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Best Of 2021: Here Are The Cars You Think Have The Weirdest Dashboards

Best Of 2021: Here Are The Cars You Think Have The Weirdest Dashboards

Sometimes, daring design got in the way of usefulness

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2005 Nissan Quest
2005 Nissan Quest
Image: Nissan

Was 2021 a great year? Not exactly! But we did have some posts that got a lot of attention. Take a walk down memory lane with us, as we think back on 2021, a year that will seem much better by this time in 2022.

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The third-generation Nissan Quest minivan (curbwatching agrees with me) was full of quirky, weird, ugly, and yet somehow appealing design features. It had sunroof panels for each passenger, toDVD screens for the second and third-row passengers, and an exterior design that was ... something. Best of all was its dash layout. It used a centrally mounted pod that housed the speedo and tach along with an information screen. The gear shifter, radio, and climate controls were sat in a table-like circle that sat at an angle to the driver. There was also a rather strange dash-mounted glovebox that sat near the windshield. Some loved it, some hated it, but it was weird for sure.

We asked readers what cars they thought had the weirdest dashboard designs. These were their answers.

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2 / 11

Fiat Multipa

Fiat Multipa

Image for article titled Best Of 2021: Here Are The Cars You Think Have The Weirdest Dashboards
Image: Stellantis

Fiat Multipla, easily. The car isn’t just hideous from the exterior (although I find it charming), but the dash is simply grotesque. It looks like a mass of vents, bulbs knobs, controls and everything else that just sprouted together.

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Suggested by: edu-petrolhead

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3 / 11

Chevy Sonic

Chevy Sonic

2013 Chevy Sonic
2013 Chevy Sonic
Image: Chevrolet

Chevy Sonic with the motorcycle dash.

Suggested by: @thejamison (Twitter)

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4 / 11

Aston Martin Lagonda (Series II)

Aston Martin Lagonda (Series II)

Image for article titled Best Of 2021: Here Are The Cars You Think Have The Weirdest Dashboards
Image: dave_7 (Fair Use)

The 1980s Aston Martin Lagonda. It looked more like a video arcade game than a car.

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Suggested by: skeffles

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BMW i3

2018 BMW i3
2018 BMW i3
Image: BMW

BMW i3 — what happens when you put a steering wheel on an Ikea kitchenette display.

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Suggested by: FutureDoc

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6 / 11

Toyota Echo

Toyota Echo

2003-2005 Toyota Echo
2003-2005 Toyota Echo
Image: Toyota

Toyota Echo. It gets stranger the longer you look at it.

Suggested by: SumGai77556H

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7 / 11

Pontiac Fiero

Pontiac Fiero

1988 Pontiac Fiero Formula
1988 Pontiac Fiero Formula
Image: Jonrev (Fair Use)

It’s a very simplistic purposeful design but the way the center cluster protrudes out of the dash was both futuristic and cheap at the same time. The gauges over the center stack were added starting in 1986 onwards on V6 models (those gauges were incorporated into the main cluster on 1985 V6 models). You can also see how cheap GM interiors would show with use. I never owned a Fiero where the dash didn’t have some sort of separation or bulging somewhere, and eventually, the glues holding everything together would just off-gas.

The “cup holder situation” was cool at least. I’ve owned way more expensive sports cars with either one or no cup holders or no way to hold a drink, and I’m not one of those people that don’t eat or drink in their cars. That’s what they make soap and water for; I’m gonna be comfortable and not ‘hangry’.

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Suggested by: 2ndgear

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8 / 11

Pagani Huayra

Pagani Huayra

2012 Pagani Huayra
2012 Pagani Huayra
Image: Pagani

There is something wonderfully extra about an exposed gear linkage on an automatic car.

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Suggested by: Viperfan1

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9 / 11

Saturn Ion

Saturn Ion

2003 Saturn Ion
2003 Saturn Ion
Image: GM

There are a number of center-mounted gauge clusters on this list, and they all deserve it.

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Suggested by: jbird_27 & Boris Fedorov (Facebook)

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10 / 11

Toyota Previa

Toyota Previa

Image for article titled Best Of 2021: Here Are The Cars You Think Have The Weirdest Dashboards
Image: Toyota

Ever since Car and Driver dubbed it the pregnant dash, I can’t see the Previa any other way.

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Suggested by: foghat1981

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