I'm still thoroughly loving my HS, but still can't help but notice the occasional serious design flaw. For instance, why, on earth, would this luxury car maker:

[1] Put the power port and AUX inputs out in plain sight, forcing you to lay the iPod on top of the seat heater controls or on the passenger seat,

and

[2] Label them with those tacky black plastic covers with stamped white writing? It looks like something you'd find on a snow blower or outboard motor...

 

You're correct. As a matter of fact, those 2 plugs are too ugly to be soo upfront in your face everyday.

 

The location is odd and non-standard, although IIRC the Gen-2 Prius had a power jack on the right wall of the center stack near the passenger fotwell. Other than my cynical knee-jerk reaction that it was done to reduce cost by shortening the wire harness, perhaps the intended use scenario differs from what we assume. Since the car has Bluetooth audio streaming capability, perhaps the designers figured the audio jack would rarely be used by the driver who presumably would buy a compatible portable audio device, and instead would mainly be used by friends in the passenger seat to share their music? The power outlet may be external because of an assumption people would charge their devices at home and thus only need the jack for a 3rd party navigation system or other device that would be used while not stored in the console box?

I see this car, like the Prius, as something originally designed for the Japanese consumer and not substantially changed to suit the typical American demographic. I say this because of the heavy emphasis on high tech features, it being luxurious & loaded despite being compact in size, and the fact it's a hot seller in Japan. So, maybe the jacks were positioned to best suit consumers in Japan.

 

I'm going to offer a differing point of view on this topic.

I like the power/input "plugs" where they are. It is seldom that I use these ports ... but when I do ... I like the fact that I don't have to open up the center console to get to it and bend over to align and plug into the ports.

I do agree they could have cosmetically made it blend in better.

 

I totally agree. I find their location very convenient. I wouldn't label it a "serious design flaw" but they at least could have labeled each without using a contrasting color.

 

If you own your car and really hate them, any car audio shop worth their salt can easily relocate those items to your center console box and put black plugs over the current holes. I'd have had mine done already if I didn't lease the car.

 

IMO that entire area is a design flaw from the dash down. Every other Lexus has the seat heaters and ventilators underneath the storage bin lid. and that wood piece looks like an afterthought. and looks how the crest of the dash (in your picture) is not centered. that would drive me mad. I like the left side of my interiors to be a mirror image of the right side. none of this tilting to one side nonsense. sadly, lexus is moving away from that

 

Not all Lexus models have the seat temp controls under the storage bin lids. The ES has them in front of the bin. Actually, I like the HS' positioning of these controls out in the open since I use them all the time.

The asymmetrical interior styling cues seem to have started when they began touting the "L-Finesse" design language. I, personally, think that if done correctly, asymmetry can make the interior look more upscale and sophisticated and interesting. The asymmetry in the photo above does look goofy. However, sitting in the car and looking at the pictured area from arm's length, I never noticed the asymmetry. My guess is the designers wanted to increase the perceived width of the driver's space.

 

I dunno. I like how convenient they are to get to. I use mine daily and just drop my iPhone in the little compartment next to the drink holder.

 

you know, I looked at my center console today and for the life of me it looks symmetrical. I'm not seeing what that pic above appears to show - I wonder if it's just an illusion from the camera angle?

I kind of agree on the accessibility of these ports. Yeah they look ugly, but when I'm on the road and my phone's low battery bleeps, it's nice to have easy access to that plug.

 

I take it back - while the point where the center stack meets the floor is close to symmetrical to my eye, the mouse area is definitely off-center towards the passenger. I couldn't really see it until I looked from the back seat.

I think it's more than perceived space - it's likely to position the mouse at an optimum location relative to the arm rest. Or maybe the driver just needs that amount of space for his/her knee - I know the Audi A3's center console rubbed against my knee no matter what seat position I tried, and it was a major reason I didn't buy it. No such problem in the HS.

And I'm fine with asymmetrical interiors, but maybe it's because I'm so used to it coming from a Saab, which has the whole "cockpit" theme.

 

Boy is that ugly. The plastic and the fit are terrible. That's a Lexus?

 

Can you control your ipod from the nav in the hs, or any lexus for that matter kike you can in mercedes, or do you control everything from the ipod itself?

 

You control it from the console, not the iPod

 

Guess that is an HS thing, as the IS's are from the iPod only.

...and when is Lexus going to come out with their version of the BMW iDrive; for radio control in front of the arm rest??? MB and BMW have had it for years, yet Lexus has yet to make a vehicle with it.