Manufacturer Stingieness
Discussion
My Hilux is in farmer/UN/Taliban spec and is probably stingier than most in terms of spec.
The gadgets are limited to electric windows, cruise, manual ac and a Bluetooth equipped CD player.
It's great, I spend quite a lot of time driving a Tesla and the it's almost a relief to get away from all the "tech". Lots of it is really just there for the sake of it and doesn't really contribute anything useful. The touchscreen dominated controls in particular are an ergonomic nightmare.
The gadgets are limited to electric windows, cruise, manual ac and a Bluetooth equipped CD player.
It's great, I spend quite a lot of time driving a Tesla and the it's almost a relief to get away from all the "tech". Lots of it is really just there for the sake of it and doesn't really contribute anything useful. The touchscreen dominated controls in particular are an ergonomic nightmare.
Best car for spec was the 208 GTI Prestige.
Out of the factory loaded with panoramic roof, heated seats, climate control, cruise control, LED headlights, SAT Nav, folding mirrors, car play, sat nav, digital radio, oil and coolant monitoring, service interval, tyres monitoring and full size spare alloy wheel with proper Michelin tyre.
Only thing missing is heated steering wheel and an arm rest.
Out of the factory loaded with panoramic roof, heated seats, climate control, cruise control, LED headlights, SAT Nav, folding mirrors, car play, sat nav, digital radio, oil and coolant monitoring, service interval, tyres monitoring and full size spare alloy wheel with proper Michelin tyre.
Only thing missing is heated steering wheel and an arm rest.
Cold Fusion said:
The UK specification on all cars and vans supplied in the uk from eu owned companies dropped due to brexit due to eu type approval not being valid in the UK after we left the single market.
Surely that's wrong. UK parliament passed an all-embracing piece of legislation that says "all existing EU stuff remains in full force and effect unless and until the UK specifically diverges from it"."EU legislation which applied directly or indirectly to the UK before 11.00 p.m. on 31 December 2020 has been retained in UK law as a form of domestic legislation known as ‘retained EU legislation’. This is set out in sections 2 and 3 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018."
I thought of another one that always crops up this time of year
Cars with always lit dials, not a bad idea in isolation, but so many manufacturers keep them full brightness that the drivers think their lights are on, so drive around on DRLS (with no back lights obviously)
I saw so many today, the biggest culprits are Ford Fiesta mk7.5.
Obviouslt these are a age where auto lights cost more, but when I had a mk6 golf without auto lights, the dials used dim down so you could only see the needles in the dark.
Cars with always lit dials, not a bad idea in isolation, but so many manufacturers keep them full brightness that the drivers think their lights are on, so drive around on DRLS (with no back lights obviously)
I saw so many today, the biggest culprits are Ford Fiesta mk7.5.
Obviouslt these are a age where auto lights cost more, but when I had a mk6 golf without auto lights, the dials used dim down so you could only see the needles in the dark.
snowandrocks said:
My Hilux is in farmer/UN/Taliban spec and is probably stingier than most in terms of spec.
The gadgets are limited to electric windows, cruise, manual ac and a Bluetooth equipped CD player.
It's great, I spend quite a lot of time driving a Tesla and the it's almost a relief to get away from all the "tech". Lots of it is really just there for the sake of it and doesn't really contribute anything useful. The touchscreen dominated controls in particular are an ergonomic nightmare.
Is that the one with the machine gun on the roof?The gadgets are limited to electric windows, cruise, manual ac and a Bluetooth equipped CD player.
It's great, I spend quite a lot of time driving a Tesla and the it's almost a relief to get away from all the "tech". Lots of it is really just there for the sake of it and doesn't really contribute anything useful. The touchscreen dominated controls in particular are an ergonomic nightmare.
VW often have some odd equipment specs going on.
I once had a 2013 VW CC (the coupe Passat) as a company car that I had no choice in, and while it had sat nav, dual zone climate, electric massage seats and a panoramic sunroof, it had no cruise control of any description nor any parking sensors (which given the utterly terrible rear visibility were almost essential).
I once had a 2013 VW CC (the coupe Passat) as a company car that I had no choice in, and while it had sat nav, dual zone climate, electric massage seats and a panoramic sunroof, it had no cruise control of any description nor any parking sensors (which given the utterly terrible rear visibility were almost essential).
Nickbrapp said:
I thought of another one that always crops up this time of year
Cars with always lit dials, not a bad idea in isolation, but so many manufacturers keep them full brightness that the drivers think their lights are on, so drive around on DRLS (with no back lights obviously)
I saw so many today, the biggest culprits are Ford Fiesta mk7.5.
Obviouslt these are a age where auto lights cost more, but when I had a mk6 golf without auto lights, the dials used dim down so you could only see the needles in the dark.
Mine has that and I hate it, really fCars with always lit dials, not a bad idea in isolation, but so many manufacturers keep them full brightness that the drivers think their lights are on, so drive around on DRLS (with no back lights obviously)
I saw so many today, the biggest culprits are Ford Fiesta mk7.5.
