Car features that you cannot live without...

[bloomen]

DaveCWK said:

Aircon is basically it. I can live with the lack of everything else, but you physically can't drive a car in the current weather without AC.

My banger's aircon is long dead. Drove quite contentendly around today, but there was a wee breeze.

I certainly wouldn't have a car with leather, which I'd never have if I could help it anyway, without aircon.

[Blib]

Programmed pre-heat / climate control.

Press a button on the car's accompanying phone app and a few minutes later, when I head out to the car, it is already defrosted with the cabin warmed or, as in recent days, pleasantly chilled to 17.5 degs.

Best. Thing. Ever!

[LunarOne]

DaveCWK said:

Aircon is basically it. I can live with the lack of everything else, but you physically can't drive a car in the current weather without AC.

You can drive a car without aircon in at least 52C and probably higher. But I've only tested it up to 52C. 34C is very easily doable. Do you think all the cars in the hottest parts of the world have working aircon? No, of course they don't. Aircon is a very nice thing to have both when it's hot and when it's rainy, but it's not essential by any means.

[Pica-Pica]

LunarOne said:

DaveCWK said:

Aircon is basically it. I can live with the lack of everything else, but you physically can't drive a car in the current weather without AC.

You can drive a car without aircon in at least 52C and probably higher. But I've only tested it up to 52C. 34C is very easily doable. Do you think all the cars in the hottest parts of the world have working aircon? No, of course they don't. Aircon is a very nice thing to have both when it's hot and when it's rainy, but it's not essential by any means.

As I have mentioned earlier, air-conditioning is as much, if not more, about reducing the humidity in the car. Even more important in winter months

[Pica-Pica]

bad company said:

TheAngryDog said:

My first car was a Sierra Sapphire GLS, electric windows in the front, keep fit windows in the rear. I don't think it had a heated front screen. No a/c, had halogen candles, PAS and ABS and a manual sunroof. This was in 1999. How did we survive summers in the car back then?

I survived sitting on plastic car seats in hot summers.

We were all:
Younger, more adaptable, and had no better options. Mere travelling In a car was a treat back then.

[LunarOne]

Pica-Pica said:

LunarOne said:

DaveCWK said:

Aircon is basically it. I can live with the lack of everything else, but you physically can't drive a car in the current weather without AC.

You can drive a car without aircon in at least 52C and probably higher. But I've only tested it up to 52C. 34C is very easily doable. Do you think all the cars in the hottest parts of the world have working aircon? No, of course they don't. Aircon is a very nice thing to have both when it's hot and when it's rainy, but it's not essential by any means.

As I have mentioned earlier, air-conditioning is as much, if not more, about reducing the humidity in the car. Even more important in winter months

A few years ago I was driving around northern Spain in my Boxster and the A/C wasn't working. It was absolutely bucketing down and I couldn't move the car as the windscreen was misted up and no matter what I did the clear it, it would mist up on the inside immediately. A/C would have kept the screen clear.

The problem was that I'd hit a pheasant at high speed which had punctured one of the condensers. The leak was slow and the A/C was working (but not great) before I left the UK. By the time I got to Spain it wasn't blowing cold at all. Hottest part of the trip was Sevilla, which was 52C, but that was quite bearable.

[RizzoTheRat]

bloomen said:

.I certainly wouldn't have a car with leather, which I'd never have if I could help it anyway, without aircon.

You really need heated seats if you have leather, my current car also has ventilated cooling seats which are fantastic on a hot day. Not much of an issue with fabric seats though.

[bloomen]

RizzoTheRat said:

You really need heated seats if you have leather, my current car also has ventilated cooling seats which are fantastic on a hot day. Not much of an issue with fabric seats though.

I can live with the cold. It's hot weather that's the killer, and more often than not it'll be black.

I still don't get why it became the last word in luxury and never will.

As far as I can tell the only advantage is wiping up kiddie/ dog vomit.

Obviously most leather is actually plastic, but I was sitting on the real stuff last week and could feel myself trickling within a minute or two.

If I end up having to buy something with leather to keep for along time, it's getting retrimmed in Alcantara.

