Why Old Car Interiors Reign Supreme Over Elon Musk's Soulless Designs 

2010: dont use your phone while driving 2024: you have to use touch screen for every single function of car

Imagine not having to take your eyes of the road to operate the climate controls

The worst part is that Tesla engineers are somehow making the interiors even more minimalistic by literally removing the signal stalk. The SIGNAL STALK. They replaced it with *touch sensors* on the left side of the wheel, which get reversed when you're in a roundabout. Not only that, but they also removed the wiper stalk and the gear lever, adding everything into the screen to cut costs. For a "technologically advanced" car, Teslas sure do lack a whole bunch of standard features and hard surface controls.

"minimalism" Is not a design philosophy that makes practical sense for vehicle information and control systems

the actual problem isnt the "soul" its that EVERYTHING is controlled by the touch screen in the middle, while actuall buttons would be wayyy better and more functional

Let's be honest, the only reason minimalistic design took off is because it's cheaper to design and produce for companies, and the worst part is they aren't any cheaper despite that.

as someone who was born in the 2000s please bring back the 1980s car designs

when you have to watch a youtube tutorial to turn on the damn ac, you know we went wrong somewhere.

Without going full conspiracy nutter, I do feel like Tesla's have a very "eat the bugs" kinda energy to them. The car was the product of a techbro, his army of yes-men and software engineers and it shows.

While I've accepted that touchscreens in cars are here to stay, I'm a firm believer that such touchscreens should strictly be limited to the infotainment system. Anything beyond that is too much

Im an advocate for bringing back the 1970s denim car

Recently, i got into a discussion with a friend of mine about the tesla interiors. he never owned a car and was more of the city type, so i was curious about his opinions on car interiors and he always went with the tesla interiors even when i obscured the steering wheel, he claimed it was "sleek" and "clean" no noise and such, and it baffled me so much at the time and still does, i feel like we are being the loud minority when market trends seem to really insist on making things empty for the sake of being empty.

I feel minis have a touch of personality, their new models having circular screens instead of the rectangular ones we usually see

Why i have to touch the screen multiple times just to turn on the fan. I only want the interior like WRC or WEC cars just switch to do things.

As a guy who was brought home from the maternity ward as a newborn in a 2007 Renault Clio 1.6, I can comfortably say that I have an incomprehensible appreciation for this car.

Tesla is the definition of soulless design. All of their designs look like something a kid can draw, and their interiors are basic and cheap

reject modernity embrace 1980s mercedes interior design

my old man drives a 1996 peugeot 306 caravan to this day, says he will never ever upgrade, just because he cant stand to look at an another screen in his life

you have potential

I drive a 2014 Honda Civic. The car feels absolutely amazing. The interior feels like a space ship with its gorgeous two-part gauge cluster, and all the main functions aren't controlled by the infotainment. Its gear selector is also a center console mounted stick lever, instead of a knob or buttons on a screen.

I am happy my 2023 VW Taigo still has dials and buttons on the dashboard and wheel. I only ever need to use the touchscreen to make calls or check the navigation. It is a nice blend of new and old. Has all the new tech found in modern cars but still has buttons where needed and don’t need to take my eyes off the road.

My '14 F250 platinum is my ideal interior. It has a touchscreen and hands-free voice control, but it still has all the buttons and knobs plus a faux-wood trim. Looks classic with enough tech to still be relevant. I tried a Tesla once, but couldn't wrap my head around having just a single screen in the middle.

Honestly one of the most recent cars with a stunning interior is the Honda E, seriously it looks amazing with the wood

The Subaru SVX has an interior that both gives me nostalgia and the feeling that I'm back in one of the old libraries with that colored carpet, or those old buses with the jazz wave seats. We need design like that back in all vehicles, unique designs that give you that feeling. The vaporwavey stuff especially is beautiful.

4:15 Saab had been doing this for ages

The 04-06 Pontiac GTO has one of the best looking interiors of this century

Physical button are a good thing. Sure, a touchscreen is nice to use for GPS, but that literally the last placement I want for the controls for my heated seats. And don't even get my started on the nonsense that is placing the speedometer in the top corner of a tablet instead of the middle of the steering wheel. Speed is the parameter that drivers check the most often so the last thing you want is looking to your right constantly instead of looking at the road.

