My wife is thrilled with her new BRZ. The one place where she’s less than 100% happy is the interior; well laid out and comfortable, but an endless expanse of black and near-black. Well, so many cars today only come with one color choice inside.
I’d like to, over the long term, explore what might be done to brighten the inside of the car. Some things might be easy and/or affordable, others might be complicated… and expensive. I’m sure not everyone would agree with our tastes
. If anyone has sources or product ideas to share, that might be helpful.
Easiest might be aftermarket floor mats; perhaps blue in her blue car. Any color choice would have to compliment black as there will always be some black inside, regardless.
Seats would be great, but not cheap slip-on covers (prove me wrong on that!) Apparently Katzkin does not offer anything for this car. Ideally something like blue Alcantara seating surfaces, the rest blue leather, with black piping (gee, I don’t ask much!) Presumably a professional upholsterer can do anything, but I certainly don’t want to double what we’ve already spent on the car. Front and back seats and least a little bit of door trim, would really help.
Looking on, for instance, eBay, I see a lot of “dress up" interior pieces, especially for the center stack and console — all in carbon fiber. Uh, we’re not building a race car, nor emulating one. It occurs to me to buy some of these products and “re-finish” them. Simple paint might look a little gaudy and amateurish. I recall tripping over a company online that takes plastic items and chrome plates them... well, that would be bright and make the interior more cheerful, but I should be careful about bright sunlight reflecting off these items (yeah, the top does not go down in a BRZ to that risk is more limited, but…) especially high-up items like vents. Moreover, I saw somewhere (duh, it would help to do a search) a company (or more than one) that takes items and dips in a tank with a film on it, and the results come out looking convincingly like woodgrain (fake wood sounds cheap but check out the dashboard of a Facel HK500, and that’s painted metal. No, really) but the hue, again, would have to compliment black.
I guess a steering wheel cover, of the lace-on type, right be an option.
What else is out there? If anyone has ideas, photos, links… much appreciated. There is some chance there are no satisfactory solutions.