Passing the time away at work, I have often found myself in fits of laughter at hilariously bad car interiors.
I ask you, the good people out there, to please share some particularly abysmal examples (pictorial evidence greatly welcomed)...
to get the ball rolling, a personal favourite:
The Talbot Tagora
www.rootes-chrysler.co.uk/images/develop/devtagora...g
Edited by jamesymurray on 09/10/2009 at 14:04
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Can't see what's wrong with that, it looks functional, just rather unfashionable these days. Time moves on.
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Hahah, that Tagora is hilarious. I love the Warning lights around the dash (in a so bad it's funny sort of way).
I have a nomination for the Citroen Visa. I am not sure if it is horrific, but put it this way, if I had a car with this interior, I would be laughing my head off!
img27.imageshack.us/i/visag.jpg/#q=citroen visa interior
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your pic gets my vote strangehighways.
That dash looks like the junk in my loft after a hurricane hit!
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Perhaps not up to past faux-pas but the current Ford Focus seat trim in many models appears to resemble a seaside deckchair imho: www.ford.co.uk/Cars/Focus/Coloursandtrims
The MK2 ssems (to me) to have had a more subtle selection of trims......
Edited by idle_chatterer on 09/10/2009 at 14:50
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What was that early 80s Lancia saloon (before the Thema)
that had the dash with diagonal rows of coin-sized buttons/warning lights/gauges ?
It was very 'busy'!
sorry, can't even remember the name of the model
:-(
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At least the single-spoke steering wheels on the Tagora and Visa allowed you to see the instruments clearly, and the deisgn of both dashboards helps to maximise interior cabin space.
Sure, they had no airbags to package but today's car designers could still learn a thing or two!
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Quite agree boxsterboy. People see something different from what they are used to and start hee-hawing like donkeys.
You can't blame people for ignorance obviously. But you can laugh, in your turn, at their arrogance and smugness.
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> What was that early 80s Lancia saloon (before the Thema)
that had the dash with diagonal rows of coin-sized buttons/warning lights/gauges ?
Trevi. It drove nicely, as they almost all did.
I agree with Lud - why knock what doesn't pass for style or design these days? Most car fascias today look to me like the worst kind of Woolworth stereo, circa 1975.
Edited by mike hannon on 09/10/2009 at 15:35
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Oh come on guys, can't you laugh at anything? I can easily laugh at modern cars as well. I just find it amusing to look at different takes on things through the years. Obviously the older stuff appears different and amusing (to some) because it is not like the modern/familiar cars. I don't see what is wrong with having a good bit of fun with this.
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Indeed there are many many modern cars with dreadful styling, but there is such a charm to the older cars that is lacking these days. I'm actually very appreciative of those old designs, at least they had character when compared to the endless monotony of dull black plastic you get now...
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I don't see what is wrong with having a good bit of fun with this.
You're right, there's nothing wrong with laughing at anything at all. Perhaps arrogance and smugness were a bit harsh anyway in your case.
Honestly though, there was a period when a lot of cars looked like the Tagora, although the Visa with its 'satellite' thingy was unusual (and to me interesting for that reason alone).
I like cars to look, and be, different from each other. I understand why they tend to converge, but I don't hve to like it.
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Just take a look at this most hideous interior ~ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bentley_Continental_GTC...G
Give me a nice? Kia or Hyundai any dai :-D
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Everything about the Bentley says VW. I suppose the bonus is you can buy a Golf as a runaround and know where all the switchgear is :-)
Edited by daveyjp on 09/10/2009 at 16:27
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The Visa wins for me, a horrible complicated mess.
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No car can have such a hideous dash layout as the Ford Ka. It looks like it was designed by Fisher-Price.
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Words fail me for this - there are so many clashing displays.
www.maestro.org.uk/montego/mondigital.jpg
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No car can have such a hideous dash layout as the Ford Ka. It looks like it was designed by Fisher-Price.
Ther most fisher price interiour award must go to the latest Mini
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The Visa wins for me a horrible complicated mess.
Yep, looks to me like a humanoid robot is poking through from the engine bay with a steering wheel in his mouth.
Maybe i've had too much caffeine this afternoon.
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sorry can't even remember the name of the model
Lancia Trevi....
post reformatted and tidied up
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 10/10/2009 at 00:29
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I rather like the Visa's dashboard - much like other Citroens of the era, I remember. I particularly liked the models with the very odd speedometer, such as this:
www.flickr.com/photos/ds23pallas/375467287/
Fantastic!
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This is fantastic guys!!!! Keep 'em comin!!!!
That GSA Pallas dash is absolutely insane!!
