S650 interior first impressions

[DeluxeStang]

So I had the opportunity to sit in an s650 ft for the first time, I frankly don't understand the hate directed towards the interior. Here's my thought process, my reasoning as someone who wants to work as a car designer, and is developing my portfolio as we speak, including a muscle car.

The exterior of a car is where looks matter, if the outside of a car is ugly, then it tends to ruin the whole thing for me. The s650 looks fantastic on the outside. But on the interior, I've never viewed how it looks as this huge deal. The exterior is about beauty, but the interior of a car is all about the layout of controls, the materials used, how easy the placement of everything makes it to actually drive and enjoy the car. In that regard, the s650 interior is fantastic.

The flat bottom steering wheel was a nice touch, the screen is sized and placed in such a way to where it's not distracting, or annoying. The materials are decent, not amazing, but not terrible for a new sports car around 50 grand. Loved the red seats, I believe they were ventilated. Overall, a very solid feeling interior, they did a great job with it. The interior doesn't look terrible to me, and even if it did, I still couldn't deny how well laid out the controls were. I came away loving it.

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[IceGamer]

So I had the opportunity to sit in an s650 ft for the first time, I frankly don't understand the hate directed towards the interior. Here's my thought process, my reasoning as someone who wants to work as a car designer, and is developing my portfolio as we speak, including a muscle car.

The exterior of a car is where looks matter, if the outside of a car is ugly, then it tends to ruin the whole thing for me. The s650 looks fantastic on the outside. But on the interior, I've never viewed how it looks as this huge deal. The exterior is about beauty, but the interior of a car is all about the layout of controls, the materials used, how easy the placement of everything makes it to actually drive and enjoy the car. In that regard, the s650 interior is fantastic.

The flat bottom steering wheel was a nice touch, the screen is sized and placed in such a way to where it's not distracting, or annoying. The materials are decent, not amazing, but not terrible for a new sports car around 50 grand. Loved the red seats, I believe they were ventilated. Overall, a very solid feeling interior, they did a great job with it. The interior doesn't look terrible to me, and even if it did, I still couldn't deny how well laid out the controls were. I came away loving it.

Isn't that contradictory? I do partially agree with your exterior and interior definition but if the interior is all about layout of controls, materials used and easy placements than how on earth can a touchscreen fulfill any of that? It’s difficult to use while driving, doesn’t look like high quality if it has big beezels or looks like glued on like in the current BMWs… Honest question: have you ever actually driven a car while using any controls? I know most designers don’t – what they care about is design, not usability. It’s almost impossible to do anything in a Tesla while driving in their cars. Big screen, lots of information and even more sub-menus and everything has to be touched by my fingers while driving…It looks clean though or so people say…

BMW used to have the best controls, optional touch screen or an iDrive controller – driver’s choice. But the current trend of using more and more touch screens for basic things is a big mistake! Steering wheel controls only offer so much and a HUD is a very nice addition but to interact with things on the screen is a very common thing in literally every car and everyday situations. Having to focus on the screen and pointing my finger on a non-responsive part of screen/glass while driving is very dangerous. Maybe not so much on an empty road but in traffic or on the Autobahn it’s literally life-threatening.

Anyhow, as a future designer I hope you do not follow that trend. Driving enthusiasts like us in this forum do not want some futuristic tech forced on us. We like driving and manually interacting with things. I don’t want my car to look like a screen or some tech-demo. Apple car play/Android Auto is all I need. All the other companies can keep their bullsh!t subscription services and F off. I’m not paying some monthly fee on heated seats or some other stuff…

 

[Dragster]

I don’t mind touch screens for stuff you aren’t using all the time, but there’s absolutely no excuse for putting climate controls on a touchscreen. I personally find them incredibly annoying no matter how responsive the screen is. It was incredibly easy to adjust the temperature in an S550 just by feel. You absolutely can not do that in an S650.

Outside of that, I think the interior is functional enough, but I think it lacks in the style department. The S550 toggle switches were much cooler than the crummy touch pad thing they have in the S650, and the interior had a bit of nice looking symmetry with the dual cowl dash.

Materials wise, it’s basically the same as the outgoing car with some changes here and there. The steering wheel on the S650 is definitely an upgrade, and I like the color accented seat belts. The fake carbon fiber looking trim, however is awful IMO and has no place in a car that costs as much as an S650 GT.

