Car Interior Improvements

[Car Interor design]

Hello Yaris owners

I’m an Industrial designer that for the moment is looking in to interior design for Toyota.

Now I need your help, please give me your insights!

What is lacking? What do you love/ hate in your car?

All information is of grate value to me in my work, thank you!

[stantheman1]

Hello Yaris owners

I’m an Industrial designer that for the moment is looking in to interior design for Toyota.

Now I need your help, please give me your insights!

What is lacking? What do you love/ hate in your car?

All information is of grate value to me in my work, thank you!

I think the quality of the plastics used for the dash is very poor I would go as far and say it is flimsy and is a lot worse in the mk2 Yaris than the previous generation, what is wrong with soft touch plastics?

How about (remote) opening rear windows on the 3 door variants,and while we're back there how about adjustable headrests, currently you have to have them fully extended or completely folded down,not always suitable for small persons e.g. children.

I just about love everything else, but the cabin would benifit from adding a chrome bezel here and there, e.g. gear lever surround, all interior door handles and not just the front etc.

I think then you would have the near perfect Yaris.

I bet you wished you never asked now!

[alfiejts]

Inevitably people focus on the negatives, but here are a few positives as well - as we wouldn't want the positives spoiling "just for the sake of change".

Regarding the Mk2 2006-on model...

1) The steering wheel design & feel is good.

2) Precision of the controls is good.

3) Overall design of dash is good, especially the way that the speedo can be seen from the passenger seat - a failing of the Mk1 and a real pain when the car is being used for "learning" and taking an advanced driving course.

4) Seat cloth quality is good - although a more sporty seat design (deeper side bolsters, etc) would be good for the sporty models to sell the car to a younger audience.

5) Door panel layout is good - with good grab handles - although the pocket isn't quit elatge enough to take a 2l milk bottle and that would be very nice as its always a worry putting a bag of milk on the footwell....

6) The idea of this "light band" of light grey plastic that runs across both side doors is a stylists bright idea that doesn't translate into reality as in normay use no one sees the whole of both doors at the same time to see the way it connects together...

The plastic lids to the top dash cubby holes and glovebox seem very flimsy. They're not going to break but they just feel cheap and horrible to use - no quality feel at all...

7) The chrome & Aluminium gear knob on the 2008 SR is a very nice tactile touch. Great idea that's now been dropped. As is the tomtom sat nav built into the radio on the 2008 SR too.

8) The fact that only the passenger seat slides forward on 3 door cars is bad. Its a real pain to let someone in behind the drivers seat as it doesn't slide forward.

9) The sliding back seat is a great idea - lets you change the emphasis between back seat legroom and boot room depending on day to day needs.

[Cherry Red Pocket Rocket]

I agree with the above two posts. The Yaris could do with a more upmarket interior feel. Interior materials that speak of the same lasting quality and reliability that is inbuilt to every Toyota if that makes sense?

[gar]

Better quality carpeting and better soundproofing would be a huge plus!

The carpet near the left foot has warn somewhat, and the driving school one I had, was lots worse. My Skoda has a footplate there, that may help prevent that! The soundproofing could be better as road noise is a little intrusive... Not dire, but could easily be better.

Not too sure but did the newer Yaris' have a steering column that adjusts for hight AND armlength? That would be a great improvement over the old ones!

One more thing... Why do nearly all car manufacturers put electric windows only on the front, on the small cars? You can sometimes pay more for rears but if you have the higher spec, you would expect rear 'leccies' on a big car, so why not a small one? Again, this may have been done on later ones... (Hope so)!

[alan589]

Better quality carpeting and better soundproofing would be a huge plus!

The carpet near the left foot has warn somewhat, and the driving school one I had, was lots worse. My Skoda has a footplate there, that may help prevent that! The soundproofing could be better as road noise is a little intrusive... Not dire, but could easily be better.

Not too sure but did the newer Yaris' have a steering column that adjusts for hight AND armlength? That would be a great improvement over the old ones!

One more thing... Why do nearly all car manufacturers put electric windows only on the front, on the small cars? You can sometimes pay more for rears but if you have the higher spec, you would expect rear 'leccies' on a big car, so why not a small one? Again, this may have been done on later ones... (Hope so)!

I agree with most of the above but the drivers seat backrest bolster on my 2006 3 dr Yaris has not worn well. It has just "developed" a small hole and in in poor condition, not good after only 4 yrs and 50,000 miles.

There is evidence of cost cutting all over the place in the interior, flimsy glovebox lids, paint coming off gear knob after 1 year, non-illuminated switches and a computer which you an't easily reach from the drivers seat(mk2 golf had a far superior effort 20+ yrs ago ffs!). I do like the design of the interior but Toyota's cost cutting is obvious and disappointing.

As aforementioned, the soudproofing is poor and the interior is a noisy place to be, especially on the motorway.

My son has a 15 yr old corolla and in most ways the fit and finish of his car, although dated, is superior to mine. Sign of the times?

[gar]

My son has a 15 yr old corolla and in most ways the fit and finish of his car, although dated, is superior to mine. Sign of the times?

Guess so, in these days of recyclable plastics and lightening to preserve fuel, etc! :ffs:

[Madasafish]

I don't mind plastics: indeed I prefer them to wood.

But please will someone invent a plastic which repels dust?

After a year, the fascia achieves a patina like a crypt: a thin layer of dust..

A dust repellant finish would be great.

As for feel etc, I care not as long as they don't rattle.

Function over form anyday... (or is it the other way round? :-)

[Raeman]

My wee Jappie is 10yrs old now but still drives and looks like new having been pampered all it's life. :)

However, the quality of the plastics is very cheap especially around the glovebox area and the centre, the seats need to be more sporty and supportive (Like the T-Sport, but should be like this on all models imo) and err...well that's all i can fault it on really.

For a small car, the Yaris is an incredibly capable thing and i can't praise mine enough.

[alfiejts]

Just spent two days in a Kia Ceed hire car... (It says something when global car rental chains are now using Kia instead of Vauxhall...)

The car interior was a lesson in how the Yaris should be - especially as the Kia is really a budget car and will be built to a price.

The dashboard and trim plastics were of a "soft touch" quality feel.

The glovebox felt solid, even though it was just a "single skin" plastic mounding like the Yaris one.

There were nice areas of "contrasting" piano black trim (a la Audi) to present a quality feel and which could easily be done in different colours or finished to allow customer customisation (like Mini and Fiat 500).

There were two power sockets, a usb output and an mp3 input in the centre console. bluetooth integration was built into the radio.

The trip computer was controlled from a steering wheel button - the Yaris trip button is a nightmare on the Mk2 - you can't use it when driving...

I wasn't expecting to be impressed at all by the Kia but I was and that's what I'd really like the next Yaris to model itself of as an achievable goal for a similar budget car model....