Luv that deeply soft Europia stuff.

 

A lot of the competition has comparable plastics though. Some people make out the Camry and Corolla interiors as worse than they really are. Hyundai and Honda for example both have tons of hard, cheap plastics in their interiors. The difference is some people, especially with Hyundai, perceive the quality to be better because Hyundai goes nuts with glossy and shiny surfaces to take your attention.

Toyota though is improving with their interiors. The new Yaris that's coming soon and the Prius V both look to have improved plastics compared to the Camry and Corolla.

 

This is true, to an extent. But even the Honda and Hyundai (and Ford and Chevy) have semi-soft dash materials, whereas the Camry/Venza, Prius, Corolla, etc. are hard, without a bit of give to them. There's no reason for this, other than pure cost-cutting. The Mazda6 I sat in at the Chicago auto show last year had dash materials that felt borderline luxurious.

If even Mazda can do something like this, then Toyota certainly can, should and hopefully does, as well. Starting with the new Camry.

 

This is understandable, and I agree. The upcoming new Yaris looks to have some semi-soft dash material. I think upcoming products like the new Camry will likely have them as well.

To be fair, some Honda and Hyundai models have interiors almost entirely full of hard plastic. Other models seem to use more semi-soft dash materials.

 

LMAO! Sounds good to me.

 

keep in mind that Japanese Yaris does have partly soft plastic... question is if it will come to USA :-).

Reason they do it is to be more price competitive in the NA market.

For instance, while European (heh) Corolla has very soft dash, Auris (which is essentially 5 door version built for Europe) came under attack for having hard plastics. Obviously, there was an price difference between Auris and Corolla, and with facelist, Auris interior got some softness to it as well :-).

If anything, it cant be said that Toyota isnt learning... they do learn on their mistakes and frequently improve on them.

 

and what does a european corolla cost? also, could you post a pic or ext/int?

 

it isn't just about hard/soft plastics to me.

the colors and dull LCD display in the center also look cheap to me.



for comparison, a base Ford Fusion same spot:



(by the way, that autotropolis.com web site is GREAT for consistent thorough picture sets!)

 

Of course it looks bad in comparison to a newer model. It's clear the Camry interior is dated, while the exterior has aged very well. The interior although dated, is still highly functional and inoffensive. I'm sure the next-gen Camry interior will look much more modern, and we'll get to see it premiere in a few months.

 

Corolla is considerably more expensive than Auris, even though they share most parts and Corolla is made in South Africa. I think all things being equal, it is $2k more expensive... and sells a lot less than Auris (a lot).





Interior is conservative, just like USDM model, but you get soft plastics everywhere and things like digital air, leather steering wheel, smart key, auto wipers/lights, xenons, etc, etc.

 

top is euro, bottom is usdm

 

If you compare the pics, USDM Corolla doesnt have:
- smart entry
- leather steering wheel / leather shifter
- soft plastics on dashboard
- fabric on hand rest (it is plastic)
- improved audio unit (cheap basic)
- digital air (cheap manual ac)
- auto lights/wipers/dimmer
- cool optitron instrumentation
etc

 

http://www.toyota-europe.com/Images/...280-976822.jpg

here is high resolution pic... of course, it is still very conservative interior, just with very good quality materials.

 

I was prepared to be disgusted when I sat in an 08 Camry (I think it was an SE). I was pleasantly surprised though, the dash was "soft touch" and everything fit together nicely. It wasn't any worse than whatever else is out there.. Much better than a 08 Optima, or Fusion for that matter.

 

This is my point. The Camry interior is not that bad at all compared to the competition. It's nowhere near worst in class.

For such a dated car due to be replaced soon, it's a still a pretty decent interior.