why does the dash have to be hard plastic?

I don't mind plastics, as long as they're not hard enough to repel sound, have some texture to them, and the flashing on the edges is trimmed. Some of the GMs I've driven this year have done a really nice job of using sound-deadening textured vinyls in attractive contrasting colours. I'd much rather have a good quality plastic than cheap metal, or plastic that's been chromed or painted with silver paint that flakes and looks like crap before 5,000 miles.

It's not just interiors, when I got rear ended last year the rental I got was an avenger and the interior was fine, but the tranny was straight out of 1985 and this was a 2009 with about 6k on it. maybe its just dodge or american cars, the last two days of my rental they gave me a new sentra instead and it seemed really well put together.

Lesley wrote: I don't mind plastics, as long as they're not hard enough to repel sound, have some texture to them, and the flashing on the edges is trimmed. Some of the GMs I've driven this year have done a really nice job of using sound-deadening textured vinyls in attractive contrasting colours. I'd much rather have a good quality plastic than cheap metal, or plastic that's been chromed or painted with silver paint that flakes and looks like crap before 5,000 miles.

Agreed.. when I had my tiburon.. Hyundai did not try and hide the hard plastic.. they painted it anodized bronze to contrast the green paint. It ran from halfway down the door panal, up over the guages, and down to the shifter on the console. Yes, it was hard plastic, but it was not trying to be leather, wood, or shiney aluminum

I spend three days a week in rentals. I've driven just about everything out there in the 'full size' class and up. I often get upgrades to premiums if they are running low on 'fulls.'

Out of all of the stuff I've rented, the Mazda 3 is the best all around car. It drives nice and the interior is well put-together. The new Mazda 6 is okay, but not as nice inside as one a year or two old. The rental agencies keep the Mazdas a lot longer than the domestic stuff, and most of them have 40-60k on them and are still in very good shape.

Altimas are okay, but I don't care for the CVT.

I rent TONs of GMs. What is really staggering is that I can get two different examples of the same car that drive totally differently. I've seen some Malibus with 40k that still drive great, and some with 15k that are crap. There is either a lot of variance in manufacturing, or they are fragile. Almost all of the GM cars have brake pulsation issues.

Anything Dodge is crap. Really hate the interiors and poor visibility.

Don't see many Fords for some reason. Got a Fusion once and I was impressed with it.

Disappointed in the Camrys. They don't compare favorably to the domestic stuff. They're not worse, but not better.

Got a G35 one time, goes without saying that this one was satisfactory.

ignorant wrote: Why does the dash have to be hard plastic? Why?

Because if it was made of marshmallows, it would melt in the sun.

pres589 wrote: mad_machine: I doubt in the extreme that there are two different interiors to the Caliber, one for rentals and one for everyone else. The rental-ness came out with it having manual *everything*, locks, windows, no internal mirror adjustment at all (I looked and looked, you adjust the exterior mirrors by pushing on them) and no cruise control. That I overlooked because it was, again, a rental. A joke of a rental but still. And the Aveo trounced it here too, it had actual features like electric locks and windows and mirrors and cruise.

Don't know about the Caliber, but he's right on the rental thing. My girlfriend has a Corolla that was a rental before it was hers. I hate the car, even as a commuter. The road noise is bad, the "wood" looks so fake its almost a caricature, the plastic is hard... I could go on.
Her best friend has a Corolla S, same year, but all the goodies (except leather, if that was available) and it is a much better car. I couldn't believe it, that the same car, same year, one could have such a better interior--the steering wheel felt better, the dash looked better, there was less road noise... Just a better feeling car all around. Too bad she thinks its okay to shift into drive while you're still moving backward at about 4 miles an hour.

Tyler,
If you do not see many Ford rentals then you are not renting from Hertz.
I suspect National or Avis.
Thrifty and Budget Rent a Car is almost exclusively Chrysler products

My Dodge Dart's interior is simply vinyl wrapped over cardboard door panels, painted hard plastic, and a lot of exposed metal structure. Couldn't have been very expensive to make, but it somehow manages to look less cheap than many newer cars. I wonder if some crash safety regulations shoved metal interiors out of existence?

All this talk about plastic interrior and vinyl / rubber makes me sad when I get in my Ranger, I miss my 98 Eldorado or my 90 Eldorado where EVERYTHING was leather except the floor carpet and the headliner, even the A-Pillars and C-Pillars, and it smelled sooooooooo nice every time you got in...

The interior is one of the few things I like about my Infiniti G20 - its not overly extravagant, but is not cheap either -its more than a decade old, and besides some worn carpet, and a bit of wear on the arm rests, theres no rattles, squeaks or broken plastic. Its one of the few things I will miss whenever I get rid of that car.

The 2010 Terrain my wife and I are buying has almost every panel inside covered in either leather or painted plastic that is obviously plastic. I think they are trying to go for the dichotomy of high end versus utilitarian. Either way, Ive not spent enough time inside to really make up my mind about comfort/long term impressions, but my knee jerk is kinda "wow...refreshingly well thought out". It is GMC, which is supposedly an upgrade from Chevy, not quite as nice as buick/caddy, so its not the average cheapo utility appliance rental. Brand image may have a bit to do with the amount of R&D that went into the cabin. But all in all, so far I feel like GM got it right inside this one.

Datsun1500 wrote: The fact that hers was a rental has noting to do with it.

Yes it does--the fact that its a rental means its an LE. Same as with the Caliber, they are going to get the cheapest version of each model.

I never understood the whining about "plasticy" interiors. What do you do, hug the dashboard? I sit in a seat and put my hands on the wheel. If I'm lucky, I get to put my other hand on a shift nob. A high end car, I'd expect a bitchin' interior, but its a Dodge not a berkleying couch.

Appleseed wrote: I never understood the whining about "plasticy" interiors. What do you do, hug the dashboard? I sit in a seat and put my hands on the wheel. If I'm lucky, I get to put my other hand on a shift nob. A high end car, I'd expect a bitchin' interior, but its a Dodge not a berkleying couch.

It seems some of us know our cars more intimately than others

I drive a 16 year old cop car. Your "crappy" interiors have nothing on me. And because its 16 years old, I have to be, by nature, very intimate with the 9C1.

Wally wrote:

Appleseed wrote: I never understood the whining about "plasticy" interiors. What do you do, hug the dashboard? I sit in a seat and put my hands on the wheel. If I'm lucky, I get to put my other hand on a shift nob. A high end car, I'd expect a bitchin' interior, but its a Dodge not a berkleying couch.

It seems some of us know our cars more intimately than others

Mechaphile, much?

4cylndrfury wrote: It is GMC, which is supposedly an upgrade from Chevy, not quite as nice as buick/caddy, so its not the average cheapo utility appliance rental. Brand image may have a bit to do with the amount of R&D that went into the cabin. But all in all, so far I feel like GM got it right inside this one.

you bring up a good point here... company I used to work for had two small (under 26,000) box trucks and we would rent one on occasion. Ours were an Isuzu and a GMC.. both the same model, just different badging. the GMC was SLIGHTLY upmarket from the Isuzu with more options and a slightly nicer seat material.

The rental place had the chevy version... in that, you got NOTHING. It had cheap interior with hard vinyl seats (lovely in summer) and even lacked gages. I am not going to say the rental compay just had trucks with no options to save costs.. but even the steering wheels were different and MUCH cheaper in the chevy.