Annoying flaws / design features.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

I'm driving a new Insignia at the mo...................long story. In many ways a nice car - well built, goes okay, quiet and it looks good. It's an SRi CDRDRDTi which despite the SRi credentials, looks as sporty as I do.

 

But.......

 

The vision is utterly appalling. You really have to have your wits about you in car parks and traffic - all you can see is massive thick pillars. You almost cannot see out of it. The wife hates riding in it.

 

The ride is appalling. You can hear the poor dampers working. Why does a car have to ride so badly?

 

The ease with which you can stall it. Seriously fucking annoying and I nearly rang the supplier to come and take it back.

 

Electronic handbrake. Utter, utter wank. Why have an easy to use lever when you can have a button that requires up to five attempts to successfully release the handbrake?

 

Radio controls. Why in the name of fuck is the bass/treble burried three layers deep in a menu?

 

 

Don't get me wrong - I like the car in the main. but as with so many moderns if filled with wanky gadgets and 'features' that just make life harder. When the bastard stalled (again) yesterday, I yelled every expletive in the book at it - the word 'Cavalier' was used.

 

Never mind EcoFlex - I want an Insignia 'fart' edition. Normal handbrake, tractor sized flywheel so it won't stall, existing speakers powered by a 1999 Philips single CD plus 195/70x15 tyres and soft springs.

[Magnificent Rustbucket]

Eighties and early nineties Jags almost always seem to have odd sized tyres which almost no one stocks. The XJ-S came with 235/60 ZR 15s which are hard to get; the XJ40 initially had mad metric 220/65 ZR 390s, a (15.35 inch) tyre which you can only get at Longstone. Each one is about the same price as the car. The 15" wheel uses 225/65 ZR 15 tyres which almost no one stocks and is only made by Pirelli as the P4000J. The X300 comes with 225/60 16s which are everywhere but spoil the ride.

[Albert Ross]

Rather like a Capri heater matrix.

 

ICME times..... heater matrix replacement on a Sierra is the same time for LHD and RHD. So why do I have to drop a steering column and move the pedal box on the RHD, but on the LHD it falls unhindered into the footwell? Yeah, cheers ICME.. you lost me hundreds of quid in bonusses over the years..... twats.

 

Eh? I replaced the matrix on a Sapphire in about 5 minutes. Slacken the heater box bolts, undo the pipes under the bonnet, dip the clutch pedal and it came straight out.

 

I did loads on Mk1s. Few on Mk2... maybe they "improved" it.

[cms206]

I'm driving a new Insignia at the mo...................

 

But.......

 

+1.

 

I did consider an Insignia instead of a Mondeo for my mother's most recent Motability car, but I simply could not get on with it. It's a fine looking car, but it's one of only three cars ever to make me properly car sick - the other two being an 06-plate Fiesta and my dad's C-reg Montego 1.3 which constantly leaked fumes into the interior. The ride is horrendous, the seats aren't that comfortable, the torque steer was frightening on the two I drove, far, far too easy to stall...

 

... being honest I could add almost all of those to the 3-series M-sport Touring I had recently as a courtesy car. It was bloody shite too. The Mondeo doesn't seem too bad but in all honest I prefer the Cavalier 1.8i I'm razzing about in as it's more comfortable, less fussy, rides better and is just nicer to drive.

 

 

Things which annoy me... the cupholders in the current Mondeo which can't actually hold two large McWimpyKing cups. The Insignia's stupid button handbrake and even stupider ratchet number which stabs your left thigh. Indicators mounted on the inner edge of headlights. Mirror mounted side repeaters. Probably a whole other load of things on moderns.

 

There is one really, really, really irritating thing on the Cavalier which both of mine do and it bugs the shit out of me. Not the squeaky clutch pedal (which I actually quite like, in a reassuring Vauxhall type of way) but why does the front passenger door interior lock snib ALWAYS rattle at idle and motorway speeds when the doors are unlocked? When I think about it the K-reg Astra 1.7D Merit estate I used to hurtle round in at work did it too. Bloody annoying.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Another Insignia rant.

 

The way you have to unlock the sod before getting out. The way the car feels massive and heavy in every way - the door must weigh a ton.

 

How many moderns are actually nice to drive. The current Astra is okay - the Mark 6 Golf though is just lovely. You can see why they sell so many - I had one a year or so ago and it didn't annoy me in any way.It was just utterly pleasant.

[Volksy]

The current Astra is okay - the Mark 6 Golf though is just lovely. You can see why they sell so many - I had one a year or so ago and it didn't annoy me in any way.It was just utterly pleasant.

 

I agree on the Golf, really liked mine. Didn't like the Astra though.

[oldford]

Ford Cortina upper seatbelt mounting point, for tall drivers it was fine on the MK3 & 4. When they introduced the Cortina 80 with much improved seats, they didn't have a design with that one annoying spring that broke and stuck in your behind which were higher, they didn't change the upper seatbelt mounting position, making the belt run along the side of the shoulder.

[gallondrunk]

.