"Why do we care about aesthetic on space, they don't need to be sleek, they need to be functional." -Tobias Frewer, Watch Dogs: Bad Blood

my Grandpa's 1985 Ford F-250's interior has so much more personality and charm than that tesla's ever will. And it's been chillin' out in our pasture since 2000! (the inside is still incredibly clean, btw.)

I completely agree but I think it all comes down to the cost. It's probably cheaper to go with minimalism and put a touch screen in the middle of the car instead of designing and manufacturing 50 different buttons. I can't even imagine myself ever buying a brand new car because even with all this plastic, minimalism and other crap, cars are still crazy expensive.

What I don’t like about Tesla interiors is not all the technology it has but how empty it all feels

This reminded me how much i love the interior of the 1989 Buick Reatta. also banger video this is the first time i've seen anything from your channel and its fire i'm subing for sure

4:24 SAAB cars have all the instruments tilted towards the driver, I have a 9.3 2004 convertible and I noticed it when I sat in the passenger seat for the first time

windows joke was epic

Im 17 years old, and my daily driver is a 1998 jeep cherokee. It has no air, no carpet, and burns oil on cold starts. I love it though, ill never get rid of it. I plan to keep it alive for as long as possible. Compared to that, sitting in a modern car just feels so overwhelming. All the screens everywhere. I hate it

Thanks for sneeking in the Trailer Park Boys clip, made this video so much better

I agree that 90s interior where superior, but in modern Premium class cars like the 2017 7 series there where just so many buttons everywhere and so low down that it could be hard to differentiate while driving. My dad dirves one and even after 5 years of ownership he still doesnt have the muscle memory down. I think that is the appeal of a touch screen. Maybe its because i grew up after 2000.

Actual good RU-vidr found. Subscribed!

I love channels like these contemplating trends and developments of the car industry Keep up the good work 🧡🤘

This video makes me appreciate my Chevy Bolt's interior so much more.

Nice video dude. I hope you'll grow on RU-vid.

4:18 saab did kinda do that on some of their models, examples are: The 900,9000,9-3 and the 9-5

I have a ‘77 porsche and I cannot imagine ever being comfortable in another car made after the 2000s. The seats are so incredibly cushy and the original interior is in amazing condition. Looks a million times better than modern cars

I wasn't alive back then, but I miss the available red interiors you could get in the Ford and GM trucks in the 80s and 90s.

modern day car designs will be nostalgic to some people eventually, calling something nostalgic isnt a good characteristic, its a vague feeling that could be applied to anything depending on the person. and that first image, that car is clearly from the 70s if not earlier, like how old were your parents if that was the type of car they were driving in the 2000s when you were growing up? and why the fuck youtubers always give specific scenarios that only apply to them and act as if everybody was the same? i had a gameboy color.

my 2015 mitsubishi outlander is still more oldschool than new. dreading the day i have to part with it. i specifically wanted a car that i could feel the road through the steering wheel (this one, compared to the completely dead steering of a hyundai santafe, felt like a go kart), a leaver hand brake, a v6 and awd, but wasn't expensive. it was the perfect car to me.

buttons, switches and dials are not only cool looking but practical... unlike TOUCHSCREENS

Every single second was a fact in this video, i hate all the ultra minimized black interiors we have today- i actually get amazed looking at 60s/70s/etc interiors being literally entirely bright blue, do people just not enjoy things any more? theres plenty of cool futuristic designs and gorgeous modern interiors but when bandwagoners go "teslas are gay" its hard to disagree when the cars are genuinely soulless. i feel like every decade of cars had a certain theme going for so long, with 2000s being the last with the beginnings of shifting away in the 2010s

1:14 what car dash is that? looks like it came out the 80s

My '82 Firebird SE has a maroon interior. Multiple tones of maroon on the door cards with black plastic and a leather wrapped steering wheel. It's a very subtle yet comforting interior, honestly we need that back

Bro that nostalgia. I remember sitting in my dad’s 89 Cadillac, he got for 1k in the early 2000s. We loved that car. I’m almost 30, and I refuse to get a car that doesn’t have buttons for climate control or anything else. My 2021s still has a shifter, and the touchscreen it has is only for the camera and radio/bluetooth.

