Toyota GR86, 86, FR-S and Subaru BRZ Forum & Owners Community - FT86CLUB - View Single Post - Am I the Only One Who Likes the Interior?

mitosis · 10-01-2013, 03:59 PM

TLDR: I am very passionate about my simple climate controls and I anthropomorphise inanimate objects that I love like my cars and my house so I wrote a novel about it.

I actually love the interior on my FR-S for a lot of the reasons that some people seem to hate on it.

The "fake carbon" doesn't actually strike me as the intent of the pattern, I tend to think of it as more of a houndstooth type of pattern and it obviously was a shape that was forefront in their minds as they designed the car given that the same pattern is molded into almost every other piece of plastic on the car (ie the door switch panels, the plastic around the climate knobs, the gauge cluster, etc) and is also the same shape used for the grill pattern.

I actually had one of those "overwhelming sense of joy and love for my car" type of moments when I went to adjust my air temp and vent selection on the first day I drove the car in the cold and KNEW I was in control... that somewhere back inside the dash I was adjusting a baffle that controls the mixture of hot air from the heater coil with cold air from the outside... and that at no point is that baffle going to move without my permission... and at no point is the AC compressor just gonna turn on on it's own whim.

That was the day that I truly KNEW, without a doubt, that I had 100% made the right choice for myself in buying the FR-S over a BRZ Limited. Before then I had been a bit jelly of how cool and fighter jet all those toggle switches look on the Limited's climate control... but then I remembered some of my previous experiences with "auto climate control" type systems where you are turning a knob to set your desired interior temperature rather than turning a knob to set your desired hot-to-cold air mix.

To me, auto climate control is blasphemy because it takes me out of control rather than putting me in control and keeping me connected and close to the car. I prefer my temp knob to function as a "mix" knob rather than a thermostat... it's how the faucets in my house work, and as the pipes heat up in the morning I just mix more cold in to keep the water at the temperature I want it to be for my shower. I don't mind that it's not regulated to some specific number, in fact I prefer it not to be because it makes me feel more in touch with my old house... the rate at which the water gets hotter is like an indicator of how much my pipes cooled down at night while I was sleeping, as they heat up I feel like the house is waking up just like me.

For the car, it's the same kind of thing... if I just leave the knob at the 12 o-clock position when I head to work in the morning, the air starts off icy cold and I know my engine is cold. By the time I'm pulling off the freeway it's gotten to a nice and comfortable, just-right-keep-the-edge-off type of temperature... then after a few sprinty starts and tight corners down the final back roads to my work it's toasty and hot, just reminding me that the car has a fire breathing demon under the hood that is now finally warmed up and ready to go, begging to go play some more... right as I'm done driving... makes me wish my morning commute was longer sometimes... poor car.

I use that feedback from my engine as a way to stay closer in touch with my car, as a kind of "everything is OK" reassurance, an on-going diagnostic of how well my engine is handling heat. If I had auto climate, then in the mornings if it is 45 F outside and I set my cabin to 60 F it would have the air mixture set to 100% air from the heater coil at first... then as the engine heated up it would begin mixing in cold air from outside in order to keep the temperature steady. All that feedback would be lost, because the air mixture would be completely out of my control.

Another issue I have with auto climate is that on hot days I generally tend to stick my mix knob to "full cold" and just let the car pull in ambient air from outside to keep me ventilated... if I need to cool down then I'll put the fan up higher and/or crack my windows to let the wind perform the amazing science of evaporation on my skin with my sweat. My body is perfectly capable of cooling itself for the most part, and the AC is more like an emergency bail-out for those really hot 105+ days.

I tend to think of AC compressors as dead weight and power saps, a lot of which could come from a long lineage of cars with less than 100 WHP like my Accord or my Fit... where if I turn on the AC it feels like a good third of my power disappears. So I like to have a lot of control over WHEN that unnecessary power drain is going to turn on and I like to be able to rest assured that it is NOT going to turn on when I don't tell it to.

With auto climate such a thing is nearly impossible, as on a hot day if I ONLY want vent air I would then have to constantly adjust my cabin temp to exactly match the outside temp... if it's a few degrees hotter outside then my AC is kicking on in order to match the cabin setting, then if it becomes a few degrees cooler outside then the auto climate will begin HEATING my incoming air on an already hot day. Auto climate has no place for a guy like me, who doesn't care what temperature it is but just wants some fresh air blowing over him... without an AC compressor kicking on at random... without hot air getting mixed in at random.

Now, granted, I could be wrong about how the auto climate works on the Limited as I have never played with it in person... but any other car I've been in with auto climate in the past has always been a "set and forget" system that only lets me choose what temp, fan speed, and vent for the air to come out of but never lets me just have fresh air with no intervention from AC or heat if I don't want it. Auto climate is a luxury feature meant for luxury cars where comfort and convenience are key... I want my car to be a DRIVER'S car, where feeling at one and in harmony with the car are key. Therefore, I applaud Toyota's decision to use such a simple climate system in the FR-S and I think it was not done as a cost cutting measure but something done out of respect for the concept of a driver's car being a simple, no-nonsense, in touch with the machine that propels you forward kind of car.

