Why the hatred for "hard plastics"

[radioouman]

Why do so many people dislike hard plastics in the interior of their car?
I understand about using an energy absorbing material for knee cushioning if you are involved in an accident, but why don't people like hard plastics on doors and other parts of the dashboard and console?

I've had two cars so far that have what I could consider to be soft materials on the doors interior and the console. These materials tend to get scratched easier and after they are a couple years old they "settle" into the position that they have been clipped in for years and they no longer clip securly to the frame behind them. They are also easy to break. So for someone who wants to simply put an aftermarket stereo in their car, these panels may break or be scratched very easily.

I also own a Honda that has some very soft plastic that seems very easy to scratch getting in and out of the doors and moving things into the trunk. I don't understand why people don't want more durable surfaces in their vehicles.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Because people need to knock American cars for SOMETHING.

 

[zoiks]

I don't mind hard plastic if it was of quality material. That sickly grey plastic that Dodge uses in all of its vehicles is really ugly. BTW, it's not just certain American vehicles; Toyota has one of the shittiest interiors of all the Japanese brands though they get away with it since fanbois have pledged their never dying allegiance for the brand .

 

[KDKPSJ]

I don't care about material, I only care about the design itself.

If there is a car that designed well, I don't care if it used plastic or any cheapo material. It's "good" in my book. If there is a car that designed crappy, I don't care if it used gold, carbon fiber or what. It's "bad" in my book.

That's why I hate, despite being a Bimmer owner, German car (especially Audi) and why I like Japanese car (especially Infiniti). Very subjective, but design is subjective matter to begin with.

 

[Gunbuster]

Car should not remind you of a $9 Sterilite tub from Walmart.

I want that soft touch thinkpad coating!

 

[JulesMaximus]

All cars have a certain amount of plastic on the interior, to me it's all about mixing that with other materials so that it isn't ALL hard plastic. My Maxima and my wife's Lexus have plastic dashboards but the materials don't look like cheap hard plastic, and the rest of the interior is broken up with leather door inserts or fabric and wood.

The wood in my wife's Lexus is made of real hardwood laminates and is used sparingly and tastefully whereas the rental Impala I'm driving has huge expanses of plastic wood stretching from one end of the dash to the other. Everything in that interior that isn't fabric seating surfaces or carpet flooring is hard plastic. The door cards are all hard plastic, the dash is all hard plastic or plastic wood, the steering wheel is hard plastic, the shift knob is hard plastic. It just screams cheap.

 

[nakedfrog]

I don't get it either, the material used has never raised so much as a blip on the ol' care-o-meter for me.

 

[Ktulu]

I honestly do not care at all. My 2004 Silverado's interior is still as solid as the day I bought it. However, it is a little annoying when I'm able to tap on many of the interior components and they sound completely hollow and weak.

 

[boomerang]

The buying public wants a Rolls Royce interior at a Hyundai price.

Some are realistic that it's not gonna happen and others aren't.

See if you can pick them out in this thread.

 

[CupCak3]

Originally posted by: boomerang
The buying public wants a Rolls Royce interior at a Hyundai price.

Some are realistic that it's not gonna happen and others aren't.

See if you can pick them out in this thread.

ding ding ding!

 

[exdeath]

Interior requirements:

Three pedals: check.
Tach and speedo: check.
Steering wheel: check.
Gear selector: check.

I got hung up on the fancy interior thing for a while too. But at the end of the day, only performance matters.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

i'm tolerant of the playskool interior of my ford e-350, but not when the same cheap shitty plastic is used in passenger cars.

 

[scott916]

It simply looks like shit.

 

[sindows]

I never understood the hatred for "hard plastics". Most luxury cars have tons of "hard plastic" on their buttons/controls but if you look at Pontiac interiors of cars >5 years old, the plastics are much softer than the ones in luxury cars but aesthetically, they look like hardened pieces of dog turds. So in this case, people who hate hard plastics should hate luxury cars and love GM interiors...

For me, the most important aspect of a car is the amount of road feels it offers. I love cars with tons of road feel and it will easily make up for ugly exteriors/ugly interiors. But along with road feel, I need a firmish ride.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: boomerang
The buying public wants a Rolls Royce interior at a Hyundai price.

Some are realistic that it's not gonna happen and others aren't.

See if you can pick them out in this thread.

Oh bullshit. I paid $22.9k for my Maxima brand new. I'm not looking for a Rolls Royce interior but I do recognize a cheap interior when I see it.