As a 2000s 3 series owner the design of the car holds up hella well today unlike it's 5 series counterpart. Though seeing older Japanese cars in places like Pick N Pull really made me question how on earth did they fumble the bar so hard in the early 2000s.

Another one of "It used to be better"... Tho I'm with those to be honest, however it is useless, in a perspective of time there's a chance that it'll be lost after few centuries.

i remember playing that exact route in pokemon sapphire on my way home from a summer vacation. My friend and I where young, and had never completed a pokemon game. We wanted to see if we could do it together. My game cartridge had a flat battery, so my friend and i kept the game powered on for days, making sure the console charged throughout the nights. When we had to head home, we used a charger plugged into the cigarette lighter in my family's crystler minivan to keep the game alive. Nearing the end of our 2 hour car journey, grinding the levels of our pokemon, my family made a stop to say hi to my grandparents. I don't remember if we ever won that rival battle or if the DS died unplugged in the heating car. That route made an impression, and i loved that minivan's interior. Nice video!

I have a 1948 Buick Roadmaster and I gotta say it’s way more comfortable than any new car. The bench seats feel like you’re sitting on the living room couch.

Putting games on a Tesla screen is one of the most abominable ideas I've ever heard. Is that officially supported or is it something you have to do with 3rd party software?

i feel gay when i see that image

I‘m currently driving the 2000 Mercedes Benz SLK 320 r170 my Grandparents used to drive. The silver Paint in combination with the red color of the interior looks so great and ads so much personality to this car in my opinion.

The only reason for this minimalism I could think of, is to reduce distractions for the driver and make them focus on the road more. To prevent accidents. Besides, Retro cars kinda look better then modern cars. In my opinion.

I used to feel a similar way, but that changed once I actually tried a Tesla. The more cars I have had the opportunity to drive, the clearer it became to me that there is no such thing as a soulless car, let alone a soulless interior. All manufacturers have different approaches to the identity of their vehicles and the experience they wish to create for their users. And somehow, at that moment, that Tesla interior felt just right. In keeping with the rest of the car, for better or for worse. Sure, you can complain about how complicated it all seems, but it felt no harder to me than learning the the button placements for all the functions on my Audi. Hell, even the whole on screen shifting thing feels more natural to me than a lot of the other stuff I've encountered. (Specifically mercedes' column shifters which Tesla incidentally used before. I hop between cars a lot and these always confuse me for a few seconds.) Is the whole minimalistic trend overhyped. Yes. But I also think we enthusiast tend to judge anything new unfairly. And nothing illustrates this point more than the very start of the video. Yes, old interiors make us feel a certain way because that is what we grew up with, but it will be the same for Tesla kids eventually. All these same memories we've had are being made today for the new generation in these interiors, which will have the same meaning to them as 80's, 90's and 2000's interiors have for us. This comment is way too long so I'll stop here.

imagine being a lead designer in tesla just for everyone to call your design “elon musk’s stupid design”. I really don’t get the hate behind tesla as it is solely aimed towards elon musk, you dislike the design, alright then, hate the designer. i don’t get why people act as if musk is not just a soulless ceo.

Honestly I wouldn't call these designs "minimalist" because minimalism is much more than "less stuff", let's call it what it really is, cutting costs and corners for profit

I've got a 2014 Mustang and I feel like the interior, while not as nice as the ones from the late 60s, is leaps and bounds ahead of whatever is going on now. I've still got cds and such stored in the cupholders, as I've never bothered to figure out how to connect my phone. It's comfortable, has real buttons, and is very pleasant to drive.

Mate im 100% with u. My stepdad had a Mercedes S Class W140 (S500) which had the best interior ever. It looked so good with all that wood. My favorite interiors nowadays are defenitely the sporty ones, that look like a fighter cockpit and fit like a glove. A really special pick is also the Nissan 300zx interior, which looks at night like directly coming from a 80s science fiction movie! And Teslas + all minimalistic cars are pain to my eyes

LOVEEE YOUR VIDEOS PLEASE KEEP THEM COMING TY

Honestly the GR86 is probably the best modern car interior I've seen.

Can’t believe you can get ticket for holding a phone but a iPad called a Tesla is okay

Hmmm you have a great point. I always get excited like a little kid when I get into an old car and feel that vintage interior.

