Features on cars that you no longer see but you miss

[Rostfritt]

TheInsanity1234 said:

I think this is a neat idea, and I would gravitate towards a SAAB for my next car when my PCP is up simply because one of the things I've always hated about all of the cars I've driven is how bloody bright the dashboard can be at night, it really wrecks your night vision when your maxidot display (Skoda Yeti, I'm looking at you) turns itself up to maximum brightness and starts flashing away at you just because the temperature has dropped to 4 degrees or below.

Not a problem in streetlit areas etc, but when you're on a dark road with nothing but your headlights to illuminate the road ahead, I want the minimum light to be shining at me inside the cockpit.

My Citigo isn't too bad in this respect, but I'd still like to have the ability to switch off the backlighting on the dashboard and only have the needles illuminating the immediate area around them so you can read the speedometer numbers.

Are they not adjustable. On some cars the trip reset button is also a dimmer switch. On my oldest car the headlight switch does this.

Which makes me wonder, as I don't have a modern car, do you still get a trip meter? My Mum's Merc B Class has one but it is hideously complicated to reset through the computer. Much easier to push when rolling out a petrol station.

Of all features I would say I miss sunroofs, probably the biggest actual loss modern cars. As a hayfever sufferer I would rather have air-con but given the choice, both.

[Muddle238]

AVV EM said:

golfer19 said:

Door protectors were mentioned a few pages back.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iib8F0XSg18

Never new these existed.
Looks a great idea.

I don't give a rats arse who it is, if someone has those active protectors and opened their door into my car id be fking furious.
they should learn to stop being a clumsy fk and give themselves more room in parking......

+1. If there was one space left near the doors but it meant parking next to a Ford which may or may not have this gimmick fitted, or there were loads of spaces far away on the other side of the carpark... I'd be on the far side. It's not just door dings that I'm worried about, it's also the muppets who insist on parking into spaces forwards and end up rubbing the corners of their bumpers along your paintwork as they drag their arses wonkily into a space. I just say to hell with it all, I park on the far side of the carpark on an end row, even when it's quiet.

[DegsyE39]

Subtle dashboards!!! Sick of fking ipads on the dash.

Also piped leather seats proper piped leather, Not just a few runs in the centre.. im talking about the headrest, the bolsters all down the side etc.. Seemed to be in vogue until the demise of the e38 and x300 jaguar xj.

And n/a engines

[anonymous-user]

Muddle238 said:

+1. If there was one space left near the doors but it meant parking next to a Ford which may or may not have this gimmick fitted, or there were loads of spaces far away on the other side of the carpark... I'd be on the far side. It's not just door dings that I'm worried about, it's also the muppets who insist on parking into spaces forwards and end up rubbing the corners of their bumpers along your paintwork as they drag their arses wonkily into a space. I just say to hell with it all, I park on the far side of the carpark on an end row, even when it's quiet.

Agreed, you wont get any tiny dings but you'll get one bloody big almighty dent when someone with the IQ of a lemon swings their door open at mach 1 because their focus has 'active door protectors'..

[Hooliganism]

Pop out rear windows. Loved them on my old S16 306

[Abbott]

KimJongHealthy said:

aeropilot said:

mutsy88 said:

another voter for thin a-pillars.

also lower window lines and bonnets - i know its in the name of safety but visibility in some new cars is shocking

^This.

It's ironic (absurd actually) that legislation in the name of safety is actually making cars less safe as the driver's visibility is getting ever more restricted, so making them less safe.....

And yet less and less pedestrians die on the roads each year, contrary to this pub wisdom. ;-)

I would expect A Pillars to get thicker so that they can build in an iPhone.
With some windscreens plasterd with iPhones, gps and radar warning devices I see little evidence that the modern driver is interested in visibility

[Abbott]

KimJongHealthy said:

Abbott said:

KimJongHealthy said:

aeropilot said:

mutsy88 said:

another voter for thin a-pillars.

also lower window lines and bonnets - i know its in the name of safety but visibility in some new cars is shocking

^This.

It's ironic (absurd actually) that legislation in the name of safety is actually making cars less safe as the driver's visibility is getting ever more restricted, so making them less safe.....

And yet less and less pedestrians die on the roads each year, contrary to this pub wisdom. ;-)

I would expect A Pillars to get thicker so that they can build in an iPhone.
With some windscreens plasterd with iPhones, gps and radar warning devices I see little evidence that the modern driver is interested in visibility

I suspect more people die as a result of roof collapsing than due to poor visibility through A pillars. Numbers seem to support this but hey, if you know better.

I think I would agree with you for fatalities but my guess is a vast increase in minor incidents due to visibility attention issues. No data, just based on what I see on the road every day in Paris.

[veccy208]

Hooliganism said:

Pop out rear windows. Loved them on my old S16 306

Oh come on. They were absolutely ineffective on a hot day. Definitely would love the opening triangle of window just beside the wing mirrors! They were perfect for directing air.

[amgmcqueen]

Ride quality.
Steering feel.
Throttle response.
Oil temperature/pressure gauges.
Small wheels/fat tyres.
Nice sounding exhaust.
Engine aesthetics.
Starting handle.

[Morningside]

amgmcqueen said:

Starting handle.

Last car I had that on was a Citroen GSA.

Trafficators.

[E65Ross]

Morningside said:

amgmcqueen said:

Starting handle.

Last car I had that on was a Citroen GSA.

Trafficators.

And why on earth would one miss that over an ignition barrel or a simple button to push?

[mph1977]

E65Ross said:

Morningside said:

amgmcqueen said:

Starting handle.

Last car I had that on was a Citroen GSA.

Trafficators.

And why on earth would one miss that over an ignition barrel or a simple button to push?

you do realise that electric ( or air) start and manual (or pyro) start can exist together ...