Five most useless features in a car
Discussion
FerrousOxide said:
thismonkeyhere said:
FerrousOxide said:
STW2010 said:
300bhp/ton said:
Seriously, seeing a car at 2 miles away instead of 1500 yards away offers what realtime advantage?
That's 30 seconds if both cars are doing 120 mph. 
No, can't help myself:
Difference between seeing a car 2 miles away and seeing one 1500 yards away is approx 1 mile extra visibility. Both cars doing 120mph is a closing speed of 240mph or 4 miles per minute. So that's 15 seconds to cover the space that the extra visibility gives you.
OK, I'll get my coat.
FerrousOxide said:
thismonkeyhere said:
FerrousOxide said:
STW2010 said:
300bhp/ton said:
Seriously, seeing a car at 2 miles away instead of 1500 yards away offers what realtime advantage?
That's 30 seconds if both cars are doing 120 mph. No, can't help myself:
Difference between seeing a car 2 miles away and seeing one 1500 yards away is approx 1 mile extra visibility. Both cars doing 120mph is a closing speed of 240mph or 4 miles per minute. So that's 15 seconds to cover the space that the extra visibility gives you.
OK, I'll get my coat.
'To be sure of always hitting the target, shoot first. Then whatever you hit, call it the target.'
thismonkeyhere said:
This ^
Never quite understood the anti-sidelight rants on here. Surely they're there to help others see your car when it's slightly dull/dusk etc, and they do that very well. Headlights are for when you need light to see the road by.
It depends on the sidelightsNever quite understood the anti-sidelight rants on here. Surely they're there to help others see your car when it's slightly dull/dusk etc, and they do that very well. Headlights are for when you need light to see the road by.
The Mk2 Focus has sidelights dimmer than candles so I always use headlights if I want to be seen:
ELECTRIC SEAT ADJUSTMENT
I use mine all the time. Mrs Puff uses it all the time. I find the correct seating position for town driving may not be the best position for open road touring. Or on a long motorway drive, I can move the seat a bit every so often to get comfortable.
INTERMITTENT WIPERS
Very useful. Who want's always on wipers in a light shower?
SUN ROOF
I'd never buy a car without a sunroof.
ELECTRIC REAR WINDOWS
Usuful if you are sitting in the back seat.
SIDELIGHTS
You mean parking lights? New cars have DRLs instead.
I use mine all the time. Mrs Puff uses it all the time. I find the correct seating position for town driving may not be the best position for open road touring. Or on a long motorway drive, I can move the seat a bit every so often to get comfortable.
INTERMITTENT WIPERS
Very useful. Who want's always on wipers in a light shower?
SUN ROOF
I'd never buy a car without a sunroof.
ELECTRIC REAR WINDOWS
Usuful if you are sitting in the back seat.
SIDELIGHTS
You mean parking lights? New cars have DRLs instead.
thismonkeyhere said:
So, everyone else is referring to the 2 mile distance between the two cars, but in order for you to be right you change the calculation to suit your own ends. Nice work.
'To be sure of always hitting the target, shoot first. Then whatever you hit, call it the target.'
Fair point! 'To be sure of always hitting the target, shoot first. Then whatever you hit, call it the target.'
Sorry, I mis-interpreted 300's original question (as well as going well off-topic). When will I learn?
Perd Hapley said:
No no no the Golf bottle opener is good. It inserts into the slots on the sides of the little cubby hole and turns it into an adjustable cup holder. Instead of just including a slab of plastic to do this job, VW made it double up as a bottle opener.
Verdict: not useless
AWESOMEVerdict: not useless
i have just seen a reason to buy a golf
Electric Rear Windows: Love them. Especially in summer. Driving with all 4 windows down is quite refreshing and airs out the cabin nicely.
Dashboard Dimmer: I have this on my ZT and find it incredibly useful when driving on unlit roads at night. My ZT doesn't have particularly garish dash illumination (orange mostly, which is quite easy on the eye) but it still makes a considerable difference.
