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>Who is unhappy with the quality of the interior?

Old 08-30-01, 07:58 PM
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>Who is unhappy with the quality of the interior?

I wish I could at the team that thought the interior pieces in the 3rd gen would last......

Anyone else out there think the interior is CHEAP???
Old 08-30-01, 08:50 PM
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The 93s had the shitty interior. 94 and 95 came with the better material.
Old 08-30-01, 08:55 PM
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Re: >Who is unhappy with the quality of the interior?

Originally posted by Rotary93
I wish I could at the team that thought the interior pieces in the 3rd gen would last......

Anyone else out there think the interior is CHEAP???
Hells yes the interior sucks!!! The 94-95 interiors were "better" in that they don't peel but then I don't like the textured surfaces on the 94-95 so can't really win either way. All they had to do on the 93 was NOT paint the 93 interior panels at all. I don't know what the hell kinda paint they used but that **** SUCKS!!!
Old 08-30-01, 09:39 PM
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The only real problem I have with the interior is the door panels. They just feel funny, especially the part with the latches and switches -- it feels really bootleg, like a fake Chinese Transformer or something. It creeks and crackles and clanks and clunks and the movement of locks and handles is inconsistent. And things seem to just be a bit loose in there. I'll fix it though, I fix everything else.

I do have a 93 and I've had no trouble with the peeling.

I guess you just have to accept it ... the FD is a factory track car that wasn't really meant for the streets. No one ever accused Ferrari of making superb interiors until the 456GT came along.

Last edited by DK; 08-30-01 at 09:42 PM.
Old 08-30-01, 09:44 PM
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Originally posted by DK
The only real problem I have with the interior is the door panels. They just feel funny, especially the part with the latches and switches -- it feels really bootleg, like a fake Chinese Transformer or something. It creeks and crackles and clanks and clunks and the movement of locks and handles is inconsistent. And things seem to just be a bit loose in there. I'll fix it though, I fix everything else.

I do have a 93 and I've had no trouble with the peeling.
Yeah actually I guess the peeling was more like a 92.5 model year problem that was supposed to be fixed, but that's a funny way of describing the door panels, haha. Mazda contracted out their doors to a bootleg Chinese Transformers factory, hahaha. Sad but probably true...
Old 08-30-01, 11:55 PM
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Hey Guys, one of my members owns a local body shop and does magic with our interior pieces !! He can strip them down and repaint them leaving them looking absolutely AWESOME !! He will be offering this service to all soon. I will post pics. of his work soon as he sends them to me. BTW, he just redid a set with a silver (platinum) finish and it Super Clean!! I will probably get him to do mine in the stock black finish. My door handles and center console have a good bit of wear on them.
Old 08-31-01, 09:30 AM
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I love my interior. I think I have one of the best interiors out there for the FD or for any car. Maybe you should look at the pics of my car again. However, I have to agree with DK on the doors.
Old 08-31-01, 11:01 AM
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I have a '95 with leather seats, and the leather is cheap. It's thin and wrinkles and creases easily. I have to condition it all the time to keep it looking decent. Even then, it doesn't seem to wear well. It's nothing like the leather in the better luxury cars...even a Millenia.

And the door panels...it's impossible to get all the dirt off of them no matter what I use. I suppose I could Armor All them and that would cover things up, but I'm reluctant to do that. Once you start with the doors, you'd have to do everything, and then you'd wind up with a shiny dashboard glaring in your windshield.
Old 08-31-01, 02:36 PM
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I like the interior fit and finish of my 94. Texture platic is usually used to improve 'quality' feel so it doesn't look cheap. Mine doesn't peel at all. The leather seats that I have seen always have lots of wear on the side. Most of the 300Z that I have seen suffer from the same problem. This is why I like my cloth seats, R model seats are also better than leather.

I don't like 300Z's interior bc it has more gaps between the panels than a RX7. Also, the two pods next to the instrumentation w/ AC controls are just too small and hard to read.
Old 08-31-01, 02:46 PM
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Originally posted by JConn2299
I have a '95 with leather seats, and the leather is cheap. It's thin and wrinkles and creases easily. I have to condition it all the time to keep it looking decent. Even then, it doesn't seem to wear well. It's nothing like the leather in the better luxury cars...even a Millenia.

And the door panels...it's impossible to get all the dirt off of them no matter what I use. I suppose I could Armor All them and that would cover things up, but I'm reluctant to do that. Once you start with the doors, you'd have to do everything, and then you'd wind up with a shiny dashboard glaring in your windshield.
I might can help you with the dirt on the door panels (and other tan panels) if you're willing to dedicate some time. My panels were nice and dirty, especially after that shop raped my car. It had the regular dirt, then shop dirt, and then greasy mechanic hands all over it. So what I did was I took a small bowl, put a bit of Lever 2000 bodywash in it and about 1" hot water, and I took a two-sided dish sponge (sponge and scour sides) and used the soapy water and scour side to scrub (wringing out the sponge most of the way). It wasn't that hard, but in these times of "quick & easy" everything most people may consider it a bit toilsome. I just scrubbed, kept dipping the sponge to get the dirt off, and then I wiped off the surface with a bath towel. Really old-fashioned. I'm sure just about any kind of liquid soap would work fine. It took me about 2.5 hours to do the whole interior. My interior is cleaner than new, I promise! It glows at night!

