Annoying but unimportant features on cars

[TG105]

What features in your cars really grind your gears? Two examples;

The warning bleep on the boot of a VW Touareg as it’s opened by the remote. Perfect for a 6:30am journey. No other boot does this, does it? Seems unnecessary.

Cup holders in Audi A6. Why is one smaller than the other? Why can’t the smaller one take any bottle or cup on the face of the earth?

[Wills2]

Gesture control - 7 series, dreadful thing pointless as are the touch panels that replaced the old temp rotors impossible to use accurately when on the move.

[jjones]

Blue light on the dash of my subaru xv that tells you the coolant is not up to temperature. Dark morning, first 7-8 miles a car coming the other way you think you have your headlights on because of this damn blue light. Horrendous, I would like to poke the designer in the eyes and kick the person in the sponge/balls who approved it!!

[TG105]

JLR sat nav, specifically Disco 4. It would continually take me off dual carriageways only to guide me back on the same road once I was on the slip road. Infuriating.

[MitchT]

Electronic steering lock on the OH's 1 Series. Solving a problem that doens't exist and introducing an element of fragility where previously there was something robust and reliable.

[lord trumpton]

Lane departure warning - fking stupid idea

If you can't drive without wandering all over the road then it[s time to hand in the license. Or out your mobile phone down and concentrate

[Speed Badger]

TG105 said:

JLR sat nav, specifically Disco 4. It would continually take me off dual carriageways only to guide me back on the same road once I was on the slip road. Infuriating.

I had a Mustang hire car that did this on mine & my other half's Route 66 Road trip holiday. It kept taking us off at an exit, only to take us straight back onto it, again and again.
Being America I assumed you would get a complementary gun in the glove box, but I didn't, otherwise I would have shot the damn thing and used a map instead.

[Gary C]

Electronic handbrake
Electronic gearshifts/DSG/etc
Electronic enhanced or piped noise
Void bushes
Single piston sliding calipers
Dual mass flywheels

[littlebasher]

TG105 said:

JLR sat nav, specifically Disco 4. It would continually take me off dual carriageways only to guide me back on the same road once I was on the slip road. Infuriating.

Check the settings, i found that having shortest distance set would cause this especially where the junction was on a left hand bend!

[xjay1337]

Gary C said:

Electronic handbrake
Electronic gearshifts/DSG/etc
Electronic enhanced or piped noise
Void bushes
Single piston sliding calipers
Dual mass flywheels

Nearly all of those things (well, all of them) are designed to make life easier , or more comfortable or more fun, or more reliable.....

Suppose you'd rather have an MGB lol

[MrGTI6]

Any car where features such as the radio and fan settings are controlled by a fiddly and distracting touchscreen.

It might seem clever and hi-tech but it's totally impractical when on the move.

[Gary C]

xjay1337 said:

Gary C said:

Electronic handbrake
Electronic gearshifts/DSG/etc
Electronic enhanced or piped noise
Void bushes
Single piston sliding calipers
Dual mass flywheels

Nearly all of those things (well, all of them) are designed to make life easier , or more comfortable or more fun, or more reliable.....

Suppose you'd rather have an MGB lol

Nope, an 89 3.2 911 Carrera

DSG - reduces fun by doing what a skillful driver can do with lots of experience
Piped or fake noise - what is the point if you have a nice high RPM N/A engine
Electronic handbrake, no point, manual does the job (and can be deployed in other ways
Void bushes, deteriorate quickly and are a pain to replace, A full bush is no worse, and more reliable
Single piston - purely for cheapness, can stick and wear unevenly
DMF's - a solution to massive torque increases and eventually fail where a solid unit would not. A high revving lower torque N/A engine with a solid flywheel and a crankshaft damper is more fun

So, no, not more fun or more reliable

[xjay1337]

DMF and voided bushes are better for comfort! Otherwise they wouldn't be done.

I guess we can agree to disagree

MrGTI6 said:

Any car where features such as the radio and fan settings are controlled by a fiddly and distracting touchscreen.

It might seem clever and hi-tech but it's totally impractical when on the move.

This is very true!

For me the most annoying feature of my current car (and it is the case with nearly all cars of the type) is that to engage drive you have to have your foot on the brake, but not just "a bit", it has to be a relatively hefty shove, and the "bong" that tells me that it is not able to go into drive gets louder and louder based on your music volume. Fair enough but you then look a bit of a tit if someone hears it, as like a ringing phone you can hear it miles away.

[silentbrown]

Audi A4 : Radio/music starts playing whenever you start the car, even if you'd turned it off last time you were in it.

Dumb combination of stop/start and auto handbrake logic so when you come to a stop in traffic, the engine cuts (which I like), and the brakes stay on until you touch the accelerator (which I also like). Except that when you release the footbrake, then engine restarts, thus defeating the stop/start system.

And, yes, the silly small cupholder.

[Gary C]

xjay1337 said:

DMF and voided bushes are better for comfort! Otherwise they wouldn't be done.

I guess we can agree to disagree
.

, certainly

You can use better rubber or elastomer and not have a stress raising void and still keen NVH within acceptable limits. Voids are cheap to produce but give poorer location but the but failing is the concentration of stress.

9N polo console bushes are notorious for failing,

DMF's are there to stop you snapping your crank ! from harmonic vibrations due to torque induced twist.

[The Dangerous Elk]

MrGTI6 said:

Any car where features such as the radio and fan settings are controlled by a fiddly and distracting touchscreen.

It might seem clever and hi-tech but it's totally impractical when on the move.

Touch screens in cars, not since Mr & Mrs Baldrick decided they wanted a kid has there been a dumber idea

[Macneil]

Start stop.

[STe_rsv4]

Seat belt warning boings (bmw). Yes I know my seat belt is unfastened, I only intend to drive from the car park to xxx, I know tb risks involved in this 4mph journey. I don't need a Fkin constant reminder my seatbelt is undone now fk off!

[Slow]

STe_rsv4 said:

Seat belt warning boings (bmw). Yes I know my seat belt is unfastened, I only intend to drive from the car park to xxx, I know tb risks involved in this 4mph journey. I don't need a Fkin constant reminder my seatbelt is undone now fk off!

Basically every car does this now. So damn annoying when im just going down my driveway to put the bins out, or to the yard to grab something. I highly doubt im going to be needing my seatbelt at 20/25 mph on my driveway....

[Puddenchucker]

Macneil said:

Start stop.

On my auto (dsg) It's certainly a pita, but on manuals I've driven it works OK.

Any 'Automatic' function that you can't set to manual control or override (wipers, lights, climate control etc).