why are 'cagers' obsessed with interior?

Flukester

Flukester

Flukester

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I just don't get this, so many people here seem obsessed with a car interior..looks, quality and equipment.

Certain people (you know who you are), harp on about the quality of there 'plastic dash', it's just all abit silly. I recently drove a 2 year old BMW and I've never seen such a 'sea' of plastic... same as every other normal car.

If buying a fun / perf car, from my point of view I couldn't really care less about the dash, dual zone climate (errr whats the point of this) ...just give me a basic speedo and a very large rev counter, maybe a shift light :). I'll be to busy looking at the road and enjoying myself.

While your busy playing with pointless toys, and falling asleep in slippers sipping a costa, I'll be grinning ear to ear and about 50miles ahead of you.

A typical example is a scooby, hardly any 'equipment', 'sea of plastic', but more fun than sitting in any lardy luxo barge by a factor of 100. (this is speaking from experience as i've owned a STI). People on here say that they could not live with that... huh ?


Not starting a flame war here, and don't mean 'cager' in a negative way, no more than I dont take offense at the term 'power ranger' :)

What are your views ?
 
I suppose it comes down to the amount of time people spend in their cars tbh I would rather have something fun than something fancy. It also depends on the use of the car I.e. if you have a short country commute then a scoob might be idel but if you have a 100 mile round trip commute it could become tiresome I would imagine. Just my opinion

Aero
 
Whilst I think we probably all enjoy a bit of lunacy now and again, cars are primarily used to make a journey - to work, to meet friends, etc. When you're not driving at "maximum attack" you want to be fairly comfortable even in a performance car.

Edit: And what self respecting nerd doesn't like pointless toys!? :D
 
i'll be the first to confess, i love a nice interior of a car, i spend quite a lot of time driving and build quality is important, as is comfort. If we all had the same taste, we'd all be driving round in scoobies wouldn't we?
 
Because not every second of driving a car is an adrenelin fueled chase to the next apex. Infact, very few seconds of driving a car are this.

On the right road, at the right time of day, in the right mood, nothing about your cars interior matters at all bar the steering wheel, the gearstick and the rev counter. At this point, fun is all that matters and the fact your Impreza is fashioned with the sort of quality you'd find in a childs toy is completely and utterly irrelevent, as you power out of yet another sweeping left hander and rocket towards the horizon.

But how often do you drive like that? Not all the time. Not even most of the time. Your averag drive includes traffic jams, traffic lights, driving around town, sitting on the Motorway doing nothing - the daily grind. Although the car is great fun it is also a tool for getting from A to B.

And it's then when the interior matters. On a long Motorway trip when it's 26c outside and your girlfriend is moaning she's cold, cruise control and dual zone climate control are absolutely invaluable. When there is an accident on the M6 and nobody is going anywhere, your comfortable leather seats and 60Gb MP3 system comes into its own.

As for quality, its personal preference. I *hate* stuff which feels cheap. Not just in cars, in everything. I don't like using keyboards fashioned from nasty flimsey plastic. I hate mobile phones that feel like they are actually just the display model. Laptops which flex as you touch them wind me up. I just like stuff that feels solid and well built and when it comes to car interiors, this is no difference. You spend a lot of time in a car interior, you wouldn't put up with a sea of cheap flimsey crap in your living room so why put up with it in your car? I like quality products.

A car is all things to all people. It has to thrill you on the right road, it has to cosset you when you are just ****ed off trying to get home in the rain from work, it has to be comfortable when you've got 400 miles ahead of you, it has to be great fun when there isn't anyone in front of you.

A decent interior is part of the package that makes a great car.
 
I Agree with this .... I think my STI has a fantastic interior and cant see how people seem to think its so terrible :? :\
 
[TW]Fox;14323067 said:
As for quality, its personal preference. I *hate* stuff which feels cheap. Not just in cars, in everything. I don't like using keyboards fashioned from nasty flimsey plastic. I hate mobile phones that feel like they are actually just the display model. Laptops which flex as you touch them wind me up. I just like stuff that feels solid and well built and when it comes to car interiors, this is no difference. You spend a lot of time in a car interior, you wouldn't put up with a sea of cheap flimsey crap in your living room so why put up with it in your car?
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OCD :cool:
 
[TW]Fox;14323091 said:
I see, so appreciating quality is OCD?

