Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Domestic Automotive Rant

When you have to find a new car to purchase in the next couple of months, you start thinking about what to buy and for what reason. Well, one of the biggest selling points on a car for me, besides the price, is how the interior looks. Since I won't be able to afford a German car and I don't really like Japanese cars, then I have to focus my attention on American automakers. That leaves me with GM, Ford, and Chrysler. Also, while I have an uncle that works for Chrysler who gives me a discount, do not think of this as a biased rant. I'm just gonna tell it like it is.

I'm gonna start out with GM's interiors. They suck! They are, and have always been, the most bland interiors I have ever seen. They look cheap and for the most part, they usually are. They use the same interiors in every car in every line they own. Let's take a look at the Chevy Malibu, Pontiac G6 and Saturn Aura's interiors. While there are subtle differences for each maker, they are essentially the same bland crap. The Saturn is the best out of the 3. They try to rehash the same thing over and over with all of their cars with almost no variation. Even some of the Cadillacs fall to this bland design flaw. The Corvette tries to differ itself, and almost succeeds, but still has a low-rate interior for being so expensive. GM needs some serious work to improve their interior design and if they can produce more style, they would make better cars.






Ford does slightly better in their interiors with some variation between cars. In all honesty, the only Ford I'd ever own would be a Mustang GT, so this automaker scores higher points for actually making decent interiors. They have more character and aren't as bland as GM's. While there are similarities, between such cars as the Fusion and the Mustang, they do have their differences that make them special. They still need some work to vary their differences, but lately they have been headed in the right direction.
























The best interiors I have seen in the past couple of years (domestics only) have come from the Chrysler group. They vary their interiors between their Chrysler, Dodge, and Jeep lines enough to give them their own style and flair. Not only that, but they actually make them look good. While they might use cheaper materials to keep costs down, they still make what they have look great. I would never use the word "bland" to describe their interiors. They are anything but. They bring about style and class. Take the Dodge Avenger and the Chrysler Sebring for example. They are essentially the same car, but they are still varied in their interior design enough to make them different. The Chrysler group has really upped their game when it comes to their design and it shows and I'm glad for it.



























Why focus on only interiors? Well, that's one of the deal breakers for me. There are a lot of cars that have great exteriors, from all manufacturers, but the interior is what you stare at the most, so if it doesn't look good then what's the point of buying it?

1 comment:

Hock said...

I should have included Mercury in with the Ford comparison, but I forgot about that company because I hate Mercury. Oh well, fuck it.