[parakleets]

All the talk about weak interiors, and cheap materials, in GM cars seems to be based on past experiences. The reality of the matter is GM's interiors are really getting a lot better. Road&Track recently slammed the Solstice for using cheaper interior materials than the Mazda Miata. Having been in Solstice, I can definitely say that the interior is fine. I think that these auto "journalists" expect every car to have the interior quality of a Bentley or Maybach. It is not possible for an $18,000.00 roadster to have a real ostrich leather-lined interior! They also harp about "hard plastics". Personally, I think that the hard plastic is okay on areas of the interior that you don't touch. The hard stuff seems to be more durable than the self-skinning foam, as used on dashboards. The often praised VW/Audi interiors are truly beautifully designed, and offer a world of high end looking materials and textures. VW/Audi interiors should be benchmarked, from a styling standpoint, but long-term durability is another matter. I owned a previous generation Jetta (2001), and the beautiful interior quickly started to degrade. The soft-touch rubber on the door handles began to peel off, the shiftboot vinyl cracked and began to wear through, the steering wheel faded, and the seats lost color and were impossible to clean. No one ever tells the whole story about VW interiors.