Ongoing General Automotive Thread 2.0

[Ironhorse]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

I'm quite impressed with the interior of our Highlander, to the point where I don't see why someone would spend the extra $ for the Lexus equivalent. Leather wrapped everything, heated memory seats, top notch infotainment system, radar cruise control, etc. What does buying the luxury brand get you nowadays that's worth it?

The fancy badge that tells your neighbours that you are better than they are? Seems to describe the majority of Lexus owners.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Highlander Limited Platinum - which is the trim with all the fancy premium leather and such that the RX350 has - costs $57k. Coincidentally, that's also the starting price for the RX350. So there's not really any extra $ involved. You can spec up the RX to get some fancier seats and a bunch of tech stuff that I guess isn't offered on the Highlander, but there's no need to do that. So apples to apples you're not really paying much extra for that Lexus badge.

The interior of the RX is a little fancier / more elegant than the Highlander Platinum. Probably just a matter of taste, though.

Spoiler!

I of course would say don't buy either - they're both crossovers. Stop buying crossovers.

[Ironhorse]

Those interiors are both gross. The day that automakers stop placing "infotainment" screens to protrude out of the dash will be glorious.

[Derek Sutton]

Originally Posted by you&me

Porsche and other luxury manufacturers also had their biggest volume sales years ever. New car availability and the state of the used car market have far less to do with a chip shortage and far more to do with trillions of new dollars in the economy needing a place to be spent.

I can't speak for the luxury brands but the chip shortage is are the primary reason the current state the north American automakers are in. Now we may never get back to where there are 300 F-150 trucks on the lot to choose from, however when you have GM not producing GMC Duramax, that will sell at full MSRP, unincentivized, it's not because they are selling them. They are losing out on millions upon millions.

[I-Hate-Hulse]

Originally Posted by cam_wmh

Yeah, I may be in the minority but there are so few SUV's that I'd walk away, and then do a double-take upon.

I'll nominate this compact SUV as being very 'walk away-able'. Every time I see one on the street it reminds me of a roller-skate....



Thankfully Ford is killing it early as it's been a sales flop. The Ford Maverick becomes the cheapest vehicle Ford sells....

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by Ironhorse

Those interiors are both gross. The day that automakers stop placing "infotainment" screens to protrude out of the dash will be glorious.

No argument here... you're talking to a car enthusiast who doesn't own a vehicle with bluetooth support, much less a screen poking out of his dash. But it's pretty hard to find a luxury brand vehicle that doesn't have it, so if you're shopping right now you're kind of stuck.

[burn_this_city]

Originally Posted by I-Hate-Hulse

I'll nominate this compact SUV as being very 'walk away-able'. Every time I see one on the street it reminds me of a roller-skate....



Thankfully Ford is killing it early as it's been a sales flop. The Ford Maverick becomes the cheapest vehicle Ford sells....

Reminds me of this cartoon character.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Ironhorse

Those interiors are both gross. The day that automakers stop placing "infotainment" screens to protrude out of the dash will be glorious.

Toyota in general has to account for most of the worst interiors in the industry right now.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Toyota in general has to account for most of the worst interiors in the industry right now.

Not a chance. Over styled? Definitely. Ergonomically they're still great, though. Buttons and dials in all the right places. Just think of the abomination that is the new gti. That's the worst.

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

No argument here... you're talking to a car enthusiast who doesn't own a vehicle with bluetooth support, much less a screen poking out of his dash. But it's pretty hard to find a luxury brand vehicle that doesn't have it, so if you're shopping right now you're kind of stuck.

It wouldn’t be a big deal if they were nicely integrated like in past Audi, Mercedes, and BMW systems, before everyone in the industry decided that it was easier to bolt a tablet sticking out of the dash instead.

Examples:

Spoiler!

Audi


BMW


Mercedes

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Not a chance. Over styled? Definitely. Ergonomically they're still great, though. Buttons and dials in all the right places. Just think of the abomination that is the new gti. That's the worst.

