Instruments are basic but well presented, mixing a large, round speedometer and matching tachometer with horizontal, bar graph-like, LED fuel and engine coolant monitors. The Appearance Package brings a blue-tinted, faux electroluminescent speedo and tach that, while not quite Lexus grade, are nevertheless eye-pleasing upgrades.

Hard plastic trim sweeps smoothly across from door handle to door handle, with good-sized vent registers at each end of the dash and bracketing the center control panel. The climate control panel is a paragon of finger- and glove-friendly knobs and buttons and easy-to-read digital display. The stereo head is up top, where it belongs, but other than the volume and tuning knobs, the buttons and rocker switches fall short of the ease-of-use standard set by the panel below; station presets, for example, are ganged, two to a rocker, requiring extra care to press the proper half for the desired station. A curious, almost retro, but somehow welcome feature on the EX's audio system is a cassette tape player, popular for books on tape. The uplevel aluminum trim should prove better at resisting the scratches so common on coated plastic panels. There aren't a lot of pieces to the dash, either, and what seams there are mostly run horizontally. This should suppress tendencies for the pieces to loosen over time, which bodes well for keeping buzzes, squeaks and rattles minimized.

The driver's seat is more supportive than the front passenger's seat, with a deeper seat bottom, although both are comfortable, with good upper side bolsters and modestly cupped bottom cushions. The rear seat is contoured more than many in the segment, which is fine for the two sitting closest to the doors, but not so fine for the occasional third person buckled into the center position. Cloth upholstery feels durable, the not-quite-glove-soft leather equally so. Lights for the vanity mirrors are recessed in the headliner, instead of looking you straight in the eye from the visor.

Rear seat legroom is up by fully an inch and a half over the previous Optima, and better by an inch or so than the Accord and Fusion but shy of the Malibu and 2007 Camry by a half-inch or more. In headroom, front and rear, the new Optima tops all but the Accord and loses to the Honda by only half an inch. In front seat hiproom, and despite losing almost half an inch in overall width, the new Optima still betters the Fusion and the Malibu, the latter by more than an inch and a half, but comes up a tenth of an inch short of the Accord and Camry. But in rear seat hiproom, the Optima reigns supreme, by at least an inch. Finally, while the new Optima offers 1.2 cubic feet more trunk space than its predecessor, it betters only the Accord's 14 cubic feet, giving up a fraction of a cubic foot to the Malibu and Camry and a full cubic foot to the Fusion. Articulated, gas-strut hinges leave the trunk opening clear and free of grocery bag-crushing goosenecks.

Other storage is respectable, with a glove box easily large enough to accommodate gloves plus the owner's manual, a cell phone and a radar detector; magazine pouches on the back sides of the front seatbacks; four cup holders, two in front and two in the fold-down rear center armrest, all with spring-loaded clips to brace a variety of sizes and shapes; a covered slot in the center stack good for garage door remotes and such; a smallish bin forward of the shift lever that'll likely collect as much dust and detritus as any truly necessary tidbits; fixed, hard-plastic map pockets in the front doors; and a deep center console with auxiliary power point and a groove to accommodate a cord with the top latched. On the EX, this console bin is capped with a bi-level lid, thoughtfully fitted with a pass-through between the levels for power cords. One feature that looks promising but falls short is the little fold-out clip on the front passenger's side of the center stack. About knee level, it's not high enough off the floor for either those ubiquitous plastic grocery bags or a handbag with anything more than a wrist strap.