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So I’m at my Chevy dealer getting my Impalas front brakes replaced. Trying to kill time, i decided to walk around the used car lot and sit in pretty much every vehicle they have. Even Chevy’s new vehicles.
To my surprise, everything from a 17 BMW M2 to a 16 Kia Optima have ultra cheap feeling interiors.
Hard, course plastic even on the M2, and flimsy arm rest. For such an expensive car, it didn’t feel like it whatsoever.
The Optima even worse obviously as it cost way less, but it’s pretty depressing and disappointing that in order to truly have a less cheap plasticky interior, you have to spend a lot of money on a car such as buying the flagship of the brand your searching for to buy.
You only get semi-soft touch materials in certain areas of the interior in many mid priced vehicles. I feel like every auto manufacturer is this way, there’s hardly a difference in brands anymore, you’re just paying for the name. A 16 Honda CRV is on the lot, I sat inside and was appalled. Nothing special about the interior, it’s cheap, plasticky as heck, and doesn’t feel like the old “Honda” quality to me.
I find that some cars of the 90’s had better quality interiors that more padded and soft to touch. The 90’s Toyota Camry’s are a perfect example. I don’t think there’s one hard surface in those cars maybe besides for the lower door panels.
Even closing a door on them felt solid and less “tingy” like how the new ones are. Close the door on the majority of sedans today, and you hear a hollow sound upon closing the doors.
The only doors that felt pretty solid was on CUV’s they had on the lot. Even the new Chevy Eqinox was pretty basic, cheap, dull, and bland. But step up into a Travese and things get a little nicer with bright plasty chrome trim which helps increase the attractiveness.
I understand that new cars are made to be lighter due to increased fuel economy standards but I wish automakers would put more emphasis on making interiors less flimsy, more padded, less course grain textured materials, and better quality seat materials.
After reading numerous professional reviews on the latest cars out there, I don’t see what these so called “experts” are thinking when it comes to rating interiors high marks in certain models, when they are in reality, atrocious.
Some of these guys have to be getting paid to say great things about the vehicles they’re reviewing, or else they’re getting something in return from the manufacturers that might not involve cash because there’s no real good interior quality in any mid level sedan of any maker, unless it’s a Lexus ES350 on up models or an Audi A8. Some interiors look nice on the surface , but once you start pressing on, grabbing and tap on the trim, you’ll notice the cheapness in the majority of them.
Some of this stems from the new textured plastic and the new tight-weave fabric (I know that's not a real term but I don't know how else to describe it) they're all using nowadays. Check out the interior of a new Mustang sometime. Cheap!! And that's one one of Ford's most visible and well-loved cars.
I’m willing to bet that some 70’s cars have better interiors than what i sat in today.
My 76 Grand Marquis and 79 Lincoln do, but my 74 Impala has a pretty cheap looking and plasticky interior. But everyone who was around as car buyers those years all say the 71 up redesign of those boats had much poorer quality interior materials than the 70 and earlier models.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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The early 70s started the plastic movement, to reduce weight and maintain decent gas mileage while meeting safety standards. Now, with the cafe mpg standards, even more weight has to be let go. Also explains the movement to smaller, turbo charged engines. Once you get to the heavier vehicles like trucks, where mpg is not as important to customers, the interiors are more substantial.
I’m willing to bet that some 70’s cars have better interiors than what i sat in today.
Do you remember how good the plastic was in those 70’s cars? I do, and it did not stand up to the sun and heat well at all. I remember how door panels would fade and turn brittle to the point where it could be flaked off with a fingernail. Dashboards plastics also shrank and often split right in the center.
As we got into the mid-80s they started trying to make the plastic softer, but it created another problem... bowing and warping, especially around the defroster vent. It’s tough to make a plastic that’s durable and can stand up to the elements.
Do you remember how good the plastic was in those 70’s cars? I do, and it did not stand up to the sun and heat well at all. I remember how door panels would fade and turn brittle to the point where it could be flaked off with a fingernail. Dashboards plastics also shrank and often split right in the center.
As we got into the mid-80s they started trying to make the plastic softer, but it created another problem... bowing and warping, especially around the defroster vent. It’s tough to make a plastic that’s durable and can stand up to the elements.
Yes I do. This happened even in cloudy northeast Ohio. The latest fad seems to be soft-touch plastics. The auto reviews complain if a vehicle has hard plastics. But I have heard that the soft-touch plastics are not as durable. I would rather have a durable plastic interior.
Before we bought our newest car, we looked at the new Prius (we have two other Priuses), and were totally turned off my the interior, which seemed to be designed for 18 year old folks who are experimenting with drugs...
My BMW i3 has a few hard recycled plastic parts but they are intentional to go with the sustainability theme. Besides these, the dash is a combination of fake leather and real open grain wood.
My BMW Z4 has a combination of leather, woven metal mesh and soft plastic.
My Porsche Macan has a leather dash board and no hard plastic anywhere.
Before we bought our newest car, we looked at the new Prius (we have two other Priuses), and were totally turned off my the interior, which seemed to be designed for 18 year old folks who are experimenting with drugs...
In 2012, when I bought my '12 Camry Hybrid XLE, I really WANTED to buy a Prius, and had done voluminous amounts of research on the car, its engineering and fascinating technology. But when I sat in one? I hated everything about it. I even rented one for a long trip and at the end of that trip, I could hardly walk.
It's as cheap as any car interior that I have ever seen. The interior of my $100 (slightly used) 1977 Buick Regal was the antithesis of that Prius.
In the end, I traded in that 2012 Camry because of all the squeaks and rattles in the cabin. It was a $36,000 car, and it was little more than a Prius in drag.
And in 2007-2011, Toyota had a problem with MELTING dashboards. Ick.
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