Originally Posted by Osnabrueck

I kinda agree, but in some other ways I don't.

I like Hondas for the way that they've become a celebration of the artificial, mass manufactured world we live in. There's no traditional luxury pretentions to be found in a Honda, and the cars are none the worse for it. They've taken a path that strictly and unapologetically modern, and it works.

In the middle we have mass luxury brands that cater to our traditional beliefs about luxury, and here things get a bit murky. There's really nothing better or worse about how you trim your cabin, it's about the selection of colors and materials. However, the lower you go down the product totem pole the more careful one must be so as not to step on a cowpie of bad taste.

What I've griped alot about is how very modern luxury cars are still being trimmed with colors and materials that are very staid and old-fashioned. The E90 3er is modern as can be, but you'll find many with the same old man gray and brown motif that's been common for over 20 years.

In any case, I forget what I was getting at or what I was sorta disagreeing with...

I guess it's the assertion that natural always trumps the artificial if cost is no object. There's a level of "luxury content" that, even in a car as magnificant as the Phantom, becomes absolutely crass. You get that sense of overload like you would sitting in a Rococo style bedroom. I don't see why on earth a footplate should be made of... I dunno... wood?

I guess what I'm getting at is that I value quality more than I do specific materials. It's for that reason that I can extract a certain level of appreciation out a Honda interior and at the same time find Jaguar's cabin absolutely putrid. Quality isn't just about abundance of luxurious materials - it's also about informed design choices.