Most useless techno gizmo on a car

[amstrange1]

GroundEffect said:

I've never understood the apps to unlock stuff or do this that and the other. Maybe we just haven't seen the killer feature yet.

Remote start for cabin pre-heat is a useful app feature. Whilst Webasto/Eberspacher did remote control fuel-fired heaters with remote start kits way back when, they only worked if you were vaguely in line of sight and needed a separate remote.

I don't really get the rear seat folding app though, perhaps something else that just came virtually for free from an engineering perspective though.

[Jimmy Recard]

Cfnteabag said:

Bloody lane departure warning, no use whatsoever, if you need it, what you really need is a taxi as you cannot drive

Or you're nodding off without realising it and it could alert you to that.

I've never had a car with it but I can see the point

[ambuletz]

ABS, and ASM. if you don't know how to pump the brakes without seizing and turn the wheel to avoid a collision you shouldn't be on the road!

[Trabi601]

ambuletz said:

ABS, and ASM. if you don't know how to pump the brakes without seizing and turn the wheel to avoid a collision you shouldn't be on the road!

[pherlopolus]

self parking, takes twice as long. I tried it twice and someone nearly crashed into me both times....

[Alucidnation]

Auto high beam.

Only works above a certain speed.

Perfect for when travelling slowly down unlit side roads and country lanes.

[HappyMidget]

Jimmy Recard said:

Or you're nodding off without realising it and it could alert you to that.

I've never had a car with it but I can see the point

Really fking annoying when you are trying to enjoy a flowing b road though as it goes off whenever you cross a line without indicating.

[Jimmy Recard]

HappyMidget said:

Really fking annoying when you are trying to enjoy a flowing b road though as it goes off whenever you cross a line without indicating.

That's a drawback I hadn't appreciated. Can't you turn it off?

[tumble dryer]

Alex said:

"Hey, I can fold the seats from my app!"
Later...
"Where's the dog gone?"

[HappyMidget]

Jimmy Recard said:

HappyMidget said:

Really fking annoying when you are trying to enjoy a flowing b road though as it goes off whenever you cross a line without indicating.

That's a drawback I hadn't appreciated. Can't you turn it off?

Yup, permanently on mine Never to go on again!

[irfan1712]

with our 4 series theres a BMW app that lets you flash the headlights, lock and unlock the car, and control the air con. i believe the car cars location can be shown but it can't be tracked as that defeats the object of a tracker. (£££)

i find all of the above pretty useful except remotely locking and unlocking... why the eck would i want to do this??

[X5TUU]

Willy Nilly said:

Krikkit said:

I can see that being occasionally useful - standing in the queue in Ikea, realising how much crap you've bought, set the seats to fold to make it less fiddly when you corral the children+trolley to the car.

So, you have a herd of children, or what ever the collective noun is, and a load of shopping. You then need to find your phone, put the PIN in wrong 4 times, look for the app which then crashes, press it and wait for the seats to deploy. Meanwhile, the person parked next to you in a Honda, opens the door, reaches in and deploys the Magic Seats in a hardly perceptible amount of time, loads the car and buggers off.

Whens your phone from ... 2008??

Personally, press the home button, TouchID unlocks immediately, pop open app (never had a failed/crashed app in years now that I can remember), hit the config ... it happens ... get to car load up and off-ski ... all before Honda man has managed to drop both sides of the split rear-fold

[Willy Nilly]

amstrange1 said:

GroundEffect said:

I've never understood the apps to unlock stuff or do this that and the other. Maybe we just haven't seen the killer feature yet.

Remote start for cabin pre-heat is a useful app feature. Whilst Webasto/Eberspacher did remote control fuel-fired heaters with remote start kits way back when, they only worked if you were vaguely in line of sight and needed a separate remote.

I don't really get the rear seat folding app though, perhaps something else that just came virtually for free from an engineering perspective though.

I have worked in parts of the US were all cars have a cable dangling through the grill to plug in a block heater, without which they simply will not start. Some machines also have transmission heaters. In this instance I can see the advantage in a cabin pre-heater. However, in this country where our definition of cold is having to put a coat on, having cabin pre heat just marks you out as a bell end with too much money and not enough to worry about.

[aeropilot]

Trabi601 said:

CarAbuser said:

Not completely true.

I prefer the BMW nav over any app including Waze. The traffic routing is better, the directions and clearer and more concise and the UI is brilliant.

On any other car I'll choose Waze though. Even though I can't stand the thought of supplying all my movements as valuable data to google.

The killer function for me in the BMW nav. is the ability to send locations from my phone or laptop to the car - when we did our 2 week European tour recently, all our hotels and camp sites were sent to the car the week before we departed. We could also plan some more scenic routes whilst sat in bars and send the waypoints to the car for the following morning.

Agreed....very useful, and about the only piece of geeky tech that is for me, other than also now having a hard drive for storing music files.

Don't have any need for apps, internet, self parking functions, radar cruise control, lane departure warning, head up display and any similar sort of crap that is fitted these days in abundance.