Obviouslt these are a age where auto lights cost more, but when I had a mk6 golf without auto lights, the dials used dim down so you could only see the needles in the dark.
king hate it!My M5 had unlit dials and you needed to turn the headlights on at the point where the dials were getting a bit hard to see so an inbuilt reminder to switch the headlights on, good design/engineering.
Cold Fusion said:
The UK specification on all cars and vans supplied in the uk from eu owned companies dropped due to brexit due to eu type approval not being valid in the UK after we left the single market.
I work directly for the UK head office of a major OEM, and I can say with certainty that this is complete bks. legless said:
VW often have some odd equipment specs going on.
I once had a 2013 VW CC (the coupe Passat) as a company car that I had no choice in, and while it had sat nav, dual zone climate, electric massage seats and a panoramic sunroof, it had no cruise control of any description nor any parking sensors (which given the utterly terrible rear visibility were almost essential).
This reminds me we had a brand new 2012 B Class Sport. It came with a rear camera but no parking sensors so you could see what you had hit. I once had a 2013 VW CC (the coupe Passat) as a company car that I had no choice in, and while it had sat nav, dual zone climate, electric massage seats and a panoramic sunroof, it had no cruise control of any description nor any parking sensors (which given the utterly terrible rear visibility were almost essential).
Tango13 said:
Nickbrapp said:
I thought of another one that always crops up this time of year
Cars with always lit dials, not a bad idea in isolation, but so many manufacturers keep them full brightness that the drivers think their lights are on, so drive around on DRLS (with no back lights obviously)
I saw so many today, the biggest culprits are Ford Fiesta mk7.5.
Obviouslt these are a age where auto lights cost more, but when I had a mk6 golf without auto lights, the dials used dim down so you could only see the needles in the dark.
Mine has that and I hate it, really fCars with always lit dials, not a bad idea in isolation, but so many manufacturers keep them full brightness that the drivers think their lights are on, so drive around on DRLS (with no back lights obviously)
I saw so many today, the biggest culprits are Ford Fiesta mk7.5.
Obviouslt these are a age where auto lights cost more, but when I had a mk6 golf without auto lights, the dials used dim down so you could only see the needles in the dark.
king hate it!My M5 had unlit dials and you needed to turn the headlights on at the point where the dials were getting a bit hard to see so an inbuilt reminder to switch the headlights on, good design/engineering.
Turns all interior lights off bar the speedo….& even that cuts out the over-80mph until you approach about 70, IIRC!
Surprised more manufacturers didn’t pick up on that. Seriously useful for night driving.
Fast Bug said:
Why give something away of people will pay for it? I've never understood why people spends thousands on a brand new car, but won't pay the 50 quid for tailored mats. They'll either go without or drag the beaten to crap one out of their part exchange, it's usually filthy, worn and doesn't fit....
I only they were £50.BMW want £100 plus for the bloody things.
Nickbrapp said:
Something I’ve noticed over the last 6 months from having several hire vans and cars, which has got me thinking about how mean manufacturers are when it comes to little technology things.
Take my current Vauxhall vivaro, it’s the top of the range Elite with a on the road price of just over £35,000 but it’s not even got a option to have LED or xenon headlights, I can’t think of any other car that costs 35k with halogen lights
Then there’s even more tight-fisted things:
No tire pressuring monitoring
No Ad blue gauge
Headlight delay when unlocking but no follow me home
Global closing of the windows via the key but not opening
Now those are all things that are pretty standard stuff these days, not exactly outrageous options. How much does it really save to not have the tiny bit of programming to put windows down on the key? My 2001 bora had that!
Why would you need an adblue gauge?Take my current Vauxhall vivaro, it’s the top of the range Elite with a on the road price of just over £35,000 but it’s not even got a option to have LED or xenon headlights, I can’t think of any other car that costs 35k with halogen lights
Then there’s even more tight-fisted things:
No tire pressuring monitoring
No Ad blue gauge
Headlight delay when unlocking but no follow me home
Global closing of the windows via the key but not opening
Now those are all things that are pretty standard stuff these days, not exactly outrageous options. How much does it really save to not have the tiny bit of programming to put windows down on the key? My 2001 bora had that!
Unless the a stupidly small tank you wont use enough that you need to top in up every few weeks
Nickbrapp said:
I thought of another one that always crops up this time of year
Cars with always lit dials, not a bad idea in isolation, but so many manufacturers keep them full brightness that the drivers think their lights are on, so drive around on DRLS (with no back lights obviously)
Obviouslt these are a age where auto lights cost more, but when I had a mk6 golf without auto lights, the dials used dim down so you could only see the needles in the dark.
That set-up is a real menace, and should never have been allowed. Cars with always lit dials, not a bad idea in isolation, but so many manufacturers keep them full brightness that the drivers think their lights are on, so drive around on DRLS (with no back lights obviously)
Obviouslt these are a age where auto lights cost more, but when I had a mk6 golf without auto lights, the dials used dim down so you could only see the needles in the dark.
I've had one or two close calls in the past on unlit 3 lane dual-carriageways in heavy rain at night only to find someone bimbling along in the middle lane when the inside lane was empty with no rear lights, but thankfully the 3rd lane was empty!
Thankfully my 2005 and 2006 BMWs didn't have DRLs but did have auto-lights as standard.
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