Wards names industry's top interiors, features
Wards Auto World magazine has come through with its 'Best Interior and Interior Features' awards for the seventh time, which lauds vehicles, manufacturers and suppliers for creating compelling interiors and individual features (e.g. navigation and sound systems, seats, and the all important cup holder).
The big winners? In Ward's dozen overall interior categories, General Motors took home four awards, Ford's portfolio chimed in with three, and Audi collected a pair.
In terms of killer apps, DaimlerChrysler grabbed six, Ford chipped in with five, and General Motors brought home four. Audi and Honda grabbed a trio, and Mazda, Subaru, and Toyota grabbed one each.
The winners were determined by a pool of 69 car scribes and 991 industry authorities.
A complete list of the categories and winners follows at the jump, along with a link to the official press release.
[Sources: Auto Interiors Show via PRNewswire; DaimlerChrysler]
Award Category Industry At-Large Vote News Media Vote
Overall Vehicle Interiors
Popular-Priced Car Pontiac Solstice Audi A3
Premium-Priced Car Lincoln Zephyr
Popular-Priced CUV Chevy HHR Mazda CX-7
Premium-Priced CUV Subaru B9 Tribeca Audi Q7
Popular-Priced Truck Chevy Tahoe Toyota FJ Cruiser
Premium-Priced Truck Cadillac Escalade Land RRS Sport
Interior Features
Best Instrument Cluster Ford Mustang (Delphi)
Best Navigation System Acura (Alpine)
Best Cup Holder Mercedes M-Class
(Fischer Automotive)
Best Sound System Dodge Magnum Audi S8
(Boston Acoustics) (Bang & Olufsen)
Best Seat System Dodge Charger Mercedes S-Class
(Driver) (Johnson Controls)
Best Interior Dodge Grand Caravan - Honda Ridgeline -
Innovation Stow N' Go Seat System trunk in pickup bed
(Chrysler Group & (Meridian Automotive
Magna/Intier) Systems, Inc.)
Full press release here
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Lithous 12:14PM (6/08/2006)
I almost choked, twice.
FJ Cruiser? Honda Ridgeline?
Both from the cool-aid drinking news media.
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Lithous 12:25PM (6/08/2006)
http://www.toyota.com/images/vehicles/2007/fjcruiser/gallery/interior/photo_3.jpg
The Fiero air vents, bright blue (or yellow depending on your exterior) and the Pep Boys elevation (or whatever it does) gauges. Give me a break!!!!! You want biased, here it is.
http://automobiles.honda.com/images/banners/2006/ridgeline/interior_gallery/large_20.jpg
And the Ridgeline. Get a flat tire with a bed full of mulch in the back. That would be a fun day getting the spare out.
Here is everything you won't have access to when you have mulch or an appliace in the back:
http://automobiles.honda.com/images/banners/2006/ridgeline/interior_gallery/large_17.jpg
Good stuff. Just because something is different doesn't mean it should be award winning.
That is the case with these two vehicles.
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Blake 12:25PM (6/08/2006)
The Ridgeline won for having a trunk in the bed, not for its dash design. Read the whole thing next time.
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Blake 12:28PM (6/08/2006)
Dammit, of course he makes a valid point after I validate my comment.
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Tim UF 12:28PM (6/08/2006)
Lithous, if you read what the ridgeline was given the award for, it makes sense. The ridgeline got it for best interior innovation: the inbed lockable trunk.
anytime a new feature shows up in a vehicle where people say "im amazed it took this long for something like this to come about" its a great feature. that is what has been said about the honda's in bed trunk since day 1. i cant imagine many people thought that about, say, the BMW iDrive.
i cant comment on anything else there, having never been in any of the vehicles
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Chris 12:31PM (6/08/2006)
Lithous, are you retarded? Why would anyone fill up the in box trunk with mulch, and why would it be so difficult to get the spare out? I would say that a spare wheel/tire under the truck, like in every other truck, is much more difficult than Honda's design. Grow up.
Oh yeah, and the award is not based on the interior. Learn how to read.
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Kamil 12:36PM (6/08/2006)
Chevy HHR?
I rented that car, the interior was horrible... window switches on the floor, short and un-supportive seats, huge blind spots, small windshield, arm-rest in a weird place, and obstructed gauges... I like GM cars, but there was nothing good about that interior.
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Warren 12:44PM (6/08/2006)
I'm sorry, but no way a stupid hole with a lid in the bed of your truck is more innovative than the Stow and Go seats in a Caravan. The fact that the NEWS MEDIA voted for the Honda just shows how ridiculous they are in their bias.
