20 very angry-looking cars

That may be true, but apart from the odd exception they’ve never had particularly friendly faces. Life’s hard for cars, they have to look as though they can cope with all kinds of weather for years on end and with being driven for thousands of miles without so much as an oil change. And they also need to look like they can keep their occupants safe from other angry cars and their even more irate drivers. Cars that pull a grimace reassure us that they’re up to the job.

Because humans are programmed to see faces in inanimate objects, it doesn’t take much for us to recognise when a car looks cross—it could be in the shape of a light or grille, or even in the angle of a bonnet part-line. Here are 20 cars whose design features make them look hot under the collar. A few are on sale right now, but many soreheaded specimens are from years gone by. And they’re not by any means all huge musclebound gas guzzlers. Sometimes, like people, the shirtiest are diminutive. Just ask any 3-year-old.

Aysar Ghassan leads the MA in Automotive & Transport Design at Coventry University

To enter a car for the World Rally Championship (WRC), automakers have to build a version for ordinary folk to nip to the shops in. This explains the existence of the bonkers 3-door GR Yaris. The engine of this pocket rocket was designed by the Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team and its handling was developed with the help of 4-time WRC champion Tommi Mäkinen.

It’s both wider and lower than the regular Yaris, and its pumped-up wheel arches, sharp-edged lights and full-width grille make it look far more ferocious than its 5-door sibling—and that car isn’t exactly timid.

‘Kei’ cars are a Japanese phenomenon. They’re tiny, coming in at under 3.5m long and 1.5m wide, and are cheaper to tax and insure than larger cars. They’re incredibly popular too, making up around a third of car sales in Japan. And if you’re lucky enough to visit, you’ll see that they have yellow number plates at the front as well as at the rear.

Small they may be, but they’re never short on character. Edgy diagonals and chunky features on the Mitsubishi Delica Mini give it a wonderfully gnarly expression. And the daytime running lights know what you’re up to…

Suzuki have been making the Alto since 1979, though before this the Alto name was found on Suzuki vans. The scored wheel arches and angled rear pillar of the 8th generation model (first sold in 2014) tell us that this Kei car means business. But its front lights really steal the show.

They’re bolt upright and occupy their fair share of the real estate of the face, endowing the Alto Turbo RS with a particularly stern look. This little Suzuki has been in anger management sessions and many of its features (including the lights) have softened on the latest model. Phew.

In the 1960s, Renault started giving its cars numbers instead of names. Produced from 1962 to 1973, the 8 was a 4-metre-long saloon which was built in Bulgaria for much of its life. Being rear-engined, the front end didn’t need a grille for cooling purposes, so instead the face is defined by circular lights and a sharp crease in the middle of the bonnet.

The latter is something you don't see every day and makes the 8 look particularly miffed. Drivers described this Renault as having a lively character, and you can picture it stirring up bother outside a boulangerie.

Post-WW2, Simca was one of the biggest car-makers in France, but by 1978 it had disappeared entirely. First sold in 1961, the 1000 was one of Simca’s most successful models. It might look boxy to us now, but this small saloon was a revelation at the time as cars of the 1950s were often quite squidgy.

Though tiny, the 1000 is by no means a pushover. Its facial expression tells us it has somewhere to be, and it’ll barge you out of the way to get there. It’s all in the shape of the ‘eyebrows’ that sit above the lights.

This diminutive Japanese car has had one heck of a change in attitude. The first-generation Daihatsu Copen was a happy camper with a bright, smiley disposition, and in the UK, it came with a 1.3L engine, giving it more pep than models sold in Japan. The current Copen has acquired a diving shoulder line and a large trapezoid grille—both sure-fire ways to give a car a seriously fiery appearance.

Lights with slanted edges and prominent bonnet bulges complete the look, and the Copen is clearly annoyed with having to wear that lovely, sunny orange overcoat.

On the subject of a change in attitude…the previous MG3 looked quite placid, but the new incarnation mixes hatchback practicality with styling cues frequently found on a roadster. There’s the sweeping shoulder line and scything rear haunch, and its designers have plumped for razor-sharp lights. They’ve also dropped the grille quite a bit and widened it too, and have added extra grilles either side for good measure.

The new MG3 has a very heated expression, it’s quite possibly the angriest looking supermini in the supermarket carpark—more so even than the latest Kia Picanto.

Starting life as a medium-sized hatchback in 2004, the Citroën C4 has (perhaps inevitably) morphed into an SUV. Citroëns should be blessed with distinctive character, and the C4 doesn’t disappoint. A bold vertical edge runs up the front doors and coloured accents add a bit of pizzazz to the sill and bumper.

The C4 channels aggression in a unique way too—slim lights run into the uppermost chevron, and the grille has a real snarl to it. The rear lighting set-up kind of mirrors the shape of the front lights, making the rump look wonderfully vexed too.

In 2001, MG Rover abducted a load of Rover 75s from a golf club and injected them with a dose of zing. The resulting MG ZT saloon (and ZT-T estate) features larger wheels, upgraded suspension and brakes, and of course more poke. The front grille of the Rover 75 donor car has a chrome outline which was replaced with body-coloured trim on the ZT. This alteration shifts our focus from the grille to the slanted edge of the bonnet, making the sliced-off lights look more menacing. Small changes can make a huge difference in car design!