I guess if you're buying crap cars that cost less than $20k new then it's unrealistic but for the $20k and up market I don't think it's unreasonable to expect a certain level of quality and more upscale materials.

 

[69Mach1]

For me it all depends on how it looks and what it is in. The material used doesn't matter as long as it looks good or is functional enough to get you to overlook the visuals. The finish I expect in a car is different than what I want in a 4x4.

 

[nakedfrog]

Originally posted by: exdeath
Interior requirements:

Three pedals: check.
Tach and speedo: check.
Steering wheel: check.
Gear selector: check.

I got hung up on the fancy interior thing for a while to. But at the end of the day, only performance matters.

It's nice to have a voltmeter and oil pressure indicator, too.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Some of the issue is not so much the hard plastic itself, but the more visible mold marks and seams. The interior of my 1988 Accord was much better than many interiors today. Rather than molded plastic panels, the doors had mostly cloth covering and the door pockets had smooth edges without visible mold marks. The panels were screwed together rather than using plastic clips. Overall there was just more care given to fit and finish.

I don't need a Rolls-Royce, but I'm not a fan of flimsy molded plastic parts. Give me an interior like this over an interior like this any day.

ZV

 

[MotF Bane]

If you spend $30,000 dollars on a new car, the interior shouldn't look like it's made out of the same material as that $25 computer case you picked off the clearance table at Microcenter.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

Originally posted by: sindows
I never understood the hatred for "hard plastics". Most luxury cars have tons of "hard plastic" on their buttons/controls but if you look at Pontiac interiors of cars >5 years old, the plastics are much softer than the ones in luxury cars but aesthetically, they look like hardened pieces of dog turds. So in this case, people who hate hard plastics should hate luxury cars and love GM interiors...

...and that is why i don't let other people pick my furniture.

 

[halik]

Originally posted by: radioouman
Why do so many people dislike hard plastics in the interior of their car?
I understand about using an energy absorbing material for knee cushioning if you are involved in an accident, but why don't people like hard plastics on doors and other parts of the dashboard and console?

I've had two cars so far that have what I could consider to be soft materials on the doors interior and the console. These materials tend to get scratched easier and after they are a couple years old they "settle" into the position that they have been clipped in for years and they no longer clip securly to the frame behind them. They are also easy to break. So for someone who wants to simply put an aftermarket stereo in their car, these panels may break or be scratched very easily.

I also own a Honda that has some very soft plastic that seems very easy to scratch getting in and out of the doors and moving things into the trunk. I don't understand why people don't want more durable surfaces in their vehicles.

If I buy a luxury car, I expect the material on the inside be better than fisher price / lego abs plastic.

Cars are one of the biggest purchases you'll make in your life, why should the inside of the second biggest purchase in your life resemble McDs playground?


But more to the point, 5 years ago for the same money you can either get a domestic with fisher price dashboard or an import with rubberized/coat/squishy dash. Why go for the elementary school special?

 

[daw123]

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
All cars have a certain amount of plastic on the interior, to me it's all about mixing that with other materials so that it isn't ALL hard plastic. My Maxima and my wife's Lexus have plastic dashboards but the materials don't look like cheap hard plastic, and the rest of the interior is broken up with leather door inserts or fabric and wood.

The wood in my wife's Lexus is made of real hardwood laminates and is used sparingly and tastefully whereas the rental Impala I'm driving has huge expanses of plastic wood stretching from one end of the dash to the other. Everything in that interior that isn't fabric seating surfaces or carpet flooring is hard plastic. The door cards are all hard plastic, the dash is all hard plastic or plastic wood, the steering wheel is hard plastic, the shift knob is hard plastic. It just screams cheap.

I agree. I think something like this (Audi A5; my next car) looks good. Okay, its not a particularly cheap car, but you could achieve the same affect using cloth.

And this in a cheaper car (VW Golf) looks ok.

 

[AMCRambler]

I miss the good ol' days of bakelite steering wheels. Man could those things fry your palmson a hot day.

 

[FeuerFrei]

Because it screams cheapest possible construction. Those injection molded panels cost mere cents to manufacture, and there you are shelling out many thousands of dollars, for ~$100 worth of interior paneling.

They could at least spray the plastic with a few layers of rubberized coating.

 

[zerocool84]

Because people here need to nitpick on something. I think my Neon interior is nice and functional but maybe it's cus my only other car is an old VW Bug with no interior. I've been in Mazda's/Infiniti's/BMW's/Toyota's/Honda's and most of them feel the same quality to me. Just the layout is different. I don't need a super nice interior, I just need it to be functional.