Considering how much time you spend it it, it’s somewhat surprising how ugly a lot of new car interiors seem to be. Maybe it’s discordant textures, poorly designed controls, or just a general feeling that the designers were trying to pull something over on somebody, but some cars simply look funky inside.
Thinking about the slate of cars that have just recently been introduced or refreshed, is there one that stands out as needing the description of “having a nice personality” to get past its interior shortcomings? What do you think is the car with the ugliest interior?
Image: autohit
Hooniverse Asks: What Current Car Has The Ugliest Interior?
By Robert Emslie
Jan 5, 2017
Jeff Glucker
My fiesta has black below the windows and then beige above it. Bugs the crap outta me. Other than that, not too ugly. But mixed interior trim is a heinous crime.
Deliberately mixed can be neat… for example, my ’73 Cougar (blue car with a white vinyl ‘canopy’ roof) had blue on the dashboard, center console, and carpet with white headliner, inner door panels, pillar covers, and seats.
That’s pretty cool! I’m just not a tan fan, I guess, with trim.
I had a ’09 WRX that was similar. I think my ’15 FiST has a black headliner tho
The ST versions are the ones with a solid interior. There was a wrecked FiST near me for $2500 but I just didn’t have the space. Would have been interesting.
Absolutely anything with the “off brand iPad glued haphazardly to the dash” effect. Mercedes Benz is the worst offender for this. This is my currently my biggest design pet peeve.
https://acarisnotarefrigerator.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/2014-mb-cla250-int1.jpg
At least the A3’s display goes away.
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/pGFHyDQzHVU/hqdefault.jpg
Agree. While we’re on the subject of Mercedes, I’ve also never liked that row of round air vents — reminds me of certain cheesy old dealer-installed under-dash air conditioners.
Especially the current S-Class, which has four(!) vents in the center:
https://assets.mbusa.com/vcm/MB/DigitalAssets/Vehicles/Models/2015/S550V/Features/2015-S-CLASS-S600-SEDAN-013-MCFO.jpg
Presumably one of the best cars in the world…and the dashboard looks like a “how do we fill this space?”-decision done in a few minutes. That row of buttons below the vents doesn’t make it better either.
That dash is one huge continuous display. Neato-frito, huh? Well, at least as long as it works. But Mercedes doesn’t build cars for life anymore, so who cares about the second or third (or fourth, fifth) owner of a car?
I miss when a luxury car had gauges like a fancy watch, rather than a boring LCD display. It’s way less luxurious to just have a screen there.
Exactly. When I can buy a 10″ off-brand 1080p tablet on Amazon for ~$100, it becomes clear that an LCD panel is the cheap option.
Yup. That’s a better example of what I’m talking about.
it’s a throwback design.
http://autowpaper.com/images/mercedes-r107-interior-1.jpg
I do not care for the Accord’s dash – there is no flow. It looks like Lego pieces stacked together.
http://newcarsreleasedates.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/2017-Honda-Accord-interior.jpg
My other interior gripe is the continued lack of color. I abhor gray as an interior color – I’d rather have late ’80s GM Bordello Red than mousy gray. Yuck.
Anything other than black or grey is good. Except beige. But brown is good. The new Continental has an available blue interior which looks quite good.
I rent a lot of crossovers in my western road trips. I’ve been disappointed with the Kia Sorento and Infiniti QX60. But the Buick Enclave interior is so ugly, I switched to an QX60 as soon as it was offered to me. The glossy surfaces. The arched center console. That analog clock. It’s a depressing place to be.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c50c9579dc47ee6aff0fb3fea7e4086c7ca377a57f841e6b3ace27c4817cb81c.jpg
If you don’t like analog clocks perhaps you should not be commenting on an automotive forum. Suck it.
Wait’ll you hear what I think about manual transmissions.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ec9e742c0bab7b200f39e33dec90569a2b0e2ac7e8c6e4cab80518c11ababcb9.jpg
Those seat bottoms look like sectioned pieces of plywood they are so flat. Hows the comfort compare?
I have a good memory of seat comfort. The Infiniti didn’t cradle me as well as a Volvo, but it was pretty good. The Kia Sorento was not good. The Toyota RAV4 was worse. Ford Escape was very good. Volvo XC60 and Land Rover Discovery Sport were top notch and shared some DNA.
