Least significant automotive development(s)

[bigfella2]

An aerosol instead of a spare wheel. Cheers.

[derskine]

Econometers. Annoying at night as in the polo the battery light is just a red LED whereas in the 18 its the bad fuel economy light, so I occasionally shit myself that my alternator is knackered when really I'm just razzin'.

[Sudsprint]

The day the entire car industry seemed to decide we no longer wanted the wonderful old fashioned simplicity of cold fresh air to our face and warm air to our feet at the same time.

[STUNO]

 

stupid start buttons which you press after inserting the key I find a key works fine and is less hassle.

 

The management at General Motors may disagree with you !

[RichardMoss]

Everything developed after 1986.

^^^^^^^^^. This. Everyone else needs to revisit their posts and edit them to say ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

Almost evey innovation launched in the last 30 years has been a waste of time, money, effort and weight.

[mouseflakes]

Combined headlamp/indicator unit. It's like firing a distress flare from the surface of the sun.

[DVee8]

Why do we need wheels over 16" and tyres as thin as rubber bands,that cost as much as a car or more.

Plastic key fobs that break into pieces in your pocket.

Does anyone still keep there keys on a chain attached to a loop on there trouser waist?

[carlo]

Everything developed after 1986.

 

Just realised why you like 405s, they were developed well before then weren't they?

[fordperv]

Ford's sealed for life type 9 gearbox,

 

Mrs fordperv says Cup holders

[brickwall]

Traction control that has fuck all to do with traction

[brickwall]

Meant to also mention about the electric handbrake. Interesting that many of them have a wee mechanical emergency one underneath.

[chrisjvm]

Diesel engines. Pump carcinogenic shite everywhere in exchange for cheaper running costs.

The new generation of diesel engines yes,but a lot of the pre mid 90's diesel engines (depending on manufacturer) could run on veg oil ... I find it hard to believe that none of those manufacturers knew their diesel engines could run on veg oil !

Just highlights the power that the Petro Chemical industry has over the whole world ... It's definitely in their interests to keep us putting the filthy stuff in our tanks...

I'm sure MB,VW,BMW,PSA could produce a very efficient Veg Oil burner....

Why don't they??

[forddeliveryboy]

The day the entire car industry seemed to decide we no longer wanted the wonderful old fashioned simplicity of cold fresh air to our face and warm air to our feet at the same time.

 

I've always seen that as a Euro-norm thing, in mild but damp BritIsles warm air to feet and cool to face best for feeling fresh. Across Le Chunnel someone decided that dried-out air at -12C more likely to kill your eyes if not passed through a slightly damp heat exchanger. Same reason Eurochod used to be all rubber carpets, bared metal but strong heaters on the inside - whereas misty old England enjoyed a nice bit of Wilton and wood. Leather for the proles, cloth for the gentry. Older Merc124s had fresh air to the centre vents, later ones didn't, I seem to think.

 

Relying on aircon to keep you cool utterly wrecks a car's ventilation system - old French cars stayed cool even in the hottest weather, thanks to proper ventilation. Even here, where 80 degrees farheight meant a slight loosening of the tie and collar, cars had plenty of fresh air to them via quarter lights and general poor assembly. German cars are almost universally crap at keeping cool and fresh, VWs espesh.

[forddeliveryboy]

I'm sure MB,VW,BMW,PSA could produce a very efficient Veg Oil burner....

Why don't they??

 

VW pre-PD engines give 60mpg on high %s of waste veg. Nothing any more efficient today, just that emissions are marginally better (running dino) at the expense of reliability and longevity. I'm sure some in the major manufacturers thought 'fuck you' to the Eurocrats, we'll design something to pass your emissions but make it totally crap, a good excuse to boost profits on the parts and servicing side to offset the lower profits.

