Confession #35: Whose Car of the Year is it, anyway?

I remember the holiday season for some notable things. Among them are consuming far too much food that your pants no longer fit, broken Christmas presents littering your living room floor and car commercials that are sillier than normal. Lexus has become synonymous for its “December to Remember” sales event advertisements that prominently showcase a car wrapped in a bow in the driveway as the surprised couple moves in slow motion towards their new RX-GS-IS-or whatever. Corny, I know.

Confession #28: It's all about the touch

People like to touch things, that's just a fact. So when automakers design an interior, it had better be made of some satisfying materials that give off positive feelings when used. We spend a lot of time touching a knob to adjust the air conditioning, a button to open or close a window and a lever to change gears. 

Nothing gets a car reviewer (often ones from Consumer Reports) giddier than a soft-touch dashboard, the ones where your finger leaves a dimple in the dash when pressure is applied. That's in comparison to old plastic dashboards that sometimes resembled the plastic holding your See's chocolate in place in the box. 

2012 Volkswagen Passat SEL (VW of America photo)

I was wandering by the local Volkswagen dealer the other day and walked up to the new Passat. Now the exterior is one thing. It's a sharp-suited sedan, very Teutonic in comparison to the artsy Hyundai Sonata and conservative-but-somehow-not-right Japanese competition. Even though the much-ballyhooed, American-made Passat is a lot cheaper than the old car, it looks expensive on the outside.