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Car features you don't like


Missy Charm

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Manufacturers seem to do their best to do things differently to each other.  Some use dial controls for the heating, others use sliders.  Certain marques favour green illumination for the instrument panel, others white.  Often these differences seem insignificant, however sometimes one comes across something that's demonstrably worse in every way.  In my case it's bottom pivot accelerator pedals.  Awful things, which don't allow the driver any freedom as regards the position of his or her foot.  I had a car with one, which didn't have cruise control; driving any sort of distance was agonising.  What are yours?  

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I don't like the placement of the electric window switches in my Granda's Dacia Sandero. They're below the heater controls (non auto as well) which I dislike compared to my Fabia which has them on the doors. I get it, it's cheaper, but it's bloody annoying.

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A big tablet instead of proper controls;

Red illumination for dashboard;

Unusable ashtray;

Electric adjustment on seats.

 

But most of all I hate safety features like "the car won't start if the driver's door or the trunk is open", and lane assist that pulls you back to your lane.

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4 minutes ago, catsinthewelder said:

Seatbelt buzzer, yes I know I'm not wearing it FFS I'm only moving the car round the yard.

My Fabia doesn't have one, same for a door open beeper. If I open the door for whatever reason when the car is moving then the screaming passengers is all the beepering I need.

 

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I don't like: 

Smear screens covered with horrible fingerprints for basic controls instead of knobs, sliders or switches.  Suspension and tyres set up for the Nurburgring rather than our potholed, patched up roads.

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That carry-on where the car switches off in traffic when you stop, then restarts again when you move away.

I don't own anything which has this but for someone who passed their test in the 80s it just doesn't feel right if you have to drive a vehicle with it.

Could have been a 3-litre Capri burbling away there using up petrol but at least you had the confidence the car was running and was ready to go right now, not just sitting parked in the middle the road.

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In my 2015 A6 Allroad the heater controls are utterly shit. I mean, the best car I had for heater controls was my mk6 escort. 3 turny knobs, hot/cold direction and blower speed. Yet this contraption has dual control, and then “auto” which does what it wants. If you want to up the speed, you press the blower button then turn the heater knob to increase. Same with the direction button. Has a tendency to change the speed on its own when not in auto mode. Just over complicated shit. I like simplicity. 
 

 

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Just now, JeeExEll said:

That carry-on where the car switches off in traffic when you stop, then restarts again when you move away.

Yes!  And the switch to disengage the nonsense is awkwardly placed or somewhere in a f*****g menu.

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11 minutes ago, AnnoyingPentium said:

My Fabia doesn't have one, same for a door open beeper. If I open the door for whatever reason when the car is moving then the screaming passengers is all the beepering I need.

 

My 205 in highly luxurious* GR spec has a buzzer for when you open one of the front doors while the lights are on, but annoyingly it doesn't distinguish wether the engine is running or not. 

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My 206 has that, and keys left in the ignition bleeper. Have been trying to find out how to disable it.

There's an electronic board buried inside the dash somewhere.

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I don't like the placement of the arm rest and the base of the window on the driver's door card on my Fabia. The armrest is too low to hold the wheel at the most comfortable spot, arguably at the 3 o'clock position. Trying to use the top of the door card where the window is even worse since I'm a little too short (5'11, long back, but in lowest seat position so I don't bash my head off of the door frame) to actually use it without having my elbow almost parallel to my neck.

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Just now, D.E said:

Also, I prefer the horn to be somewhere on the steering wheel. Not on the indicator stalk.

Dacia Sandero, once again. By the time you've found the horn whatever it is has either acknowledged you or chucked you into another dimension.

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Lane keep assist, its fucking dangerous at times tugging the wheel this way and that usually opposite to the way you want to car to move, emergency auto braking, approach a vehicle that you know will have turned off before you get there and the car slams its brakes on thinking you are going to crash, VW's seem the worst for this.

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Vauxhall are bad too. The Insignia also had a bright red blinking light that got the screaming abdabs when you weaved through parked cars on a small street and left you swinging on your seatbelts.

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Just now, Mr Pastry said:

maybe even knock you up in the middle of the night

Are you sure that's the right phrase to use there? 

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My alphard beeps when the elecric side door opens. Really annoys the camper conversion owners. Who wake up for a wee at two in the morning. Then have to open the door to access awning for toilet. Only to wake half the site with a very loud beeping. Also beeps in the car when you select reverse. Plus when you leave the lights on and take keys out. 

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Sharp corners on the top edge of doors.

Electric seat warming that burns through the material and then set light to your trousers when you are travelling on a motorway.

Tailgate lock that locks the tailgate when you start the engine so you have to remember to unlock it again when you get out to unload.

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Mine beeps when you open the door with the lights still on, or when you've got the "parking lights" set with the indicator stalk. I bloody well know I've set the car to do that, it doesn't have to tell me to turn the damned things off.

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I detest the fog lights coming on for cornering lights. They do not help on my yeti, and both front fogs come on when you select reverse. Why? I'm going fucking backwards, dont need extra lights on the front!

Sent from my SM-T585 using Tapatalk

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The beeping in the Skoda is very subtle, a little chime. The alarm in the Berlingo van is fucking horrendous.

I don't mind stop start in an auto, in a manual it feels clumsy.

I hate lane assist and adaptive cruise with a passion.

Climate control is so much better than manually adjusting the temperature every time the sun moves.

Over assisted steering and brakes that take away all the feel bug me the most, along with tyres that have no sidewall and are wider than a wide thing. Grip ≠ Handling.

Retina scorching LED headlights, with the active matrix type being by far the worst.

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6 minutes ago, Daviemck2006 said:

I detest the fog lights coming on for cornering lights. They do not help on my yeti, and both front fogs come on when you select reverse. Why? I'm going fucking backwards, dont need extra lights on the front!

Sent from my SM-T585 using Tapatalk
 

Buy yourself an obdeleven or get a friend with VCDS to turn them off then! Its a 2 minute job.

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