We can only assume the Materia was engineered first and designed later, although neither aspect of it comes across as having been given much thought. It's the oddest-looking car we've seen in a long time and while most cars have an angle at which you can stand to appreciate its looks, we struggled to find the Materia's "better side".
Its bizarre box-shaped body is coupled with a gawky-looking square front and a rear that actually manages to be less attractive than the back of a London taxi. The lights are so square-on that in the presence of mist or fog, they actually make visibility worse. It's also been given blacked out windows, and 15-inch multi-spoke alloy wheels, so you'll look even more ridiculous.
However, its shape starts to make a little more sense once you're inside - and beneficially where you can no longer see it - as the Materia is brilliantly spacious. It's a car that until you stand next to it, always appears smaller than it actually is. The driving position is quite high in the style of an MPV, and will easily accommodate four adults, even six-footers. However, despite the roominess, it isn't really somewhere you'd want to spend a lot of time.
The seating is very basic and therefore pretty uncomfortable on a long journey and the dash is an expanse of hard, cheap plastics and a shiny black radio, all of which could be from the 1980's. At night the cabin is quite dark with little light coming from the dials, so to combat this, the Materia does have an "illuminate" button, which highlights the front door speaker surrounds and foot well with neon blue lighting. A bit like a cheap strip club.The 1.5-litre petrol engine is zippy enough though producing 102bhp through a five-speed manual or four-speed automatic, and is surprisingly refined on the motorway. Changing gear in the manual is an unpleasant experience as the flimsy gear stick never feels properly in gear and likely to snap off in your hand at any moment.
The Materia seems more at home with the auto option, but this does put the already high price up by £800.The car also suffers from intrusive road and wind noise which is difficult to drown out even with the radio on. Further evidence of the car's poor build quality can be seen with the thin doors and heard via various squeaks and rattles which develop around the cabin too.It's overly hard suspension does allow for competent handling though, and the Materia doesn't experience much body roll, which is surprising given the cars height and shape. However, the ride quality is seriously compromised, and even the smoothest of roads can shake its occupants when travelling at higher speeds.
Realistically, the Materia isn't the sort of car that will make a lot of sense in the UK. Fuel economy is a less than average 39.8mpg and it will only hold a tiny 40 litres of fuel at a time too. If the Materia was a more budget family car we might forgive some of its more minor shortcomings. But it's priced far too highly - starting from £10995 - and most of the equipment that you would expect and want in a car of this price will cost extra on the options list or is not available altogether. Unfortunately, there are too many alternatives to list that we'd recommend spending £11K on.
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