Who can defeat Audi for interior supremacy? (Walter de Silva has a few tricks waiting)

Who can dethrone Audi for the title of best interiors? With the way it looks right now...NOBODY CAN!

It is a discussion with Audi design director Walter de Silva. He is for Audi what Chris Bangle is to BMW.

I can provide plenty of extra links proving that Audi is in fact the best in interior design if you would like.

The next generation of Audis should really be awesome. From both the mechanical aspect with the new modular platform. Interiors like always will be awesome and class leading, here is how the A5/next generation A4 interior will look like. Of course it will not look the same, but generally it should look like this:

[img]http://www.fourtitude.com/news/uploads/Audi_News/006__scaled_600_026.jpg[/img]

[img]http://www.fourtitude.com/news/uploads/Audi_News/006__scaled_600_026.jpg[/img]

Who can beat Audi in interior design? No one at the moment! But, I think Mercedes will make a run at Audi in the near term.

GermanNut has the right idea. I have a leased A6 Quattro and the interior is so nice (and comfortable) that I'm considering buying it at lease end even though I'll really want a newer car by then and current rear leg room is lacking. I take issue only with his mention of Chris Bangle in the same breath as Walter de Silva. I see the Bangle designs as a huge negative and Bangle completely failed to provide his BMWs with proper side protection against parking lot door dings. This pretty well limits shopping to the Palm Beach Publix if you are unlucky enough to own a Bangle-designed BMW.

Audi does indeed have great interiors. Their only fault, in my view, is their choice of plastic. That dark gray stuff looks cheap. Maybe it reminds me of a Pontiac my wife used to own. Otherwise, it's functional and attractive.

Yeah the dark plastic may be cheap looking but it is miles ahead of what BMW and MB offer. The wood in MB is straight out of a can and BMW has the roughest leather around.

An Audi interior in dark brown (amaretto) is a work of art unsurpassed by any mainstream premium auto manufacturer

Audi interiors are good, but you have to give props to other carmakers. If you ask me, Audi interiors are hyped up. Yes they're good, but so are Lexus, Acura and the newer Mercedes' interiors. In my last visit to Europe, I rented an Audi A3 2.0 TDI Sportback and a week later a Mercedes C220 CDI sedan (post-facelift). Both had well-crafted interiors that left little to be desired. I felt at home in both of them. The Audi A6 has a very nice interior, but I feel that the Lexus GS has an equally competitive interior. To me, they're dead even in terms of quality.

The interiors I can't stand come from my beloved BMW, Infiniti, Lincoln and Cadillac. They're well-made interiors, but cheap when compared to Audi, Lexus, MB etc.

Bottom line, all cars in this class have QUALITY INTERIORS, some are just better than others.

Unfortunately, for you base 5-series boy they are not equal in terms of quality or design. The bottom line is that Audi is the benchmark throughout the premium auto industry for interior design as well as fit anf finish. If you don't believe me 530i get me a car magazine or ANY review for that matter that shows ANY 2002 or later Audi that has written as having a cheap, plasticky interior with bad ergonomics and the worst fit and finish.

They are not all as good as everything else and AUdi is the best for interior design and fit and finish.

@ German Nut

Did you read my post? I don't think so. I said Audi has some great interiors, possibly the best together with Lexus in the luxury market. A close second is Mercedes and Acura and sadly at the end are current BMW interiors (with the exception of the 7-Series). My point is that ALL carmakers here have good interiors, with SOME being better than others. Hence my remark, "Audi interiors are also hyped up". I do agree that Audi makes some damn fine interiors, but the competetion has caught on and equally raised the standards.

And stop insulting my 530i. If you really were a "German car fan", you'd know that the 525i was the "base model" in the US. Did I PWNED you yet? :p

This is for German Nut...

Holy crap, what a CHEAP interior...
[img]http://img321.imageshack.us/img321/3215/acls320cdi034qv.jpg[/img]

Lexus GS interior, oh my, how CHEAP...
[img]http://www.hybridcars.com/images/gs-450h-interior.jpg[/img]

Now here's the Audi A6 interior. Looks pretty much SIMILAR in quality to the two ^above^. Get my point?
[img]http://www.theaa.com/images/allaboutcars/testreports/2004047_audi_a6_interior.jpg[/img]

God the new Autospies layout sucks...

Why won't the pictures work?

525 is the base model in the us? in uk it was the 520 (03-05)....now the 520d....(03-)

you have not seen how interiors should be done until you have seen a current generation lexus. i recently went to an audi dealer and sat in the q7, and the interior was nice, but it was not up to par with the lexus models that i saw later on. Even the new Is 350 was impressive in fit and finish. With the way things are moving at the lexus camp, i have no doubt the ls460 will set an absolute new benchmark in interior craftsmanship

Rupert, in America, the 525i is the base BMW. I know that Europeans have the choice of the 520i and some diesels.

Audi is known to be the industry leader in interiors. It is in fact BETTER than all other mainstream luxury manufacturers in terms of materials quality, fit and finish, ergonomics and appearance.

Stop all this hype.Why all the blogs are full of this Audi...Audi....Audi.
OK fine Audi is a great car but why placing it above all in every Area/sector.

Everybody knows that the LEXUS is the interior's king.
Till today it has no match.Quality wise,functionality wise,reliability wise,top notch meterials..etc
Audi is good compared to ill-quality interiors of BMW,MB and VW's.

I think even Acura's interior is better than Audi's.


JUGNU----->THE CARMAN

second person from the top, click the title to see the article in business week

Yes Audi is good, but it can get better - here are a few suggestions:
(i.) touch screen navigation with a large screen
(ii.) fewer buttons so the dash doesn't look like a typewriter
(iii.) more and bigger cupholders
(iv.) built-in microwave and refridgerator

Lexus interiors are BLAND its always that same vertical dash with a few pieces of faux wood here there and a bunch of grayish/black plastic. I think its time for them to think of another design layout because you could get that same design in a much cheaper car. As for Audi their interiors are nice very fine in detail but its not amazing it's just ok. Some Mb interiors are nice like the CLS and the E and some are not that nice like S which is a total ripoff of the 7 series. Now BMW interiors are average not that good not that bad neither, but I would give the credit for trying something new and different even though everybody bit off the I-drive the bad thing about was that they made theirs better.

ALL INTERIORS IN THIS CLASS ARE GOOD.

These arguments of fanboys claiming their brand has the best interior is understandable, but let's face it, EVERY single car here has a good interior (except maybe for some Cadillac's like the CTS for example).

I thought Mercedes did a pretty good job with their C-Class facelift for example. I find the interior to be very good - much better than the Fisher Price interior of the original current C-Class.

One thing that worries me are BMW interiors. They're good (quality and material wise), but compared to the competetion, they're trailing. It hurts me to put BMW's interior quality compared to the competition near the bottom. :(