Astonishingly strange features on a car

[Lil' Joe]

Folowing on from Top Gear the other day, what are the strangest features ever seen on a car?

From TG, the Openometer on a Mini Convertible that tells you how many miles you have driven with the roof down and the hole in the floor on some Russian car with a hole in the floor to fish from while on a frozen lake!?

Edited by Lil' Joe on Tuesday 9th December 02:17

[GravelBen]

Some Subarus have a button that heats a strip under the wipers in case they're frozen to the windscreen. You still have to defrost the rest of the windscreen normally though.

[Lil' Joe]

How wonderfully pointless.

[deviant]

I believe that on some Audi's you can change the direction the air flows around the cabin.

[fathomfive]

The button in a VX Astra 1.8 that says 'Sport'.

I found that astonishingly strange. Especially when pushing in had no pronounced effects whatsoever.

[Paul Drawmer]

I've had several cars where the right hand pedal was a noise modulator. Pressing it made the car make more noise, but not actually go any faster.

[astroarcadia]

The newer MINi also has a toggle switch that changes the colour of the interior lights from red/orange/blue/pink. Novel but pointless.

[touching cloth]

Saab's "night panel" feature has to rank highly - I used it once when I had my Saab, thought it was silly and never pressed it again - oddly I have never found the other instruments have distracted me from driving a car and am happy to have them illuminated.

[jmorgan]

touching cloth said:

Saab's "night panel" feature has to rank highly - I used it once when I had my Saab, thought it was silly and never pressed it again - oddly I have never found the other instruments have distracted me from driving a car and am happy to have them illuminated.

I like it.

[Motorrad]

Another Subaru one.

Some Imprezas have a large, prominently placed button marked 'Bright'. The sole function of the switch is to toggle the LED clock between 2 light intensity settings- both of which are more or less the same.

[ajprice]

The Toyota MR2 Roadster has three cupholders.

[Jasandjules]

ajprice said:

The Toyota MR2 Roadster has three cupholders.

I fail to see the problem, my OH often has at least two drinks on the go at any one time (one of them is always water), then it's the two cokes from the Service Station...

I have a lovely dial which makes the dashboard brighter and dimmer, why the hell they think it's safe for me to be turning that dial whilst driving in the dark I'll never know. Same goes for the headlights adjusting up and down... I had a TVR 350i with an entire console of heater switches and dials which made loads of noise, but did feck all. The same went for the lights mind....And on my old Chimaera I had a drivers ram air fan, so the driver got nice and cold? I also have a Cigar Lighter, but sadly I don't smoke cigars...

Edited by Jasandjules on Tuesday 9th December 08:51

[OJ]

My favourite pointless feature has to be the water spray on the Evo... It appears to make absolutely no difference to anything whatsoever.

jmorgan said:

touching cloth said:

Saab's "night panel" feature has to rank highly - I used it once when I had my Saab, thought it was silly and never pressed it again - oddly I have never found the other instruments have distracted me from driving a car and am happy to have them illuminated.

I like it.

Me too actually. I use it quite often actually as I do a lot of miles on unlit single/dual carriageways. Mind you, the main benefit of it is to switch off the bloody great LCD high up on the dash which plenty of Saabs probably don't have.

[useyourdellusion]

Motorrad said:

Another Subaru one.

Some Imprezas have a large, prominently placed button marked 'Bright'. The sole function of the switch is to toggle the LED clock between 2 light intensity settings- both of which are more or less the same.

So THAT was what it was for!

Seriously, Subaru should have given the Impreza an oil temperature guage instead. Something it desperately needed IMO.

[phylet]

useyourdellusion said:

Motorrad said:

Another Subaru one.

Some Imprezas have a large, prominently placed button marked 'Bright'. The sole function of the switch is to toggle the LED clock between 2 light intensity settings- both of which are more or less the same.

So THAT was what it was for!

Seriously, Subaru should have given the Impreza an oil temperature guage instead. Something it desperately needed IMO.

Oil temp gague would add what.. £50 from the factory.

[useyourdellusion]

Exactly! I'd happily pay it.

[fatboy b]

Mine has a stalk on the steering column that when raised or lowered switches bright orange lights on that then flash on either side of the car. These are pretty good for telling other road users which way I wish to go at roundabouts & junctions. Seems that Volvo, BMW & white-vans makers have yet to include this feature on their models.

Edited by fatboy b on Tuesday 9th December 09:05

[topless_mx5]

OJ said:

My favourite pointless feature has to be the water spray on the Evo... It appears to make absolutely no difference to anything whatsoever.

Doesnt that spray water on the intercooler or something like that? Saw it on fifth gear once.

[fathomfive]

jmorgan said:

touching cloth said:

Saab's "night panel" feature has to rank highly - I used it once when I had my Saab, thought it was silly and never pressed it again - oddly I have never found the other instruments have distracted me from driving a car and am happy to have them illuminated.

I like it.

+1 I drive to work in the pitch black of 5am at the moment and I find it very useful. Especially when you dim the panel aswell.

[useyourdellusion]

topless_mx5 said:

OJ said:

My favourite pointless feature has to be the water spray on the Evo... It appears to make absolutely no difference to anything whatsoever.

Doesnt that spray water on the intercooler or something like that? Saw it on fifth gear once.