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Would you like to return to the 50's and 60's when the interiors were steel? What is the alternative you are suggesting? Nearly every modern car I know of has plastic interiors (even the Euro cars everyone loves to rave about). So i'm confused.
The interiors are all plastic, but American companies use hard, coarse plastics where Japanese and German cars have soft-touch, finer plastics. Its a slightly more expensive plastic but it makes a huge difference. GM is notable for its course, plastic dashboards that frankly look like crap. Look at the dash of a Solstice versus a Miata, and you will see just what I'm talking about. The G8 has a nice plastic for comparison if you're at a Pontiac dealership.
The interiors are all plastic, but American companies use hard, coarse plastics where Japanese and German cars have soft-touch, finer plastics. Its a slightly more expensive plastic but it makes a huge difference. GM is notable for its course, plastic dashboards that frankly look like crap. Look at the dash of a Solstice versus a Miata, and you will see just what I'm talking about. The G8 has a nice plastic for comparison if you're at a Pontiac dealership.
I'll admit the interior in my wife's Chrysler T&C is cheaply made but it's not because it's made of plastic. It's the overall use/design of it that gets me. There were a couple of things that broke on it within a month of ownership. That's bad. But the dash is soft to the touch. It's probably the best part about the interior.
HOWEVER
I rode in my neighbor's Toyota mini-van the other day and I thought it was not exactly in a different league. Just my own observation/opinion.
I couldn't disagree with you more on GM's notably crappy interior. I love the style and prefer it to nearly any other brand out there. They are at least better than the other 2/3's of the big three IMO.
Would you like to return to the 50's and 60's when the interiors were steel? What is the alternative you are suggesting? Nearly every modern car I know of has plastic interiors (even the Euro cars everyone loves to rave about). So i'm confused.
OK, but I think the overall quality....attention to detail of the interior appears more expensive, or of higher quality on many of the Japanese and German cars. The interiors of cars in the 70's weren't all full of chrome or steel, and they had beautiful interiors. I think there is a considerable amount of emphasis on "budget", and consumers are very perseptive to the cheapening of cars today, particularly older buyers who remember the good old days...
Would you like to return to the 50's and 60's when the interiors were steel? What is the alternative you are suggesting? Nearly every modern car I know of has plastic interiors (even the Euro cars everyone loves to rave about). So i'm confused.
Sayantsi explained it well. The only thing that I would add is that even many of the later Japanese cars now have that over abundance of hard plastic interior.
When some people refer to "plastic" interior, they refer to hard plastic, rather than "soft padded panels", which is still plastic, but higher quality and has a more pleasing appearance that adored luxury cars from the late 1950s to recent and like many of the imports had in the 80s-90s- then in the 2000s, they went to alot of hard plastic. All hard plastics now (one exception is that a 2009 Toyota Avalon I rented had a padded dash... I was suprised, but maybe Toyota kept the padded dashes on the Avalon and Lexus... I know they did not on the Camry, as that changed in 2002. My old 1993 Camry had alot of padded interior panels, as did my old 1991 Honda Accord. Not so today on the new ones.
I had a 1981 Toyota Cressida that had most every interior panel padded with high quality material. I also have a 1988 Mercedes and a 1991 Lexus and the interior plastics on both of them is soft padded, not hard cheap plastic. Same for most of the late 50s-80s American cars... at least GM until 1976 on the big cars. My 72' Caprice and 73' Grand Ville have alot of interior padded materials and my 69' Caprice especially did... even the "A-pillar" trims were padded.
Last edited by Tennesseestorm; 11-13-2008 at 06:06 PM..
Sorry to drop this one some of you folks but the '70's produced some of the fugliest cars I've ever seen. I don't know of a single one that I wouldn't take joy in dousing with gasoline and setting on fire.
Oh my !
Now I agree that there were some 70s cars that I hate and are ugly, but I would not go as so far to say that about all of them. Anyone that does not like the early 70s station wagons or muscle cars needs glasses, or is definitely thinking different than most people, but I guess there are other cars that floats peoples boats.
Some 70s cars that come to mind that I do not like are...
AMC Gremlin (despite my grandpa has one with low miles)
71-72 Dodge Charger (but love the Challenger) go figure
Dodge Aspens / Plymouth Volares
this is only to mention a few
I would say its a 60% like and 40% dislike for me on the 70s cars.
I could say the same thing about cars in the 80s, 90s or even now. There are many 2008-2009 models I would just as soon see in the crusher!
I'll admit the interior in my wife's Chrysler T&C is cheaply made but it's not because it's made of plastic. It's the overall use/design of it that gets me. There were a couple of things that broke on it within a month of ownership. That's bad. But the dash is soft to the touch. It's probably the best part about the interior.
HOWEVER
I rode in my neighbor's Toyota mini-van the other day and I thought it was not exactly in a different league. Just my own observation/opinion.
I couldn't disagree with you more on GM's notably crappy interior. I love the style and prefer it to nearly any other brand out there. They are at least better than the other 2/3's of the big three IMO.
Ya know my uncle has a 2004 Dodge Grand Caravan that he uses on his business trips when he does not fly. One day last month at a family reunion I had to get in it. I looked at the dash and thought it looked different. I touched it and it was as soft as a pillow. I was suprised, because most of the dash on my aunts 1998 Caravan is harder plastic. I guess Mopar improved on this. My old 1995 Chrysler had a nice padded dash as well, but so did my old 1994 Lumina. I think it was not until the late 90s/2000s that GM went with the hard plastic dash panels, but a 2005 Impala company car I had still had the padding on the dash, whereas a 2006 Impala I rented I think didnt.
And yes, I agree... the Toyota Sienna van now has alot of hard plastic... beginning with the 1998 models. The 1992-97 Toyota Previa has alot of padding.
The bad thing about the "softer" plastics is after a few years in the blistering sun they're not so soft anymore and start cracking.
I also remember cars like the 90's Lumina and Beretta, the way the sun would "bow up" the dash in the middle, they were awful, but I guess it could have been bad glue.
I had a 90s Lumina. It had that awful hard plastic endemic in American cars, so "soft plastic" wasn't the problem.
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Anyone that does not like the early 70s station wagons or muscle cars needs glasses, or is definitely thinking different than most people, but I guess there are other cars that floats peoples boats. 
