'Advances' in technology

[lightthefuse]

MysteryLemon said:

Electronic handbrakes.

Why? Advance in technology or just step back in laziness? My wallet would disagree that it was an advance when it took a £850 hit to fix the one on our Scenic...

Nod. Horrible things with no discernible benefit to me as a driver.

Symbolica said:

DRL's. I don't object to the principle, but the current implementation in most cars (where separate DRL's light up at the front but no lights come on at the rear) just means that people don't switch their headlights on in poor conditions.

Nod. Causes special confusion and an uneven playing field in countries where permanent headlight usage WAS the norm and IS the norm for non-equipped cars. DRLs are allowed, but lost count of the times I've been flashed. Blame the EU.

jamieduff1981 said:

Turbochargers. I hate them.

It's a thin line between love and hate, I like the extra whoomph on an already (fairly) large capacity engine and a diesel, of course. Still not convinced about the dynamics of small-capacity engine with HPTs, not really sold on fuel consumption either for that matter.

El Guapo said:

Fake engine noise piped through the sound system. I could not bring myself to buy a car that had this "feature".
Agree with the earlier point about over-complication of diesels. Their original strengths of reliability, long life and ease of maintenance have been lost.
Huge wheels.
The general trend to more power & more weight. They should be going the other way.

Nod, nod, nod and luckily for you I think the pendulum has definitely swung. I can't remember the last launch of a model in the past couple of years where the car weighed more than its predecessor. There'll be someone along in a minute with an example that I've overlooked, for sure.

Inflation. When a Volvo starts at £50k and a hot hatch is north of £30k something's wrong with the world...

[Chlamydia]

I like the sensors/computers in my car. I recently had a problem with my car so I plugged a Bluetooth OBD2 dongle into the car, bought a £3 app for my phone to interrogate the fault logs, and identified that my battery was on its way out. £50 and it was fixed whereas Ford wanted to charge me £85 just to bloody look at it!

I totally agree about electronic handbrakes though, they are a total pain in the arse!

[Jonny_]

I know it's hugely fashionable to whinge about technology in cars, but when it's working properly it makes a modern car amazingly safe, comfortable, reliable, efficient and easy to drive.

I enjoy driving my Capri but, faced with a long drive, I prefer the modern Passat with its torquey diseasel and cruise control, or my fiance's Note with its quiet little three-pot that does about 50mpg. Not to mention both have airbags, ABS, plenty of grip, aircon, decent stereos...