When did cars get so ugly

I'm aware of what plastic body cladding is for. In my opinion, it's like covering an expensive leather wallet with duct tape in order to protect the finish. Like, OK, technically it works but now it's ugly from the very beginning instead of after several years of abuse. In order to save it, you ruined it. Also, like you say, Subaru doesn't make off-roaders. If anything they make normal cars that are a bit more capable in inclement weather than most, although their trick of putting AWD in everything is a lot less special now than it was in the 90s. It is perhaps the substanceless-ness of Subaru's recent cladding fetish that annoys me the most. It's pure posturing, with nothing to back it up. They've got more plastic and more aggressive plastic than a goddamn Raptor, in what is really just a normal-ass hatchback with a slight lift. Even if I liked it aesthetically, the lack of authenticity is annoying. I feel as though this kind of marketing insults my intelligence. I'll admit though, it seems to work very well. I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions there.