When it replaced the Ford Anglia in 1967, the Escort made its predecessor look veritably prehistoric and became an instant sensation. The Escort has a super-slick body side and the dramatic kick in both the swage line and rear haunch are a nod to the exhilarating American muscle cars that were taking the world by storm at the time.

The squared off front and rear ends add to the punchy look – especially in the Mexico model pictured here - and its wide set dumbbell-shaped grille gives the MK1 Ford Escort a fantastic grimace.

Chevrolet asked the fabled Italian design firm Pininfarina to create the one-off Rondine on the chassis of the second-generation Corvette (the classic Sting Ray with the incredible split rear windscreen). The Sting Ray has rippling muscles for fenders, but the Rondine is a lot sleeker and for the most part less aggressive—except at the front end. The edge of the bonnet is more angled than the Sting Ray’s and the forward leaning grille looks like it could tear prey apart. The mix of a sleek body and a face that doesn’t take prisoners makes for a dramatically unsettling aesthetic.

The 2016 VLF Force 1 was designed by Henrik Fisker, a former design director at Aston Martin. Based on the generously-bonneted Dodge Viper, the Force 1 was duty-bound to look ferocious. The huge rear wheel arch and violent flick in the window line give it a blistering sense of power, and the angles on the front and extremely small lights combine to form one of the best scowls on any car ever!

50 Force 1s were planned, but only 5 were ever built, and Fisker went on to launch Fisker Inc., an EV brand whose first car is the Ocean, though the company is facing tough times at present.

In the 1950s, BMW had fallen out of fashion with a new generation of affluent customers and desperately needed a progressive design direction to save it from looming disaster. This came in the form of the ‘Neue Klasse’ (or New Class) of cars, the first of which was the 1500. Its long, fast body lines would become a trademark of future BMWs as would it striking front end. The bonnet thrusts forward and takes the front end along for the ride. The quintessential shark-like BMW look was born, and the Bavarian automaker was set to conquer the world.

For people who find the regular BMW XM to be a bit on the tame side, there’s the XM Label—738bhp, 0-62mph in 3.8 seconds and fire shooting out of its nostrils. Lots of people think that BMW has taken things a bit far and the automaker may have paid attention.

BMW has dialled down the aggression on two recent concepts that preview its future design direction (the Vision Neue Klasse saloon and Vision Neue Klasse X SUV), so it’s possible that this performance crossover may be BMW’s last liaison with apoplectic styling for a while. Stranger things have happened.

Built between 1963 and 1977, the Rover P6 was one of the first cars aimed at a new breed of thrusting business-person and the first ever European Car of The Year. It has a really solid looking body, and its most distinctive features are the pointed side lights which protrude above the bonnet. They’re placed that way to help the driver judge the width of the car in the dark. And though practical and very clever, they kind of look like horns, giving the P6 a snarl which was put to good use on a generation of police cars.

Ever since Lamborghini shifted the engine from under the bonnet to just behind the driver, it has specialised in making unapologetically aggressive looking sports cars. There’s just something primal about that wedge shape, it makes Lambos look welded to the tarmac. Pound for pound, the track-focused Huracan STO has to be the angriest looking supercar to wear the bull and shield logo, though the competition is pretty fierce.

The outline of the grille is so sharp and the daytime running lights etch themselves into your retinas. The front end is a masterclass in how to pull off undiluted rage.

​Ferraris have nearly always had barnstorming performance, but for most of their history they haven't looked especially livid. All this changed with the 2009 Ferrari 458 Italia. Narrow lights that stretch far up into the fender give the front end of this V8 an ominous stare. The 458 Italia spawned a series of Ferraris that didn't pull their punches, like the FF and GTC4 Lusso.

The most spectacular car of this generation was the mid-engined 2013 LaFerrari. With the butterfly doors open and the 6.3L V12 howling, this legend looks and sounds like an enraged dragon.

Gordon-Keeble was a short-lived British car maker from the 1960s formed by John Gordon and Jim Keeble. The world-famous Italian designer Giorgetto Giugiaro got to style the body of the only model, the GT. Giugiaro gave it a classy body and a growl befitting a car with a thumping 5.4-litre Chevrolet V8 engine.

Gordon-Keeble tried to undercut both Aston Martin and Ferrari which led to the company haemorrhaging money and folding in 1967 after only 100 GTs were built. As well as giving us a glimpse of what could have been, Gordon-Keeble remains the only marque whose logo features a tortoise.

The now defunct brand Plymouth was formed in 1928 by the American giant Chrysler as an entry-level competitor to Ford and Chevrolet. Plymouth made some brilliantly named models over the years like the Barracuda, Champ and Fury. The latter was in production from the mid-1950s to the late 80s, though the 1961 version surely lives up best to its name.

There's something rather frightening about the way the wings bend around the front end before briskly turning back in on itself to spear the lights. Combined with the ocean of chrome, this detail creates a truly unforgettable expression.

Imagine catching a glimpse of one of these in your rear-view mirror while hogging the middle lane. The Karlmann King starts at around £1.5 million, but you can pay more if you want to get yours armoured. The King has a 6.8L V10 engine, but because it weighs a mind-boggling 5.9 tons (more than double what a Land Rover does), it won't do over 90mph. But this stegosaurus of an SUV isn't in a hurry, it owns whole postcodes. When even the wing mirrors are furious, you know you have a definite contender for the world's angriest looking car.