Went in a Dodge over here (UK) the other week – oh dear it was like stepping back in time to the early 90’s in terms of the design and feel – urgh.

In my opinion the Audi interiors are the best in the world at that price point.

When the BMW’s were ‘bangelized”, I wasn’t put off by the exterior, but the change from a fully functional interior to an “artsy” interior sucked. Form must follow function inside.

by far, cheap seats are the biggest flaw of most cars. My BMW sport seats are the best chairs I’ve ever sat in, but likewise, cheap seats make an otherwise decent car unworkable.

The VW beetle had decent seats.
There is no excuse, not even money for badly designed seating. You may not get forty functions, but the basic lines are not news.

Seat tracks that move…. now don’t get me started on that one.

The best seats I’ve ever experienced were in my 66 Volvo 122s and my 68 Mercedes 250SE; the nicest door panels were probably on my 74 BMW 3.0S sedan; and one of the best dashboards was on that same BMW. Currently I drive a Mercedes E500 with the Designo interior option. It’s beautiful, with lovely real wood, Napa leather in two contrasting colours, and so on. The seats adjust perfectly and it actually has room for real people. I feel good when I open the door and sit in the car and that’s an important part of ownership I’d say.

But why should one have to pay for a Mercedes to get all of this? Why can’t Honda or Acura do this for half the price?

My former boss had a 2002 Mercedes S500, and I was sorely disappointed by the interior. It was big, it was lavishly equipped, but it was a class-free environment. Gray leather seats that looked like elephant hide, fake-looking shiny wood that seemed glued on as an afterthought, mouse-fur headliner — I called it “a fat Camry.” For $95K, it was pretty unimpressive, both in design and in quality of materials, and that was pretty hard to swallow.

Down in more attainable price territory, I think features count for more. I have a Mazda3, and the interior styling is a mixed bag (the seats are nice, but the headliner is kind of cheap; the leather and steel gearshift knob is cool, but the silver plastic instrument surround is cheesy, and the fake carbon fiber on the dashboard is kind of tacky), but it has good ergonomics and a lot of thoughtful features. Steering-wheel radio controls is a nice touch at that price point (I was entertained when I saw that they were optional on the Volvo S40, which shares the same body and platform), the lighted visor mirrors are handy, and the split-level center console bins and flip-open cupholders are nice. The interior lights come up and fade out on a rheostat, rather than snapping on and off. Overall, it feels like they scrimped a little on some of the plastics and materials in order to add more features at an attractive price, and for less than $18K, that’s a compromise I can live with.

The quality of materials is important because I hang on to cars for a long time. My new car, a MINI, has a crappy plastic seam on the back of the door pull. I feel it every time I pull the door shut, and feel gyped.

Color is huge: I am sick of monochrome grey or biege interiors that have been standard fare for the last 30 years. Can’t things lighten up a bit, with a mix of colors, textures and, god forbid, even pattern? I swore that my next car wouldn’t have a monochrome interior, but given the options that were available, I ended up with a mostly black interior. The saving grace is the chrome bits and white piping on the seats, and white bolsters on the door and dash. I guess I hoped for something along the lines of an early 60’s mid-level Pontiac tri-tone interior.

Ergonomics is also really big. The old car has a decent drivers seat, but the passenger seat was so uncomfortable (fewer adjustements), that I always prefered to drive, even if a nap sounded good. The vent controls were so counter intuitive that after owning the car for 13 years, I still fumble with them. With the MINI I am learning the odd bits, but I don’t look forward to replacing the battery, because I am worried all my hard earned settings will go away.

Of course, I consider “the seat” to be part of “the interior,” and it is the absolute most important thing in any car. Have you ever had a car with a seat so uncomfortable that you didn’t want to drive it? That would be the all-time worst-case scenario.

Indeed, most “fuel-efficient” cars have AWFUL seats. Small, short, little seats with no padding, no bolstering, no thigh support. And no sales to someone like me.

Things like steering wheel tilt and telescope are important, along with seat adjustments. I’m like the proverbial over-50-year-old man: I want my eight-way power seat, dammit! So, seat comfort is the absolute most important thing to me, definitely.

Otherwise, I do want quality materials, at least to a certain level. It is a bit nicer to get beyond the econobox/Chrysler cheap plastic junk look. I also want materials that will stand up to decades of use.

I guess “design” is important to me — give me something beyond some kind of black, rectangular “double-DIN” stereo plugged into the middle of the center stack, for instance. I do like to see something “designed” beyond that.

I’m a hair lenient towards utterly-anal fit-and-finish complaints, though. I’ve seen vehicle reviews utterly RIP cars for fit and finish “problems” that can’t possibly be things more out of line than a millimeter or two — oh, it’s not “perfect,” but FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!! These are mass-produced vehicles, unless you’re in a different automotive universe than I am, and tolerances can’t be utterly perfect.

Finally, ergonomics ARE important. For instance, I spend several months a year wearing gloves, and there’s a big difference between rows of dozens of buttons, as compared to some bigger, chunkier controls that I can actually use just fine with my gloves on.

So, you bet — these things are important to me. I’ll spend more money — both for the car and perhaps for gas to cover perhaps a little less MPG — to get a pleasant, functional, comfortable interior.

The interior of my STi is great. Not showing wear and nothing broken after 3 years and 25k miles.

The interior of my wife’s neon is great. No fabric tears after 8 years & 160k miles. Seats are still comfortable. Car is cheap & reliable. Only thing broken is the snap on the center armrest (who cares?)

Interior is absolutely last in my priorities.

Give me good reliability, gas mileage, price, and power in that order.

A good interior to me says that the automaker took care to spend money on the car and didn’t cut corners, and that the people building the car took care to make sure everything was done properly. A poorly built or finished car makes me wonder if you didn’t take the effort on something I can see, what does that say about the things I can’t see?

The crappier the interior, the more likely you are to express road rage.

My road rage comes from inconsiderate drivers, left lane bandits, and those who use the shoulder to pass me on the right. It wouldn’t matter if I was in an Audi or Aveo.

I can’t equate crappy interiors with crappy restrooms. There’s no graffitti on my doors and the Magic Tree air freshener I use guarantees my car never smells like fecal matter.

Besides, standards of comfort are sometimes compromised when you really gotta go.

Let me ask you this.. remember the crappiest restroom you ever had to endure? If you don’t care about interiors, then heck.. as long as there is a seat, right?

You’re immediate surroundings are so important to how good you feel. Even the subtleties, like color shade and surface hardness, can accumulate in your subconscious.

The crappier the interior, the more likely you are to express road rage.

But now that good interiors are available in various cars across the price ranges, there’s no need to compromise. You can have your cake (get a good interior, instead of settling) and eat it, too (get the performance, options, etc. that you want.) Pass the cake and give me a fork.

Molding flashing and sharp edges should not be on any touchable surface.

Durability matters as well. Some interiors look great six or seven years on with reasonable care and some look ready for a redo by that point.

Styling isn’t a big deal as long as it is clean and ergonomic. Thus, for example, modern Mazdas are mostly too George Jettson for my taste.

So yeah, interiors matter a lot.