Originally Posted by
rage2
I'm just coming from an aesthetics and design perspective, so please don't take offence. I haven't been in a current gen JGC, so I'm just looking at it from your photos. The first thing is that chrome should be used as trim, and as trim, should be consistent in width. All 3 chrome trims around the shifter, cupholders, switchgear has various chrome widths around them. Modern design minimized the use of chrome, and when used, is much more subtle and isn't the primary focus when looking at whatever it's accenting.
Symmetry. There is no symmetry to the design, from the button layout, to the layout of the 3 components to the console. It's like the designers just decided to plop things down wherever they wanted and aligned it as best as possible. In fact, I think this is actually from the same original design in the recalled shifter where it was even Moore awkwardly spaced. I mean it doesn't have to be perfectly symmetric, but it needs to flow well enough to work. Audi A4's console isn't symmetric at all, but it flows aesthetically because it's all evenly spaced. Corvette C8 is pretty damn good too without symmetry, probably one of the best interiors GM has designed IMO and like the A4 can break the symmetry by focusing on the driver. What's hilarious is that I'll bet your cupholders work 100x better than the Audi A4 one where the shifter is in the way of your drinks.
BTW - huge fan of CarPlay on domestics. It's 100x better than what I have in my "luxury German car" WITHOUT A FUCKING TOUCHSCREEN haha. Even the Pacifica I rented a while back was better to use than my car.
Anyways, my thoughts as someone with zero design experience trying to interpret design language.