[Negative Creep]

Volvo 740, with a long throw gearlever and a stereo mounted level with it. This selecting 1st 3rd or 5th could result in you punching the fascia

[Pete-M]

Alfa 75. Any item of switchgear. Oh, and the radio fitted so it was impossible to get to the radio in 1st, 3rd or 5th. Changing CDs was an exercise worthy of

 

Mk2 Granada Ghia X seats. Lovely things, electrically adjustable every which way, heated. Impossible to get comfy in. Front edge of the cushion is always too high. I'm 6'2" with long legs and they were just awful. The Recaros in the 2.8 injection were truly the best seats ever.

 

 

Mk3/4/5 Cortina void bushes.

 

Rover Group 'bendy keys'. Those ones with the insane hinge in the middle of the key head. No reason whatsoever to put it there. Yet they did.

 

 

Peugeot 604 seat runners.

 

[catsinthewelder]

Probably safety smizzles on the bendy keys, bloke on the dub forums posted up an x-ray of the ignition key they had too dig out of his knee after a nasty head-on shunt

[504GL]

Subaru boxer engines - having the rocker gaskets (quite important in a boxer) made of beer mats meaning they will, within 5 minutes of ownership, leak oil on the exhaust manifolds.

 

Yes, both have gone on ours and the advice is to fit genuine ones, but to use a particular variety of Loctite gasket sealant or they just go again.....

[Guest]

the Mark 6 Golf though is just lovely. You can see why they sell so many - I had one a year or so ago and it didn't annoy me in any way.It was just utterly pleasant.

 

Er, what?

 

Were you driving a completely different car to the one I tried? They both sent me to sleep - there was nothing special about either of them, at all. Boring interiors, woeful visability, not that well made (well, not £18K well made), horrible lumpen ride, dull, dull, dull. One was an OMG WOW supposedly amazing TDi 140 thing, the other was a bog standard diesel in silver. I was so excited when driving them that I parked up and walked the rest of the way in the pissing rain.

 

Why anyone would spend that much money on something so painfully, willfully average baffles me.

[504GL]

Probably safety smizzles on the bendy keys, bloke on the dub forums posted up an x-ray of the ignition key they had too dig out of his knee after a nasty head-on shunt

One wonders why other manufacturers didn't take on Saab's positioning of the ignition key on their cars.....

[504GL]

Late mk1 Fiat Bravo SX's have an electric sunroof, which is great, but no plastic blind/cover. What on earth were they thinking?

 

Following on from this, the fixed glass roof on our 500 has a blind, but it's perforated ffs!!!! So it doesn't actually block the light out that well.

 

Silly wide tyres on modern cars. Out 500 came with 195/45 R16's which on a 860kg car is ridiculous..... our Legacy Turbo would have been considered rather sporty in the early 90's and weighs 600kg's more and only has 205/60 R15's. The Fiat was so utterly hopeless in the winter weather that i had to buy winter tyres for it.

 

The suspension travel on our 500 is ridulously bad as well. Hit a bump going around a corner at a rather pedestrian pace and the back end will try to overtake the front end. The fact that there seems to be virtually no damping and the springs seem too stiff doesn't seem to help things.

 

The design of the bushes on the rear of the Panda and 500 is shit

http://www.fiatforum.com/gallery/data/500/IMGP4168.JPG

It's just made to fail......

 

The 500/Panda also have the balljoint integrated into the front suspension arms so the balljoint goes and you're looking at a new arm.... I think the bumper also has to come off to change the arm as well.....

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

I was so excited when driving them that I parked up and walked the rest of the way in the pissing rain.

 

 

Then you're either lying, or you're a fucking idiot.

 

What's it to be? Either seems plausible!

[504GL]

I was so excited when driving them that I parked up and walked the rest of the way in the pissing rain.

 

 

Then you're either lying, or you're a fucking idiot.

 

What's it to be? Either seems plausible!

 

I think the only fucking idiot here is you......

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

I was so excited when driving them that I parked up and walked the rest of the way in the pissing rain.

 

 

Then you're either lying, or you're a fucking idiot.

 

What's it to be? Either seems plausible!

 

I think the only fucking idiot here is you......

 

 

Aawww, his little bum chum is here to hold his hand. Blow the sand out your fanny, idiot.

[504GL]

Then you're either lying, or you're a fucking idiot.

 

What's it to be? Either seems plausible!

 

I think the only fucking idiot here is you......

 

 

Aawww, his little bum chum is here to hold his hand. Blow the sand out your fanny, idiot.

 

Nah, I just can't tolerate fuckwits like you. That you feel the need to call someone a "fucking idiot" for merely disagreeing with your opinion of a car on a forum says it all.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

 

Nah, I just can't tolerate fuckwits like you. That you feel the need to call someone a "fucking idiot" for merely disagreeing with your opinion of a car on a forum says it all.

 

 

Oh sod off, you annoying little fart.

[504GL]

 

Nah, I just can't tolerate fuckwits like you. That you feel the need to call someone a "fucking idiot" for merely disagreeing with your opinion of a car on a forum says it all.

 

 

Oh sod off, you annoying little fart.

