Really stupid design features
Discussion
Steve Benson said:
Why would you do that? When I use mine it's opening as i'm walking towards it, fully open by the time I reach it, chuck stuff in and i'm in the drivers seat as it's closing, a real bonus in the rain.
With central locking do you walk towards your car then stand there in the rain, then find your key and then press the button?
It was a press car, only had it for the afternoon, I couldn't find a release button around the dashboard. That's not to say there wasn't one. I had the engine running, and realised I left something in the boot. The scenario you mention, clearly it has its benefits. But not in the situation I found myself.With central locking do you walk towards your car then stand there in the rain, then find your key and then press the button?
The Honda Civic, a friend has an FN2 Type R - a great car, but why do the folding mirrors only operate via a button on the drivers door? Why can't they work on the keyfob after you have gotten out? If you park in the street with the drivers door to the road and fold your expensive electric mirrors in to prevent them from being smashed, you can't see if theres traffic coming to get out of the bloody thing!
R_U_LOCAL said:
Funk said:
Technically it does have a boot handle (the badge flips) but I agree, it's nigh-on impossible to use that the slow the descent of the tailgate when closing.
Is it just BMW that suck at design then....?
The boot release button on the key fob is also made almost completely redundant by the lack of an external handle. Press the button, the boot clicks open, but the only way to open it is to use the boot badge/handle, or grab the wiper.Is it just BMW that suck at design then....?
Good to see you again Reg, it's been a long time since we shredded some tyres at Llandow.
Edit: just found these...
'Mad Andy' (legend, I think he lapped faster than any of us in that thing...!):
Your M3 hiding behind my car:
Edited by Funk on Saturday 20th December 12:51
Ah bringing back memories of my 123D, was a 5 door so didn't have the issue with the doors. But the boot catch always annoyed me.
Lack of engine temperature gauge got to me on that car. And if I remember rightly push up on the wiper stalk for intermediate.
Oh and lack of cup holders.
On most Audi's before 2012 (and a large chunk of VAG cars)- the little DIS in the dash in Audi / VAG lingo, pretty much lower half unreadable for anyone if 6 foot tall or over and sat in normally position.
And displayed in the top 1/2 of the screen, whats currently playing on the radio !
Lack of engine temperature gauge got to me on that car. And if I remember rightly push up on the wiper stalk for intermediate.
Oh and lack of cup holders.
On most Audi's before 2012 (and a large chunk of VAG cars)- the little DIS in the dash in Audi / VAG lingo, pretty much lower half unreadable for anyone if 6 foot tall or over and sat in normally position.
And displayed in the top 1/2 of the screen, whats currently playing on the radio !
24lemons said:
The inside door handle on my 120d is too far forward which means that when I open it there is nothing to grab hold of to stop it swinging open. The problem is made worse by the fact that I have to sit quite far back due to my long legs.
Same on my 2009 Megané Coupé the door handle is so far forward you have trouble countering the weight of the door when opening especially when its windy!Just thought of another one, on the mk2 TT and probably a few other audi / VAG cars, if the lights are in the auto position and need to turn the fog lights on, you have to turn the switch to mains bean before it allows you to use the fogs.
Apart from doing this turns the lights off while move the switch, - real handy when travelling at motorway speeds.
On current A3 and I believe most BMW's - front parking sensors that are off until press a button, not auto activated at low speed.
Apart from doing this turns the lights off while move the switch, - real handy when travelling at motorway speeds.
On current A3 and I believe most BMW's - front parking sensors that are off until press a button, not auto activated at low speed.
richs2891 said:
Just thought of another one, on the mk2 TT and probably a few other audi / VAG cars, if the lights are in the auto position and need to turn the fog lights on, you have to turn the switch to mains bean before it allows you to use the fogs.
Apart from doing this turns the lights off while move the switch, - real handy when travelling at motorway speeds.
On current A3 and I believe most BMW's - front parking sensors that are off until press a button, not auto activated at low speed.