Newer cars were made for a generation that just didn't like the car that much. Gen X just wanted to haul their kids form parking lot to parking lot knowing they'd survive an accident, and millennials don't even want to THINK about driving: the more a computer does for them, the better. None of this matters for Gen Z, most of whom are too broke for new cars and either insist on ride shares and public transit, or their first car is often as old as they are. Special mention goes to a coworker who I wanna say is 19 or 20 and owns two stickshift WRXs. Owning a car HAS to offer us something Uber can't, or it's just not cost effective anymore.

you made me miss road trips as a kid so fast dude idk wth is going on but i want to cry now because i'll never experince that again

I dont get how putting an huge ass screen in place of a panel isnt illegal considering how using your cellphone behind the wheel is (and for good reason)

I just hate large tablet displays for anything important in a car.

I love the button tech on older cars. I had an '01 Audi A4 for a couple years and that dash looked like the second officer's panel of a 727. It was glorious!

Not just interiors. The minimalist mindset is also affecting branding as well

Honestly, I want a car that's from the 80's but runs perfectly and everything. Every car my partner and I had were hand-me-down'd by family members were kinda.. run-down junk cars on their last legs so.. I hope we can buy a good one, one day, so we don't have to worry about it breaking down or something. lol

It wasnt until like 17-18 when all remaining charm of the interior was removed

I feel like I would need to dress up in a full hazmat suit to insure I don't get any of the pristine white interior dirty. White interiors look good only if it's absolutely spotless.

I do think the interior of Tesla cars look horrible, but in general I prefer the more minimalistic black interiors of cars that have been made post 2010. It just gives me a comforting feeling.

6:40 partly companies put screens because it’s actually cheaper than engineering physical buttons with wiring and everything

Underrated channel

Underrated AF Channel, Earned a Sub 👍👍

As someone who doesn't care about cars I tend to prefer "Soulless Designs" because for me its about efficiency of going from A to B.

Im also concerned about the fact that, since you control most of the car in a screen, what would you do if that screen somehow failed?, how would you control the car?

Being born during the 2000's was a wild time for a child to be alive, there was so many options for you to choose on what you want in the future.

I LOVE the firethorn red and wood interior of my 77 el camino. And yes, that bench seat is like a sofa, great for when you want to sneak out of a wedding for a quick nap before going back inside.

I bought a MK1 Audi TT not too long ago and woooowww what an interior! The whole thing has a coherent and unique design, it’s comfortable, everything feels good and high quality, and there are SWITCHES AND BUTTONS FOR THE THINGS YOU NEED TO USE WHILE DRIVING

It just feels so dead and lifeless. It should feel like those sci-fi cars we all used to imagine when we were kids, but those futures still felt like there was some colour and life. This is just, so boring. I'd love nothing more than to have one of those classic cars, or for a car company to bring back the style and flare of the past.

How did you know I grew up in a Volvo 240? Started in the back seat, then moved to the front when I turned 16.

I'm merely an outsider in the enthusiasm of cars. That 90s Supra interior is glorious.

Companies call it "Minimalism" but it's really just low cost for them to make.

The real reason of the screen and minimalism is bc is cheaper to produce a screen and some code that 30 or 40 buttons for the interior...

Only thing his audience comments "You're just too poor to understand the Tesla lifestyle."

the minamalism is also negatively affecting all interior design, a nice 90s house looks so much better than a newbuild

Same thing with street lights. Low pressure sodium lamps>High pressure sodium lamps>led lamps

Old cars, no matter how cheap, or low quality, or top speed, horsepower...ect always stand out to me on parkingspots and roads. Because all modern cars look the same, its almost like refreshing.

This video makes barracuda in 70s more appealing than the teslas crap

Its a development in interior design in general, in cars as well as in architecture: a switch from warm colors that were popular in modern design for almost half a century into the 1990s to cold, empty, barren spaces of white and grey.

My dad drives a car that was a top model in it’s time It is now around 15 years old

I drive a 2001 Mazda 626. Simple radio with no screen, glowing green gauges in the dark, oscillating airvents, dials and buttons. It just works. No technological frills, only perfect handling and driving feel.

Screaming parents hits hard bro