? There are so many cars out there whose rear bumpers feature two exhaust-like ornaments, yet in most cases, these cars have just one much smaller and far less sportier looking exhaust that’s angled downward and pokes out a foot behind the end of the car.
This is especially evident when it’s cold outside. You immediately notice the bumper exhausts tips are not real and that fumes are coming out only one side of the car. To make matters worse, the worst fake exhaust offenders are expensive cars adorned by premium badges - the ones you’d think would woo buyers by being just that little bit better engineered and thought out than cheaper cars.
Audi and Mercedes-Benz are some of the worst offenders, but they are by no means the only ones. Audi recently launched the new S6, a sporty looking wagon that has to be one of the coolest looking load luggers at any price point.
That being said, it has the worst fake exhausts of any current production car. Whereas on some models it’s easier to spot the fact that the tips are fake, because they clearly look tacked on, in the new S6, Audi has gone to the trouble of making them look like the real thing, complete with the bumper cutout around them.
But if you take a closer look under the car and behind these daft looking ornaments, you will see that the actual exhaust is a few inches behind. What’s most perplexing about this is the fact that Audi decided not to add a few more inches of pipe to make the tips functional - there must have been another way to do it...
And the S6 isn’t the only Audi with fake exhausts that are sure to get car lovers’ blood boiling: the S4 TDI only has functional exhausts on the left side of the car, they are fake on both sides on the SQ5, just like they are on the Q8. The list could go on, but these are the worst offenders from the Audi stable.
Mercedes-Benz is the other manufacturer that inexplicably puts fake exhaust-like bits of trim on the back of some of their cars. Take the Mercedes GLC 300d that I recently tested - it has a single exhaust that’s angled downward, yet it has two quite sporty looking faux tips on the bumper. Imagine backing the car into some snow in winter, then driving with both of them filled with snow - then even non-car people will spot the fakery.
And it’s really every single Mercedes model, not just some of them. Even the latest GLA crossover has what appear to be sporty chrome-rimmed exhaust tips underneath the bumper, yet if you take a closer look, they do not lead anywhere. This is the very latest Mercedes model to be revealed and it has them, so the manufacturer clearly isn’t thinking of bucking this trend.
Listing which Mercedes has these fake exhausts is really pointless because it’s pretty much all of them. So far it has not given its line of AMG models fake exhausts, but judging by the way things are going right now, it’s not out of the question for the future.
Other unworthy mentions in this company are some models under PSA’s premium brand, DS, but its non-premium brands, Peugeot and Citroen are also guilty. Skoda is also guilty (the sporty Kodiaq RS only has one functional exhaust tip), as are Kia, Toyota, Volkswagen and Renault. Other manufacturers do it too, but certainly to a lesser extent.
You may, at this point, be asking yourself the question “Why?” are manufacturers doing this. It couldn’t cost them a fortune to add an extra bit of pipe, and the truth of the matter is it doesn’t. But since probably 99 percent of buyers won’t notice the exhausts are fake and the manufacturer saves a few cents, I’m sure it’s seen as a win-win scenario, or at least a scenario where the manufacturer wins and the buyer can’t be bothered to notice he or she is being shortchanged.
Another reason why manufacturers may be doing this, at least on models running diesel engines, has to do with soot buildup ruining the bumper over time. But since the very latest diesels have particulate filter that really do a great job of preventing them from spewing out black residue, this is probably not the case.
Manufacturers are also doing it to differentiate their sportier models from lesser ones. In the Audi A6, for instance, the fake exhausts are more toned down and more evidently fake, whereas in the sportier S6, their design is much closer to the real thing. It doesn’t cost Audi that much more to make the S6 bumper, yet the extra visual impact it has is undeniable.
Completely fake exhausts, just like fake scoops, vents and intakes are a symptom of a larger problem, not necessarily a problem in and of themselves. Manufacturers have figured out that for most buyers (which, by the way, are not car people) having something that looks fast and sporty is more important than having an understated car that is faster than you think.
In other words, they are less inclined to make a factory sleeper, an unassuming car that is actually really fast, and they instead prefer to make an average car look faster than it is because it helps with sales. This is the sad truth, and since the average buyer won’t morph into a a car connoisseur overnight, this (sad) trend that angers car guys will continue to thrive.
What I really wonder is whether or not they will keep putting fake exhausts on cars even after most of them have turned electric. If that will be the case, then maybe one idea to prevent widespread depression and misery among car people is to move to Mars and start a new society of car lovers there. Or you could ask Santa for it, although moving to Mars seems like a safer bet.
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