Car features that you cannot live without...
Discussion
kambites said:
Andy86GT said:
Obviously not a deal breaker, but since having a car with the 360 camera I'm reluctant to get one without it. I hate curbing wheels and with this I've avoided any 'incidents'. GT86 doesn't have it but I rarely drive / park that anywhere iffy.
I can't help but feel that a better solution to that problem is to avoid ridiculous low-profile, stretched wheel/tyre combinations. It has the added advantage of not ruining your ride and handling as well!I've often clobbered tyres on kerbs while parallel parking, but I've never kerbed a wheel!
Andy86GT said:
That's a very fair comment. Like I said, it's not a deal breaker but it makes parking so much easier. Like any of these modern developments we could manage without all of them. My first car, a Cortina 1.6 Base (not even an L) didn't even have a radio!
I remember as a kid seeing cars for sale with advertising stickers boasting of such luxuries as a heater.kambites said:
I can't help but feel that a better solution to that problem is to avoid ridiculous low-profile, stretched wheel/tyre combinations. It has the added advantage of not ruining your ride and handling as well!
I've often clobbered tyres on kerbs while parallel parking, but I've never kerbed a wheel!
It really depends what level of steering response you're after obviously. I have 255/35 on the front so low profile but very happy how the car responds and rides. I am confident it would be super easy to kerb a wheel though. To put it in perspective, a Caterham 7 on 15'' only has 7mm taller tyres, not sure that would help much. I've often clobbered tyres on kerbs while parallel parking, but I've never kerbed a wheel!
Edited by nickfrog on Tuesday 26th May 21:59
nickfrog said:
It really depends what level of steering response you're after obviously. I have 255/35 on the front so low profile but very happy how the car responds and rides. I am confident it would be super easy to kerb a wheel though. To put it in perspective, a Caterham 7 on 15'' only has 7mm taller tyres, not sure that would help much.
It's not so much the sidewall height (although that certainly plays some part) as the width of the tyre tread in comparison to the width of the wheel. Modern manufacturers seem to have an obsession with having a contact patch narrower than, or at least not significantly wider than, the width of the rim, which is daft. My Elise doesn't have hugely high-profile tyres, at least not in absolute terms, but it does have a significant... tyre bulge, the nominal tyre width is about 25mm wider than the nominal rim width, which makes it all but impossible to kerb.
Edited by kambites on Tuesday 26th May 22:13
Glosphil said:
Auto gearbox, Autohold, electronic handbrake, climate control, heated seats, cruise control (not adaptive) LED headlights, Android Auto, hatchback, reversing camera, dashcam back & front. auto dip nearside mirror when reversing.
What, so you literally can't live without cruise control, led lights, android auto, a hatchback, a reversing camera, a dash cam (although you can fit your own) and a dipping mirror? As in, cannot bear to drive a car without any of those things? What if that ideal car came up and it didn't have a reversing camera but had all that other stuff, and more?Surprised how many people say Android Auto / Apple Carplay. My old car had a Aux port to let you play music from a phone, and i had a phone holder to use Google maps. Android Auto gives me a bigger screen, and i can have spotify/podcast on the screen as well the map, but it wouldn't be a deal breaker. In one way the aux port was better as I could run navigation off my phone and audio off my wife's if we wanted.
Apart from AC, it would be heated steering wheel. Far more effective at warming me up in the winter than heated seats, I would happily forgo heated seats for a heated steering wheel.
The feature which I wish cars had, but I have never seen (that could be a new thread topic) is an electrically adjustable rear view mirror. I frequently have to jump in and out of pool cars - Ford Tourneos. I have to lean forward to reach the rear view mirror so my body is out of position when trying to adjust it; when I lean back into driving position, the mirror is often then slightly out of position, which irritates me. An electrically adjustable and memory rear view mirror would be a godsend.
The feature which I wish cars had, but I have never seen (that could be a new thread topic) is an electrically adjustable rear view mirror. I frequently have to jump in and out of pool cars - Ford Tourneos. I have to lean forward to reach the rear view mirror so my body is out of position when trying to adjust it; when I lean back into driving position, the mirror is often then slightly out of position, which irritates me. An electrically adjustable and memory rear view mirror would be a godsend.
Jinba Ittai said:
Apart from AC, it would be heated steering wheel. Far more effective at warming me up in the winter than heated seats, I would happily forgo heated seats for a heated steering wheel.
The feature which I wish cars had, but I have never seen (that could be a new thread topic) is an electrically adjustable rear view mirror. I frequently have to jump in and out of pool cars - Ford Tourneos. I have to lean forward to reach the rear view mirror so my body is out of position when trying to adjust it; when I lean back into driving position, the mirror is often then slightly out of position, which irritates me. An electrically adjustable and memory rear view mirror would be a godsend.
My Vauxhall Signum Elite had that, was extremely impressed! A friend (who left it to me) managed to knock the mirror off the screen and we spent an hour or so re-attaching it all. Was amazed to see it move when we were fiddling with the seats! The external mirrors also remembered their position with each seat memory. The passenger side mirror dipped when in reverse, but only if the left mirror was selected. Clever stuff!The feature which I wish cars had, but I have never seen (that could be a new thread topic) is an electrically adjustable rear view mirror. I frequently have to jump in and out of pool cars - Ford Tourneos. I have to lean forward to reach the rear view mirror so my body is out of position when trying to adjust it; when I lean back into driving position, the mirror is often then slightly out of position, which irritates me. An electrically adjustable and memory rear view mirror would be a godsend.
Jinba Ittai said:
The feature which I wish cars had, but I have never seen (that could be a new thread topic) is an electrically adjustable rear view mirror.
Up until now, I thought I was the only person who had noticed this as a glaringly obvious possible feature. There doesn't seem to be any mention of it anywhere on Google. There's an old thread somewhere, the name of which I can't remember, about feature ideas.
Luxury vehicles would be the first place one would expect something like this, given most other things are electrically adjustable and the design trend of rimless rear-view mirrors.
xx99xx said:
Glosphil said:
Auto gearbox, Autohold, electronic handbrake, climate control, heated seats, cruise control (not adaptive) LED headlights, Android Auto, hatchback, reversing camera, dashcam back & front. auto dip nearside mirror when reversing.
What, so you literally can't live without cruise control, led lights, android auto, a hatchback, a reversing camera, a dash cam (although you can fit your own) and a dipping mirror? As in, cannot bear to drive a car without any of those things? What if that ideal car came up and it didn't have a reversing camera but had all that other stuff, and more?Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff