2017 Wards 10 Best Interiors: How We Picked 'Em

There were 31 eligible vehicles this year, and WardsAuto editors evaluated them in February and March in metro Detroit, scoring the nominees on aesthetics, material selection, ergonomics, safety, value, comfort, fit-and-finish, noise attenuation and driver information. (See related article: Yes, we enjoy mixing it up from time to time, when we recognize great strides on behalf of less-familiar brands, particularly Alfa Romeo, Bentley and Maserati, and those upscale brands we’ve known for years, namely Buick, Lexus and Lincoln. Seven of the winning brands appear on our list for the first time this year.

Every interior we picked represents noteworthy achievement for the respective brands and the sectors in which they compete. And every one of them answers in the affirmative a question we ask this time of year: Does this interior sell the car?

The 2017 Wards 10 Best Interiors will be honored in a special ceremony during the WardsAuto Interiors Conference May 9 at Cobo Conference Center in Detroit.

WardsAuto editors evaluate all-new or redesigned interiors available in the U.S. market, spending up to two weeks with each vehicle. We score the nominees for material selection, ergonomics, safety, value, comfort, fit-and-finish and noise attenuation.

The most important judging criteria is aesthetics and design harmony. We ask ourselves a lot of questions: Does this interior demonstrate a cohesive melding of surfaces and color, or does it look and feel disjointed? Will this interior age well? How unique is this interior? Does it raise the bar?

We also consider “driver information,” which entails gauges, display screens, the human-machine interface, audio systems and voice recognition.

This category is such a rapidly evolving aspect of vehicle development that we have created the WardsAuto User Experience conference around it (Oct. 5 in Novi, MI) and the Wards 10 Best User Experiences competition, now in its second year. We will announce winners in September.

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