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Thomas 12:55PM (6/08/2006)
I think the NEWS MEDIA, as you like to capitalize, picked the ridgelines trunk as more innovative than stow and go seats was because there have been folding hiding seats in cars for a while - the big innovation, if you want to call it that, on the chrysler products was that they were able to move stuff around in the car to enable the middle row to fold and hide away - but if my memory serves me correct, honda had the first of any minivan company to have any seat that folded and hid away. So props to chrysler for getting it to work, but was it really that innovative? nah (and while we are at it, neither is a trunk in the bed of a truck - but it was the first - so there you go)
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Michael Karesh 12:59PM (6/08/2006)
They lost me at Pontiac Solstice. That interior falls short both aesthetically and functionally--squishy seats and very little, hard to reach storage.
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Ryan 1:04PM (6/08/2006)
"6. Chevy HHR?
I rented that car, the interior was horrible... window switches on the floor, short and un-supportive seats, huge blind spots, small windshield, arm-rest in a weird place, and obstructed gauges... I like GM cars, but there was nothing good about that interior.
Posted at 12:36PM on Jun 8th 2006 by Kamil 0 stars"
-I strongly 2nd that!
I rented one a couple of months ago and when you are the driver, there is something wrong about having to use your right hand to roll the window down, probably cheaper to run the wires directly into the dash, that's my guess. The only thing good about it was decent gas mileage, other than that I'm not seeing anything close to an innovative interior. DAMN BIAS NEWS. :-)
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Manny Fold 1:09PM (6/08/2006)
Pontiac Solstice? Haaaaaaaaaaa haaaaaaaaaaaa! Morons.
Have any of the judges actually looked at the interior of that car or just read the brochure?
There is VAST expanse of bargain bin plastic around the whole instrument panel, it must have at least cost $0.08 to make. Most of the rest of the materials are not much better.
The beige option looks positively barfy. The audio system buttons are too small. After 6 months of use likely many "things" will break and fall off.
The Solstice also features the cup-holder of death, which is located near the shoulder of the driver and is a wet dream for a personal injury lawyer.
It must have been voted on by 991 GM employees.
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Paul 1:16PM (6/08/2006)
how is it possible that any interior designed by poor american designers make this list. cheap plastic junk. did they sit in any american cars. only german and japanese designs should have made this list.
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CrunchyCookie 1:33PM (6/08/2006)
The picture alone deserves two awards: "hottest girl in a minivan ad" and "best choice of photo to steal from a Dodge Caravan brochure"
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naugahyde 2:09PM (6/08/2006)
Dodge should have gotten an award for a minivan that has no body panels on the driver's side - now that's convenient!
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icerabbit 3:15PM (6/08/2006)
What is up with the spacing of list of categories & cars?!
While I really like the Stow n Go idea:
Dodge/Chrysler really should make the vehicle ('s interior space) two inches longer so the driver & passenger seat don't have to be moved forward for the 2nd row be folded down or up. This was already the case with the previous models when you wanted to (un-)fold the back rest on the second row, and should've been adressed imo. This would also help when you try to haul an 8 foot long bulky item ... so you don't have to drive like a smurf. You get 8 feet of usable floor length, but you can only load a few inches before the driver & passenger seat have to be moved forward as the seatback inclination interferes.
I haven't had the opportunity to sit in a recent model, but I've read complaints about seat comfort being terrible in the stow n go series vs the models prior.
So even when a concept wins an award, I hope they will further improve it.
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Chris 3:34PM (6/08/2006)
The Stow&Go feature is great, but the 2nd row seats are very flimsy and small compared to the Odyssey's massive captains chairs. That's why Honda elected to not go that route.
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Richard Warren 3:47PM (6/08/2006)
#14, Agreed, however there is one small problem with that. She loves the car even though they forgot the whole left side sheetmetal during assembly.
And Paul, how are things at the drive up? Sales up on those shit burgers you're handing out? Loved the spot on your shirt this morning, as you handed me that fast food "Gourmet Coffee"
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Lithous 4:56PM (6/08/2006)
"And Paul, how are things at the drive up? Sales up on those shit burgers you're handing out? Loved the spot on your shirt this morning, as you handed me that fast food "Gourmet Coffee""
Come on Richard, that is uncalled for. Those burgers Paul sells are not THAT bad.
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Paul 4:57PM (6/08/2006)
Richard
are you a line worker for gm. you are a little sensitive about crappy american products. and yes that was me at the window did you notice I spit on your burger.
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