The instrument panel includes a round analog speedometer inset with three smaller gauges for temperature, battery charge, and instant fuel mileage. The whole cluster is designed to resemble a sports chronograph wristwatch, and in its attempt to be cute, cool, clever, unique, whatever, it fails the no-nonsense test: The instant fuel gauge is too small to be useful, as a tiny needle flips in a tiny semicircle between 0 and 80 mpg. The watch-face cluster stands between a half-moon tachometer on the left, whose clarity is compromised by the clutter of the faux chronograph and quarter-circle fuel gauge to the right, above a digital display for gear selection and trip odometer. It's all accented with bright silver.
The power bucket seats felt a bit hard and wide at first, but we found adequate lateral support when we drove a SportCross hard through the curves. Two-position seat memory for the driver's seat is included with the optional power seats. We liked the full leather package.
A very attractive, stitched leather three-spoke steering wheel tilts manually. Models with automatic transmission get pairs of buttons on the left and right spokes that enable the driver to shift up or down one gear at a time without removing his or her hands from the wheel. The front button downshifts with the thumb and the back button upshifts with the middle finger.
The vents and pods for audio and climate controls drop down from the center of the dash to the console. Climate and audio controls are accented in bright silver and black trim. The center dash has a storage compartment with a lid. The doors lock automatically when underway.
The sedan's firm rear bench will accommodate three in a pinch, and has a fold-down armrest that conceals a small pass-through portal to the trunk.
With its 60/40 split rear seat backs folded, the SportCross offers 21.8 cubic feet of cargo space, more than twice as much as the trunk of the sedan. The wheel wells intrude quite a bit into the SportCross cargo area, making the space hourglass-shaped, which reduces its practical carrying capacity. Fitting a bicycle into the back isn't easy and there's no available roof rack to mount one on top.
