The bucket seats are quite comfortable for around-town driving. Their shape makes it easy to get in and out of the car. Both seats are easy to adjust, and there's plenty of range for short and tall drivers. Front-seat passengers will appreciate the power seat option.

The instruments are nicely designed with straightforward gauges that are well laid out and easy to read. One of the best things about Chevrolet design is the uniformly functional instrument layout that has been wrought throughout the product line, from the Corvette to the Silverado pickup. With black backgrounds, white markings and red needles, the look is not only racy in flavor, but also easy to read and scan, with the major and minor gauges placed on slightly different planes to add visual interest.

The ignition switch is conveniently located on the dash, well to the right of the steering wheel. This makes it easy to quickly get in the car and get going, or quickly get out of the car after shutting it off.

Another nice touch inside the new Monte Carlo is its cockpit-style dashboard that houses those new gauges and controls. It separates the driver completely from the front passenger and provides fingertip access to every system in the array. It's a nicely styled package, and it works. The tall center console is a bit intrusive for drivers who like to shift the automatic transmission manually, however, and the T-handle shifter looks dated.

The trunk is large, but the opening is small, making it difficult to load big boxes.