Car features you don't like

[JimH]

As an aside did anyone notice that on the Multipla the front and rear doors are mounted in the same hinge? Obviously they will crash into each other if you open them both too far at the same time but it's still a natty little detail.

[dozeydustman]

On 01/02/2022 at 22:13, D.E said:

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

I am the exact opposite of that. Whacking in the end of the indicator stalk and seeing something change on the dash is very disconcerting and it’s a muscle memory I’m trying to unlearn.

vague feeling controls - most cable operated gearchanges feel very woolly to me and many cars from the 2000s-on have steering which has had most of if not all the feel taken out of it. The C2’s gearchange is awful. I know the MA5 wasn’t the best of boxes to operate with a rod change but making it cable operated it just feels baggy, but putting the wider wheels on it has improved steering feel!

[dozeydustman]

14 hours ago, Marina door handles said:

Had a similar issue driving an Atego truck, couldn't read the MPH side of the the speedo, could read the Bigger KPH numbers. Obviously I cannot wear reading specs whilst driving so I had to do maths on the move to figure out how slowly I was traveling...

I think Mercedes Benz dont like long sited people? 

 

It’s a standard thing for many truck makers to add MPH to the inside as an afterthought - it’s a hangover from the old paper-disc tachographs. You may need to wear glasses all the time while driving if you cannot see your controls and instruments and typically gov.uk is a bit vague - check with an optician if you’re regularly driving commercials.

The Atego is a pile of shite, as is any Merc commercial I have driven. That’s for another thread though.

[Metal Guru]

14 hours ago, SiC said:

ABS is more about skid control with being able to swerve and avoid an obstacle (think child/animal running out from parked cars) than anything else. Having been on a skid pan course last year with cadence braking element to it, it makes it completely clear how much difference ABS makes for the better. 

Without ABS, cadence braking it's: see obstruction, "oh shit", BRAKE, release, steer, BRAKE. While hoping you haven't just hit the obstruction and also haven't gone into a four wheel skid.

With ABS, cadence braking it's: see obstruction, "oh shit", BRAKE AS HARD AS YOU CAN, continue driving to steer around the obstruction until you stop.

Btw many people (including me) think cadence braking is pulsing the pedal. It's not! A human can't pulse the pedal anywhere near quick enough that ABS can do it.

While I did a pretty good job of avoiding the obstruction without ABS, it took a couple attempts to fully get cadence braking practiced properly. Your average Jo/Joe who hasn't got too much interest in driving but wants to get from A-to-B won't have a clue on cadence braking when they need it the most. Hence ABS makes complete and utter sense in road cars.

Cadence braking goes against your instincts , release the brakes when you’re heading toward a crash. Knowing how to do it and actually doing it in an emergency are very different things  You have to be very well trained to do it, one skid pan session won’t override your instincts at the critical moment.

[SiC]

16 minutes ago, Metal Guru said:

Cadence braking goes against your instincts , release the brakes when you’re heading toward a crash. Knowing how to do it and actually doing it in an emergency are very different things  You have to be very well trained to do it, one skid pan session won’t override your instincts at the critical moment.

That's a very hard thing to say about me without knowing exactly what happens in a scenario! I'd rather not like to have a situation on when to find out that though. Especially given I'd be driving one of my older cars and it'll be a physically painful experience for all those involved!

But yes, I get the point that a natural reaction is to slam on the brakes as it'll be a case of "ARRRRRRRR JUST FARKING STOP RIGHT NOW" as the anchors are pushed on full. This is why ABS is such a useful thing in any car. 

ABS also offers brake force distribution to a much better degree than can be done mechanically. Especially with wear/seizing involved. Hence why it's an MOT failure and dangerous to have a car with a defective ABS system. The rears will lock up with the fronts and easily end up in a four wheel skids.

[Zelandeth]

Big one for me is automatic braking systems.  Not because I think they're an inherently bad idea, far from it given the clueless wombles you see driving every day, but because the technology just isn't quite there yet.

I've been in two cars on motorway journeys (both Audis) as a passenger where the system has falsely triggered when someone has cut out in front of us in traffic.  Both were cases of "yes, that was closer than I'd have liked" but not "OMG we're going to hit them!" Especially as both cars were doing virtually the same speed.  One was in heavy traffic where the whole motorway was doing 50-ish and someone decided they absolutely had to get into lane 2, the other was someone merging onto the motorway at a busy junction.  We were making a gap for them but they cut in a lot earlier than we'd really intended.

So in heavy traffic on the M6, suddenly in lane 2 our car just slams the anchors on hard enough to stop the rotation of the earth.  Yes *we* decelerated at about 9G just fine - but (bearing in mind this was in all-lane traffic at about 50 on one occasion) what would have happened if there had been a lorry on our back bumper?  Simple, we'd probably be dead.  As it was the Range Rover behind us very nearly ended up parked in our boot in a huge cloud of tyre smoke.

I just really don't feel these systems have enough awareness of what's going on other than straight in front of the car yet.  

