I'll see your Audi, and raise you a Lexus. Honestly, I got a real problem with Audi. There are three of them in the immediate 'hood (2 A4's, 1 A6), and they're all accumulating frequent flier miles with the local AAA towing service. Presumably their interiors are swell, but Audi's on my personal "ignore" list.

Hoo kay... moving right along...

There might be some hope for GM, if the new Impala and HHR are any indication. But there are still exposed screw heads- a feature even Hyundai and Kia don't grace their interiors with. The new Tahoe/Suburban had nice Cadillacesque interiors, but it'll take an "up close" before we can pass judgement. Hopefully some of that pixie-dust will rub off on the Silverados, which are currently blessed with a functional, useful interior setup cloaked in plastic that only a GM accountant could love.

Then there's the Ford F150. It's a lot of plastic, but it seems to be of reasonable quality, and fairly well screwed together. When you move upmarket to the Lariat models, I really have to question who was doing the ergonomics. Holy button-overkill, batman! Someday, when I have a few spare hours , I'm going to count the total number of buttons on that dash (and steering wheel)- it's completely out of control. At least for an old guy with glasses that doesn't multi-task very well.

The Super-Duty has fewer button, but they're scattered *****-nilly across the door panels and the dash. Controls should be intuitive, not an easter-egg hunt.

And on the topic of controls and *****- ever notice how many American Cars (and trucks) have the hood and brake release positioned almost next to each other? Am I the only person that's constantly popping the hood instead of releasing the parking brake?

 

Yes... ...ahh, to be young.

 

Lexus aren't bad, actually they are darn good, but in this neck of the woods they are beaten (and quite soundly I might add) by Audi. Over "yonder" it may be different.
Finish on things like the brushed aluminium, grain (and composistion) of plastics, and the choice and texture is brilliant (brilliant enough that I know of a 2 major manuacturers here that purchased an A6 as the benchmark car for both Interior and exterior build/quality for future models)For that I don't blame you. Audi's have peerlessly brilliant build quality, and darn poor reliability. (and we think the 6.0l PSD has some "computer" issues...)
As for my "ignore" list - a friend of mine recently purchased an original Audi quattro (and no, I don't know where he found it either).
I have offered a good trade of a right leg (one is enough), a left arm (to balance the weight without the right leg) and the half of my brain that apparently males don't use. Unfortunately he said no.
Gee I love that car.
WOW.
Even my Thai manufactured XL Ranger and my Brazil manufactured XL F350 don't have exposed screw heads.
Ever checked out a Discovery 3 lately (I was discussing this with another user recently). But they are laid out well.

That is an understatement. Things are changing though
To tell you the truth, I never understood the US's fascination of a foot operated parking brake period.
Give me a centre console lever anyday.

 

Ah, the Uhrquattro. That little screamer is worth a bloody fortune if it's in any kind of shape. I'm really getting concerned with the level of reliability offered in some of the German high-end offerings. Electronic nightmares seem to top the list, followed by some good-old-fashioned mechanical failures. What's wierd is it seems to be across the board- cruise some BMW, Porsche, Audi, and Mercedes forums. Could it be cars are finally getting too complicated for their own good?

"Audi's have peerlessly brilliant build quality, and darn poor reliability."

That's actually a stunning statement. Most Americans associate build quality with reliability, an attitude Europeans (and obviously) Aussies don't share. That's how Lexus earned it's peerless reputation stateside, while the Europeans remark about the wonderful build quality, but relatively backwards engineering. One thing my German cousin (who works for Mercedes) noted- Lexus has a small but devoted following. What DCX has noticed is that once they lose a customer to Lexus, they rarely get them back.

re: foot operated parking brakes. Two words: Bench Seat. Outside of Nick kindly pointing out our age difference , I will say that, for decades, the parking brake release has been located on the left top corner, while the hood release was lower, and to the left of the brake (in all domestic cars). Recently, some rocket-scientist decided to move them around- in a number of models (GM is the worst offender), the hood release is now located precisely where the parking brake used to be.

re: those dang buttons. OK, I'm an old guy with glasses... But let's be honest- how many 20 yr olds are out buying $40,000 pickups? As the number of features increase, so do the odds of me piling the vehicle up while trying to tune the radio or figuring out how to turn the wipers on.

