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I'm a real stickler for interior material quality. I feel Mercedes has gotten it right in their recent sedans, especially the W222 S-class.
Porsche is making some solid interiors, the new Panamera sets the bar extremely high. It is both visually striking and solidly built with top-notch materials. My only gripe with Porsche is that they never put metal-finish buttons the way Mercedes has been doing.
I think BMW's most "interesting" interior was that in the E65 Bangle 7-series. Certainly more visually appealing than that of the outgoing F01 and the newest 7er.
My folks had a 2007 Audi A6 which was excellent. The crisp white ambient lighting beneath the door wood trim and foot wells was a very nice touch. Sure, looking at photos now that interior looks very "meh," but back then it was among the best.
I'm too young to have a lot of personal experience with cars before the '00s, so I can't speak much for them. I will say, however, that a lot of Mercedes aficionados like to rave about the interiors of the 80s and 90s Mercs compared to today's models. However, from looking at photos at least, those models all had plain black plastic buttons and infused plastic dashboards. Nowadays, the E and S class are offered with leather dashboards, and even the standard infused plastic dash is finished with a "grainy" texture and stitching. The buttons are also finished in metal. I see now way that one could say that Mercedes sedans don't have the best interiors they've had in generations.
New Mercedes interiors are a big improvement from the previous generation and very nice but maybe a little over hyped. Disagree about the new Panamera, I don't like its new interior, they got rid of just about all the buttons for that stupid annoying touchscreen crap. I have been reading complaints about it being difficult to use, features needlessly buried in menu's, and the older one with the buttons was much more intuitive. I thought the older Panamera interior was much nicer but the exterior was ugly, now the exterior is better looking but the interior took a step down.
2007 Audi A6 was nice, I thought the previous generation A6 looked nicer inside and out, very unique design though extremely problematic and poor reliability. I briefly considered getting one but would not because of reliability issues.
That Northstar power, though, in a transverse/FWD layout (which Sevilles had in the 1990s) led to complaints of torque-steer. Plus, Northstars, as the miles built up, tended to use a lot of oil.
Back to the interior, though, Steve had a point. It was extremely well-done for GM 90s-vintage, where most of their vehicles had not only acres of El Cheapo plastic and fit/finish that would be out of place even on a kid's toy, but certain Buick and Oldsmobile models (particularly the Olds 88 and 98) had row after row of virtually identical buttons on the dash that were an insult to human intelligence.
That, BTW, brings up an interesting exchange I had with the Oldsmobile reps, back in the 90s, at the D.C. Auto Show. I pointed out that nonsense on the dash to them, and a couple of them looked oddly at me and asked "What's wrong with it"? When I pointed out that a design like that was very difficult for someone to decipher while trying to keep one's eyes on the road (especially considering that big Buick and Olds vehicles were quite popular with seniors who often had weak eyesight and slow reflexes while trying to deal with confusing small buttons, they said "You're wrong....drivers won't have any problems with them. Our designers know what they're doing". I told them "Wait and see....you guys keep trying to sell designs like this, and this company's sales are going to dry up, and you just might go out of business." Well, basically, they laughed at me. Yet, less than two years later, the interior of the big Olds 88 and 98 models was in fact redesigned, and they replaced many of those buttons with a lesser number of rotary-dials and switches, which made it much easier to adjust things. Yet, by then, it was too late......Olds, in fact, DID go out of business. Even the new Aurora couldn't save them.
My friends parents got that Olds 88 or 98 in the early 90's. I remember getting a ride in it and the father kept talking about all the features it had like he was bragging and it was some kind of miracle car. I thought it was nice, some of the features were interesting but even I could tell the car was not that well built and kind of old fashioned, seemed like a sloppy driver compared to Japanese and German cars I had ridden in. I did find it funny that the Olds 88 or 98 seemed to have more features then much more expensive Cadillacs and Lincoln Town cars I rode in which I guess is how Buicks and Oldsmobiles got the poor mans Cadillac label by some.
I can't believe Cadillac followed up on the excellent 1998 STS with this Crapillac of an interior. Such a let down.
I really wanted to like the new for 2004 STS, but for some reason it never really hit the mark for me. It was a better car than the outgoing Seville, much better RWD chassis, they fixed the Northstar headgasket problem FINALLY, and it has proven to be more reliable as time has gone on. I think the big thing was the interior flat out sucked IMO. Material quality wasn't as good as past Cadillacs, all of the plastic was very cheap, hollowing feeling. The gear shift lever was loose/sloppy when it left the factory. This was also from the GM era of the paint coming off the interior buttons around 30,000 miles. Looks great in photos, leaves a lot to be desired in person.
Here are a few more, Jag XKE, XJ6/XJ40, Lamborghini Urraco, Ford GT, Maybach, more Bentley Mulsanne(I think it looks better then a Rolls Royce interior).
As far as the old school Mercedes, built to a standard, not a price era, I always liked the 1980's SL
The 90's S-class was pretty posh inside as well, built to a way higher standard than the junk car that replaced it.
The W220 was horrible inside and out. The Chrysler era really ruined Mercedes and they are still digging themselves out of that hole. Their recent products beginning with the W222 have been redeeming their reputation, but in my eyes their SUVs (aside from the GLC) are still crap relics from the Chrysler days. I don't understand why so many people buy the GLE, for example, when every competitor is newer with a higher quality interior and superior driving dynamics. Plus I can't get over that "egg" shape that's been a trademark of every ML since its inception.
My friends parents got that Olds 88 or 98 in the early 90's. I remember getting a ride in it and the father kept talking about all the features it had like he was bragging and it was some kind of miracle car. I thought it was nice, some of the features were interesting but even I could tell the car was not that well built and kind of old fashioned, seemed like a sloppy driver compared to Japanese and German cars I had ridden in. I did find it funny that the Olds 88 or 98 seemed to have more features then much more expensive Cadillacs and Lincoln Town cars I rode in which I guess is how Buicks and Oldsmobiles got the poor mans Cadillac label by some.
The Olds 88 photo is the perfect example of why I can't stand the new Mercedes E-Class dash. Totally old-fashioned and retro shape takes the car back to the lackluster 70's and 80's designs.
Your man Lutz said that interior was actually expensive, they just managed to make it seem cheap.
Well, of course, being a Cadillac, the CTS was not a cheap car to start with, starting (at the time) over 30K. My point was that whatever it cost in actual dollars, that interior, IMO was not worthy of the Cadillac nameplate.
At the time, I served, at Cadillac's invitation, on a local focus-panel here in my area where we were asked our opinions of the 1Gen CTS's development and marketing. I said then I thought the interior needed a lot more work.
Lutz arrived at GM too late to have much, if any, say in the development of the 1Gen CTS. Lee Iacocca later said, BTW, that, when he retired, he admitted that it was a mistake for him not to pick Lutz as his successor. He picked Bob Eaton instead....and later regretted it. Iacocca and Lutz, though, at the time, were not getting along.
well, i went to the san diego car show today and i was very impressed with audi's interiors as well as (and surprisingly so) cadillac's interiors.
Which Audi and Caddy interiors did you like best? The A8's was probably the most ornate-looking, as would probably be expected from the price.
Did you get to see the new 2017 Lincoln Continental's interior at the show? That one, for sheer glitz, is a tremendous advance over its predecessors, and brings back much of the traditional Detroit luxury-car bling that has been missing for decades.
12-30-16, 05:22 AM
The A8's was probably the most ornate-looking, as would probably be expected from the price.