[grogee]

30 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

Big one for me is automatic braking systems.  Not because I think they're an inherently bad idea, far from it given the clueless wombles you see driving every day, but because the technology just isn't quite there yet.

I've been in two cars on motorway journeys (both Audis) as a passenger where the system has falsely triggered when someone has cut out in front of us in traffic.  Both were cases of "yes, that was closer than I'd have liked" but not "OMG we're going to hit them!" Especially as both cars were doing virtually the same speed.  One was in heavy traffic where the whole motorway was doing 50-ish and someone decided they absolutely had to get into lane 2, the other was someone merging onto the motorway at a busy junction.  We were making a gap for them but they cut in a lot earlier than we'd really intended.

So in heavy traffic on the M6, suddenly in lane 2 our car just slams the anchors on hard enough to stop the rotation of the earth.  Yes *we* decelerated at about 9G just fine - but (bearing in mind this was in all-lane traffic at about 50 on one occasion) what would have happened if there had been a lorry on our back bumper?  Simple, we'd probably be dead.  As it was the Range Rover behind us very nearly ended up parked in our boot in a huge cloud of tyre smoke.

I just really don't feel these systems have enough awareness of what's going on other than straight in front of the car yet.  

Two second rule! Easy for me to say. No consolation if you have a truck in your lungpipe. 

I do remember similar prophecies relating to introduction of ABS eg Granada, but we managed somehow. 

What would be nice, and I think it's happening slowly, is a universal broadcast protocol so that Vehicle B following Vehicle A is instantly aware that A is slamming on the brakes. Which is further relayed to C, D, E etc. 

I think it's also happening alongside 'broadcast' speed limits. In 20 and 30 zones this can't come soon enough in my opinion. 

[Marina door handles]

8 hours ago, dozeydustman said:

It’s a standard thing for many truck makers to add MPH to the inside as an afterthought - it’s a hangover from the old paper-disc tachographs. You may need to wear glasses all the time while driving if you cannot see your controls and instruments and typically gov.uk is a bit vague - check with an optician if you’re regularly driving commercials.

The Atego is a pile of shite, as is any Merc commercial I have driven. That’s for another thread though.

Luckily driving the Atego was a bit of a one off, fortunately all of my own cars have perfectly readable instruments so its not an issue otherwise I would be down the opticians for some varifocals.

[lesapandre]

Stop-Start. OK on new cars but in a few years...who wants to use that on a busy road?

[LessThanEqual]

35 minutes ago, lesapandre said:

Stop-Start. OK on new cars but in a few years...who wants to use that on a busy road?

Stop start isn't awful if you have more than 3 cylinders, otherwise it takes forever to strike back up. Didn't mind it in my old DS3 which would start after quarter of a rotation but my 3 cyl Fiesta takes an age in comparison.

[tul66]

Anything with blue dash illumination.

[AnnoyingPentium]

1 hour ago, tul66 said:

Anything with blue dash illumination.

Green for the win.

[tul66]

On 2/10/2022 at 7:49 PM, AnnoyingPentium said:

Green for the win.

Agreed👍

[Carlo_Raffo_TDS]

On 2/10/2022 at 6:08 PM, tul66 said:

Anything with blue dash illumination.

Why is that? I have never had a car with blue illuminations

[Crackers]

17 minutes ago, Carlo_Raffo_TDS said:

Why is that? I have never had a car with blue illuminations

Usually means you're driving a Volkswagen, for a start.

[captain_70s]

The high beam warning light in the old Vivaro, had the intensity of a small blue sun and was genuinely dazzling at night.

Any car that measures out a minimum amount of screen wash for activating them. My Pug Partner uses about half the tank per wash for no reason. 

On a similar note, anything that automatically activates the wipers with the screen wash. As it means in the case of your screen wash freezing or running out your first indication is the wipers rendering the windscreen a smeary mess.

Also, indicators that can't be cancelled. If you bop the indicator stalk in the Partner it flashes 4 times for lane changing, but if you do it by accident you can't stop it.

[tul66]

1 hour ago, Carlo_Raffo_TDS said:

Why is that? I have never had a car with blue illuminations

It looks cheap & nasty to me.

[Missy Charm]

Flat bottomed steering wheels.  Utterly inexplicably, they seem to be getting more popular.  

[Noel Tidybeard]

4 hours ago, captain_70s said:

The high beam warning light in the old Vivaro, had the intensity of a small blue sun and was genuinely dazzling at night.

see also pugrot boxer

[Spiny Norman]

6 hours ago, captain_70s said:

On a similar note, anything that automatically activates the wipers with the screen wash. As it means in the case of your screen wash freezing or running out your first indication is the wipers rendering the windscreen a smeary mess.

Having to operate the wipers separately used to be seen as the poverty option when the manufacturers wouldn't stretch to a combined system, IIRC Ford persisted with it well into the 70s on the Mk5 Cortinas. It's far better to be able to give the washers a test skoosh first though...