Speaking of which- the new Impala with the XM radio can store 35 presets for the radio. Woo hoo! It only takes about 30 minutes with the owners manual to figure out how to do that. And Nav systems- there's another hot idea. I can generally get to my destination in less time than it takes me to program the stoopid nav unit (mapquest is a beautiful thing ).

Gawd, I feel older than dirt again.

 

I like GM's interior design in trucks far better than any other. that is the only dash I really feel comfortable with. It all makes sence the way the radio comes out a little torward the driver. The straight across dashes drive my nuts the passenger has zero right to the controls as far as I am concerned and so why put any guages over there. I will control the radio too. I also hate lexus where you have to go through 10 things on the touch screen just to get to a radio preset, not to mention changing the fan speed. It absolutely drives me nuts. Give me a dial not a bunch of BS. I can't imagine this new I DRIVE that I think is made by BMW where you use a mouse like thing.

Ok on with plastic. I have never been in a car that rattled that I can remember. My dad's 1989 chevy never rattled my moms 88 olds never rattle, her 92 silhoutte never rattled. her 02 olds doesn't rattle. my 92 cutlass doesn't rattle, my sisters 88 cutlass car doesn't rattle.

the closest thing to a rattle in my car was the steering column has developed a click when you turn the steering wheel. I have no idea what that is from. oh and my plastic defrost thing is all stoved up from getting hot during the summer.

 

iDrive is available on the 7 series, 5 series, and optional on the 3 series. It's still not in the X5. I'm not sure about the X3.

I hate GMs hand rail that they put on the passenger side of the dash. What are they trying to say? If you drive our truck/SUV, your passenger better hold on for their life? Rides like a roller coaster?

 

I really like Fords interior the best. I have one an have no squeaks,rattles or noises off any kind. Every body I talk to that has a Chevy truck has had tons off rattles,wind noise thats hard to pinpoint an fix. I think the materials in the Ford truck are of much higher quality an have a solid feel to them. As we all know Ford has the best interior in a half ton truck. Its not even close. I think over Ford has the best qality trucks on the market today an JD powers agrees.

 

my moms van had a wind whissle after she backed into a poll, afterwards. the dealer fixed it. it had to do with the plastic rear bumper catching the wind just right at a certain speed.

I have heard of people having wind noises in a heavy duty truck after putting on a certain brand bug deflector, but I have never heard of anything as far as on a stock truck.

not like it matters because everyone knows a ford superduty has more turbo whistle then the duramax. not to mention that we only hit 2/3 the air that you superduties do.

as for put a strong chip a duramax and see if your passenger dosn't grab it with both hands.

 

Were there any injured voters?

 

Have u been in a 2000 cavalier? My brothers cavalier's dash rattles over bumps. But then again its a big dash. Man I am starting 2 think I wasn't stupid by writing this post. fordguy101

 

No your not stupid. A good topic. If your interior rattles an makes noise. It makes for a very unconfortable ride to say the least. None of my Ford cars or trucks have had any rattles or squeaks to speak off. Been lucky so far.

 

Thanks man I felt that because of what some of the others said. Sorry about posting it twice my bad. fordguy101

 

I've ridden in a Saleen S351, a 650 hp 70 Skylark, and a 1200 hp Fairlane. None of which made me wish for a roller coaster bar on the dash. I guarantee that all of them were faster than any duramax. Nothing like putting your hands over the air bag when you're buddy is driving like an idiot.

 

The war between the great and the goofy continues at GM. They often sit on the same committees.

But I've yet to hear rattles in a Silverado- at least one that was reasonably late model (like 10 years old or newer). Not that it matters- my '93 F150 has plenty of rattles. Adds character to the old soldier.

 

LOL thats funny polarbear. fordguy101