Here is the Lancia dash someone referred to earlier.
img17.imageshack.us/i/trev2.jpg/#q=lancia trevi interior
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The Lancia Orca digital dash was something to behold, as was my personal favourite the FIAT Uno turbo digidash.
tinyurl.com/ykx6zr8
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Early Mk III Cortina dash.
www.mk3cortina.com/images/p&jcortina4.jpg
Later ones were much better, award winning at the time, c1974, carrier over to the Mk IV.
www.mk3cortina.com/cgi-bin/imageFolio.cgi?action=v...=
Edited by cheddar on 09/10/2009 at 18:06
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I saw a Mk3 on the M27 yesterday.........dark green 2000E I think
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How about the Citroen Bx Digit? A special edition BX with a digital dashboard?
The PRN (pluie, route, nuit - rain, road and night) "pod" tupe dash found on Citroen GS/A, mk1 CX, mk1 Visa and mk1 BX are actually very nice to use, if a little unusual looking. All the most used switches fall very easy to hand and the single spoke steering wheel means the switches and instruments are rarely obscured.
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I think gmac's nomination of the Lancia Orca does deserve a prize!
I wonder if all of these were influenced by the sci-fi programmes on TV at the time. Which themselves look so dated. Which is ironic for something set in the future - Blake's 7 anyone?
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If you want a real laugh look for Lancia Orca, Medussa or Alfa Romeo New York taxi c.1976.
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The latest thing in designer instruments is the lcd readout a la Citroen C4. It's clear enough but I think a big changing number in a display - rather perversely large and placed in the centre of the dashboard to alarm the passengers - is a bit, well, busy, and liable at some point to catastrophic general failure.
Strip speedos, special American speedos that only go up to 85 although the car can do more than that, revolving drums behind magnifying glasses like a whisky dispenser in a pub, multi-coloured arabesques of rpm and road speed in little wedges on a black background, are quite amusing but none of them are as good as proper, separate, preferably mechanical and high quality traditional round white-on-black or similar instruments. You don't find Porsches with weird arrangements. There's a reason.
Perhaps properly calibrated electronic tachos (a lot aren't) are better in practice than huge mechanical Jaeger ones with flickering, jerking needles. Must be about a hundred times cheaper too. Not all progress is bad.
:o}
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Single spoke steering wheels have always appealed to me although few of the later ones are as elegant as the one in the DS (and also actually in the 425cc Bijou, a 2CV without the practicality, which must have been the slowest car I have owned).
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Most (all?) analogue instruments on modern cars are controlled by an ECU. Your speed or the car's revs are displayed using the dial but that is controlled. Anyone ever put a Ford unit into diagnostic mode knows the needles can be checked/moved etc. And the speed displayed digitally in the area where the trip meter is located.
Cars are now starting to use TFT screens to emulate the analogue dials too aren't they.
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I can certainly think of some of the dullest - early 90's Fords spring to mind.
Citroen CX was a fab bit of design, infact the French up till the 90's did some fantastic if fragile dash designs - I loved the digi dash on my '86 Renault 21 TXE, it just made the car really.
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>>Anyone ever puta Ford unit into diagnostic mode knows the needles can be checked/moved etc. And the speed displayed digitally in the area where the trip meter is located.
Mk2 Golf GTi had this feature. Hold in the MFA button on the end of the wiper stalk, switch ignition to P2, off, on and start and it went into diagnostic mode. Use it to set the rev counter and I seem to recall it had a some emissions read outs among other things too.
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Most (all?) analogue instruments on modern cars are controlled by an ECU. Your speed or the car's revs are displayed using the dial but that is controlled.
I know I'm guilty of cross threading here but presumably that also applies to the coolant temperature gauge :-)
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I am not sure on mine but I would imagine the temp gauge is controled by the ECU too it wouldn't make sense for it to be. I know the speedo is directly controlled via the ECU and not a cable.
I think LCD dashes are a good idea but I know Renault had problems on their Scenic according to Watchdog.
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every maker has problems with digital dashboards. even the analogue digital dashbaords.
Edited by Altea Ego on 09/10/2009 at 22:39
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What about this until it breaks:
www.mavromatic.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/2010...g
The image could change I assume depending on what you're doing. e.g. serious off-roading you might not care about fuel gauge or revs but have info from other sensors.
Edited by rtj70 on 09/10/2009 at 23:26
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What about this until it breaks:
It already has two "needles" on the speedo showing two different speeds so I would call that broken already.
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I noticed that too :-) The new Jaguar XJ has nicer virtual dials though:
www.carsuk.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/Jaguar-X...g
Edited by rtj70 on 10/10/2009 at 01:20
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We're all a load of sissies really ya know - plush upholstery + aircon + CD players + heaters + PAS + dashboards etc., etc., etc. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ->
i557.photobucket.com/albums/ss17/virgil7/2_interio...g
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We seem to have moved on from pre-95 cars, so here's an up to date one that I really dislike:
tinyurl.com/yl55q3j
Just can't stand the retro thing...
