Best interior design of current gen cars

[Jimmy Recard]

Julian Thompson said:

Well Jim I guess you don’t like it.

Sign you up for one of these older Peugeot beauties then shall we?

I like that

[Jimmy Recard]

flatso said:

It looks like an Oldsmobile

But it has a Lincoln logo on the steering wheel!

Lincoln Mark VIII

[Muddle238]

RATATTAK said:

Madam RATATTAK's Fiat is quite plush

Those Fiat 500 Riva things are actually very nicely finished, shame they don't come with a free Aquarama

[Fermit and Sarah]

Muddle238 said:

RATATTAK said:

Madam RATATTAK's Fiat is quite plush

Those Fiat 500 Riva things are actually very nicely finished, shame they don't come with a free Aquarama

A cream leather steering wheel is a stupid idea. That will look like crap at 5 years old.

[RATATTAK]

Fermit and Sarah said:

Muddle238 said:

RATATTAK said:

Madam RATATTAK's Fiat is quite plush

Those Fiat 500 Riva things are actually very nicely finished, shame they don't come with a free Aquarama

A cream leather steering wheel is a stupid idea. That will look like crap at 5 years old.

Like most women, my wife doesn't use the steering wheel much

[300bhp/ton]

unsprung said:

others may disagree, but a light tan interior, as used by many OEMs, always seemed rather cheap in appearance -- and sometimes shockingly so

I was delighted when I first stumbled upon the London Tan colour used by Jaguar; I love the tinge of ruddy red that brings this tan to life; it's classical and rich in character (two photos below); of course other OEMs have similar (Volvo in particular comes to mind)

Love the colour of those seats and the fact there is wood in there too. But the dash colour really doesn't go with the seats at all, they need to offer those seats with a different coloured dash IMO.

[unsprung]

300bhp/ton said:

Love the colour of those seats and the fact there is wood in there too.

the word, sumptuous, comes to mind... that colour and mingling with wood

wouldn't mind spending a lot of time with that

[anonymous-user]

I came to suggest the X351 Jaguar. The earlier cars had a better range of colours (and engines) too, the claret red dash being particularly striking.

My good friend depreciation should see a 5.0 Portfolio or Superport in my hands in the next 18-36 months

[white_goodman]

Prinny said:

To elaborate on what I said before, it’s not about whether a touchscreen or a dial or a switch is present, it’s about primary safety. Any action that can only be accessed using an interface that requires you to take your visual attention from the road & surroundings is detrimental to your control of the vehicle.

Changing the radio is something you might want to do, but you can wait x seconds while you pull out of a junction/whatever. Needing to change the air flow because your windows are misting up, or to flick on the wipers as it’s starting to rain, are things that can’t/shouldn’t wait.

By putting the controls for the air distribution in a touchscreen, you’re forcing the user to divert attention to the touchscreen itself, rather than the road, at precisely the point the driver needs to concentrate more on the road, as the view out has been decreased in acuity. It’s therefore less safe. (Would anyone consider replacing a column stalk for the wipers with a touchscreen button in a sub-menu? Don’t think so).

Don’t get me wrong, I am not anti-touchscreen, and for things like Navigation/ Entertainment/ Handsfree ‘phone, I have no issue at all with one. Indeed, I’ll sync my ipad to the car I get tomorrow evening at the airport & happily use the touchscreen to select tracks while I’m driving along. I’m more than confident that the majority of drivers, the majority of the time will be able to use a touchscreen sufficiently well that incidents won’t occur.

However, at an absolute level, I believe touchscreen control of HVAC is inherently more dangerous than that of knobs/sliders & therefore I will not buy a car that features it. Good design is also about suitability of usage, not just aesthetics.

Agreed and if the touchscreen freezes or breaks, you can't adjust the HVAC, which is kind of silly! I also hate it when heated seats/steering are embedded in a sub-menu on the touchscreen. The only vehicle that I have owned with a touchscreen could also not be operated in cold weather with gloves on but maybe they have got around that issue now?

