Why don't car makers copy the best of each others cars?
Discussion
I sometimes wonder why car manufacturers don't drive each other's cars and then copy the ideas which are clearly the best, rather than just continuing with the way they have always done it?
Cars are generally quite good now so I dont mean the big things, just the niggling little features/annoyances which could so easily be improved. Of my own cars, 2 x MB & a Porsche, a few which spring to mind:
Ignition keys with only 1 button which both locks and unlocks the car - hence you walk away, think "did I lock the car?" and have to go back and check (thinking Porsche). Most manufacturers have a lock and an unlock button so you can just press lock again...
the "lights on" warning buzzer on a BMW sounds for 30 seconds when you turn the ignition off rather than when you open the door, as with most other makes, hence it is annoying if you want to sit in the car - and then you get out and leave the lights on..... ( I last had a BMW about 10 years ago so they may have changed this now)
Built in SatNavs that only take the first part of the postcode when your £70 Garmin from Argos recognises the whole code.... (Porsche, MB does not have sat nav))
Remote boot opener on ignition key which is positioned so that is accidently pressed when trying to open the doors (Porsche again)
Ignition keys which don't fold away so you have a large key to carry around and for the wife to risk scratching the door when she opens the car with the key in her hand..... (Porsche once more....)
Auto central locking on Porsche requires 2 pulls of door handle to open, as opposed to just one on the MB....
Finally, a good thing on MB is you turn the ignition key once and release and the engine will turn over until it fires - as opposed to holding the ignition key till it starts. I know it's only a little thing but its just better!
In the overall scheme of things, these are all fairly insignificant but picking faults is easy, which is why we like to do it!
Can anybody think of any other niggles or annoying "features" which could so easily be improved?
philcray said:
I sometimes wonder why car manufacturers don't drive each other's cars and then copy the ideas which are clearly the best, rather than just continuing with the way they have always done it?
They do more than just drive them. They typically buy several examples of each directly competing car and take them to pieces. But you could be forgiven for not always noticing what they learn from doing this.If car makers look at what each another is doing and copy the best of other cars then what car will you buy? If every car copied one another then we'll be effectively be left with only ONE car to choose from (in the class). Then every car you buy would actually be buying because of its brand and not the actual car...
Jayho said:
If car makers look at what each another is doing and copy the best of other cars then what car will you buy? If every car copied one another then we'll be effectively be left with only ONE car to choose from (in the class). Then every car you buy would actually be buying because of its brand and not the actual car...
My point is the niggling little things, like the auto windscreen wipe, which some manufacturers get right so why can't they all? On that topic, if Auto wipe is selected on the MB it gives a wipe whenever you start the engine, so smearing grit etc across the screen.. I quite like auto wipe but why does it have to do that??!! philcray said:
I sometimes wonder why car manufacturers don't drive each other's cars and then copy the ideas which are clearly the best, rather than just continuing with the way they have always done it?
Whilst I agree there are a bunch of 'features' on modern cars that I can see not value of, you should realise that car manufacturers spend a LOT of time looking at each others products; driving them, reverse engineering them and generally trying to extract the best bits for their own next models.philcray said:
I sometimes wonder why car manufacturers don't drive each other's cars
They do, I have a couple of friends who are engineers at bentley and regularly get to benchmark there cars against it's competitors, and yes I do get jealous of some of the metal he gets to drive in the name of work.
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