[mercrocker]

Fresh air at face level from the dash was only on W124s without aircon, I think....thats only from memory.    Best arrangement was the W123 with bucket loads of fresh air from the middle, no poxy aircon and the excellent Mercedes system of seperate heater controls left and right.   In fact I consider the W123 as the pinnacle of motoring development, nothing more was ever needed or wanted by me.  

[dangerousdave]

first in reply to fordperv  type 9 box I wouldn't say is sealed for life as im just finishing rebuilding mine

 

as of the topic fiat punto city steering as if normal power steering isn't light enough

 

electronic speedos my rangys got one and it reads less accurate the faster you go cable doesn't

[dangerousdave]

and I forgot the diesel engine

[Pete-M]

The electronic speedo in my old XJR was accurate to within 2 mph all the way to 140 according to my sat nav.

 

(Test conducted on autobahn)

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Electric seats, all that extra weight to adjust something that most people never change and that would be quicker to do manually.

I will make an exception for the Renault 25 I once had with half a dozen buttons per seat to inflate and deflate various airbags ,proper eccentric Frenchness.

[forddeliveryboy]

The electronic speedo in my old XJR was accurate to within 2 mph all the way to 140 according to my sat nav.

 

(Test conducted on autobahn)

 

A copper I bought a car from said he was going to have to sell his because of its autobahn speeds. M6 at over 150 was getting him a bit twitchy. And I thought they were above the leur.

[stuboy]

brakelights takes the fun out of leaving to last minuete braking

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

TPMS (Tire Pressure Monitoring System)--Gubbermint-mandated roobish.

 

[Madman Of The People]

Here are a few I can think of from the top of my head that should have never seen the light of day.

 

Volvo's "Sealed For Life" automatic transmissions.  Never change your transmission fluid!  What a great idea!  What could possibly go wrong?

 

Catalytic converters.  Failure prone item containing platinum, palladium and rhodium, all of which are even rarer than gold.  They cost a fortune to replace when they go bad, which they inevitably will.  Not only that but the use of catalytic converters actually increases emissions of carbon dioxide, the leading greenhouse gas contributing to global warming.

 

Lack of oil dipstick in newer BMWs.  Because relying on a complex network of computers and sensors to check the most critical fluid in your engine makes so much more sense than a simple stick.  Note to BMW: Keep it simple, stupid!

 

Making parts from plastic that should be made from metal.  Plastic intake manifolds?  Who's the idiot who thought that was a good idea?  Same thing with plastic radiators.  Stupid. Stupid. STUPID!!!

 

Timing belts on interference engines.  Yep, let's make the one-and-only thing preventing a big-buck engine rebuild a cheap, flimsy glorified rubber band!  I'm astonished these ticking, self-destructing time bombs haven't been outlawed yet, because they should be.

 

[Cavcraft]

Iveco

[Asimo]

Tyre Pressure sensors

 

One of the boys has a Mazda 6, about 3 years old. He has just had the third failure of a tyre pressure warning widget. Causes complete loss of tyre pressure. Each of these has failed on the road. (All have now been removed and replaced with ordinary valves)

[HH-R]

Never liked the fresh air to your face/warm everywhere else thing. My Micra had it and I thought there was something wrong with it, the middle two vents got switched off on day 1, never to be switched on again. Rover 45 had it switchable but I never bothered.

 

Climate control is shite and pointless IMO. I actively avoid anything that has it. How are you supposed to know what temperature you want it at? Faffing about with little buttons when you're driving isn't very grand either.

[hairnet]

911 facelifts after 1995

[Sloth in a bowl]

I also vote for the electric handbrake, if ever there was a part of car design that forgot to be usable in the rush to get high tech, this is it.

[rml2345]

I love fresh air to face/warm feet ability in a car. The 740 was good for that but the current one lacks it and is a bit arse as a result.

Electric handbrakes are moronic, along with removing buttons and putting everything into one of those "iDrive" computery things.

[brickwall]

What about the automatic\electric seatbelt putter oner