Edited by white_goodman on Tuesday 20th November 18:29

[RATATTAK]

I had an XJL and it was a lovely well designed car inside ... when Bentley finished the GT, a fair number of contract designers went to JLR to assist in the pre- production of the current Jags and they took a lot of expertise with them ... it's just a pity that JLR's dealerships are usually so poor

[white_goodman]

Brainpox said:

You can't blanket say touchscreens are better or buttons are better. If well designed they will both be easy to use.

When a touchscreen hides heated seats controls in a menu within a menu, that's a backwards step compared to having a single button you press.

My R56 Mini has the fog light switches right at the bottom of the centre console, behind the gear lever. Maybe it's a retro touch but ergonomically it's a really bad design choice and more often than not I open the windows rather than turn the fog lights on.

I have an R56 MINI too and like the style of the interior but it is a triumph of style over function! I do however like the mobile phone integration (no stupid voice command), it's the only car that I've owned where I have used the hands-free because it's nice and easy to scroll through my phone book on the central screen and make a call. My wife's Fiat 500 interior probably offered a better compromise between style and ergonomics though.

[mike9009]

white_goodman said:

Prinny said:

To elaborate on what I said before, it’s not about whether a touchscreen or a dial or a switch is present, it’s about primary safety. Any action that can only be accessed using an interface that requires you to take your visual attention from the road & surroundings is detrimental to your control of the vehicle.

Changing the radio is something you might want to do, but you can wait x seconds while you pull out of a junction/whatever. Needing to change the air flow because your windows are misting up, or to flick on the wipers as it’s starting to rain, are things that can’t/shouldn’t wait.

By putting the controls for the air distribution in a touchscreen, you’re forcing the user to divert attention to the touchscreen itself, rather than the road, at precisely the point the driver needs to concentrate more on the road, as the view out has been decreased in acuity. It’s therefore less safe. (Would anyone consider replacing a column stalk for the wipers with a touchscreen button in a sub-menu? Don’t think so).

Don’t get me wrong, I am not anti-touchscreen, and for things like Navigation/ Entertainment/ Handsfree ‘phone, I have no issue at all with one. Indeed, I’ll sync my ipad to the car I get tomorrow evening at the airport & happily use the touchscreen to select tracks while I’m driving along. I’m more than confident that the majority of drivers, the majority of the time will be able to use a touchscreen sufficiently well that incidents won’t occur.

However, at an absolute level, I believe touchscreen control of HVAC is inherently more dangerous than that of knobs/sliders & therefore I will not buy a car that features it. Good design is also about suitability of usage, not just aesthetics.

Agreed and if the touchscreen freezes or breaks, you can't adjust the HVAC, which is kind of silly! I also hate it when heated seats/steering are embedded in a sub-menu on the touchscreen.

I agree. I don't like touchscreens (our Nissan Note has one) I don't like masses of buttons (especially those which trended on BMWs and Audis at the end of last century). I hope on modern stuff, Alexa (or similar) will get integrated to control everything from stereo, temps, air velocity, heated seats, sat nav etc. . And then just a couple of minimalist knobs and stalks to control the essential safety gubbins.

The only new car we bought (2002 MINI One) was specced quite highly interior wise (at the end of the day we spent more time staring at the steering wheel than looking at the alloys) but we wanted a clean look so unspecced the Rev counter/ speedo which sat above the steering wheel to give a 'cleaner' uncluttered look. It was quite difficult to get the options we wanted with this 'look'.

I do like the overall style of the Peugeot though ..... even though I would not be in the market for a new car nowadays. The Lexus has too many buttons for me.


Mike

[fatboy b]

RATATTAK said:

I had an XJL and it was a lovely well designed car inside ... when Bentley finished the GT, a fair number of contract designers went to JLR to assist in the pre- production of the current Jags and they took a lot of expertise with them ... it's just a pity that JLR's dealerships are usually so poor

I’m surprised the contract designers took experience with them as they have very little to start with other than being able to drive a CAD system. And even that is done with difficulty sometimes. It’s the engineers they work for who have the say.

[RATATTAK]

fatboy b said:

I’m surprised the contract designers took experience with them as they have very little to start with other than being able to drive a CAD system. And even that is done with difficulty sometimes. It’s the engineers they work for who have the say.

Are you confusing 'expertise' with 'experience' ?