sophisticated. Dark pewter-colored leather wrapped around the doors and seats, a rich yet subtle hue with

European-style stitching. Dark-colored controls have a nicely grained texture and organic (flowing) shape.

Overall, its an attractive interior except for gray plastic buttons on the heater/air conditioning console that

look out of place and diminish the overall effect.

The Bose stereo in our car sounded like it could match the performance of an expensive home system. The controls

are well placed, with a large easily accessible volume knob adjacent a smaller dial for tuning. A selection of

often-used controls are designed into the steering wheel hub, obviating the need to move your hands away from

the steering wheel. A deft touch of the index finger is all that's needed to change stations or adjust the

volume. It's a nice safety feature as messing around with stereo controls can lead to serious accidents.

Less elegant is the distracting array of buttons on the center console. There are nine separate ways to

adjust the seats and it takes careful attention to make sense of the small icons that indicate the settings.

More than once we attempted to slide our seats forward, only to adjust the lumbar support. Once the controls

are mastered, the power buckets are comfortable and supportive, even in hard cornering.

Rear seat passengers will find more than adequate leg room, even with the front seats all the way back on their

tracks. This car has acres of space to offer and it uses it well.

The instrument panel is a clean, performance-oriented design, though newer designs have passed it on the pizzazz

scale. There are two, large LED displays, one is an oversized Information Center alerting you to a variety of

potential problems, such as low fuel or an open door. The other is a gimmicky compass that tends to lag behind

in turns.

A head-up display, or HUD, offered as an option on SSE and SSEi models projects images on the windshield just off the line of sight. This technology, borrowed from military fighter jets, provides the driver with information at a quick glance. The main display is a digital speedometer. Some people love head-up displays, others hate it, but it can be turned on and off. We appreciated the little gas pump that popped into view alerting us that we were running low on gas as we were on a long drive on a lonely freeway and weren't in the mood for a long walk.