Yep that happened to me with my old Golf mkv. Driving down a country lane and momentarily being plunged into darkness wasn't pleasant!Apart from doing this turns the lights off while move the switch, - real handy when travelling at motorway speeds.
On current A3 and I believe most BMW's - front parking sensors that are off until press a button, not auto activated at low speed.
Common on many French cars; the glovebox being full of fusebox, I can't even fit my owners manual into the glovebox..
Also the wipers sweep in opposite directions from each other (great feature), however on UK-spec 308s they still have Euro-spec LHD market wipers, so the smaller one is on the drivers side and leaves an area at the top of the windscreen that doesn't get cleared of a few inches (stupid). The larger wiper on the passenger side wipes downwards just after the drivers side, and often throws a few droplets off the end of the blade, right in the drivers field of vision.
Auto wipers (stupid feature)
Also the wipers sweep in opposite directions from each other (great feature), however on UK-spec 308s they still have Euro-spec LHD market wipers, so the smaller one is on the drivers side and leaves an area at the top of the windscreen that doesn't get cleared of a few inches (stupid). The larger wiper on the passenger side wipes downwards just after the drivers side, and often throws a few droplets off the end of the blade, right in the drivers field of vision.
Auto wipers (stupid feature)
richs2891 said:
On current A3 and I believe most BMW's - front parking sensors that are off until press a button, not auto activated at low speed.
I'm going to vote for this one to go in one of the 'handy design features' threads 
. Mine do that too. I think it makes sense. I could be stopped or creeping along slowly in all sorts of non-parking scenarios - stuck in traffic, creeping out of a blind junction, that sort of thing. I don't think I'd want the parking sensors to come on then. I like that I have a button to turn them on. As soon as I put the car in reverse though, both the rear and front sensors come on and stay on whether I'm reversing or going forwards, unless I get faster than a speed threshold or press the button to turn them off.davebem said:
Also on most Alfas/Fiats when you wash the windscreen there is a delay before the wipers come on!!
Thumbs up for that one too . Mine don't delay and that means most of the water is concentrated near the centre of the wiper blade, where the jet directs it, when they start sweeping. The ends of the blades and the area they cover are a bit dry for a sweep or two. I wish my wipers had a short delay to give the water a bit of time to spread out more and to just generally get more water on the screen before the blades start shoving it around.
The centre arm rest on my Impreza. It's at least 4 inches too low, and I have the seat as low as possible, and I'm not tall. If I try and use it I end up all lopsided... Being an inventive chap I've used some cable ties to secure two copies of The Hobbit to it. Being paperback editions it's quite comfortable.
EP3 Civic Type R, you flip the seat forward to allow somebody into or out of the back, the backrest flips forward and the seat moves forward. Fine, then you go to return it to it's previous position, it automatically presumes you've become shrunk by about 3 foot and love the feeling of driving a 50s saloon car with a 45° driving position. They can make an engine that will reliably rev to well over 8k RPM and produce over 100bhp per litre, but not a seat that can return from whence it came.
Edited by TheDoggingFather on Saturday 20th December 21:05
Hmm I've got a few gripes with my 1 series. The electric window switches on my are placed too far back on the door so you need to move your whole arm to operate them, rather than falling easily to hand - much preferred placement by the gear knob like in my old e46. The boot unlock button only works if the rest of the car is unlocked too, rendering it pointless. The second cup holder sits under the arm rest so you can't put anything in it unless the armrest is up. Not that I really use the rear doors, but the door aperture is too small for anyone who's not had their feet amputated to get in easily- they may as well have made them all 3 doors. The cruise control doesn't roll the power on smoothly so using it to accelerate feels like suddenly mashing the throttle into the carpet. Finally the clutch delay valve which makes making smooth progress in traffic difficult, and makes the clutch slip when you change gear and are accelerating hard. Although I can see the point of the last one to protect the drivetrain from muppets sidestepping the clutch at 7000rpm and thankfully it only takes 10 minutes to remove.
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