On the subject of oddly shaped steering wheels, it probably annoys old farts like me who steer correctly and find the non circular shape of a modern wheel quite clumsy, but for the modern cretin who controls* the wheel with nothing more than the heel of the right hand at 1 o'clock it won't matter.

[Spiny Norman]

Apologies if it's been mentioned already, I haven't read every post but I'll nominate multi adjustable seats and steering wheels.

In a simple cheap car like a base Clio or Micra the seat goes forwards and backwards and reclines, and possibly the wheel goes up and down if you've splashed out on a posh version, but in many modern cars not to mention some old luxury ones like my current Volvo the seat goes fro and aft, and you can also adjust each end of the base up or down independently, the lumbar support  and the steering wheel goes up/down and in/out.

In the base model Micra I set the seat so I can dip the clutch and reach the top of the wheel with slightly bent arms and that's it. Takes 30 seconds and I'm comfortable for the duration of my ownership unless I suddenly grow two inches.
I've had the Volvo for two months I'm still not convinced I'm in the optimum position and keep fiddling with everything.

[georgeinabz]

My 2011audi a4 key , you had to push it to start rather than turn , sometimes temperamental and would jump out , seriously who designs this crap , Mr Allegro square wheel?

Sent from my SM-P610 using Tapatalk

[georgeinabz]

Seriously biggest bad feature is no spare wheel , just a can of gunk , I believe there was some 180000 AA/RAC callouts. in a year because of this , should be law to have a spare.

Sent from my SM-P610 using Tapatalk

[Missy Charm]

19 hours ago, Spiny Norman said:

Having to operate the wipers separately used to be seen as the poverty option when the manufacturers wouldn't stretch to a combined system, IIRC Ford persisted with it well into the 70s on the Mk5 Cortinas. It's far better to be able to give the washers a test skoosh first though...

On the subject of oddly shaped steering wheels, it probably annoys old farts like me who steer correctly and find the non circular shape of a modern wheel quite clumsy, but for the modern cretin who controls* the wheel with nothing more than the heel of the right hand at 1 o'clock it won't matter.

I've driven a MkVI Escort whose wipers didn't come on automatically when the screen washer was used.  The wipers had to be turned on manually to clear the screen afterwards.  I assumed at the time that the combined wash/wipe system was broken, despite both bits working fine independently.  Perhaps, having read your comments, it was supposed to be like that!

[GeorgeB]

On 2/2/2022 at 8:00 AM, maxxo said:

Land departure warning 

Whut?

[AnnoyingPentium]

1 hour ago, georgeinabz said:

Seriously biggest bad feature is no spare wheel , just a can of gunk , I believe there was some 180000 AA/RAC callouts. in a year because of this , should be law to have a spare.

Sent from my SM-P610 using Tapatalk
 

My Mum's Dacia Duster doesn't even have a well for a spare wheel. Just a hidden compartment on the side of the boot carpet.

[DavieW]

4 hours ago, georgeinabz said:

Seriously biggest bad feature is no spare wheel , just a can of gunk , I believe there was some 180000 AA/RAC callouts. in a year because of this , should be law to have a spare.

Sent from my SM-P610 using Tapatalk
 

My Insignia has no spare wheel but a compressor and a can of gunk the compressor is supposed to inject into the tyre. Fine, except the compressor (genuine Vauxhall and never been out of the box before) has a 12v accessory plug on the end but the car doesn't have the necessary 12v socket. F*cking brilliant idea Vauxhall. 2 hour wait for Mr AA to recover me home.

[Metal Guru]

6 minutes ago, DavieW said:

My Insignia has no spare wheel but a compressor and a can of gunk the compressor is supposed to inject into the tyre. Fine, except the compressor (genuine Vauxhall and never been out of the box before) has a 12v accessory plug on the end but the car doesn't have the necessary 12v socket. F*cking brilliant idea Vauxhall. 2 hour wait for Mr AA to recover me home.

Only had one puncture so far with this system. It has a recommended range of 20 miles once used ( assuming you can use it if the joke is not too big or in the wrong place). Unfortunately I was 400 miles from home but Kwik Fit in Bridgewater we’re brilliant and got an out of stock tyre within 2hours, but it was still 2 hours I wouldn’t have wasted if the car had a proper spare.

[templeoffire]

Waiting for my suspension to pump itself up again after stopping (Citroen) is quite tedious, especially when trying to make a quick exit from the in laws..

[Liggle]

My Yaris has some really annoying 'safety' and convenience features:

Lane assist - the car gently tugging at you or trying to correct when you are overtaking a bike for example is downright dangerous at times

Collision detection - one of the roads near my house has cars parked either side of the road and its overly-cautious when you slalom through them, it beeps and a big red warning comes up on the dash saying BRAKE!

Radar cruise - just give me on/off cruise control, I don't want an overly cautious gap between me and the car in front. On the motorway its a right pain, as it leaves a gap big enough for at least one car to jump in and then the car slows down to make the gap bigger again, and you can't turn the radar bit off