So, I spent the day at the DC Car Show, and despite many manufacturers being absent this year, I came away with a big AHA. Mainstream cars are getting really good. So good, it makes you wonder if a luxury branded car is worth it today.

I was really impressed by the huge strides in quality that mainstream brands have made. Makes that really stood out to me...Toyota has really upped their interior quality game. The new Tundra is extremely nice inside, even the latest Rav 4 has surprisingly nice materials. The new Kias are amazing. Real metal trim, quilted leather...avant garde designs. NISSAN! I was blown away by the new Rogue with quilted leather and nice heft to the doors and great materials...the new Pathfinder is great. Sitting in a Lexus ES, RX, NX...truly they don't feel as high end as a Kia or Nissan, I thought the new Sorrento and the new Rogue BOTH felt more upscale and more expensive than the new NX. And Acuras, felt a wide gap lower even the all new MDX. Even Subarus which I have long derided for being crummy inside have really taken a big step up...

It really does make me wonder if I want to get something really special like an LC or an SL or something and could I drive something mainstream every day and be happy with it...

 

The car that really impressed me recently was the C8 Corvette.
I sat in a 2LT packaged car - the seats and seating position are perfect. The interior materials, design, and build quality are all top notch and feel solid. Plus the customization it offers - with colors combinations, stitching, options are all luxury level stuff. None of the parts in the interior feel like they are shared with a Malibu or other cheap Chevys. It truly feels like $100k + car that you can get very well optioned for about $85k.

I give GM and the Corvette team huge credit on really taking the C8 2-3 levels above what the C7 was. The C7 interior smelled like cheap plastic if you ever sat in a new one. The Gauges and switch gear were straight from a Malibu, and build quality was still subpar.

 

well as someone with a top trim mainstream suv (santa fe) and an LC500, i can tell you there's a big difference.

the LC has VERY little plastic trim anywhere inside. it's metal, fake leather, leather, or alcantara.
don't get me wrong i love the santa fe though too, and for 40% the price or an LC, it's an unbelievably good value. and it has many features the LC doesn't. the santa fe is GREAT. the LC is an experience.

 

I think car interiors in general are just better than they've ever been, luxury or mainstream. 20 years ago, this was your average luxury car interior: a sea of plastic. I'm not even sure I would place these above a Tesla Model 3 interior. Quilted/stitched leather and metal switchgear were the realm of Bentley and above.

 

I see Jag wasn't at the show this year, but do you also think their recent interiors are better than the classic wood/leather ones they used to have? That seems like a hard sell to me.

 

That's not a recent Jaguar interior.

 

^^^^^^^ Still no equal to their classics, IMHO.

 

I disagree. That S-Type dash is mostly plastic with nasty Ford buttons. A few slabs of wood isn't enough to hide the cheapness. Meanwhile the new XF has an almost entirely leather dash, is quilted, with real metal switchgear and accents, and much classier and more tastefully applied matte wood trim.

 

No question, they are a screaming value. Of course people are paying big markups...

So thats the interesting thing. They had a Santa Fe and a Palisade Calligraphy, the latest models from Kia and Nissan have MUCH better interiors, really really impressive. Of course its nothing like an LC, and you don't get the quality platform ans suspension etc but that's my point...you don't get that in an NX or RX or MDX or RDX either. But the Sorrento and the Rogue specifically blew me away for the money. Blew me away. The Rogue felt much higher end than the new NX which was right across the aisle.

From a straight quality perspective, they blow them away. The latest versions like the XF Motorola posted, the older XF you posted has quality warts, but the latest stuff is much better than those old 2000s Jags.

 

Not surprising at all, "normal" cars are getting very expensive so they need to offer something. The driving experience also doesn't necessarily correlate with an interior.

 

Shocked by the Nissan Rogue comment, Nissan typically feels so cheap to me.

 

They are really trying hard with their new gen stuff, same with Jeep

 

HUGE improvement, my cousin ha ps the last gen Rogue I have driven and been in many times. Hard to believe these are the same model.

 

What was interesting, though, is that the last-couple of generations of Rogue (and Rogue Sport) sold very well, despite the less-than-ideal trimmings inside. A lot of people were scooping them up (including in my own condo development) apparently for the low price and the fact that they didn't have to mortgage their houses to get one.

 

The new Pathfinder and the QX60 are way more improved than their last generation.

My neighbor who had been leasing Rav4s for his daughters came back with a Rogue recently. He said it was the only thing he could find in lot. For an entry level model it’s very well put together. I think there are three of them within a block radius from me.