Many staffers here have complimented the blonde wood center stack on our long-term 2010 Volvo XC60 T6. I was admiring it myself this weekend and noticed something.
When I ran my fingers along the surface of the center stack, I noticed that the wood seemed unfinished -- not covered with polyurethane or lacquer. It's pretty nice, and adds to the Ikea-like ambience.
It's difficult to convey this tactile sensation by description so I'll try using Caroline's macro technique in the photo below.
I'm not sure if this unfinished wood will hold up over time, but it certainly looks good today.
Albert Austria, Senior Engineer @ 20,800 miles
speeder31 says:
10:28 AM, 08/30/10
Gorgeous, upscale touch. Gotta love Scandinavian style. On an unrelated note, the upside-down "12 VOLT" plug is really rubbing my OCD mind the wrong way...
bc1960 says:
11:19 AM, 08/30/10
I would think it has a finish on it, just not one which is obvious. Some of the makes that still use real wood put such a thick multi-coat high-gloss finish on that it becomes hard to tell from the higher-grade plastics, which sort of defeats the purpose. But raw wood would absorb moisture and stains too easily; it should have some kind of matte urethane or sealant to keep the grain from rising.
cello_one says:
01:34 PM, 08/30/10
There are many wood treatments that provide good wear and still allow the grain to stay put. It's not like the dash on the volvo will get much foot traffic. Although this is an IL Long term tester...
ed124c says:
03:25 PM, 08/30/10
Won't Volvo have to change this to bamboo?
lucien4 says:
03:33 PM, 08/30/10
To me looks rather like the opposite. The wood looks pretty cheap to me and Ikea is a discounter (at least in Europe). Also if it's really unfinished I think stains will not be easy to remove.
teampenske3 says:
05:58 PM, 08/30/10
To the contrary, lucien4. I really find that IKEA has really good products for the price. The stuff really holds up well to heavy use (I read once that the designer of one of their sofas brought in his kids to jump on the test models to make sure it was strong enough). My only beef with the center stack is the fact that the buttons are black plastic. I wish they'd change it to silver (a la Lexus). It would work a lot better with the CD slot and shifter being silver too.