NateS5

I'm looking at a Ibis White S5 with Ttanium Package and black/silver Alcantara (which looks like black/white to me, haven't seen it in person yet) and I'm trying to decide on what inlays to get. Here is a pic of the interior (though chances are the door panel will be black, not silver ):



What would be your pick for inlays with this interior? Here are my thoughts:

Aluminum
I actually like the default brushed aluminum. It provides much needed contrast with an all black interior. With my black/silver interior though, I'm not sure. I think dark inlays would be better, especially around the shifter.

Carbon fiber
I am having trouble with the "racer boy" feeling I get from carbon fiber. Seeing it in person, it is quite a bit nicer than I thought it would be, but I'm still not sure if I like it. IMO, the door piece is nice, but I'm less excited about the shifter surround.

Stainless
I thought it looked pretty good in pics (some nice ones here), but in person I didn't like it as much. It looks ok, the mesh just isn't all that interesting. The piano black shifter surround is pretty nice and probably goes well with the seats (pic here). It certainly shows dust and fingerprints, but I'm not too worried about that -- I'm getting white suede seats, after all! However, I do worry it gets scratched easily from normal use of the car.

Wood
I haven't seen any wood inlays in person, but I don't feel it really matches the sportiness of the car.

Two more related questions:

Piano black shifter surround
I'm a little confused about the piano black shifter surround. Is it only available with stainless inlays? Is there any other way to get it? I thought I read somewhere that the titanium package impacts the shifter surround?

Dash
Does the dash change at all with any of the inlay options or Titanium Package? It seems to always appear aluminum, but I just wanted to make sure. It seems there is carbon fiber available here.

questionlp

I have the Black/Silver interior (and yes, it is more cream colored than the S4's Black/Silver silver) and the Carbon Atlas inlays and really like it. There should be some pictures of both in my garage/gallery.

I know that the Piano Black surround is included with the Stainless Steel inlays, but I don't remember what the case is with the Ti Package. I opted against the Stainless Steel inlays because of the fingerprints concern. The Carbon Atlas hides fingerprints better, but not as much for dust.

I consider an S5 to be a sportier car and therefore would never order one with wood inlays. If I looked at an S5 as a premium grand tourer that so happened to be a bit sporty, then I might forgive someone getting the wood inlays. The wood inlays that came with my A4 complemented the interior quite well, but I don't see it the same way with the mostly black interior of the S5.

re: dash inlays. I recall them being the same as non-Ti Package S5s. The RS5 seems to have a more piano black-like dash inlays that I would love to get someday for my S5

Hope that helps.

NateS5

Thanks for your input! Nice pics (here and here). Have you found it hard to keep clean? Any accidents that needed cleaning? Do you worry about people wearing new jeans? Annoying we don't get matching door panels in the US, apparently they do in Europe.

I made this little collection of black/silver interiors:
http://n4te.com/temp/alcantara/

questionlp

I was disappointed in hearing that we do not getting matching door panels when I started doing my research, but it is pretty minor gripe compared to how great the rest of the car has turned out to be

I haven't really had any bad accidents (something like coffee or soda), but cleaning a couple drops of iced tea or smoothee was painless (clean damp microfiber towel and a dry terry cloth) and didn't leave any permanent stains. Actually regular cleaning of the Alcantara hasn't been that hard either. I also don't wear jeans and not many of my friends or family do either, so I can't report any problems there. Based on other reports in this forum, blue jeans tend to stain the Alcantara.

The main reason why I went with the color combination is that I just wanted something in the inside just pop against the almost all-black interior. I had my doubts until I saw it in person and with conjunction with Sprint Blue. I do not regret my decision and would do it all over again with another S5 coupe or sportback (which we don't get here... fah).

NateS5

Yea the door panels aren't a huge deal, but being picky about little details is all part of the fun. Keeps me busy and out of trouble. I wonder how much the matching Euro door panels would cost? I'll add it with a question mark to my ever growing list of planned mods.

What the hell do you wear, if not jeans? I wear blue jeans nearly every day (computer programming uniform!). I can't imagine they would stain the Alcantara unless the jeans were brand new.

I agree all black interior, even with black Alcantara, is a bit monotonous. My last car was all black leather and I think the two tone is much more interesting. I hope the black/silver and white exterior will go well together. What do you think? Your comment about it being somewhat cream colored has my worried.

questionlp

I wear khakis and business casual slacks, even though I am an IT guy myself (Systems Engineer/Admin). I'm just not a fan of jeans... just the way I'm wired I guess

I'm not sure how much the door panels would cost, though I think you'll have to replace the rear side panels as well to match the door panels.

Ibis White with the Black/Silver interior isn't a combination that I've considered. For Ibis White, I would go with the Magma Red interior. Again, that's just me. I think the Black/Silver interior makes more sense on the darker color paints (Meteor Gray, Sprint Blue, Phantom/Brilliant Black).

NateS5

My last car was silver. I had it for ~10 years, so I am pretty sick of silver. I did appreciate that it always looked clean, especially in the later years when I didn't care as much. Silver is out, red is too bold, and black is too much work. So, I've narrowed it down to either Monsoon or Ibis.

Monsoon is new and would have to be bought sight unseen. It is supposedly somewhere between Quartz and Meteor, both of which are no longer available.

Ibis probably stays looking clean a bit longer and looks particularly striking with the Titanium Package (which I would want even with Monsoon).

I lean toward Ibis, mostly because I know what I'd be getting. I'm not a big fan of the magma interior, but I've only seen pics. I need to see the black/silver interior in person to get a better idea of how it would look with Ibis.

questionlp

Although I haven't owned a Silver car, but having seen so many silver Audis, Lexus, BMWs and Mercerdes in my area, I wanted something that stands out

Ibis looks wicked with the Ti Package and tinted windows. If I could pick up another Audi, it would probably be an A4 Avant done that way... or better would be the rumored A4 allroad.

I've seen an Ibis and Meteor with the Magma interior and it does stand out. Another option is the brown interior option for Ibis.

NateS5

Uhg. Turns out that there is no longer a black/silver Alcantara option for 2012. Can only do black/black Alcantara. Not sure what I'm going to do now.

sharding

FWIW, I have the stainless in my S5, and I haven't found fingerprints to be a problem on the piano black surface. I thought they would be (and they are on my "piano black" speakers at home), but it's really not an issue. I didn't want the stainless -- it's just what was on the car which had everything else I wanted. But overall I like it more than I thought I would.