Sorry about the long rant... I guess I just really, really love the interior of my car. It's not luxurious and it's not fancy, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

10-01-2013, 03:59 PM	#63
mitosis Member Join Date: Aug 2013 Drives: 2013 FR-S, 2008 Fit Location: Near Sacramento, CA Posts: 77 Thanks: 219 Thanked 65 Times in 30 Posts Mentioned: 5 Post(s) Tagged: 0 Thread(s)	TLDR: I am very passionate about my simple climate controls and I anthropomorphise inanimate objects that I love like my cars and my house so I wrote a novel about it. I actually love the interior on my FR-S for a lot of the reasons that some people seem to hate on it. The "fake carbon" doesn't actually strike me as the intent of the pattern, I tend to think of it as more of a houndstooth type of pattern and it obviously was a shape that was forefront in their minds as they designed the car given that the same pattern is molded into almost every other piece of plastic on the car (ie the door switch panels, the plastic around the climate knobs, the gauge cluster, etc) and is also the same shape used for the grill pattern. I actually had one of those "overwhelming sense of joy and love for my car" type of moments when I went to adjust my air temp and vent selection on the first day I drove the car in the cold and KNEW I was in control... that somewhere back inside the dash I was adjusting a baffle that controls the mixture of hot air from the heater coil with cold air from the outside... and that at no point is that baffle going to move without my permission... and at no point is the AC compressor just gonna turn on on it's own whim. That was the day that I truly KNEW, without a doubt, that I had 100% made the right choice for myself in buying the FR-S over a BRZ Limited. Before then I had been a bit jelly of how cool and fighter jet all those toggle switches look on the Limited's climate control... but then I remembered some of my previous experiences with "auto climate control" type systems where you are turning a knob to set your desired interior temperature rather than turning a knob to set your desired hot-to-cold air mix. To me, auto climate control is blasphemy because it takes me out of control rather than putting me in control and keeping me connected and close to the car. I prefer my temp knob to function as a "mix" knob rather than a thermostat... it's how the faucets in my house work, and as the pipes heat up in the morning I just mix more cold in to keep the water at the temperature I want it to be for my shower. I don't mind that it's not regulated to some specific number, in fact I prefer it not to be because it makes me feel more in touch with my old house... the rate at which the water gets hotter is like an indicator of how much my pipes cooled down at night while I was sleeping, as they heat up I feel like the house is waking up just like me. For the car, it's the same kind of thing... if I just leave the knob at the 12 o-clock position when I head to work in the morning, the air starts off icy cold and I know my engine is cold. By the time I'm pulling off the freeway it's gotten to a nice and comfortable, just-right-keep-the-edge-off type of temperature... then after a few sprinty starts and tight corners down the final back roads to my work it's toasty and hot, just reminding me that the car has a fire breathing demon under the hood that is now finally warmed up and ready to go, begging to go play some more... right as I'm done driving... makes me wish my morning commute was longer sometimes... poor car. I use that feedback from my engine as a way to stay closer in touch with my car, as a kind of "everything is OK" reassurance, an on-going diagnostic of how well my engine is handling heat. If I had auto climate, then in the mornings if it is 45 F outside and I set my cabin to 60 F it would have the air mixture set to 100% air from the heater coil at first... then as the engine heated up it would begin mixing in cold air from outside in order to keep the temperature steady. All that feedback would be lost, because the air mixture would be completely out of my control. Another issue I have with auto climate is that on hot days I generally tend to stick my mix knob to "full cold" and just let the car pull in ambient air from outside to keep me ventilated... if I need to cool down then I'll put the fan up higher and/or crack my windows to let the wind perform the amazing science of evaporation on my skin with my sweat. My body is perfectly capable of cooling itself for the most part, and the AC is more like an emergency bail-out for those really hot 105+ days. I tend to think of AC compressors as dead weight and power saps, a lot of which could come from a long lineage of cars with less than 100 WHP like my Accord or my Fit... where if I turn on the AC it feels like a good third of my power disappears. So I like to have a lot of control over WHEN that unnecessary power drain is going to turn on and I like to be able to rest assured that it is NOT going to turn on when I don't tell it to. With auto climate such a thing is nearly impossible, as on a hot day if I ONLY want vent air I would then have to constantly adjust my cabin temp to exactly match the outside temp... if it's a few degrees hotter outside then my AC is kicking on in order to match the cabin setting, then if it becomes a few degrees cooler outside then the auto climate will begin HEATING my incoming air on an already hot day. Auto climate has no place for a guy like me, who doesn't care what temperature it is but just wants some fresh air blowing over him... without an AC compressor kicking on at random... without hot air getting mixed in at random. Now, granted, I could be wrong about how the auto climate works on the Limited as I have never played with it in person... but any other car I've been in with auto climate in the past has always been a "set and forget" system that only lets me choose what temp, fan speed, and vent for the air to come out of but never lets me just have fresh air with no intervention from AC or heat if I don't want it. Auto climate is a luxury feature meant for luxury cars where comfort and convenience are key... I want my car to be a DRIVER'S car, where feeling at one and in harmony with the car are key. Therefore, I applaud Toyota's decision to use such a simple climate system in the FR-S and I think it was not done as a cost cutting measure but something done out of respect for the concept of a driver's car being a simple, no-nonsense, in touch with the machine that propels you forward kind of car. Sorry about the long rant... I guess I just really, really love the interior of my car. It's not luxurious and it's not fancy, but I wouldn't have it any other way.