My colleague Josh is rather discerning when it comes to armrests. If it's a thinly padded deal, he'll call it out. I'd hate to think of what he'd say if he saw the SX4's! Although I have no complaints with the rest of the Suzuki's cabin -- it seems well put together and is attractive enough, though like most economy cars it is comprised chiefly of hard plastic. But for the armrests?!
Suzuki needs to take a lesson from Hyundai here and realize that the areas of a vehicle that people come into constant contact with ("touch points" in car design lingo) should be finished off. They should give an impression of quality, not one of "did they forget to install the padded armrest tops here?"
John DiPietro, Automotive Editor
cx7lover says:
02:37 PM, 04/13/09
I can't believe this. The xB has a worse piece of plastic there (hard, thin and scratches easily) and it was NEVER blogged about.
eric_l says:
03:32 PM, 04/13/09
That is pretty bad for a modern car. Everything else could be hard to the touch, but for a part where almost every driver rests their elbow on, it is inexcusable.
jederino says:
03:39 PM, 04/13/09
The irony is that this plastic is durable. BMW and VW are well-known for coating hard-plastics in a nice, rubbery skin - which flakes and peals easily. Older cars had a decent layer of vinyl, or some such thing, and I never recall those having a problem, but it didn't look special.
johnnyturbo says:
03:43 PM, 04/13/09
cx7,
You're right, the xB also has hard plastic armrests, though they're no worse than the SX4's. However, the xB has a flip-down center armrest for the driver -- generously padded, no less.
figuerc says:
04:28 PM, 04/13/09
My 2007 Vibe has has hard plastic covered by rough fabric - not a good combination.
billt9 says:
04:53 PM, 04/13/09
cheap car, ok, fine.
Current gen Lexus LS460? unpadded slightly soft plastic armrest. Terrible.
A Mazda3 has better armrests than the Lexus LS460.
stovt001 says:
05:05 PM, 04/13/09
I think some hard plastics can be much more durable than the soft plastics all the magazines and other critics rave about, but that's fine just for the dash and other such things. For anything I regularly touch or rest on, it should be at least soft plastic, if not real padding.
altimadude00 says:
11:19 PM, 04/13/09
Get a cheap rubber mousepad, cut it to shape, and glue it to the arm rest. Problem solved!
billt9 says:
12:08 AM, 04/14/09
altimadude00 you're a genius!
That would look like crap.
What's a good way to integrate the edges to make it look pretty?
Do you use roof liner spray adhesive?
Cars need special adhesives to withstand the 120 degree heat while the car is parked...