Oh, and don't use the scour side on the smooth black plastic around the interior (console, door inserts, etc.) because it will mildly scuff the finish.
Old 08-31-01, 05:31 PM
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I like it. I 93 interior a LOT better then the 94/95 interior. People alwasy talk about "Make sure to get a 94 so you won't get the bad interior." IMO this is WAY wrong. The 93 interior look svery nice, the 94/95 looks like cheap crap.

My car was built in 92, and it does have some minor peeling by the ash tray, but I still like it better even with that then the 94/95 crap.

If I had I 94 or 95 I'd seriously try to find someone with a wrecked 93 and buy their interior off them for cheap, and maybe refinish it if it needed it.
Old 08-31-01, 05:38 PM
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I have to agree with Malachi151. Also, the 93 interior parts that start to peel can easily be fixed and it will not cost you anything.
Old 08-31-01, 08:23 PM
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Lever 2000 bodywash


dk, what is that stuff? Is it dishwashing liquid, or household cleaner, or what? Can you get it as the supermarket?

If I can find it, I'll give it a try.

So far I've used vinyl cleaner, 409, and stuff like that. Bit it always seems leave something behind. These cleaners work great on other surfaces, but there's something about the textured FD door panels that are especially hard to clean.
Old 08-31-01, 09:28 PM
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Originally posted by JConn2299
Lever 2000 bodywash


dk, what is that stuff? Is it dishwashing liquid, or household cleaner, or what? Can you get it as the supermarket?

If I can find it, I'll give it a try.

So far I've used vinyl cleaner, 409, and stuff like that. Bit it always seems leave something behind. These cleaners work great on other surfaces, but there's something about the textured FD door panels that are especially hard to clean.
It's less about the soap and more about using one of those two-sided dishwashing sponges -- use the thin, rough side. And scrub.

Lever 2000 Bodywash is just that ... bodywash. It's liquid shower soap, like $6/bottle at Wal-Mart or wherever. But you don't need to use that necessarily I don't think -- that's just the soap I had. Any liquid soap (laundry soap, dishwashing soap) should probably do the trick because it's really just about the sponge.

I tried all of those other things before ... they never worked. With my experience with a good sponge and some soapy water, I have even less respect for those other "cleaners" out there that are supposed to be quick and easy. Everything in this world is becoming "quick and easy" and hassle-free ... whether it works or not.
Old 08-31-01, 11:04 PM
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Originally posted by RecKleSs
I love my interior. I think I have one of the best interiors out there for the FD or for any car. Maybe you should look at the pics of my car again. However, I have to agree with DK on the doors.
hey, can you post some pics???
Old 09-01-01, 02:17 AM
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Use a 3M Dobie pad from Walmart or whereever and you won't have to worry about scuffing things. I would not use the Dobie pad on the smooth 93 interior pieces though. A soft bristle scrub brush works very well too.


-Kib
Old 09-01-01, 02:58 PM
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I dont like the fact that all you have to do to take apart the center console in the car is yank it up. For a car that cost as much as it did back in the early 90's you think they would have put a little more time into the interior.
Old 09-02-01, 09:18 AM
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JoeD...sorry, I can't post up the pics, because I don't have it anymore. I'm also getting some new toys for the interior. As soon as I'm done with the interior I will post it up on the forum. It should take about 2-3 weeks.
Old 09-02-01, 11:59 PM
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interior=crap

Ok well the interior isnt 100% crap...the seat placement and the layout is nice...so the engineering that went into the inside was thought out. But everything inside is fragile as hell. After only having the car 8 months I've managed to accidently crack those cheap plastic windshield defroster vent cover (runs along the top of the dash). And also the plastic piece that goes over the little thing in the sun-visor (so it can snap back in place) managed to break off so now it's loose. Hopefully I can just get a new piece instead of a new $30 visor. Also the dial where u adjust the temperature of the air turns oddly. The outside will move more than it clicks...so I can move it like 1/8 " either way without 'changing the air temp' officially.

It's all really minor stuff, but it is one of my biggest quirks about the car...I mean the car is like one of the most perfect race/street cars ever made and the interior acts like it was made out of the cheapest material available.
Old 09-03-01, 03:26 AM
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You guys are doing two things wrong,
your not comparing the interior styling to other cars,
and your forgetting that these cars are going on 9 years old!!

my last 3 cars have been 93 models, and there are NOT that
many materials that hold up for that many years.

Also the styling in the rx7 interior is really kickass.
it just looks plain awsome, much better than any other car i've
ever seen.

I do agree, they could/should have used some more
high quality materials on the plastic parts, and I agree about the
door handles, they should have done something more to attach it, so it's more solid/stable. But all the other parts
are just fine.

But the bottom line is, dont expect your materials to hold up
for 9 years without any maintenence.

Last edited by Tad; 09-03-01 at 03:31 AM.
Old 09-03-01, 01:46 PM
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I wonder how difficult it would be to mount BMW/Porsche/ect doors skins in our car. -or maybe graft new skins out of carbon fiber/painted fiberglass. I think a bare bones Ferrari F50/F40 interior might look pretty cool

-Chris C


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