It's the little things

[James P]

mikey_b said:

hungry_hog said:

my 996 C4s had a compartment to hold CDs.. I can't remember if this was to play them or just hold them

If you put a CD inside it would show orange, if it was empty would be white

That model was produced up to 2004 and it really seems a different age, was before smartphones arrived

10 years before that, cars were still being made with storage for cassettes. I think the pic below is an aftermarket one, and the pic is a quick grab from Google, but it's how they looked. I remember my Dad having one in his succession of Escorts and Sierras in the 80s and 90s:

I think the aftermarket ones were Fischer C- Box. I bought one for my Mk2 Golf, fitted in an otherwise useless HB you hole that would not hold anything in.

[cherryowen]

M11rph said:

I learnt to drive in a rather old P6 3500 Rover (Manual). Having a Reserve Tank always felt special !

(Pet.Res arrowed for those not checked out on the P6. Same as the Choke, pull and twist to lock open)

Now that's brought back some memories (my Dad used to have a P6 2000TC with the same feature). I loved that car as a kid

[GhiaInjection]

littlebasher said:

Like the pinnacle of 80's tech

Fantastic! Had that in my 1988 Orion 1.6i Ghia. Seem to remember the Fuel used was so accurate, I never looked at the Fuel Gauge!

[hairy v]

kambites said:

Gad-Westy said:

LOL.

Were those keypads actually any good? Always looked like a faff at the time but I didn't have a car with one.

A friend of mine had a 306 with it. It didn't seem to bother him, it just became part of the "getting into the car and driving off" routine, didn't add more than a second or two.

My mate had a 306 with it too - I seem to remember that all the numbers were worn off on the PIN keys after a while though so you could have a good guess how to start the car.

[2xChevrons]

hairy v said:

kambites said:

Gad-Westy said:

LOL.

Were those keypads actually any good? Always looked like a faff at the time but I didn't have a car with one.

A friend of mine had a 306 with it. It didn't seem to bother him, it just became part of the "getting into the car and driving off" routine, didn't add more than a second or two.

My mate had a 306 with it too - I seem to remember that all the numbers were worn off on the PIN keys after a while though so you could have a good guess how to start the car.

My Citroen Xantia has the keypad immobiliser. It was a bit of a faff at first, but you very quickly get used to it and becomes routine. I bypassed a couple of years into ownership because it began occasionally not registering button-presses. Not wanting that to degrade into a fault that would immobilise the car I prised the keypad out of the centre console, put in the code, started the car, pulled the multiplug out the back of the keypad while the engine was running and put it all back together. So now the keypad is entirely decorative.

[m3jappa]

HTP99 said:

Hippea said:

What a glorious dashboard, new cars really are a bit crap aren’t they

Was thinking a similar thing, that dashboard looks awesome!

Really? i was thinking it looks utterly st.

If you want a dash like that buy a japanese van as they still seem to be stuck in the mid 80's

I will take a modern dash over that any day.

[Alex_225]

I'm back in a Saab after buying a 9-3 convertible for daily use a few months back. I forget how many nice touches are in that. I use the Night Panel regularly on long evening drives and the cupholders are always good!



I like how my Merc CL allows me to adjust the electric passenger seat from the drivers side. I assume it's aimed more at the S Class' it's based on for driving people in the back and moving the seat forward but a cool little touch.

[Kuwahara]

Gad-Westy said:

LOL.

Were those keypads actually any good? Always looked like a faff at the time but I didn't have a car with one.

They were a PITA ,I set mine to 1111 which kinda defeated the point ,had it bypassed later on my 406…

[aka_kerrly]

HTP99 said:

TheOctaneAddict said:

My VW Scirocco had a bottle opener in the center console.

I always found that a weird addition in VW's, I don't know about anyone else but the only bottles I've ever needed a bottle opener for, have contained alcohol!

It's very common in Europe for soft drinks to come in glass bottles with metal caps.

Also, you can take the bottle opener and insert it sideways into the two grooves making a divider so that the cubby hole becomes a double cup holder!!

[Wills2]

HTP99 said:

Hippea said:

What a glorious dashboard, new cars really are a bit crap aren’t they

Was thinking a similar thing, that dashboard looks awesome!

What are you guys drinking? It's bloody appalling.

[Error_404_Username_not_found]

Clicking the switch on top of the gearlever in any of my old Triumphs. Click, ease up the pedal a touch and...Relax. Lovely.

