Five most useless features in a car

[shiftydave]

kcrimson said:

The built in satnav on my Audi will only take a maximum 5 digits of a postcode.

It does, however, tell you how many metres above sea level you are. I've yet to come across a situation where that feature has proved useful.

When the icecaps melt that will be a very important feature.

[alock]

SteveSteveson said:

Eh? Really? Glare of wet roads from dipped headlights? And DRLs not making a difference? Do you really think modern bikes have to have lights on for the fun of it? Or that the new cars have to have DRLs for sts and giggles? It's not 2 miles. It is at a few hundred meters where you have bright sun and shade.

Not sure what ships in WW2 on the sea being seen from aircraft has to do with cars on a road seeing each other. Warships are painted dull colors and sometimes this makes them stand out, in bright sun for example, against the highly reflective surface of the sea. Sod all to do with cars on the road.

I'm fully aware of the effects of seeing past lights, but if DRL's and dipped headlights, that are designed to not do this AT NIGHT and you are having a problem seeing past them in the day you have a problem.

I probably miss 1 overtaking opportunity every week due to a car having bright lights on the front when they are not really needed. Much of my driving is on roads like this:



The straights are long enough that you can still often overtake safely if you can judge the speed of the car heading towards you. Anything beyond traditional side-lights and I cannot safely judge the speed of the car approaching in the distance so cannot overtake.

It's a small point, but as you get further down the straight you realise there was lots of room to overtake but the on-coming lights prevented it. It's frustrating. If you always put your lights on and think it never does any harm then you need to re-evaluate how it can effect others.

Human eyes take a long time to optimally adjust to different light conditions. It's therefore a cascading race to the bottom. Once one person puts their lights on, everyone has to and everyone's ability to accurately judge what other cars are doing is diminished.

[Toaster Pilot]

alock said:

Much of my driving is on roads like this:

Jealous - much of my driving is on roads like this:

[otolith]

kambites said:

otolith said:

kambites said:

They removed something like 80kg(!) from the E46 M3 by swapping the electric seats out for manual ones in the CSL.

I don't think the CSL front seats differ only in lacking electric motors, aren't they lightweight single piece jobs?

No, they're completely different but the fact that the original front seats weight 80kg in total was a shock to me. It's obscene!

The CSL seats are more comfortable, too.

I remember an old edition of CAR taking apart the seats from (iirc) a Lexus LS and a Citroen AX - now that was a proper difference in weight!

[otolith]

kambites said:

A good traction control system shouldn't cut in until beyond the percentage slip that's optimal for acceleration (something like 10% IIRC).

I have yet to come across a good one then!

(actually, the one in the Saab might be quite good, since I haven't really noticed it)

[otolith]

RX-8 had a dimmer switch for the dashboard lighting too.

[FerrousOxide]

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.

15 secs, if they're heading towards each other. (Hope you appreciate my worthwhile contribution).

Er... no. Still 30 seconds.

Mustn't... rise... to.... it....

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.

[Mound Dawg]

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 fking con

And you know


You have failed

Post of the Week! Right there!

[SSBB]

akaRob said:

Has the dashboard light dimmer on the MX5 been mentioned? I've never used it and can't think why I would ever need such a thing. I've never seen it on any other car either.

What's its purpose? Does anyone feel the need to use it?

Does that dim the instrument panel? That is a feature on most cars, very disappointed that one of my current ones doesn't have it. Never had a car without it before.

[DJP]

Front fog lights. I've had these in every car that I've owned and they're useless in all conditions and especially so in fog.

Alarms. Fine if you're within earshot, completely useless if not. And very annoying when they go wrong.

Electronic handbrakes. No benefit whatsoever and a whole new era of things to go wrong.

Traction Control. Rubbish, just rubbish. The worst two examples I've experienced were a 1.6 Focus which cut about 50% of the power on the exit from every bend (which wouldn't have been so bad if it had any power to begin with) and a Toyota with TC so aggressive that it cut all power at the slightest hint of frost or snow – preventing the car from climbing even the gentlest gradient.

Built in Sat Nav. Why bother when a much better Tom Tom can be had for £100?

[Halmyre]

akaRob said:

Has the dashboard light dimmer on the MX5 been mentioned? I've never used it and can't think why I would ever need such a thing. I've never seen it on any other car either.

What's its purpose? Does anyone feel the need to use it?

I have that, turned down to its lowest setting. It's a common feature on cars nowadays.

[OGR4M]

My VW Bora has the (rubbish) electronic ClimaTronic gizmo, which is good for erm.. climatronic-ing - but if you press 3 buttons simultaneously you can access a bunch of basic diagnostics codes.

although they're totally incomprehensible - there's over 40 codes, and I've only figured out that 17 is the road speed in km/h...

Also there's the auto wipers which only work when the driver manuallyselects intermittent.

[Chris944_S2]

Halmyre said:

SUN ROOF
It lets in noise, it lets in water and it breaks down. Fully open, you can’t use it above fast walking speed due to turbulence and, tilted open, it lets in even more noise. And if it’s glass, it just reminds you of how dirty your roof is.

