The Modern Car
Discussion
I currently have a Cupra Leon (are they not seat anymore?) on hire. This is the first new car I have driven in a long time and it has been a bit of a shock to the system. Car, driving wise isn't too bad, handles well, ride a bit firm, engine is pokey but light on torque, economy pretty good. And nice to play with a manual box again! I do feel a bit silly in it as it has many boy racer features.
On the flip side the driving experience is a bit of a nightmare. Everything run off a pad on the dash. No idea how to get to anything with strange icons for different functions. Swiping small icons get things on or change them an absolute nightmare. I am not young, but how older people would cope with this I have no idea. What happened to buttons to turn things on and off rather than searching endless menus whilst trying to drive a car.
Then you get the warnings. Firstly you get bongs for everything, like american cars do. It has sensors round it so it triggers radar warnings whenever you go near something. I live in the country and down a long track to my house so it never turns off and you have to keep manually trying to cancel it. It has lane and brake assist so you can be driving along and the steering wheel tugs making you think you've had a blow out.
You then get "emergency braking" so if someone turns off in front of you the car suddenly lights up the dashboard with imminent death messages and slams on the brakes. It is bloody dangerous. Do you need the safety interruptions only because of the daft tech they have built into the car? It also constantly flashes up speed limits and if you are approaching a roundabout it flashes up a message telling you to take your foot off the accelerator in small writing you have to focus on to read, thus taking your eye of the approaching roundabout.
Have to say, overall experience is crap and would never buy a car like this, but if all cars are going down this route lord help us.
On the flip side the driving experience is a bit of a nightmare. Everything run off a pad on the dash. No idea how to get to anything with strange icons for different functions. Swiping small icons get things on or change them an absolute nightmare. I am not young, but how older people would cope with this I have no idea. What happened to buttons to turn things on and off rather than searching endless menus whilst trying to drive a car.
Then you get the warnings. Firstly you get bongs for everything, like american cars do. It has sensors round it so it triggers radar warnings whenever you go near something. I live in the country and down a long track to my house so it never turns off and you have to keep manually trying to cancel it. It has lane and brake assist so you can be driving along and the steering wheel tugs making you think you've had a blow out.
You then get "emergency braking" so if someone turns off in front of you the car suddenly lights up the dashboard with imminent death messages and slams on the brakes. It is bloody dangerous. Do you need the safety interruptions only because of the daft tech they have built into the car? It also constantly flashes up speed limits and if you are approaching a roundabout it flashes up a message telling you to take your foot off the accelerator in small writing you have to focus on to read, thus taking your eye of the approaching roundabout.
Have to say, overall experience is crap and would never buy a car like this, but if all cars are going down this route lord help us.
Manufacturers are not trying to sell you cars. They are trying to market themselves to the young iPad generation.
Why? Because I'd pointless to maintain brand loyalty of old men who have, at best, two new car purchases left in them.
Get an 18 year old hooked, and you can have a customer base for life.
It's harsh but true. The question of "why don't I like new cars" is always "because they are not meant for you"
Why? Because I'd pointless to maintain brand loyalty of old men who have, at best, two new car purchases left in them.
Get an 18 year old hooked, and you can have a customer base for life.
It's harsh but true. The question of "why don't I like new cars" is always "because they are not meant for you"
Funkstar De Luxe said:
It's harsh but true. The question of "why don't I like new cars" is always "because they are not meant for you"
That's the conclusion I have come to and the reason why despite being a 'car person', I have never and probably never will buy a new car.Problem is, these annoying features have now trickled down into used cars and will continue to do so.
Guess I'll have to see if I can make my current car last another 30 years.
Something is wrong somewhere.
It's because legislators believe all progress is progress.
Sadly some, some, is not.
Legislating about using a smart phone with your hands whilst driving is sensible.
Allowing a massive smart phone to replace 80-90-100% of dash-mounted functions is beyond crazy.
I watch Harry's Garage and Throttle House a lot on youtube... when reviewing the cars, the amount of time their eyes are off the road is scary.
Technology preventing accidents is sensible
Having the car distract you with sounds and warning lights is bonkers.
