defining car culture 035TOP 10 INTERIORS
TVR Tuscan dash
TVR are really good at interiors, that’s just a
fact. Every model from the 1990s onward
had its innards stuffed to the gills with wacky
curves and unexpected shapes, all slathered
in leather and designed specifically to wow.
(As long as you didn’t look at them too closely,
that is. The design was incredible, the actual
construct wasn’t so hot – inspecting the edges
revealed leather that had shrunk and trim that
didn’t quite fit, and there was always a faint
smell of adhesive.) All the TVRs of this era had
incredible interiors – the Griffith, Chimaera,
Cerbera, Tamora, T350, Typhon, Sagaris... so
why have we singled out the Tuscan? Well,
because the dash in this model sums up the
entire TVR ethos: wonderful to behold, but
actually a bit flaky and prone to failure. You see,
the last time we drove a Tuscan we were given
very specific instructions as to what to keep an
eye on: no more then 2,500rpm is allowed until
the oil temperature climbs above 60 degrees; if
the water temperature hits 100 degrees, turn
the damn thing off and chill out, and so on. But
the multi-function digital display can only show
one thing at a time, so you spend the entire
time clicking the button to flick through various
displays rather than paying attention to the fact
that you’ve got 400bhp going to the rear wheels
along with no traction control, ABS or airbags.
...but it looks really cool, doesn’t it?FK2 Honda Civic Type R seats
You’ve got to have red stuff on a Type R, because it’s a Type R. There’s the red
badges, of course, and in the case of the FK2 there’s also red seatbelts, red brake
callipers, red pinstripes around the wheel rims, red steering wheel detail, the red
cam cover, the red mist that descends every time you bury the throttle into the
bulkhead... oh yes, and the dials turn red when you press the +R button. And best
of all are the red seats. But not because they’re red. Oh no, that’s merely a fringe
benefit. The seats in the FK2 Civic are, quite frankly, some of the finest ever crafted
by man. Much like the wingbacks in the RS4, these perches do everything –
they’ve got massive chunky bolsters that somehow pull off the trick of fitting every
driver perfectly regardless of whether they’re stick-thin or a curvy burgerhound;
they’re also gorgeously soft and comfy, beautifully supportive, the material they’re
trimmed in feels dreamy, and they’re just proper lush. We’d have a set of these in
our living room if it wouldn’t herald divorce proceedings