ELECTRIC REAR WINDOWS
My latest car has manual winders in the rear – oh, the deprivation! But honestly, I can’t remember the last time anyone opened the rear passenger windows. The damn things don’t even go all the way down anyway – might as well have them fixed.

Buy a V8 and move to a country with tunnels.
I just wish there was only 1 button to open all of them

[sparkyhx]

andygo said:

That utterly stupid keyless system in my wifes Focus.

Get in the car using standard remote blipper. So far so good. Press the start button. If, (and it is an if as often it doesn't)the car recognises the presence of the keyfob, it will start. ok, I can go with that...

Now, where should I put the bloody keyfob? Theres nowhere to hang it. Use one of the drinks holders? Where do I put my drink?

Its the most pointless thing ever. Whats the matter with a bloody ignition key? At least you know where it is once in the car.

• Sorry for the weak rant.

Had it on my lex for the past 5 years. Whenever I go to drive another car I end up fiddling for the key to open the door, then put the key back in my pocket, get in and then wonder why I can't start it while cursing that I have to get something out so primitave as a key while fishing around in my pocket again. even worse when the key is in my coat pocket on the back seat. grrrrr

Sun roof - never use mine, and probably never have since owning aircon cars. Noise, blinded by the sun when its direct overhead etc etc.

Electric memory seats etc are pretty pointless if you are the only driver.
AM/LW radio

[chris182]

OGR4M said:

Also there's the auto wipers which only work when the driver manuallyselects intermittent.

This seems sensible to me. You can imagine what would happen otherwise, something would go wrong and the wipers would end up irreversibly stuck on full blast on a hot dry day and you would have to get the car recovered to a garage as you couldn't bear the noise to drive it there.

[OGR4M]

chris182 said:

OGR4M said:

Also there's the auto wipers which only work when the driver manuallyselects intermittent.

This seems sensible to me. You can imagine what would happen otherwise, something would go wrong and the wipers would end up irreversibly stuck on full blast on a hot dry day and you would have to get the car recovered to a garage as you couldn't bear the noise to drive it there.

Good point - I pulled the automatic relay and replaced it with a manual one though, as the sensor is notoriously rubbish.

[ch108]

300bhp/ton said:

Halmyre said:

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.

Just reading this again. And WTF, what a stupid comment.

There are plenty of times where sidelights enable you to be SEEN, rather than needing lights in order to see.

A sidelight marks the car, but doesn't dazzle or ruin oncoming traffics daylight vision and being able to see past your car.

I agree with this. Also if you are stopped at the side of the road at night you should really switch dipped beam off. Switching down to sidelights means the car can still be seen and oncoming traffic won't confuse it with a moving vehicle.

Also if your headlamp bulb fails you instantly have a marker light in its place.

It isn't actually illegal to drive with sidelights only as some may think.

Things I think are a waste of time in cars, tyre pressure monitoring systems. Had that in one car and it was so sensitive. I spent more time outside the car checking the tyres because a light told me so. Usually it had dropped about 1psi. Also new valves were needed when a tyre had to be replaced. £30 a valve!

Traffic report setting on the radio. Generally comes on at a higher volume then refuses to go back to the original station after the report is over. Its the first thing I switch off in a car.

Bongs and dings. Yes I know my key is in the ignition, I put it there. Yes I know my door is open, I am about to get out. The only useful one is the lights on buzzer.

Sunroof. Had varying success with these including leaky ones, roofs that won't open, roofs that did open but felt like your head was out it when it was judging by the noise and buffeting. I'd much rather have a solid roof and air con.

Privacy glass. Makes cars look like a van because only rear windows tinted, then near impossible to reverse park at night.

Those new turn lights, which means when the cars headlights are on, when you turn a corner it automatically switches on one front fog light depending on which way you are turning. It just looks daft and is of no relevant use especially if the car headlights are on anyway.

Edited by ch108 on Wednesday 6th November 19:25

[Perd Hapley]

dave7692 said:

The bottle opener in my Golf.

Just. Why....

SilverWraith said:

Enjoyed the comments. For me the prize goes to the Golf bottle opener (WTF?) but my pet hate is cup holders. Never a practical size for anything I want to drink and always in a very awkward position forcing you to take your eyes off the road to find the drink. I use my wife to hold my drink! I just hold my hand out with eyes firmly fixed on the road and the beverage of choice is delivered smoothly into my hand (and it works in reverse!)

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

[skyrover]

urea injection

[Halmyre]

akaRob said:

Halmyre said:

I have that, turned down to its lowest setting. It's a common feature on cars nowadays.

Is your intrument cluster always illuminated? It would be quite handy if that was the case.

It lights up when the car's lights are on. On unlit roads I would still say it's too bright. Some car dashboards are lit up like Blackpool illuminations - which git thought blue LEDs were a good idea? One car I had, I used to cover one bit of the dash (not the important bit!) with a bit of card to cut down the glare.