The GREAT Debate: How IMPORTANT Is An Interior For You In A Luxury Vehicle?

To me, an interior is hugely important. Unfortunately, most manufacturers today focus on a good look and number of bullets on a feature sheet rather than working well as a great real-time human interface and implementing each feature well :-(

When you can find more "interesting" interiors inside of a Honda Accord/Nissan Maxima/Toyota Avalon/Ford Fusion/Taurus, then the standards for average interior designs has gone up a bit. Especially since entry-level/near-luxury cars cost so much more today, yes...they're gonna have to "step-up" their interior game.

Technology for technology's sake! It's the worst!

It's huge to me. It is one of the sole reasons I have stayed away from BMW. Audi executes at a higher level, with Mercedes finally waking up to this and doing some great things. Lexus is still confused, and Infiniti is even worse. I think Jaguar and Land Rover have huge potential, but fail in execution.

You Baffle me - what good is a car with a great interior and a underpowered engine and poor handling - and cheap all weather tires?

While an interior is important - I would suggest that the actual Driver's seat is the most important part of that(THe CT6 is really good for that) - with the placement of the pedals to be next in line. I actually drive my cars. I don't buy my cars for the built in wine cooler, the brightness of the makeup mirrors, or how snazzy the media system is . Unless the engine and chassis are top notch - I would not even consider how good the interior is with maybe the exception of a real appliance commuter car - like my company car - a Fusion Hybrid. I think one of the worst problem today is feedback from the pedals and the steering - which with electric assist - have been terrible compared to the older ways. They are only now starting to get the hang of that.

It's funny - but my first concern when buying my Chrysler Mini-van was the drivers seat. I am tall - and often you cannot get a car that adjusts well enough - but there is enough adjustment in that seat for me to find a really really good position - without power seats. I bought this car for the utility. ANd that makes a point - while the interior is a concern - the ability of the car to fulfill your needs and desires probably comes first - and in this forum that means performance before interior.

Depends on the driver/consumer...and that's why we have so many brands.

What dumpsty said.

That said, the CT6's seats were nothing to write home about in my experience.

How tall are you, big fella? 6'8 here...

Dear Agent 00R

I have actually rented one for a week in Europe recently. Noting that rentals are generally not top of the line - I found an interior that was not that bad. Yes - there are lots that are better - but the car was a relatively satisfying ride. I currently own Both a last generation S600 and a new CT6 (You beat me by 1/2 inch in height) - and it is clearly obvious that interior designs have advanced quite radically in just the last few years. Jaguar is behind the leaders - but there have been and still are lots of interiors on the market that are a lot worse than the Jaguar too. AND It is leagues better than my all time favorite car - my 450SEL 6.9. Garbage is just too strong a word for me.

My point went to your question in the title - and your statement - that the "Interior" is the "Most critical Part of the driving experience" - I am I remain unchanged in that the actual "performance" of the car is FAR more important than the interior - and I doubt that you would happily drive a car with the best interior in the world with the performance of a first generation Prius. While in a performance car - the Drivers seat and foot pedal positions are important - the contrast color stitching on the leather does not contribute much to the driving experience in my opinion. Now - if the performance of the vehicle is secondary to you - why do you even consider sports sedans - why don't you drive a Rolls Royce - with its "perfect" execution of its minimal interior?

The interior on ANY car is important and in the luxury wars, Jaguar has a lot to learn. Their interiors are not up to par for quality and visually they are not special either.

Very well said and highly agree with you MDarringer

Interior is hugely important to me and the XF's pictures above are a letdown.

Often - people "seem" to believe that "how it looks" in a picture is a clear representation of what an interior actually is. However - this ignores how an interior "works", is convenient, and how it actually FEELS. How it "looks" is clearly not everything - and I have often seen things in person that are "better" than pictures show. Believe me - I have driven enough PREMIUM cars to know that if the look of the interior is a let down to you - after you have driven the car - the car itself is not good enough anyway. AND if the car was really really special to drive (as my Mercedes 450SEL 6.9 was) - I don't remember much about the interior. I suspect Matt does not drive a TVR for its leather stitching - do you?

@TomM The layout, quality of materials, and how it works are all important. Jaguar interiors have some pretty dodgy quality gaffes.

Given that I can only drive the TVRs at the track all that really matters is how the pedals and shifter work. As street cars, TVR interiors are stunningly bad in every respect.

Tom, I hear you but there's no question the all-new XF's interior is garbage.

If you have an hour to kill check out your local Jag dealer and let us know your thoughts. But I am firm on this.

The overall impression that an interior leaves on the buyer/user is important up to a point.

For example, some luxury cars are so loaded with gadgets which make them so confusing to operate, that detracts from the driving experience.

Also - burying functions in sub-menus of touch-screen systems is also unfortunate.

In summary - the luxury buyer is looking at all aspects of the vehicle and expects them ALL to be premium and meet their expectations.

Thanx for posting the interior shots. Hard to see the details mentioned in the earlier post so I will certainly take a look when I get time. However on the overall design I like it, seems like a very clean uncluttered design. No annoying iPad/tablet awkwardly sticking out of the dash (Audi, BMW, Merc) Nice integration between the doors and front panel. A lot of newer cars don't even seem to integrate them at all or very superficially (Audi, BMW) and they look like they had one designer for the door and one for the front panel. Mercedes did a nice job on that aspect in particular. The rest doesn't look shouts special but overall seems like a nice place to be when cruising to work, dinner etc...

Jaguar is one of those legendary "luxury" brands that you just want to love & support. They've been able to make a come-back & really be "visible" in today's market. However, their interiors are clearly not the top priority for the brand. The Jag interiors are nice, distinctively styled (ever sit in a new XJR - OMG!). When compared to M-B or Audi or Maserati or Cadillac, they just seems to be adequate for the vehicle category. You can describe the Jag interiors as being "calm".

i.e. The new XE is kinda cool. Very distinctive front/rear fascias. Sit inside & things get really relaxed (read: boring). Yes, you know you'er riding in a Jaguar, but there's nothing particularly edgy or flashy about the interior - considering the cost of entry. Even Bentley & Rolls-Royce "spiced-up" their historically drab interior/instrument cluster/center stack to enhance the overall driving experience.

Here's the thing, dumpsty, I am not just speaking about the styling. The quality is not so hot and the raw materials are exceedingly cheap.

The XJ is a BRILLIANT interior though the infotainment needs updating — I believe it was updated for 17 MY but have not experienced.

@-Agent00R

You are spot on about Jaguar & their crappy interiors, especially the 2016 XF. However, the XJ's interior design is getting long in the tooth & needs a major revamp, so I'm anxious to see what Jaguar has in store for the newly redesigned XJ model.