 

Wow that one really hurt. I'm going to slit my wrists now...... I didn't mind you swearing and calling people fucking idiots for no reason, but calling me a little fart.... well I'm going to report you now!

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Sorry, are you shouting spite or spouting shite? Either is plausible.

 

And remind me, what was that you said about name calling again? Mate, just pack it in eh?

[The Moog]

Probably safety smizzles on the bendy keys, bloke on the dub forums posted up an x-ray of the ignition key they had too dig out of his knee after a nasty head-on shunt

One wonders why other manufacturers didn't take on Saab's positioning of the ignition key on their cars.....

 

because they fill with crumbs and grot! Oh and if you drop a fizzy drink down there it can gum up.

[Albert Ross]

Land Rover got it wrong in 1971 when they moved the key to the column. I like my simple central dash and key switch. No steering lock to fuck up either.

[Pete-M]

Land Rover got it wrong in 1971 when they moved the key to the column. I like my simple central dash and key switch. No steering lock to fuck up either.

 

I'm with you on that entirely. Dash mounted ignition switches are far more pleasant. Especially the ones with the old FS keys.

[j-j]

Much as I'm liking my recent Xantia, I realised today that the 'broken' glove box light actually works fine - it's just that you need the ignition ON. Is this a good thing? doesn't seem it to me unless it's to prevent the battery going flat if you leave the thing open or something unlikely like that.

[Negative Creep]

That reminds me of another thing that annoys me - fag lighters that only work with the ignition on. It means you cant leave something on charge

[eddyramrod]

... unless it's to prevent the battery going flat if you leave the thing open or something unlikely like that.

 

Actually that seems extremely likely, from here. Well done Citroen for even thinking of that.

 

Annoying? Know where the bonnet release is on a Suzuki Samurai? Inside the glovebox! Oh please... I do understand why they did it (security, on a soft-topped jeep that'll never be locked) but it's still annoying. That and the two-men/two-days involved in droppping or refitting the soft-top.

 

Yeah ok, I exaggerate, but it still does take two people a good twenty to thirty minutes, which is so wrong.

 

NC: that'll be for the same reason, to protect the battery.

[Guest]

I was so excited when driving them that I parked up and walked the rest of the way in the pissing rain.

 

 

Then you're either lying, or you're a fucking idiot.

 

What's it to be? Either seems plausible!

 

OK.

 

Seeing as you asked so nicely (what is your problem with me by the way?), I accept your challenge.

 

Yes, perhaps I was a 'fucking idiot' for trying to understand what so many people saw in the Golf Mk 6. I was beginning to wonder if there really was something I was missing out on. Perhaps I was wrong.

I lent my mate John's nearly new TDi when he went on holiday. You'd love him Rev, he's got an iPhone to go with the car and everything - a match made in heaven.

 

I was so utterly underwhelmed that I was convinced that John's was a dog, or that I was mysteriously trapped in a parallel universe unable to appreciate the subtleties and nuances. Sorry, but it did nothing for me at all. Is there a hidden button that changes it into another car or something? It wasn't even that good on fuel - 38 MPG and I wasn't thrashing it bar a quick blezz down my favourite bit of country road. I did it faster in my 480 by the way, and that was when it had really shit tyres on it.

 

My puzzlement continued when I took it to my old job on a weekend shift. Jesus wept - it was like I'd turned up hanging out of Zooey Deschenel. You see, what I thought I'd turned up in was a bland German hatchback with no redeeming features at all. Competent? Yes. Special? No. Memorable? Forget it. It was like being on the outer edge of a secret society. Everyone went all gooey over it as if I'd somehow surmounted a massive social barrier and gone on to better things. It left me baffled and none the wiser as to why people fawn over them to the extent that they do.

 

So, I ask of you, please, put an idiot out of his misery - what is there about the Mk 6 Golf that is so brilliant? It seemed to me like a very expensive way of getting around whilst bored shitless. However, as you seem to be 'in the know', what with your BMWs, personal number plates, 90 MPH fast lane exploits and so on, care to educate a moron from the wrong end of the M62? We don't have VWs where I'm from, they're impossible to comprehend. In fact, I'm still struggling now.

 

I took it back to John's after work and shoved the keys through the letterbox. You'll be pleased to know that I had an envelope to hand so they were suitably disguised. There was a Co-Op round the corner so I thought I'd get a newspaper while I waited for the bus. We have shelters for public transport in Sale so we can huddle en masse in the rain watching Golfs drive past, tearful in abject misery, yearning for the day when we can better ourselves.

 

Instead I carried on walking. Needed the exercise, you see. My coat has a hood because I'm very sophisticated.

 

Oh, and I was lying. The weather had cleared up by the time I got home.

 

I'd also left my copy of Jane Eyre on the passenger seat.

 

Your Greatest Fan,

 

Wat.

[RoadworkUK]

If it helps, I don't really see what the fuss is about, either. The last one I drove felt like the HVAC system was dispensing Mogadon gas. It feels like every model south of the GTI has been deliberately neutered to remind you to work harder and spend more money.

 

Very nice, and all that, but not for me. Middle class motoring? I'm happier among the plebs.