Yesterday, I visited the Sydney Motor Show. Whilst there were some interesting cars there, there was much that was easy to walk past too. Actually most of it. But, what did surprise me was the prevalence of really dark coloured interiors. Looking at hot hatches, the only one (that I recall) that had anything other than black was a VW. And it wasn't just what they were showing either, I asked at most stands, and charcoal/black is the interior colour whether you like it or not.
Why? This is Australia. It gets bloody hot in summer, and black interior components heat up horribly in the sun. Even the black dash tops that VW use become very hot and make the aircon work much harder than needed.
Prize for the worst interior had to be the Commodore SSV. Acres of unrelieved, rock hard, black plastic. And the doors, which were the same hard plastic, were scuffed probably beyond redemption. Whatever happened to the old idea of putting carpet on the last 6 inches of a door to protect against marks. And plastics don't have to be granite hard.
On the plus side, it was the first time I'd seen the Latte coloured leather in the R32, and it looked great.
Why? This is Australia. It gets bloody hot in summer, and black interior components heat up horribly in the sun. Even the black dash tops that VW use become very hot and make the aircon work much harder than needed.
Prize for the worst interior had to be the Commodore SSV. Acres of unrelieved, rock hard, black plastic. And the doors, which were the same hard plastic, were scuffed probably beyond redemption. Whatever happened to the old idea of putting carpet on the last 6 inches of a door to protect against marks. And plastics don't have to be granite hard.
On the plus side, it was the first time I'd seen the Latte coloured leather in the R32, and it looked great.
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