The GTI is a rare misstep for VW though. Their interiors have traditionally been very good to amongst the best in their class.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Not a chance. Over styled? Definitely. Ergonomically they're still great, though. Buttons and dials in all the right places. Just think of the abomination that is the new gti. That's the worst.

The GTI is a rare misstep for VW though. Their interiors have traditionally been very good to amongst the best in their class. Those Toyota interiors have multiple levels, breaks, angles, etc that are the opposite of clean and uncluttered.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Not a chance. Over styled? Definitely. Ergonomically they're still great, though. Buttons and dials in all the right places. Just think of the abomination that is the new gti. That's the worst.

Ya I'm not exactly sure what's wrong with our interior. I'm a tech guy so I like the big touch screen, one of the main reasons I didn't go Lexus was because of that stupid touchpad design they used. The Highlander also has physical buttons in all the important places and was very intuitive to learn. The posters complaining about modern interiors come across as very "old man yelling at clouds" to me

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

Ya I'm not exactly sure what's wrong with our interior. I'm a tech guy so I like the big touch screen, one of the main reasons I didn't go Lexus was because of that stupid touchpad design they used. The Highlander also has physical buttons in all the important places and was very intuitive to learn. The posters complaining about modern interiors come across as very "old man yelling at clouds" to me

I'm a tech guy too, but there's nothing 'old man yelling at clouds' about wanting more integrated touchscreen designs over what it would look like if I hot-glued a Galaxy Tab onto my dashboard.

A fantastic example of this is what Porsche has done with their infotainment. Look at a Macan or Cayenne interior.

Spoiler!

[zamler]

That's a terrible design. You have a touch screen combined with 50 buttons make up your mind. The steering wheel is especially ridiculous.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

I'm a tech guy too, but there's nothing 'old man yelling at clouds' about wanting more integrated touchscreen designs over what it would look like if I hot-glued a Galaxy Tab onto my dashboard.

A fantastic example of this is what Porsche has done with their infotainment. Look at a Macan or Cayenne interior.

Spoiler!

Okay, the screen looks nice, but I fataing hate those interiors. Gloss black non-physical buttons!?!?! I'd take the Toyota all day long before I'd sit in that smudged nasty Porsche thing.

[you&me]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Okay, the screen looks nice, but I fataing hate those interiors. Gloss black non-physical buttons!?!?! I'd take the Toyota all day long before I'd sit in that smudged nasty Porsche thing.

It's strange how you can be so wrong about some of these things.

[powderjunkie]

It definitely seems silly how infotainment has played out in cars...have we learned nothing from our piles of bricked ipads and phones? How are we still using suction cups or vent fan clips if we want our phones somewhat accessible?

It would be so much better there was a recessed phone compartment (with a slide cover) to the right of the instrument panel...toss in a bigger screen in the centre if you want, but it should be essentially casting off a phone app. Touch screen if you want, but please just let me navigate simply with 4 directional arrows, OK, and back button (on both steering wheel and centre dash).


Maybe it's starting to head that way a bit with AppleCarPlay, etc? As a fairly tech savvy person it is far too painful to deal with crap the way it is now.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by you&me

It's strange how you can be so wrong about some of these things.

Well, hey, much of the interior looks great. The lack of physical buttons surrounding the shifter is the problem, though. Why are these capacitive backlit touch surfaces on gloss black? I'm way too picky about my car looking nice to accept fingerprints, swirls, smudges and micro-scratches all over such high-profile area of the car. These capacitive fingerprint magnets are not better in any way than a button, switch or dial.

Spoiler!

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by zamler

That's a terrible design. You have a touch screen combined with 50 buttons make up your mind. The steering wheel is especially ridiculous.

Hiding every function in a touchscreen interface is terrible UX. Physical buttons make sense for a lot of things, especially if you want to keep drivers' attention on the road and not staring at the stupid infotainment trying to figure out how to turn off the seat heater that's burning your arse. I will take a Porsche interior any day.


And yes Sliver, I don't much like the capacitive touch buttons either, but I also have a disdain for anything piano black in automotive interiors on the whole.