The car is now being engineered for the lowest intellect, the clumsiest, uneducated, inept human....and of course those who may unfortunately not be fully-able...I guess to allow the freedoms of travel to all. A just cause.
It does however result in a form of transport that doesn't require you to have full control and indeed looks to limit the level of control you have.
Ironically this appears to have resulted in more (publicised anyway) occasions where fully/partly automated vehicles are reversing at 50mph across supermarket carparks...
Sadly some, some, is not.
Legislating about using a smart phone with your hands whilst driving is sensible.
Allowing a massive smart phone to replace 80-90-100% of dash-mounted functions is beyond crazy.
I watch Harry's Garage and Throttle House a lot on youtube... when reviewing the cars, the amount of time their eyes are off the road is scary.
Technology preventing accidents is sensible
Having the car distract you with sounds and warning lights is bonkers.
The car is now being engineered for the lowest intellect, the clumsiest, uneducated, inept human....and of course those who may unfortunately not be fully-able...I guess to allow the freedoms of travel to all. A just cause.
It does however result in a form of transport that doesn't require you to have full control and indeed looks to limit the level of control you have.
Ironically this appears to have resulted in more (publicised anyway) occasions where fully/partly automated vehicles are reversing at 50mph across supermarket carparks...
Mammasaid said:
Lester H said:
Mammasaid said:
In my current car, most things are touchscreen controlled, however when I get into the car, memory muscle takes over, and within a few touches, all the ADAS stuff is switched off, my choice of music is set, and the HVAC is at the correct temp. I very rarely change anything on the move, and if I do, it's either a single button press or for anything else use voice control.
I can understand when you jump in an unfamiliar car it can be confusing, but that can be the same when greeted with a sea of buttons.
Lester H said:
Mammasaid said:
Mammasaid said:
Lester H said:
Mammasaid said:
I have a Tesla with the big Ipad obviously - no issue in using that after getting used to it.
My FType has start/stop and I just let that do its thing and drive the car.
I think stopping to change the temperature and radio station sound very extreme. I've never done that.
I think some just consider it cool on here to say "OMG, I hate change" So many posts on it one way or another. But it does come across as old man shouts at clouds.
BlackTails said:
Lane assist and emergency braking are my two pet hates. I ve had the latter assisting whilst in L3 overtaking an HGV. Not helpful. The former replicates perfectly the feeling of tram lining in grooves in the road surface. Horrible.
You need to find a car with a better designed set of ADAS features. I’ve not had issues. Quickmoose said:
It's because legislators believe all progress is progress.
Sadly some, some, is not.
Legislating about using a smart phone with your hands whilst driving is sensible.
Allowing a massive smart phone to replace 80-90-100% of dash-mounted functions is beyond crazy.
I
Do you have legislations against only using smart phones while driving in the UK? I don't think I have ever heard of any country with such laws before. Here it is only legislations against using phones in general, regardless of whether they are with buttons or not. So buttons and screens are seen as equally dangerous while they are fitted to a phone while both are considered ok when they are fitted to a car. Sadly some, some, is not.
Legislating about using a smart phone with your hands whilst driving is sensible.
Allowing a massive smart phone to replace 80-90-100% of dash-mounted functions is beyond crazy.
I
Modern cars can be quite annoying, but I've found the "assistance" systems on the Leon (my wife has one) to be particularly intrusive.
I drive quite a range of current model cars as work get me hire cars whenever I need to go anywhere, and my own car is a similar age and doesn't have the same issues. I've only had one car which is more irritating than the Leon and that was a Nissan Juke.
The particularly bad implementation of "Lane Assist" is probably the worst feature - it picks up every shiny bit or minor crack on the road surface and decides that it's the white line in the middle. That is turned off every time as I don't want to fight for control of the steering wheel with an AI idiot who thinks they know better than I do about where the road is....
That still leaves the "city braking" which slams on the brakes in the same place every time on our driveway. I don't think that can be turned off, though I did discover it can be defeated if you slip the clutch slightly.
The parking sensors also seem to be set for a Hummvee rather than the medium hatchback they are attached to. They go to the solid beep "you're about to hit something" before the point where I think it's even getting relatively close. Before now, I've actually stopped and got out of the car to check, thinking I may have missed seeing a somehing low down behind the car which I'm about to run over, but no, it's just beeping for that brick wall which is still about 3 feet from the car....