Oh I got another one. The current 4Runner. Such a great truck. Such a great exterior. Still made in Japan. But that Playskool plastic interior. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/654bb99e64b488205963640ab3d59f8a9a150efa534e2a1d326fc1806c602917.jpg
Hey!!!
Well, it’s true. Pictured is the “nicer” Limited model. My car is even worse. Whatever, you get used to it.
And it is easy to clean. You’re not going to ruin anything special with a damp cloth after a muddy day.
Or kids’ pudding.
There’s so much to like about the Ford Focus, but since they started offering it, they went for 90’s boomblaster aesthetics for the dashboard. It sure looks a bit more civilised for 2017, but it still is one ugly mess I wouldn’t want to see every day.
http://www.futureautoreview.com/wp-content/uploads/photo-gallery/FORD/2017%20Ford%20Focus/2017_Ford_Focus_interior.png
Wow. That dash has everything! from a more than complete set of gauges to digital readouts everywhere, a complete complement of knobs and buttons, and what looks like an anatomically correct representation of a male figure.
And a happy looking steering wheel.
…with a huge pimple on one side.
The vertical vents always bothered me.
Not the reason I sold the car though.
Mini keeps designing new interiors, but they just can’t shake their bad case of The Uglies. Getting away from the circular air vents should have helped. It doesn’t.
http://cdn.bimmertoday.de/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/2017-MINI-Countryman-F60-Cooper-S-ALL4-07.jpg
Test drove a newish Mini a few months ago, had to figure out how to shut off the rainbow disco lights around the radio. “I’m a 44 year old man, I like the Mini, but don’t need that crap!”
Yeah these vents somehow look worse.
At it’s size and price level I expect the MINI to be a little cheeky and juvenile, this doesn’t look like the interior of a lightweight runabout. Maybe I have too much seat time in the first-gen MINI with it’s cartoony plasticky interior.
Subaru has improved a bit, but they’re still stuck with the tacky plastic style from ten years ago. It doesn’t look cozy at all.
http://autonxt.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/2015-Subaru-Legacy12.jpg
That makes my Kizashi look downright luxurious!
Acres of hard plastic, check. Easy to peel “soft touch plastic” on the steering wheel, check. Looks like it might outlast me (minus the peeled off “soft touch”), check. 2011 Silverado Work Truck.
http://static.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/images/Auto/izmo/332913/2012_chevrolet_silverado_1500_dashboard.jpg
I hope the current truck is trimmed better. That’s dismal.
http://onsurga.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/2011-Chevy-Silverado-1500-Interior.jpg
As a possibly Encyclopedia Hoonatica-worthy detail, the GMT900 came with two separate dashboards, depending on the trim (IOW, nicer Silverados got the Tahoe/Suburban dash).
http://www.chevrolet.com/content/chevrolet/northamerica/usa/nscwebsite/en/index/all-vehicles-nav/trucks-and-vans/2017-silverado-1500/photos-and-videos/interior/jcr:content/mm_gal_c2/thumbnailArea/mm_gal_item_c2_0.img_resize.img_stage._3.jpg
The current one is fine. There’s some cheap plastics in spots, but it works.
It looks like they saw how much space they had to fill and after designing it, they expanded it 2x to use up the real estate, but took the glove box from the cruze parts bin.
Can there really be any debate?
http://static.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/images/Auto/izmo/i2548922/2017_nissan_versa_sedan_dashboard.jpg
(it’s a Versa)
Yeah, you definitely get what you pay for.
The absence of any noteworthy features does leave it surprisingly roomy, I’ll give it that.
Looks inviting to a power washer. Almost disappointed it doesn’t have rubber mats.
I still want a Ford Transit Connect for it’s small footprint and cavernous interior, but sadly not for it’s engine, transmission, price, features, or its overwrought dash:
http://www.moibbk.com/images/ford-transit-connect-interior-10.jpg
Silly gauges, blue lighting, tiny info screen, numeric keypad, no place for a phone, vertical vents, black plastic, no knee room, etc.
Why does a front-wheel-drive utility van even need this enormous empty shifter console?!? Put it back on the column already!!!
Real reason: PARTSBIN FTW!
What the brochure says: Marketing mumbojumbo about familiarity and a welcoming passenger-car like interior.
Reminds me of the Focus.