Product Review: Real Emotion Dashboard Mat (R32)

[mjtown]

This is a review of the 'Real Emotion' brand dashboard mat that I recently purchased for my R32 GT-R.

My dashboard is in excellent condition and I have been conscious that exposure to the sun here in Australia is likely to cause the classic 'bubbling' that we see on so many R32 cars. The examples of bubbles that I have seen have been in the 'fold' area to the left of the dash, where the surface inflects horizontally above the glove box and centre console, and also in the 'fold' where the rounded section over the instrument cluster meets the rest of the dash. Here are a counple of examples:

That being said, I wanted to find a mat that covered the entire dash from the windscreen downwards and draped over the front to the line of the top of the glove box, centre console etc. I also wanted to find one that wasn't made of carpet. I didn't want to feel like I was driving one of my grandparent's cars every time I looked out over the hood.

The only mat that I could find that ticked both of those boxes was the Real Emotion brand mat from Japan:

http://translate.goo...2Gvy4JP2aYeQunA

I contacted the company via their Japanese only website (some meticulous Google translation was required) to inquire whether they will ship to Australia and whether the double sided tape will attack the dashboard. I received a response from Karikawa there, advising very politely that he doesn't ship outside Japan and that the tape is safe for the dashboard material. Promising but back to square one.

Google searches lead me to two outlets - http://mlracing.co.nz and www.rhdjapan.com, who were by far the more economical of the two. Price was ¥19,950 plus ¥5,795 EMS trackable shipping, which combined to give about AU$330 based on the exchange rate. Not the cheapest but it looked like a really good product.

It took about five weeks to arrive from www.rhdjapan.com - they explained that there had been a delay to their supply. I wasn't shocked at that to be honest. It appears to be a hand made product, and Real Emotion appear to be a very small outfit. At any rate, it only took four days for it to arrive after rhdjapan sent an email with tracking information advising that it had been dispatched.

It arrived well packed in a box by rhdjapan. The contents were understandably simple:

The mat is made of a nice mesh fabric with a urethane backing. I plumped for black, but a blue fabric is available. The quality of the stitching is good:

Application of the double sided tape was easy enough. Adjustments to the position of the mat once it was stuck in place were easy enough as the tape is tacky enough to hold the fabric, but not too much that it can't be peeled away. I think that you could only get away with re-sticking using the same piece of tape a few times though. Nothing surprising there. I think that the mat fit very well given that it has been cut and sewed to fit a surface that curves in three dimensions. It's not 100% perfect around air vents etc. but it's still bloody impressive. See below:

Overall I think that this is an excellent, hand crafted product and to me it was worth the money. I think that in this instance you do get what you pay for.

[Waxhead]

Looks really good. This is now on my list of things to buy when I place my next order with RHDJapan.

Thanks for the write up.

[Fliggy]

That looks great, might look into getting one after I fix the 2 small bubbles in my dash. And I have been told some 32's came with airbags but never seen one till now lol

[mjtown]

Thanks for the write up.

No sweat - happy to add to the knowledge base

That looks great, might look into getting one after I fix the 2 small bubbles in my dash. And I have been told some 32's came with airbags but never seen one till now lol

Yeah, they were a factory option in later years. My '93 brochure shows it and a '94 brochure here shows the airbag option too:

http://www.downloads.gtr.org.uk/Brochures/R32GTR%20Vspec2.pdf

[30TRB]

i cant find this can you supply me a link to the item online ?