A few years ago, it had reached the point where you could fairly safely buy an average hatchback without a test drive as they all drove pretty much the same. Now though, a test drive is essential again just to find out how annoying the assistance systems are!!
I drive quite a range of current model cars as work get me hire cars whenever I need to go anywhere, and my own car is a similar age and doesn't have the same issues. I've only had one car which is more irritating than the Leon and that was a Nissan Juke.
The particularly bad implementation of "Lane Assist" is probably the worst feature - it picks up every shiny bit or minor crack on the road surface and decides that it's the white line in the middle. That is turned off every time as I don't want to fight for control of the steering wheel with an AI idiot who thinks they know better than I do about where the road is....
That still leaves the "city braking" which slams on the brakes in the same place every time on our driveway. I don't think that can be turned off, though I did discover it can be defeated if you slip the clutch slightly.
The parking sensors also seem to be set for a Hummvee rather than the medium hatchback they are attached to. They go to the solid beep "you're about to hit something" before the point where I think it's even getting relatively close. Before now, I've actually stopped and got out of the car to check, thinking I may have missed seeing a somehing low down behind the car which I'm about to run over, but no, it's just beeping for that brick wall which is still about 3 feet from the car....
A few years ago, it had reached the point where you could fairly safely buy an average hatchback without a test drive as they all drove pretty much the same. Now though, a test drive is essential again just to find out how annoying the assistance systems are!!
Funkstar De Luxe said:
Manufacturers are not trying to sell you cars. They are trying to market themselves to the young iPad generation.
Why? Because I'd pointless to maintain brand loyalty of old men who have, at best, two new car purchases left in them.
Get an 18 year old hooked, and you can have a customer base for life.
It's harsh but true. The question of "why don't I like new cars" is always "because they are not meant for you"
Much truth in that.Why? Because I'd pointless to maintain brand loyalty of old men who have, at best, two new car purchases left in them.
Get an 18 year old hooked, and you can have a customer base for life.
It's harsh but true. The question of "why don't I like new cars" is always "because they are not meant for you"
They've done much the same with trucks, yet most truck drivers are aged 50+ which seems to not compute and most drivers hate all of this rubbish to the point that some us will not drive certain makes, Mercedes being one you couldn't pay me enough to drive full time, one of our Mercs that went back a few months aged 5 i collected from the service agent, could not get rid of several blasted messages from the dash so no speedo rev counter or anything else visible, i drove back using the independent satnav as a speedo, too much crap, Lord above knows what the latest versions are like.
Thankfully they haven't (yet) fitted anything that affects the steering in any way, at least on our Scanias and Dafs, when that happens ahm oot, be great fun driving down a single carriageway road when the 44 tonner approaching decides it wants to be 2 ft further to the right.
Tech CAN be good WHEN it works properly.
But when it doesn't it can be phenomenally frustrating.
If you have to read a manual to work out how to use the lights / fan / wipers then there is something seriously wrong.
I am 53 and my 2022 MX-5 gets the tech about right. I can drive the car and use lights / wipers / fan without using the touch screen.
It rarely bongs and they are not intrusive and it never tries to take over and drive for me. I bought it because I think it is the last of a dying breed.
Only criticism is the sat nave does not have a mute button or if it does it is buried in the menus. I know how to get out of my estate and don't need a stern woman telling me to Turn Right. TURN RIGHT!
But when it doesn't it can be phenomenally frustrating.
If you have to read a manual to work out how to use the lights / fan / wipers then there is something seriously wrong.
I am 53 and my 2022 MX-5 gets the tech about right. I can drive the car and use lights / wipers / fan without using the touch screen.
It rarely bongs and they are not intrusive and it never tries to take over and drive for me. I bought it because I think it is the last of a dying breed.
Only criticism is the sat nave does not have a mute button or if it does it is buried in the menus. I know how to get out of my estate and don't need a stern woman telling me to Turn Right. TURN RIGHT!
raspy said:
BlackTails said:
Lane assist and emergency braking are my two pet hates. I ve had the latter assisting whilst in L3 overtaking an HGV. Not helpful. The former replicates perfectly the feeling of tram lining in grooves in the road surface. Horrible.