Golf Bottle Opener: I quite like the idea of this! Perhaps not useful for the driver (at least not in the UK, as the only crown capped drink we tend to get here is beer) but quite nice for your passengers if they fancy a drink.
Internal Aerials: My ZT has one, it's not 'bad' in terms of reception, but not as good as a sticky up aerial. I'd rather have a sticky up one to be honest.
Dashboard Dimmer: I have this on my ZT and find it incredibly useful when driving on unlit roads at night. My ZT doesn't have particularly garish dash illumination (orange mostly, which is quite easy on the eye) but it still makes a considerable difference.
Golf Bottle Opener: I quite like the idea of this! Perhaps not useful for the driver (at least not in the UK, as the only crown capped drink we tend to get here is beer) but quite nice for your passengers if they fancy a drink.
Internal Aerials: My ZT has one, it's not 'bad' in terms of reception, but not as good as a sticky up aerial. I'd rather have a sticky up one to be honest.
Cupholders. Why do people feel the need to have a can or cup instantly to hand while they are driving? More worryingly - see VW picture above - a can of Red Bull?
'Premium audio system' with xx number of speakers, USB, voice recognition, etc, etc. Gets turned on about once a month. The clock display is useful though.
Rear centre headrest.
ps: mass market motors have had instrument panel light dimmers for more than 50 years. I once had a Vauxhall Cavalier SRi that didn't but then, that car didn't have much of anything - including ability or character. Dimmers didn't seem to matter much years ago, except the clever SAAB one that turned off the lighting of everything except the speedo, but in this era of 'Tokyo by night' internal illumination a dimmer is a must.
Which reminds me - 'ambient lighting'. My car has LEDS that give a sort of vague blueish glow to people's faces and feet. How pointless is that? Honda websites give instructions on how to make them glow even bluer. Thank the lord I hardly ever drive at night these days.
'Premium audio system' with xx number of speakers, USB, voice recognition, etc, etc. Gets turned on about once a month. The clock display is useful though.
Rear centre headrest.
ps: mass market motors have had instrument panel light dimmers for more than 50 years. I once had a Vauxhall Cavalier SRi that didn't but then, that car didn't have much of anything - including ability or character. Dimmers didn't seem to matter much years ago, except the clever SAAB one that turned off the lighting of everything except the speedo, but in this era of 'Tokyo by night' internal illumination a dimmer is a must.
Which reminds me - 'ambient lighting'. My car has LEDS that give a sort of vague blueish glow to people's faces and feet. How pointless is that? Honda websites give instructions on how to make them glow even bluer. Thank the lord I hardly ever drive at night these days.
McWigglebum4th said:
Audi the glovebox realease
Sitting on the dashboard is this bueatiful crafted little button with a little picture of an open glove box
You reach out a tiny amount without shifting your body and press the button and marvle at its silcone damped awesomeness
Somewhere a tiny little ECU considers your request and it dutifully realeases the glovebox catch
Then the glovebox opens in a lovely smooth sexy action answering your very demand and making you realise that you have made it you are in an Audi you marvel at the imagine.
You look in wonder at your now open glovebox
And then you reach across to push the button to reverse the process and nothing happens
You push again and still there is no response
Again you try a little harder but still nothing
Then you realise
The button only opens the glovebox
And then you consider it
And the reality hits you like a crushing blow
I'M IN 4 door lump of diesel dull and the buttons a f
king con
And you know
You have failed
Winner Sitting on the dashboard is this bueatiful crafted little button with a little picture of an open glove box
You reach out a tiny amount without shifting your body and press the button and marvle at its silcone damped awesomeness
Somewhere a tiny little ECU considers your request and it dutifully realeases the glovebox catch
Then the glovebox opens in a lovely smooth sexy action answering your very demand and making you realise that you have made it you are in an Audi you marvel at the imagine.
You look in wonder at your now open glovebox
And then you reach across to push the button to reverse the process and nothing happens
You push again and still there is no response
Again you try a little harder but still nothing
Then you realise
The button only opens the glovebox
And then you consider it
And the reality hits you like a crushing blow
I'M IN 4 door lump of diesel dull and the buttons a f
king conAnd you know
You have failed
McWigglebum4th said:
Perd Hapley said:
No no no the Golf bottle opener is good. It inserts into the slots on the sides of the little cubby hole and turns it into an adjustable cup holder. Instead of just including a slab of plastic to do this job, VW made it double up as a bottle opener.
Verdict: not useless
AWESOMEVerdict: not useless
i have just seen a reason to buy a golf
Amazed hardly anyone has mentioned voice activation. You try it once when the car is new, sitting on the drive. The next time you try it you realise it doesn't work, and you never touch it again. I seriously don't know anyone who uses it apart from to impress their mates. When it usually doesn't work, their mates smirk and they feel a tosser.
Sid's Dad said:
Amazed hardly anyone has mentioned voice activation. You try it once when the car is new, sitting on the drive. The next time you try it you realise it doesn't work, and you never touch it again. I seriously don't know anyone who uses it apart from to impress their mates. When it usually doesn't work, their mates smirk and they feel a tosser.
Yep, totally agree.Its tricky to go through the phone book (which is taken from the phone) to pick a number in my car as it puts each of the different numbers under a new 'entry' and does multiple as they get pulled into the phone from different sources So for example you'd have something like:
Mrs FD
Mrs FD
Mrs FD
Mrs FD
Mrs FD
Mrs FD
FD Sister
FD Sister
FD Sister
With just a symbol after each name showing if it was work/home/mobile etc. It also for some reason doesn't include all names and some which are only in the phone as an email address!
Anyway I was sat in a big queue for the local tip a couple of weeks ago and having forgotten about how bad it was in the initial "playing with new features" period I figured as I only really call my wife from the car I'd set her up on the 'internal' voice activated phonebook. How hard could it be? 30minutes of repeating numbers and shouting abuse at the car later I'd got the number stored. I tried it and it didn't even work.
F***ing useless.
Edited by Fastdruid on Thursday 7th November 11:46
Halmyre said:
This is a personal observation - YMMV.
SIDELIGHTS
Here’s a free tip - if it’s dark enough that you think you need sidelights then it’s dark enough that you need headlights. Maybe some people are trying to save wear on their bulbs, or are worried about the increased fuel consumption.
Agree with this, particularly on new cars with DRLs. DRLs allow you to be seen, headlights allow you to see stuff. Don't see the point of the side lights any more on cars that run DRL.SIDELIGHTS
Here’s a free tip - if it’s dark enough that you think you need sidelights then it’s dark enough that you need headlights. Maybe some people are trying to save wear on their bulbs, or are worried about the increased fuel consumption.
Mine would be the dashboard dimmer switch as said followed by the cigarette lighter for me (never use it), Roof grab handles unless i'm a passenger in a car with a particularly suicidal driver. The Econ function on my climate control not sure it makes that much difference although you do notice a very slight drop in revs at idle when you turn it off.
One of my peevs though is i dont know if anyone has noticed but modern car indicators are getting smaller and smaller and harder to spot....Doesnt matter on a BMW, Minicab or a white van cos they dont get used anyway
but the Audi A4 and Mondeo lights are bloody hard to spot.
Edit: VAG rear washers (they always break)
One of my peevs though is i dont know if anyone has noticed but modern car indicators are getting smaller and smaller and harder to spot....Doesnt matter on a BMW, Minicab or a white van cos they dont get used anyway
but the Audi A4 and Mondeo lights are bloody hard to spot.Edit: VAG rear washers (they always break)
Edited by Andy ap on Thursday 7th November 13:24
To all those complaining about dashboard dimmers...
I found them really useful when driving for long hours in the middle of the night on unlit roads.
My only pet peeve with them, is when they are placed next to the headlamp height adjuster, and it's easy to get confused between the two..
I found them really useful when driving for long hours in the middle of the night on unlit roads.
My only pet peeve with them, is when they are placed next to the headlamp height adjuster, and it's easy to get confused between the two..
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