From the Ward's auto interior show:

Popular priced/ premium priced cars: Pontiac Solstice / Lincoln Zephyr
Popular priced/ premium priced CUV: Chevy HHR / Subaru B9 Tribeca
Popular priced/ premium priced trucks: Chevy Tahoe / Cadillac Escalade
Best Intrement cluster: Ford Mustang
Best Nav system: Honda's Acura Division
Best cupholders: Mercedes M-class
Best Sound System: Dodge Magnum's Boston's Acoustics system
Best seats system: Dodge Charger
Best interior innovation: Dodge Caravan's "Stow & Go" Seating


Future bonus: Interchangable interior trim pieces:
http://wardsauto.com/reports/2006/in...dles_attitude/

 

http://www.thecarconnection.com/Auto...73.A10505.html
Page down.

Notice that the media voted almost exclusively foreign and the Manufacturers had a more balance vote. I'd like to know what manufacturers where present at the conference. Media bias, of course not

 

Mustang best instrument cluster? ok...

 

Solstice?? It's interior isn't bad, but it's pretty spartan - not that I'm whining about it - that's par for the course.
Zephyr's interior is pretty cool - I won't argue it could be subjectively considered a great looking and well designed interior, but what exactly do they mean by 'premium' priced? If they're talking about even the 50-100k dollar range cars then I think any sane person would disagree. If premium means more like 30-40k or so then I understand where they'd coming from.

HHR?
I've seen the B9's interior in photos - it's definitely unique and eye-catching but haven't looked close enough to get a better opinion.

Agree 100% based on my experience to date.

WHAT? You must be kidding me. OK, OK this is all completely subjective afterall and apparently somebody had a hard-on for retro styled gauges. The style is 'neat' simply because it mimics 40 year old technology in gauges - but that's where it ends - again, modern gauges that look like ones from 40 years ago are not going to be the most visible, functional, and informative gauges to look at IMO. Is there a DIC? Is the backlighting LED? What makes them great except the funky styling?

I would say Honda/Acura's nav has been the indisputable king since the 2003 model year - it was co-developed between them and IBM and is truely a solid and well finished product. BUT others are starting to catch up.
Nationally speaking I think Japan has the best nav systems on the market, with the US market coming in a used to be distant, now closer second, and the Germans coming in so far behind I wonder if they've hired monkeys for the design group of their nav systems. Especially seeing the Benz nav found on a 100k+ Mercedes is just laughable how archaic it looks and feels.

Why they picked Acura over Honda - I guess if they had to pick one then that's fine but the two systems are literally identical in most regards. In fact if you 'hack' the DVD that runs them, they contain all the same files. You can make your Honda nav say "Acura" no prob. Acuras typically have an 8" screen though - Honda only gets 7". Some acuras also get realtime traffic which is artificially disabled on the Hondas but still there, really.
(PS- civic is an exception to the above in some regards)

OooK? I've spent all of about 30 minutes in my entire life riding in an M class and it wasn't the newest gen that just came out, either. I was completely unimpressed by it, but maybe had I looked at the cupholders I would have been?

Whaaaaat? Are you kidding me? There are SO many countless sound systems on the market that make that one look and sound like a childs toy its ridiculous. Unless they set like a 'under 30k' price limit on this category this makes absolutely ZERO sense. Almost every manufacturer including DC themselves makes more than one premium stereo system that will blow the Magnum's away.
The Bose in the STS sounds great, the Infiniti M-series optional Bose system is freaking crazy in terms of imaging, and the reigning kind of car audio systems has upped the bar again in the Lexus LS460 with its optional Mark Levinson 19-driver 7.1 setup.

I have to imagine this is based quite a bit on the way a person is build and how they like a seat to sit - low to the ground, high, what kinda lumbar and side bolstering, how much tilt, etc. I personally have never found the 'perfect' seat. Alas, maybe some day I will and shortly after will die in a horrible car wreck as it lulls me to sleep.

I'm not sure how impressive this really is from an engineering standpoint but if I were in the market for a minivan that would definitely be a BIG selling point to me assuming it didn't cause many other design compromises.


That'll be popular with the Scion type crowd. Not much else.

 

The Mustang uses 3 LED's per lighting element and makes the colors fully variable! That is what makes it unique. Also it hit the target for its market head on. I haven't seen one in action but I imagine that it is pretty cool.

 

This looks like crap to me:


Though the changing colors is kind of cool - it'd be cooler if ALL interior backlighting worked on the same system so you could vary them in sync.

Or is that actually the case already?

 

I have never really been that impressed about the Mustang gauge cluster, or anything at all interior wise.

I can't believe the Solstice won best interior. I thought it's interior sucked. The whole center piece running through the console is one really cheap looking piece of hard plastic. The new Miata's interior is a billion times better.

 

Maybe it isn't your cup of tea. Although I do like it. The DIC seems to be under the speedo guage.

 

With all the bashing that Ford and GM get for their interiors, I'm surprised by these ratings. I've never thought GM and Ford had bad interiors, it's just that at the end of a vehicle run they start to look dated.

I do not agree with the Mustang cluster for one reason. It is extremely difficult to get an accurate speed from the spedometer with a quick glance. The stupid spedometer only reads on in 20 mph increments. Look at the picture Threxx posted and you'll see what I mean. Horrible design. I had a Mustang for a rental to try it out, and the spedometer p1ssed me off the whole time. That, and the fact that there was no good place to rest your left arm. I couldn't get comfortable in that car.

Dan

 

No it isnt. While you can get about 20 unique colors for the gauge cluster, its for the gauges only. Your stereo and other items are still the generic Ford lime green.

Kinda makes the whole thing seem stupid.

 

I have never had much a problem with their interiors either. I just really don't like the new Mustang's interior very much. The gauges can change color, wow. The dash itself doesn't look that good, and it is difficult to read the speedo at a glance. I can't believe the Solstice beat out the Miata in interior rankings. The Miata's interior is good. The Solstice's didn't impress me at all.

 

Sky interior is loads better than Solstice....

 

Yes it is.

 

I think the Charger does have great seats, but I think the best are the ones in the SRT-8. OHG, it was like sitting in a bean bag in a car, that supported you perfectly on the sides, all though I guess that might change for a smaller person.

 

While I love my Solstice both inside and out (You should see the looks it gets when I park it out infront of my store with the top down and the rims/tires done!) the interior is clearly where GM skipped out.

Believe me, I am not moaning, groaning, griping or complaining, because the cost had to be cut somewhere. However the interior does scuff pretty easily and its tough to keep clean.

While I love my car, I can see why it won for the best price catagory.