You need to find a car with a better designed set of ADAS features. I ve not had issues. Nissan Quashquai is the worst for me. "Press OK to accept speed warning" just triggers me, like the car is judging me for speeding when at least 20% it has no idea what the speed is.
A work around is to set up a profile and 'log in' (this one is a work pool car, so no-one has attempted to personalise it).
If you set all the aids to off in the profile, it's a simple 2 button press (on the steering wheel to turn most of the Nannys off.
To be fair, the cruise has got much better and just as you feel it slow because it's seen the car in front, as soon as you indicate to overtake, it will increase the speed again, and even doesn't panic when you pull out behind a car passing in the next lane.
I'm amazed anyone would buy a car that has this "feature", though.
A work around is to set up a profile and 'log in' (this one is a work pool car, so no-one has attempted to personalise it).
If you set all the aids to off in the profile, it's a simple 2 button press (on the steering wheel to turn most of the Nannys off.
To be fair, the cruise has got much better and just as you feel it slow because it's seen the car in front, as soon as you indicate to overtake, it will increase the speed again, and even doesn't panic when you pull out behind a car passing in the next lane.
I'm amazed anyone would buy a car that has this "feature", though.
Tom8 said:
It is an age thing to a degree and I agree with the point above about catching the market share early. My main concern though is I find them dangerous, far too much interference, far too many distractions from eyes on the road. We seem to be at a really dangerous half way point between manual and self drive capabilities with the worst of both worlds.
Yup. The age element being that those over 45 experienced a driving world where the individual was left to make decisions regarding hitting trees, driving on the wrong side, using murderous excess speed etc. And we are currently in that tech limbo where it both not et good enough and those with free will haven't capitulated. Hire cars are a great way to experience the demise of free will. Just Pa for the full insurance and smash it into a wall when finished with it. It won't stop the world from turning but it'll make you feel like you have e at least had your say.
DKS said:
Nissan Quashquai is the worst for me. "Press OK to accept speed warning" just triggers me, like the car is judging me for speeding when at least 20% it has no idea what the speed is.
A work around is to set up a profile and 'log in' (this one is a work pool car, so no-one has attempted to personalise it).
If you set all the aids to off in the profile, it's a simple 2 button press (on the steering wheel to turn most of the Nannys off.
To be fair, the cruise has got much better and just as you feel it slow because it's seen the car in front, as soon as you indicate to overtake, it will increase the speed again, and even doesn't panic when you pull out behind a car passing in the next lane.
I'm amazed anyone would buy a car that has this "feature", though.
Having recently had a Qashqai as a rental, can confirm!A work around is to set up a profile and 'log in' (this one is a work pool car, so no-one has attempted to personalise it).
If you set all the aids to off in the profile, it's a simple 2 button press (on the steering wheel to turn most of the Nannys off.
To be fair, the cruise has got much better and just as you feel it slow because it's seen the car in front, as soon as you indicate to overtake, it will increase the speed again, and even doesn't panic when you pull out behind a car passing in the next lane.
I'm amazed anyone would buy a car that has this "feature", though.
I ended up disconnecting the battery overnight as the entire entertainment/Android Auto system wasn't working (even after I deleted the bajillion Bluetooth pairings that previous drivers hadn't). This fixed that but meant the car reverted to metric on every power cycle, and for some reason this wasn't part of the "custom profile" that I had to select to disable all the w
k I didn't want. On the OP, as to the auto-brake kicking in I'd be interested to hear your approach to the car in front turning off... Do you slow and wait for the car in front to clear the turning before you accelerate again, or do you maintain speed and move offside? If the latter, I'm on the side of your car here TBH! However, I have also had auto-brake kick in when there was a right turn filter full of stationary cars as the road swept left and I was maintaining speed. Only once in 20-odd years of this feature, mind, but it was disconcerting. Maybe it was the angle of the road, maybe I subconsciously lift off now, but the car clearly assumed I was going to spank it into a queue in the next lane.
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff