While I've never cared for fake wood in a car's interior (or exterior for that matter), real wook accents in a car is a very good thing (if done right).

As far as the picture goes, there are a lot of people who would probably prefer even fake wood to just plain, hard, plastic.

 

While there may be some truth to that, I think it is largely bullcrap.

I'd bet that, as sharply styled as that Corolla interior may be, it will still be primarily cheap, hard plastics. Because that is the price range. Just like when you get into a Tacoma (or Colorado), it has cheap, hard plastics. I love the latent attitude that the domestics can never innovate or create nice interior on their own. Some people seem to think they sit around and wait for the next Toyota or Honda to come out. Then they tear them down, and measure them, and that is entirely how they design and engineer their next car. That is ridiculous. Sure, they tear into the competition (it's called benchmarking). So do the Japanese. Does anyone really think that Toyota and Nissan didn't tear apart any GMT800s or F150s when designing the Tundra and Titan? Does anyone think that cost is not a major factor for imports? Everyone benchmarks, and everyone weighs costs...

I think some imports do a little better job of making the plastics feel a little better to the touch (even though they are still equivalently hard and hollow). Perhaps because they don't have to cut the costs quite so much. After all, when you aren't saddled with an extra $1400 bucks in legacy health care per vehicle, you can more easily spend that extra $10.00 in the interior without hurting the bottom line. A sad, old excuse, but true nonetheless. In the world of small cars, profit margins are pretty thin...$1400 goes a LONG way...



It sucks. As for that Corolla interior, it is pretty decent looking based on that pic. Not sure about the HVAC controls, but the overall look is pretty clean and stylish for an entry level car. Looks nicer (but less daring) than the new Civic interior, with its goofy two tier instrument panel. It does look a little more integrated than the current Cobalt interior, but remember that the Cobalt will be starting its 4th model year when that Corolla debuts...

 

I don't see anything ground breaking either. The center stack looks nice and intergrated Nav is a very big plus. Now that the Yaris is the main small car at Toyota I guess they will push the Corola up the food chain a little.

 

Raises the bar? yeah..
Unattainable? Of course not..
Likely to be attained (or more importantly, surpassed) by GM next go-round of the Cobalt? We'll see. They've been doing good with their more expensive vehicles recently.

 

I'm sure the plastics will be somewhat cheap and hard but I'll bet you they're no more, if not less cheap than anything else in that class. We're talking relativity here.

I mean yes the Tacoma's interior is not going to blow anybody away but it only takes the average consumer to tell you that the Tacoma's interior materials are still noticably nicer than the Colorado.

 

.....and cheap hard plastics are ok . I dont fondle the dash , BUT .....GM's biggest crime with the hard plastic is surface texure that is often shiney and its just textured to look cheap . Hard plastic doent have to LOOK cheap . Its the ONLY thing I hate about my current Cobalt SS interior . After being in it for over a year and 40K miles .....I really really love the design of the entire interior and dash , but I hate the fact they skimped and in alot of places used cavalier grade plastics . There alot of area where Chevy did pay attention to detail like ..... the a-pillar trims that have the exact same weave pattern molded in as the woven headliner ( it looks great !) , the silver stitching on the leather seats with matching silver stitching on the steering wheel , all of the chrome accents that are really tastful and not over done at all , all of the panels inside fit well ....the gaps are small and have perfect alingment . And now the bad stuff , that really makes ya overlook the things they did sweat the details on . The plastic is deeply grained and tends to start getting a shine to it after its cleaned a few times . It also scratches extremely easy and the same texture is on almost every panel in the car It would have cost virtually nothing more to have chosen a richer looking texture for the dash top and the sills at the top of the door panels with nice satin low gloss sheen . One that would have taken a lil more abuse without looking worn and been less prone to scratches The leather seats were so bad , that I sold my stock leather seats after 2 months having the car . The leather was all wrinked on the driver seat AFTER 2 MONTHS of being BRAND NEW !!! The color matched inserts , in 3 different colors , was and still are a nice option . Still doesnt hide the fact the worse than bad leather quality isnt acceptable at any price level . At my cost , I bought new Recaro seats ...which Ive had for a year and 1 month . The Recaro's are not wrinking at all . If your gonna force people to have leather by making it standard , or the base model Cobalts where leather was a pretty expensive option , at least use leather that will stand up and not look like a 3 year old car within the first year The silver dash trim is a nice touch but the shade of silver choosen looks cheaper and worse than solver trims Ive seen in car costing less . It get worse in the base models than have the graphite trim . By choosing more attractive paints on the accent panels .....such as the bright silver used in saturns which looks really good , woulda went along way in making the interior more attractive . The sunroof button is cheap and you have to hold it down to open it all the way , whaaaa ! The balt may be the only car on the market that doesnt not have a express open sunroof ....EVEN THE OLD CAVILIERS HAD A ONE TOUCH OPEN SUNROOF . Ya know , this one is not a big deal , but come on , lol
Just by doing ALOT better in those few area's ....which really shouldnt have cost any more money at the design stage , the clean simple interior design of the current Cobalt interior could been head of the pack right now .

DO I think the Cobalt will get a better interior .....yes . Do I think it will be head of class ....sorry , but I would have to see it to believe it :shrugs:

The Mazda 3's interior would be a good place to source , not copy ....how to make a interior look good by proper material selection . The 3's interior looks "almost" on par with the last gen of Audi's .

 

Better yet , take the cool interior from the cool 07 cancelled ION program and give to the Cobalt . Then Chevy would be in business

 

other than the cupholders behind the shifter that look like it beats it. now put that as is in the cobalt!!!!!!

 

Now that would be awesome.

 

I think you guys get too caught up in interiors. I guess im the minority here. my beretta's dash looks like the beginning of a volcano, the entire piece that surrounds the radio and hvac is missing, there are no cup holders, and the floor usually has water in it from a leak I can not find.
the seats are good and the shifter is comfortable to reach. Im happy. I don't go touching surfaces to see how they feel or get pissed when the stitching in my arm rest isnt even real.

 

Your leak may be coming from the sides of the firewall. I read that was common on the L-bodies. Had the same thing in a Corsica my wife used to have. Apparently if you pull the stuff off the firewall you might be able to find it and then you can put some epoxy on it and plug the whole.

 

I hear ya! I've sat in tons of different cars at the auto show, etc., but I sill can't say "oh, wow, is that <insert popular import brand here> interior EVER amazing! I can't believe how much those GM's sucked in comparison?! "

... sorry, I just don't see it? But I'm probably a bad gauge too ... I see very little wrong with the interior of my Camaro?! Sure, maybe they could use a little softer leather that doesn't wear or crack so easily along the outside edge of the driver's seat, but mine is only starting to go now after ~4 years ... it's been pretty good otherwise . But the APPEARANCE of the 4th-gen interior is great IMO. But maybe I've just grown up with a lower standard for car interiors ... usually it's the EXTERIOR that makes it or breaks it for me?

 

thing is we're not the ones GM needs to impress...it's the ones driving toyotas....and that's one area they always use to beat down on GM....i want to stop hearing their crap.

 

yah but people who bought imports back in the early 90's didnt buy them cuase there interior was WOW they bought them cuase they ran for ever and domestic cars died and they got a loyal following becuase of that.

 

That looks a lot cooler than the Corola interior. Just make Nav an option and they have Toyota beat.