Irritating features/quirks on new cars!
Discussion
Yesterday I had a new Audi A3 hire car to travel on business.
After contemplating the meaning of life whilst parked on the M25 for an hour or so and giving up I then got on to thinking about the car.
I’d been considering and Audi as a “practical” family car but must say that although it was not a bad experience it was completely forgettable. Even lost it in the services car park with 5 other Audi’s all of different tones of silver/grey/black!
Anyway what was memorable was the f
ing doors! Why does is seem that new cars only let you open a door in two positions, half or fully. On numerous occasions I carefully opened the door not to put it against the car in the next bay to find it slam back in my face. The only way to keep it open was to hold it against the other car and get out. Same issue getting back in…hands full with a coffee and paperwork, open door with three fingers then try and get in without the Fing thing slamming shut on me!
Seems it’s been engineered to only be accessed in a field or to try and give you an automotive bear hug!
After contemplating the meaning of life whilst parked on the M25 for an hour or so and giving up I then got on to thinking about the car.
I’d been considering and Audi as a “practical” family car but must say that although it was not a bad experience it was completely forgettable. Even lost it in the services car park with 5 other Audi’s all of different tones of silver/grey/black!
Anyway what was memorable was the f
ing doors! Why does is seem that new cars only let you open a door in two positions, half or fully. On numerous occasions I carefully opened the door not to put it against the car in the next bay to find it slam back in my face. The only way to keep it open was to hold it against the other car and get out. Same issue getting back in…hands full with a coffee and paperwork, open door with three fingers then try and get in without the Fing thing slamming shut on me!Seems it’s been engineered to only be accessed in a field or to try and give you an automotive bear hug!
Electric tailgates
I had a mitsubishi outlander thing on rental for a couple of weeks and it was hugely irritating, I'm in and out of the boot a couple of dozen times a day due to the nature of my job and it was painful to use, beep beep beep as it opens slowly, remove gear, beep beep beep as it closes slowly, I felt like a grade a prat standing around waiting for it to do this.
It also had lots of other electronic features that didnt actually add anything to the car and just made it annoying to drive
I had a mitsubishi outlander thing on rental for a couple of weeks and it was hugely irritating, I'm in and out of the boot a couple of dozen times a day due to the nature of my job and it was painful to use, beep beep beep as it opens slowly, remove gear, beep beep beep as it closes slowly, I felt like a grade a prat standing around waiting for it to do this.
It also had lots of other electronic features that didnt actually add anything to the car and just made it annoying to drive
Jazoli said:
Electric tailgates
I had a mitsubishi outlander thing on rental for a couple of weeks and it was hugely irritating, I'm in and out of the boot a couple of dozen times a day due to the nature of my job and it was painful to use, beep beep beep as it opens slowly, remove gear, beep beep beep as it closes slowly, I felt like a grade a prat standing around waiting for it to do this.
It also had lots of other electronic features that didnt actually add anything to the car and just made it annoying to drive
What is irritating about electric tailgates?I had a mitsubishi outlander thing on rental for a couple of weeks and it was hugely irritating, I'm in and out of the boot a couple of dozen times a day due to the nature of my job and it was painful to use, beep beep beep as it opens slowly, remove gear, beep beep beep as it closes slowly, I felt like a grade a prat standing around waiting for it to do this.
It also had lots of other electronic features that didnt actually add anything to the car and just made it annoying to drive
Open it as you get out of the car, take what you need, press the button and walk away.
mercfunder said:
Jazoli said:
Electric tailgates
I had a mitsubishi outlander thing on rental for a couple of weeks and it was hugely irritating, I'm in and out of the boot a couple of dozen times a day due to the nature of my job and it was painful to use, beep beep beep as it opens slowly, remove gear, beep beep beep as it closes slowly, I felt like a grade a prat standing around waiting for it to do this.
It also had lots of other electronic features that didnt actually add anything to the car and just made it annoying to drive
What is irritating about electric tailgates?I had a mitsubishi outlander thing on rental for a couple of weeks and it was hugely irritating, I'm in and out of the boot a couple of dozen times a day due to the nature of my job and it was painful to use, beep beep beep as it opens slowly, remove gear, beep beep beep as it closes slowly, I felt like a grade a prat standing around waiting for it to do this.
It also had lots of other electronic features that didnt actually add anything to the car and just made it annoying to drive
Open it as you get out of the car, take what you need, press the button and walk away.
Unless it's no longer considered a 'new' feature why hasn't anyone mentioned those damned electronic handbrakes?!
auto off - yeh right.. try a racing start and see how much it likes it.
Auto off - can happen sometimes all on it's own, when parked and locked. Saw a brand new insignia roll of a dealers forecourt and into a parked mondeo on the other side of the road.
Someone will be along in a minute and tell me that it's the best thing that ever happened to the motor industry bar the invention of the wheel no doubt but i just don't like um!
auto off - yeh right.. try a racing start and see how much it likes it.
Auto off - can happen sometimes all on it's own, when parked and locked. Saw a brand new insignia roll of a dealers forecourt and into a parked mondeo on the other side of the road.
Someone will be along in a minute and tell me that it's the best thing that ever happened to the motor industry bar the invention of the wheel no doubt but i just don't like um!
Pixelpeep said:
Unless it's no longer considered a 'new' feature why hasn't anyone mentioned those damned electronic handbrakes?!
auto off - yeh right.. try a racing start and see how much it likes it.
Auto off - can happen sometimes all on it's own, when parked and locked. Saw a brand new insignia roll of a dealers forecourt and into a parked mondeo on the other side of the road.
Someone will be along in a minute and tell me that it's the best thing that ever happened to the motor industry bar the invention of the wheel no doubt but i just don't like um!
My mum has one on her 06 Passat and she's not a fan either.auto off - yeh right.. try a racing start and see how much it likes it.
Auto off - can happen sometimes all on it's own, when parked and locked. Saw a brand new insignia roll of a dealers forecourt and into a parked mondeo on the other side of the road.
Someone will be along in a minute and tell me that it's the best thing that ever happened to the motor industry bar the invention of the wheel no doubt but i just don't like um!
Except this has no "auto-hold" function and you have to have the foot brake fully engaged to take off the electric handbrake, making hill starts practically impossible.
Pixelpeep said:
Unless it's no longer considered a 'new' feature why hasn't anyone mentioned those damned electronic handbrakes?!
auto off - yeh right.. try a racing start and see how much it likes it.
Auto off - can happen sometimes all on it's own, when parked and locked. Saw a brand new insignia roll of a dealers forecourt and into a parked mondeo on the other side of the road.
Someone will be along in a minute and tell me that it's the best thing that ever happened to the motor industry bar the invention of the wheel no doubt but i just don't like um!
We have one on our 54 Scenic.auto off - yeh right.. try a racing start and see how much it likes it.
Auto off - can happen sometimes all on it's own, when parked and locked. Saw a brand new insignia roll of a dealers forecourt and into a parked mondeo on the other side of the road.
Someone will be along in a minute and tell me that it's the best thing that ever happened to the motor industry bar the invention of the wheel no doubt but i just don't like um!
I've got nothing against it in all honesty. Goes the job it's intended to. Auto on when you turn off the engine and auto off when you bring the clutch up to pull away. Manual off with the push of the button or manual on by pulling the handle.
Absolutely no point to it though. How f
king hard is it to pull a lever to engage the handbrake? You have to do it manually at traffic lights anyway.One thing I do hate about it is the fact that when it failed, it cost us £850 to replace the motor and ECU that controls it. Can't fit a second hand one as they pair with the car when installed... £850 to fix a f
king handbrake. Will never buy a car with one again.Krikkit said:
Capri86 said:
Oh yeah first car with DRL's i've had. Didn't have time to read the manual. Can someone tell me when I should/shouldn't put them on?
You can't control them - just use your lights as normal.
+2 for electrnic handbrakes. Had a few Insignia's with these on hire and they've driven me mad. Auto release seemed to be pot luck!
My E92 seat belt "penis extension" - terrible design. Relies on the seat belt to be firm/have starch in it - and it's made of crap plastic. It really should have been a metal extension and proper mechanism that didn't rely on the belt so much. Hate it.
ETA: just found a pic online of one
ETA: just found a pic online of one
My new (to me) XKR has an electronic handbrake, I fail to see what all the hate is about. Works fine, people that moan because it does strange things when they forget to turn it of get zero sympathy from me; surely checking the handbrake is released is part of your standard routine when moving off in any car. Also, it's not like traditional handbrakes never fail either, park it in gear or in P.
I never really got on with start/stop and hill hold, personally I just wouldn't buy a car with these unless they could be disabled.
I never really got on with start/stop and hill hold, personally I just wouldn't buy a car with these unless they could be disabled.
Rain "sensing" wipers. How hard is it to put it on intermittent?
My integra has the best windscreen wiper setup of any car i have used. You have three settings, intermittent fully variable, on and fast (and off if you want to count that)
The intermittent fully variable as a rolling adjuster depending on how much wiping you want to do, really light mist? Set it as low as possible. Rain that is not quite heavy enough for "on" set it between medium and high. At the highest fully variable its essentially on.
My integra has the best windscreen wiper setup of any car i have used. You have three settings, intermittent fully variable, on and fast (and off if you want to count that)
The intermittent fully variable as a rolling adjuster depending on how much wiping you want to do, really light mist? Set it as low as possible. Rain that is not quite heavy enough for "on" set it between medium and high. At the highest fully variable its essentially on.
My Evil Twin said:
+1
Me too. My Audi A6 has one. Even though I'm fairly used to it now, and it's fine for hill starts, I've learned it's a very deliberate action to pull the switch and wait for it to engage. A quick flick will not always result in brakes coming on.I have had 2 near misses when I'd (thought I had) pulled the switch back when parking on a slope, and hopped out of the car, only for it to start rolling away. Both were saved by diving in the driver's door and pulling up the switch and waiting agonisingly for the brakes to engage before crashing into a car in front. I know one day it's going to happen.
I really miss my proper handbrake - I never, ever forgot to put that on during 20 years of driving, and I've messed this up twice in a year. Is it all my fault then?
I hate cars where you can't leave the lights on & switch them off with the ignition switch. Yes I know we have DRL's but older cars don't & I drive with headlights on regardless.
Some cars do/did eg Volvo, Fiat, Older gen Toyota etc. My oldest Toyota circa 1986 turned the lights off as you opened the door to get out, how simple was that!!
Having to turn a switch off manually is simply daft especially when the things beeps to say you left them on - just turn the things off you stupid car.
Some cars do/did eg Volvo, Fiat, Older gen Toyota etc. My oldest Toyota circa 1986 turned the lights off as you opened the door to get out, how simple was that!!
Having to turn a switch off manually is simply daft especially when the things beeps to say you left them on - just turn the things off you stupid car.
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