Manufacturer Stingieness

[Nickbrapp]

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!

[Nickbrapp]

Zippee said:

Try buying a standard range rover, Audi, volvo etc
Unless you attack the options list then you'll get less standard kit than a corsa...

But they are stingy, even the cheapest A1 has led headlights, cruise control etc

This is more about penny pinching not stuff missing I suppose.

Things like the old 1 series, you got cruise as standard on a 114i and then they took it off on the m140i. Why? It’s the same car!

[Nickbrapp]

595Heaven said:

From the Vivaro Owner Manual:

https://www.vauxhall.co.uk/content/dam/vauxhall/Ho...

Level warnings
Depending on the calculated range of AdBlue, different messages are displayed in the Driver Information Centre. The messages and the restrictions are a legal requirement.
1. The first possible warning is Top up emissions additive: Starting prevented in 1500 mi.
When switching on the ignition, this warning will show up once briefly with the calculated range. Additionally, control indicator B will illuminate and a chime will sound. Driving is possible without any restrictions.
2. The next warning level is entered with a range below 500 miles. The message with the current range will always be displayed when ignition is switched on. Additionally, control indicator B will illuminate and a chime will sound. Refill AdBlue before entering the next warning level.
When driving, the chime sounds and the message is displayed every 60 miles until the AdBlue tank has been topped-up.
3. The next warning level is entered with a range below 60 miles. The message with the current range will always be displayed when ignition is switched on. Additionally, control indicator
Caution
Avoid contact of the paintwork with AdBlue.
In case of contact, rinse off with water.
9 Warning
Avoid contact of your eyes or skin with AdBlue.
In case of eye or skin contact, rinse off with water.

B will flash and a chime will sound. Refill AdBlue as soon as possible before the AdBlue tank is completely empty. Otherwise, a restart of the engine will not be possible.
When driving, the chime sounds and the message is displayed every 6 miles until the AdBlue tank has been topped-up.
4. The last warning level is entered when the AdBlue tank is empty. Restart of the engine is not possible. The following warning message will be displayed:
Top up emissions additive: Starting prevented
Additionally, control indicator B will flash and a chime will sound.
Refill the tank to a level of at least 5 l of AdBlue, otherwise restarti

I wasn’t saying it didn’t tell you it was low, it just doesn’t have a gauge like in a fuel tank, my old vivaro did. It’s a inconvenience and just a bit of a penny pinching idea. The old one you went into the menu and it had a digital gage with bars on it.

[Nickbrapp]

donkmeister said:

Muddle238 said:

It struck me how stingy the Germans can be a while ago. Walking through a car park between rows of cars, it was often the Audi and BMW's that still had their mirrors stuck out. Given that it was standard kit on a 2008 Peugeot I had many years ago to have mirrors fold automatically when you locked the car, it seemed crazy that these so called "premium" branded cars wouldn't fold the mirrors when locked - and these were sub 3-year-old cars.

Possibly stinginess, possibly personal taste when setting up the car. This makes me sound like one of those people who blames everything invented after the starter motor as the reason why drivers are bad, but... I don't like powerfold happening every time I lock the car. So I have autofold turned off. I use my powerfold mirrors when appropriate.

It might be because powerfold mirrors seemed to attract a chavvy "look at me I have foglights" element when they were a bit newer, it might be because cars look gash with the mirrors folded. I can't quite put my finger on it.

Oh no. It’s stinginess. Look at the golf you get folding mirrors and adaptive cruise control, on a Audi A3 you get neither of those as standard.

[Nickbrapp]

S16KBW said:

This is essentially the same point I made about my 2008 VW Fox, the base model had manual windows rather than electric, but it must have cost them more to design and manufacture manual mechanisms, and design another set of door cards rather than just put electric windows in all of the models!

I always think that about lights, surely it must cost Ford more to have 5 separate headlight designs made instead of all just having one type.

Same with Audi. Every A1 gets the same lights weather it’s a base sport or a S line, but then the A3 sport and S line have different lights and the edition 1 has another type!

[Nickbrapp]

Fast Bug said:

GC8 said:

Nickbrapp said:

No Ad blue gauge

How much Adblue do they use? Surely it is slow enough to not need a gauge, with a low level light still giving you plenty of warning?

I would put 2l./40p of Adblue into an old pop bottle and keep it as a reserve, and problem solved.

I'm fairly sure quite a few vehicles you need to put a minimum amount of adblue in, for some reason I think it's 5 litres? Otherwise it doesn't register at all

I put 10L in and it lasts about 2500-3000 miles at most (so a month for me)

[Nickbrapp]

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.