 

[Gregs24]

Isn't that contradictory? I do partially agree with your exterior and interior definition but if the interior is all about layout of controls, materials used and easy placements than how on earth can a touchscreen fulfill any of that? It’s difficult to use while driving, doesn’t look like high quality if it has big beezels or looks like glued on like in the current BMWs… Honest question: have you ever actually driven a car while using any controls? I know most designers don’t – what they care about is design, not usability. It’s almost impossible to do anything in a Tesla while driving in their cars. Big screen, lots of information and even more sub-menus and everything has to be touched by my fingers while driving…It looks clean though or so people say…

BMW used to have the best controls, optional touch screen or an iDrive controller – driver’s choice. But the current trend of using more and more touch screens for basic things is a big mistake! Steering wheel controls only offer so much and a HUD is a very nice addition but to interact with things on the screen is a very common thing in literally every car and everyday situations. Having to focus on the screen and pointing my finger on a non-responsive part of screen/glass while driving is very dangerous. Maybe not so much on an empty road but in traffic or on the Autobahn it’s literally life-threatening.

Anyhow, as a future designer I hope you do not follow that trend. Driving enthusiasts like us in this forum do not want some futuristic tech forced on us. We like driving and manually interacting with things. I don’t want my car to look like a screen or some tech-demo. Apple car play/Android Auto is all I need. All the other companies can keep their bullsh!t subscription services and F off. I’m not paying some monthly fee on heated seats or some other stuff…

Your opinion. I don't think you can speak for all of us!

 

[Gregs24]

I don’t mind touch screens for stuff you aren’t using all the time, but there’s absolutely no excuse for putting climate controls on a touchscreen. I personally find them incredibly annoying no matter how responsive the screen is. It was incredibly easy to adjust the temperature in an S550 just by feel. You absolutely can not do that in an S650.

Outside of that, I think the interior is functional enough, but I think it lacks in the style department. The S550 toggle switches were much cooler than the crummy touch pad thing they have in the S650, and the interior had a bit of nice looking symmetry with the dual cowl dash.

Materials wise, it’s basically the same as the outgoing car with some changes here and there. The steering wheel on the S650 is definitely an upgrade, and I like the color accented seat belts. The fake carbon fiber looking trim, however is awful IMO and has no place in a car that costs as much as an S650 GT.

Honestly don't know what the fuss is about climate on the screens. I pressed 'auto' on my S550 5 years ago and haven't touched it since - which is exactly how climate control should work.

 

[DukeCLR]

I was also annoyed at the lack of buttons for the climate control but after I found out that I can use voice to control it I'm okay with it.

 

[DeluxeStang]

I hear some of the complaints about touch screen interfaces, they can be poorly done, but Ford did all right here. There are some functions which I want to be moved from the touch screen to buttons in a refresh, but it's not terrible. It's not like Tesla where you have to use the touchscreen for literally everything, even opening the glove box.

As for the function of a touch screen, it of course displays much needed information, but it's also a lot easier to customize, and personalize. Something that appeals to mustang buyers. I see a lot of potential with Ford adding things like digital gauges which mimick the appearance of classic mustangs, like they did with the foxbody. You could wake up after your car has completed an over the air update, and have the option for gauges resembling a '65 mustang. Neat things like that.

I understand the lack of symmetry, the removal of the double brow, but who knows, ford may bring those back in the future if enough people want it.

 

[DeluxeStang]

The fake carbon fiber looking trim, however is awful IMO and has no place in a car that costs as much as an S650 GT.

I was mixed on this as well. I mean, my freaking maverick has actual carbon fiber in the dash, recycled carbon fiber that makes up the speckled white material, yet their sports coupe fakes it. But at the same time, a variety of textures and materials is better than just piano black on everything.

 

[IceGamer]

I was mixed on this as well. I mean, my freaking maverick has actual carbon fiber in the dash, recycled carbon fiber that makes up the speckled white material, yet their sports coupe fakes it. But at the same time, a variety of textures and materials is better than just piano black on everything.

Piano is good looking until you touch it switched my piano interior with carbon fiber. The fake stuff in the Mustang however doesn't appeal to me.

I don't hate the interior it's just meh... Liked the S550 interior more but on average there aren't many pretty US made interiors... Didn't like the one in the Camaro or the one from the Charger / Challenger either. Maybe other cars/brands are better at it but I rarely see them over here so I don't know. With more and more screen added most interiors look alike. That's unfortunate. Love it or hate it but the C8 is great example: very unique interior with lovely fit and finish. Everything feels nice, almost no plastic (at least in the LT2/3 trim) and one can immediately recognize the cockpit. Usability is also great although I don't like the overall look of the interior too much ;)

 

[Twin Turbo]

The S650 interior is perfectly nice. But certain things are key Mustang styling cues, from the long hood/short deck proportions, to the tri-bar tail lamps and pony on the nose.

The double brow dashboard is one of those key styling cues. Only the Mustang II and the Fox deviated from that, and now S650.

Step out of an S650 into a BMW 2 or 4 series, and there's not much to differentiate them, other than the better quality materials of the German car.

 

[Baldilocks]

My biggest gripe with the interior is the door cards and the console are still from 2014. Just updating those would have made a world of difference in modernizing the interior a bit.

 

[Zig]

Why did they put buttons on the steering wheel if touch screen is so good? Wouldn’t be as bad if the screen was able to provide tactile feedback without visual involvement (ie braille).

 

[IceGamer]

The S650 interior is perfectly nice. But certain things are key Mustang styling cues, from the long hood/short deck proportions, to the tri-bar tail lamps and pony on the nose.

The double brow dashboard is one of those key styling cues. Only the Mustang II and the Fox deviated from that, and now S650.

Step out of an S650 into a BMW 2 or 4 series, and there's not much to differentiate them, other than the better quality materials of the German car.

You can also add several other BMWs, Fords, Cadillacs, Lucids, KIA, Hyundai, some Mercedes and others to the list...

Shouldn't electric cars offer more individuality?? Or so they said

 

[CJ9]

So I had the opportunity to sit in an s650 ft for the first time, I frankly don't understand the hate directed towards the interior. Here's my thought process, my reasoning as someone who wants to work as a car designer, and is developing my portfolio as we speak, including a muscle car.

The exterior of a car is where looks matter, if the outside of a car is ugly, then it tends to ruin the whole thing for me. The s650 looks fantastic on the outside. But on the interior, I've never viewed how it looks as this huge deal. The exterior is about beauty, but the interior of a car is all about the layout of controls, the materials used, how easy the placement of everything makes it to actually drive and enjoy the car. In that regard, the s650 interior is fantastic.

The flat bottom steering wheel was a nice touch, the screen is sized and placed in such a way to where it's not distracting, or annoying. The materials are decent, not amazing, but not terrible for a new sports car around 50 grand. Loved the red seats, I believe they were ventilated. Overall, a very solid feeling interior, they did a great job with it. The interior doesn't look terrible to me, and even if it did, I still couldn't deny how well laid out the controls were. I came away loving it.

I like the layout but I got the base upgraded 301A and was sadly disappointed when my car showed up. I expected more and keep comparing it to my 2019 PP premium. The sad truth is my 2019 had a better interior (minus the screens) for 11k dollars cheaper and yes I got it brand new in 2019.

 

[Mastermind46]

Why did they put buttons on the steering wheel if touch screen is so good? Wouldn’t be as bad if the screen was able to provide tactile feedback without visual involvement (ie braille).

Plenty of cars have buttons on the steering wheel without having touchscreens. Screens are cheaper to design around since they can use the same one or at least the same CPU and coding for all vehicles. Buttons required specific components to fit. It is a cost savings thing.

I have never had a touchscreen in a vehicle and I was really worried about that. I got used to the controls a lot quicker than I had expected. I do not mess with much while driving but have used voice controls for years with my phone. They work great for changing music, making calls, replying to texts, and navigation through Android auto.

I could care less about the dash. I grew up with foxbody's. That is what made me fall in love with cars and mustangs in general. The double brow was a detractor on the S550. Stuck up too high. The screen is significantly lower in the S650. This design is far nicer to me, more nostalgic.

I would like to have more physical controls but I doubt we ever will have them again. Remember when smartphones had keyboards....

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