The 1300 Lada saloon we had with the original factory toolkit in the boot which almost equipped you to completely strip and reassemble the car. It even included a tool for aligning a new clutch, which was possible to do without even jacking the car up; just run the nearside wheels up the kerb.

[Maxym]

mmm-five said:

I miss the relative simplicity of my e34 M5 (although the Z4MC isn't that 'modern' compared to the F31 either).


e34 M5 (1994)


e86 Z4MC (2006)


F31 320D Touring (2015)

Edited by mmm-five on Friday 10th February 10:35

That e34 dash is pure class. BMW had most other marques licked back then when it came to dashboards.

[Chubbyross]

V 02 said:

The Civic from the noughties had many unusual features that are still interesting today.


This weird sci-fi dash.






A strange front grill and headlights.




Very useful rear seats that they called “Magic Seats”




This weird shift knob





And these weird triangular rear exhaust tips.

Whenever I see the front of a civic I’m always reminded of cars from the 1970s when owners would sometimes cover up the radiator with tin foil.

[donkmeister]

JagYouAre said:

Second Best said:

I miss the two sun visors in my old Merc R and ML. Such a simple idea, probably adds 50p to each car's production cost, but makes life a lot easier when commuting when the sun's in that very annoying place between the front and side.

Talking of sun visors, my old Polo had a little mini one in the middle tucked behind the rear view mirror to fill the gap between the main ones. Probably only got used once or twice a year when the sun is in a particular position and you're travelling in a certain direction, but it was there when needed.

I've note seen it in any car since.

By the way most sun visors unclip on the middle fastening don't they? So you can turn it round to the side window.

The beauty of the Mercedes design is that after you fold, unclip and rotate the sun visor to the side, there is a second sun visor on each side of the car that folds down over the windscreen. It's on the W211 E-Class too.

[donkmeister]

V 02 said:

mat205125 said:

Love the dash design on these, even if they are an utter ergonomic disaster

The silliest thing on these is that they have an engine start button, but you have to twist the key in 2 clicks as if you were starting the car and THEN press the engine start button

I've pondered this with my S2000... These cars are from the era that "keyless start" meant "look, there is no key... but you still have to take this credit card shaped thing and shove it in a slot to start the car". The next generation of keyless start was when you could walk up, open the door, jump in and start the engine simply by virtue of a transponder in your pocket.

Maybe there was a 90s or earlier car that allowed all the "modern" keyless features, but I can't think of one.

[LunarOne]

V 02 said:

The Civic from the noughties had many unusual features that are still interesting today.

A strange front grill and headlights.


And these weird triangular rear exhaust tips.

As a 16-year-old in 1990 I used to play Elite on my Amiga with friends, and those polygonal ships are burned into my memory. As an adult, that Civic always reminded me of a ship from Elite, and I'd always be angling to get behind one so that I could blast it into a million pieces before it turned off, hopefully picking up its cargo of a 7-year-old and a 10-year-old to sell as slaves on an Anarchistic planet called Croydon.

[randomeddy]

In the original picture the tickover is v high.

[coppice]

I was very impressed that my (wonderful ) Alfasud Ti not only had a footrest - the first I had encountered - but a light that illuminated on cold start up and went out only when the engine was warm enough to enjoy a good seeing to. 40 years later , my MX 5 has one too.

Dad's Humber Hawk had the novel idea of incorporating the filler cap into a rear reflector.

[kev b]

I bought a low mileage Civic to use while I renovated my BMW, the engine didn't seem to have anything like the power promised.

The heads up display was pretty good and fuel consumption excellent.

However the driving position was something I could not get used to, in addition, unless the seat was lowered to the floor my head hit the roof when entering the car.

I am only 5’ 10” so average height really and this was a dealbreaker, luckily a mate was after a car and thats how I ended up with a FIAT Coupe.

He’s a couple of inches shorter than me and absolutely loves the thing as does his wife, they get around 60mpg and of course it never goes wrong.

Horses for courses but in comparison with my FIAT dash the Honda loses badly IMO.

[Rolls-canardley]

HTP99 said:

Hippea said:

What a glorious dashboard, new cars really are a bit crap aren’t they

Was thinking a similar thing, that dashboard looks awesome!

Totally agree, how much longer before analog gauges and dashboard are a distant memory ....