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I have to say, I find all of these either attractive (eg the Bentley), charming or not at all offensive. The only one I don't like is perro's minimalist contribution.
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The stupid thing about the Mini dashboard is that the Mark 1 (2001-06) interior was so much better than the current one. It had much more intuitive radio and aircon controls, indicator and wiper stalks that worked normally, and a comboned ignition and starter swiytch worked by the key. And to my mind it looked better too, although that of course is subjective.
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...I find all of these either attractive (eg the Bentley),...
The Bentley succeeds in that it says 'money' in the strongest possible terms, which is what a dashboard in a car such as that should do.
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I find the Citroen dashboards above imaginative rather than horrific. Here's another one, this time from an early DS:
www.flickr.com/photos/mr38/3220576297/
Here are some nice and nasty BL dasboards:
tinyurl.com/yfth9er
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That www.aronline.co.uk site is amazing... spent ages on that
Here are some nice and nasty BL dasboards: tinyurl.com/yfth9er
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On the AR page, the Austin / Morris 7-10cwt van is by far the best.
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The Peugeot 309 deserves a mention, not so much for its design, but for the unbelievably cheap and nasty plastic it used. How often can you look at a photo and so accurately imagine the rattles and squeaks. ;-)
Have you ever seen nastier looking plastic, anywhere?
tinyurl.com/yz7p6z5
The car itself was great, but I remember this interior looking rubbish even when the car was current.
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Thanks for those photos of old Leyland dashboards. Triumph - a make for which I've always had a soft spot - always managed, even with the Herald / Vitesse and original 1300, to make the wood look real (it was) and not to overdo it.
With later efforts in wood - particularly the Rover 75 - it was difficult to tell whether the wood was real or fake. I think it was real but I'm happy to be corrected. The effect of the wood in the 75, coupled with the sepia-faced instruments, was reminiscent of a 1940s front parlour, which was used only when Great-aunt Bertha came to stay, or there was a death in the family (or both).
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What seems sad now is that almost every car that you get in has such a conformist dashboard - They all seem to have things placed in almost the same position eg
3 circular knobs for heating/ventilation (on more basic models) - believe this is really from BMWs of the 70s idea.
2 large dial instruments of equal size, of almost full circle movement, fairly close together and symetrical with maybe 2 other guages- again bmw or Volkswagen
light switch separated on right hand side of the dashboard - again a german idea from Mercs and BMWs and some VWs I think of the era
What doesn't seem to happen much anymore is anyone really experimenting with dashboards - nobody seems to have half moon or square shaped instruments or ones in rows to one side only...
Also there doesn't seem to be any experimentation to do away with a central console and keep everything up and close to the instruments eg like alot of more basic cars had - the clear dashboard approach of the Citroen visa, AX, Panda, original golf etc.
What seems true now is many more cars look cramped up front because the dashboard is much more wraparound without actually delivering much storage - what's under it all...
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Also there doesn't seem to be any experimentation to do away with a central console and keep everything up and close to the instruments eg like alot of more basic cars had - the clear dashboard approach of the Citroen visa AX Panda original golf etc.
Citroën C4 Grand Picasso has three buttons in the middle, hazard lights, ESP on/off and central locking around the radio. The rest are on the steering wheel and a small pod where the light switch is in the BMWs you mention.
c4owners.org/images/c4/large/picasso_dash.jpg
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Remember this from the mk2 Astra GTE in the 80's?
www.freewebs.com/frazse22/Astra%20dash.jpg
It was universally slated by the press, but I loved it. Thought it worked brilliantly, even if the update/refresh was a little slow. Looked ace at night, too. :-)
Yes, I know I am sad.
Edited by DP on 11/10/2009 at 09:40
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Proper job! its even got a manifold vacuum/economy gauge :)
i557.photobucket.com/albums/ss17/virgil7/Cortina_M...g
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Prize for greatest dashboard improvement over the years HAS to go to Seat (notably the Ibiza):
From this tinyurl.com/yk528a2 to this tinyurl.com/ygl3bk8
The worst part of the Mark 1 was the awkwardness of the wiper control (a very stiff slider on the RHS, impossible to operate without taking your hand off the wheel) but the non-cancelling indicators were also a pain.
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Remember this from the mk2 Astra GTE in the 80's?
I seem to remember the mileometer and tripmeter on those things were mechanical rather than than electronic. Vauxhall simply replaced the traditionally stylised numbers with numbers in the shape of 7 segment LEDs.
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What seems sad now is that almost every car that you get in has such a conformist dashboard
Well, not every car. Here is the dashboard of the Mark 2 Prius:
tinyurl.com/yjrsq38
Almost all of the minor controls are on the steering wheel, which doesn't actually work that well.
The digital speedo, however, is brilliantly positioned at the bottom of the windscreen directly in front of the driver. This is the only place digital speedos should be mounted. The positioning is second only to a Head Up Display.
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