Edited by bloomen on Wednesday 27th May 19:32

[Pvfc]

Heated seats are brilliant. Having swapped out of a tech heavy, panoramic roof, everything is heated and digital car to a mini clubvan, its the heated seats I miss.
As much as I like good AC, I loved the fresh air flaps you opened on an old land rover or the fresh air vents on an 80s mini.

[mikeyr]

I'm gonna say the one thing I'd def want on any new car now is auto headlights. Ones that will happily turn themselves on when it is dark. Once you've had that going back to driving a car which doesn't is a faff; found my muscle memory forgets I need to toggle an actual switch! Anecdotally I see fewer cars on the roads at night without lights on. So that seems to be a technology that has helped.

[GeniusOfLove]

bloomen said:

If I end up having to buy something with leather to keep for along time, it's getting retrimmed in Alcantara.

Edited by bloomen on Wednesday 27th May 19:32

Alcantara is in no way less sweaty than even the nastiest plastic leather, it's slightly fuzzy polyester and polyurethane so you're quite literally sitting in plastic seats. Ventilated seats, particularly the brands that actually chill the air rather than just circulate, can be very nice in the heat though.

High quality fabric seats can be fabulous though, a colleague has a Range Rover with the wool blend they offer now and it's very nice indeed.

[bloomen]

GeniusOfLove said:

Alcantara is in no way less sweaty than even the nastiest plastic leather, it's slightly fuzzy polyester and polyurethane so you're quite literally sitting in plastic seats. Ventilated seats, particularly the brands that actually chill the air rather than just circulate, can be very nice in the heat though.

My last car was half Alcantara, and many more before that too. Never got sweaty in the way I do with leather.

If nothing else, there's a fraction of the heat absorption and reflection of the sun in comparison.

Ventilated seats are an annoyingly rare option that seem to reserved for the toppiest of tiers.

[CaptainScarlet1967]

mikeyr said:

I'm gonna say the one thing I'd def want on any new car now is auto headlights. Ones that will happily turn themselves on when it is dark. Once you've had that going back to driving a car which doesn't is a faff; found my muscle memory forgets I need to toggle an actual switch! Anecdotally I see fewer cars on the roads at night without lights on. So that seems to be a technology that has helped.

I've definitely observed the opposite and noticed an increasing number of vehicles driving around without headlights on at dusk or at night.

It is entirely down to drivers as regards responsibility and knowing when to rely on or override the technology, and there can be a subconscious habit of some drivers of switching headlights off completely on the stalk or knob at the end of a journey, thereby forgetting or overriding the automatic function.

However, there are other factors that come into the equation like DRLs creating the illusion that the headlights are on and instrument clusters being constantly illuminated - most of us on here will remember when the giveaway was the dashboard and cluster being pitch black at night until at least sidelights were switched on.

I also think LED lampposts with their floodlight effect cause some drivers to not realise their headlights aren't on. Sometimes it can be powerful enough to cancel out the headlight beam. I owned a couple of Citroen C5s a while back and when going through one certain tunnel in Leeds (A58M at Westgate) the headlights would switch off as the light sensors thought it was daylight again.

One feature it did come with was automatic headlight illumination when the windscreen wipers were on continuous. All cars could do with this for safety, IMO.

That said, I do agree with the POVs above that say that the one fundamental feature every vehicle should have as a bare minimum these days is air conditioning. Arguably airbags, too. I've been looking at old kei trucks recently and some of the base spec ones did not even have a radio fitted, yet they did come with factory A/C.

Edited by CaptainScarlet1967 on Thursday 28th May 14:27

[oldaudi]

The most fancy thing Ive had is a heated seat. So this!

[RizzoTheRat]

CaptainScarlet1967 said:

I also think LED lampposts with their floodlight effect cause some drivers to not realise their headlights aren't on. Sometimes it can be powerful enough to cancel out the headlight beam. I owned a couple of Citroen C5s a while back and when going through one certain tunnel in Leeds (A58M at Westgate) the headlights would switch off as the light sensors thought it was daylight again.

I think a combination of DRLs and cars having the dash light up all the time has contributed to this too. In years gone by when the dash lights were only on with the lights it was really obvious if you'd forgotten to turn them on.
There's quite a few tunnels around where I live, and you're supposed to have your headlights on for them, so automatic lights are might better than keep turning them on and off manually, or just leaving them on all the time.