Do you sit on garden chairs in your living room? Having nice ones is OCD, right? What about TV, cheap £150 32" LCD from Tesco?
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No but banging on about it and exaggerating everytime quality is mentioned does.

I speant some time in my friends new 335D... and I can ensure you I didn't feel the dash was anything special. Certainly not worlds apart from most things like i'd imagine you to suggest.

Oh and nice exaggeration regarding the TV and chairs, didn't see that coming :rolleyes:

I'm sure there's nothing wrong with a cheap LCD from tescos either if money is tight.
 
Yeah, but you're just wrong ethos.

The plastics in a BMW/Merc (Some ¬_¬)/Audi etc are not as cheap feeling as the plastics in say a Chevrolet or Fiat. There is a difference, a noticable one.
 
Couldn't agree less - Interior is one of the most important things in a car - it's where you spend the majority of your time.

I love an opulent interior, full of leather, wood and chrome. Which is why I drive a Jag - I get to go fast in comfort and style :)
 
Captain_Slick said:
Yeah, but you're just wrong ethos.

The plastics in a BMW/Merc (Some ¬_¬)/Audi etc are not as cheap feeling as the plastics in say a Chevrolet or Fiat. There is a difference, a noticable one.
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Is this what you've read in a magazine or heard from someone else on the forum or have you actually been in a lot of cars from these manufacturers to compare?
 
NathanE said:
What's a "cager"? Someone who installs roll cages into their car?
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Thats what I first thought.

But I guess its what bikers call car drivers. Most of them probably drive like they dont care whats around them (namely bikes) as they are in their steel cages.
 
ethos said:
Is this what you've read in a magazine or heard from someone else on the forum or have you actually been in a lot of cars from these manufacturers to compare?
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He's probably been in the cars in question, i canont understand how anyone can get into, say, an Audi A6 and then a Ford Focus and NOT notice a difference. To say there isnt much of a difference is just delusion - whats important is whether the difference MATTERS to you. Clearly it doesnt matter to you, and thats fine.
 
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Yeah, I can certainly tell the difference, even if it isn't quite as important to me as to some people, I can certainly see their point
 
I find myself in an unusual situation, in having to agree with absolutely everything Fox said.

Motoring isnt a race, its a tool to get from A to B. Yes it can be enjoyed in the right circumstances but 90% of the time, you just want a functioning tool to get you from point A to point B in comfort.

Quality of interiors isnt just about how it looks, the quality of the plastics etc - cheap interiors rattle and have uncomfortable seats.

Frankly, provided my car isnt shaped like an 8 foot penis, I dont really care what the outside looks like - I spend very little time looking at it. The interior however is where I spend my time so it has to be a nice place to be.

Most "pointless toys" are also useful features. I dont have dual climate but I know people who do and who find it useful - mostly those with women in thier lives. My car iPod setup is absolutely invaluable as I love music, having my entire collection at my fingertips is a godsend.
 
Jonnycoupe said:
But I guess its what bikers call car drivers. Most of them probably drive like they dont care whats around them (namely bikes) as they are in their steel cages.
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I think its a very small minority that don't care whats around them. The fact that most people drive thinking about 101 other things is more the issue. That and the fact that many 'power rangers' seem intent on positioning their bikes such that its almost impossible to see them most of the time.
 
lordrobs said:
I think its a very small minority that don't care whats around them. The fact that most people drive thinking about 101 other things is more the issue. That and the fact that many 'power rangers' seem intent on positioning their bikes such that its almost impossible to see them most of the time.
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Can of worms......
 
The best dash's of all the cars I have owned has got to be the elise's :D Nice big stack rev counter and speedometer. Though the CBR600 comes a close second not that I spend much time looking at it as I overtake all the cars stuck in traffic.

I used to get to work with a grin on my face when I use the elise, now I use the bike the grin is from ear to ear :D
 
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