The term "touch point(s)" is a car designer's term meaning -- you'll never guess -- the parts of the interior that one frequently comes into contact with. Examples include door grab handles, door release levers, the gear selector, the handbrake and of course the steering wheel.
Although the Kizashi's dash top may not be covered in soft-touch material, I'm not going to ding it too much -- how often do you touch the top of the dash anyway? In all the important areas, including those mentioned above and even the stereo's rubberized seek buttons, this Suzuki touches all the bases for key touch points and they all have a high-quality feel to them. Grab the door pull handle (shown above) and you'll note it's nicely padded and also stitched on the backside -- a good example of Suzuki making the extra effort. Along with the smooth powertrain and solid overall build quality, this is another area of the Kizashi that impresses me.
John DiPietro, Automotive Editor @ 10,375 miles.
feloniousmonk says:
01:04 PM, 09/ 2/10
Yeah, it really is a swell interior. I think I seriously might buy one.
gearhead1977 says:
08:47 PM, 09/ 2/10
Considering how awful the interior of many Suzukis were, this is a big step forward and shows that they are really trying. Dump that awful CVT transmission (can't stand them in any car I've driven) and we'll talk.
csubowtie says:
10:53 AM, 09/ 3/10
This is one of the things I noticed about my S-10 Pickup (a GM, I know!!). It's got cloth buckets and a 5-spd, and the top of the center console, where your elbow rests between shifts, has a very nice padding without being too grabby. The door has a nice padded bit of vinyl right where your elbow sits when you've got the elbow out the window and the hand on the wheel. The arm rests have the same nice, soft padding as the center console. Of course the shifter boot is total crap, but who touches that?