Annoying but unimportant features on cars

[V8 Bob]

Electronic dip stick - hot engine wait ten minutes on flat ground then you can check oil level. Wife’s Kia that knocks radio off after about 30 seconds and won’t let you switch it back on.

[kieranblenk]

CH2 said:

I have an i30. It has a blue screen for the radio. Most of the time I don't notice it. But on quiet motorways at night it can be very distracting, and shines in the upper part of the windscreen. I tried switching the radio off, but the blue screen remains, just without the radio frequency listed on it.

Using the dim instrument lights control doesn't help much, because if you get the blue screen to a comfortable brightness, it has dimmed the speedo and instrument cluster to such an extent you can't see it.

What year is your i30? My previous car was a 12 plate i30 and that had a little button to the top right of the stereo with a crescent moon on it - when you pushed it it would blacken the blue radio screen as a sort of "night mode". I used to use it all the time as I found the glare quite distracting.

[Stuart70]

Starfighter said:

A girl at work had this in a new car, assumed it was sensors and revered in to a bollard.

She just adored it that much...

[TG105]

Automatic full beam in a Discovery 4. Would blind any oncoming driver then go off after they had gone past or crashed into a ditch. Useless, like much of LR’s gadgetry

[CH2]

kieranblenk said:

What year is your i30? My previous car was a 12 plate i30 and that had a little button to the top right of the stereo with a crescent moon on it - when you pushed it it would blacken the blue radio screen as a sort of "night mode". I used to use it all the time as I found the glare quite distracting.

Mine is a 2013. I don't think it has that button, but I'll check again next time I'm in the car. (I'd tried everything to find a way to dim the brightness, even going through the menu buttons that control the radio).

[Pica-Pica]

V8 Bob said:

Electronic dip stick - hot engine wait ten minutes on flat ground then you can check oil level.

But that is the same as a manual dipstick, you should still check engine when oil is drained back down. What is the issue?

[Pica-Pica]

[quote=Digby

Auto wipers. I want to set them how I want. I would refuse to buy a car based upon them.
[/quote]
Auto wipers work very well on my 335d. An extremely capable system. The sensitivity can be adjusted if needed, and flick wipe is available. They certainly cope well with a drench-splash if a vehicle is coming the other way.

[LochTay]

Electronic dipstick.

The location of electronic parking brake - under light switch, underneath dash on the right. Why.....?

[swisstoni]

Get out of the Lexus, pull the back door handle to get something out.
Locked.

Silly me, should have pressed a special little poxy button shouldn’t I?
Gets me every single time.

[Sheepshanks]

Pica-Pica said:

Digby said:

Auto wipers. I want to set them how I want. I would refuse to buy a car based upon them.

Auto wipers work very well on my 335d. An extremely capable system. The sensitivity can be adjusted if needed, and flick wipe is available. They certainly cope well with a drench-splash if a vehicle is coming the other way.

On both our VW and Honda the sensitivity can be adjusted.but it’s never right.

I had several Peugeot 406’s which didn’t adjust but just worked perfectly, so it can be done. They also wouldn’t wipe on restart so you didn’t get the wipe across a dry screen that many other cars do.

[RicksAlfas]

acme said:

RicksAlfas said:

I really like it. Would find it hard to go back to a car without it.

Genuine question, why? This is not the usual PH trolling nonsense.

My issue is that due to theft I can’t keep the key near the front door, have to put it in a faraday pouch & need to use a crook lock, which I did 20 years ago when I first started driving.

Then if the keys on the bunch with the rest in the garage lock I can’t lock the car as it’s a metre away. Then when in the car the bunch of keys slide around rather than hang off the ignition. Plus I love the mechanical element of turning the car over. For me it’s a PITA.

I’ve never kept any other key with my car key even with conventional keys. House keys are a different bunch as are my work keys, so the car key goes in a coat or trouser pocket and it’s done. My wife keeps hers zipped in the bottomless pit of her handbag and it never comes out.

The only time I do find it a drag is when I am washing the cars. The touch panels on my Merc are so sensitive that water from the hosepipe activates them and the doors are constantly locking and unlocking. I have to put the key inside the car or back in the house to stop it.

Maybe try keeping your car key on it’s own and see if it works better for you?

[silentbrown]

RicksAlfas said:

Maybe try keeping your car key on it’s own and see if it works better for you?

I've only ever had keyless entry on a hire car. The main PITA for me is that you can't easily verify the car's really locked. In an unfamiliar car I like to actually check the door after pressing the 'lock' button. Which of course opens, because I still have the keys in my pocket...

[V8 Bob]

Pica-Pica said:

But that is the same as a manual dipstick, you should still check engine when oil is drained back down. What is the issue?

With a manual dipstick you can check oil at anytime very easily, electronic on Range Rover needs a hot engine - so much for the environment lol

[KaiserDahms]

Sidelights and fog lights. Nobody seems to use them correctly

[Red 4]

Heated front screen.

I know some people love them but I'd rather not have one due to the glare at night.
( Thin, metallic wires sandwiched between the layers of glass which catch the light).

Electronic dipstick.
One more thing to fk up.
Just give me a proper dipstick I can check manually.

Electronic handbrake.
One more thing to ... You get the idea.

[Pica-Pica]

V8 Bob said:

Pica-Pica said:

But that is the same as a manual dipstick, you should still check engine when oil is drained back down. What is the issue?

With a manual dipstick you can check oil at anytime very easily, electronic on Range Rover needs a hot engine - so much for the environment lol

Ha! On BMW you have both the manual and electronic choice!
(and F30 has manual parking brake lever)

Edited by Pica-Pica on Saturday 16th March 15:42

[Pica-Pica]

KaiserDahms said:

Sidelights and fog lights. Nobody seems to use them correctly

My light switch is left on auto-headlights, permanently. As for front fog lights, agreed, I have used them 3 times in as many decades, but.. very good in falling snow with headlights switched off, prevents any glare-back from snow, which can be very mesmerising if using dipped headlights.

[Chris944_S2]

Shiny car logos on steering wheels, particularly the three pointed star. I’ve had a C43, E55 and now G55, all three had a nice chrome Mercedes logo on the wheel. But catch the sun at the wrong angle and it’s blinding

[CH2]

kieranblenk said:

What year is your i30? My previous car was a 12 plate i30 and that had a little button to the top right of the stereo with a crescent moon on it - when you pushed it it would blacken the blue radio screen as a sort of "night mode". I used to use it all the time as I found the glare quite distracting.

Just been out in the car, and yes mine has said crescent button that for some reason I've missed for the past year!

You would think that it would be easier to just have a normal backlit screen for the radio, instead of the piercing migraine inducing blue one. It would also do away with the need for a night mode button too.

Thanks for that, any night time motorway journeys I do now, will be slightly less painful!

[legless]

Red 4 said:

Heated front screen.

I know some people love them but I'd rather not have one due to the glare at night.
( Thin, metallic wires sandwiched between the layers of glass which catch the light).

On my Superb, the heated screen doesn't have any thin wires through it. It just has a conductive layer sandwiched into the glass that's consistent across the whole screen, so there's nothing to see.