In an unrelated thread last week, a comment about manufacturers adding new bits just to make us change to a new model caught my eye. Yes, yes.
So, let's hear it........... Which new modification(s) in recent years have been wholly superfluous ... or worse, just a darned nuisance? I'll start the ball rolling with infuriating electric windows which I find I always need to wind down justt after I've switched off.
Colin
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Electric door mirrors. Takes three times as long to adjust position than a manual lever, an is likely to blow the electrics when someone gives the inevitable mirror clash.
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Power steering on 1 litre superminis. Also electric windows and central locking on the same vehicles, where you can reach the passenger door from the drivers seat without having to stretch. And air conditioning - nice on a Jaguar, but just something else to go wrong on a little shopping car. Of course, by the time you have added all the superfluous kit that manufacturers think buyers can't do without, the poor little car ends up so heavy that you need wider tyres to keep it under control, which means you need power steering....
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The introduction over the past couple of years of the spraying the margins of rear-side and rear windows black, evidently to cover such distracting things as gas struts, etc. I've noticed that Astra estates and Mondeos have about a third of the rear windows obscured in this fashion. Seems pointless to me to install glass and then paint it black - perhaps glass is cheaper than metal? Any thoughts on this?
Peter M.
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Nice big "sexy" wheels, that need low profile tyres to fit under the arches, and then the suspension travel also needs to be restricted so the springs and dampers are stiffened up, and......oh my bad back.
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Electronic window wipers and headlights. If you are unable to spot when you either need headlights or window wipers on, you really shouldnt be driving.
Or is it just easier for people eating, drinking and phoning?
What next I wonder? Automatic indicators? 50/50 chance that u may be turning actually onto a road, rather than just going round a corner
Also, what happens if they go wrong?
For example wont switch off, how infuriating must that be?
What about if they dont turn on? How dangerous would that be?
What a total waste of money.
Kev
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windscreen wipers that turn themselves on automatically - for the really lazy, or for people who dont know what the stalks on the side of the streering wheel do?
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No, Citroen did electric door mirrors correctly on the ZX. The electrics only worked on the offside mirror: the one you could never reach the lever to adjust without some degree of danger. Why a driver needs an electric door mirror or an electric window on his side of the car is beyond me, unless, of course, they work out cheaper to make than the Barcelona versions.
HJ
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In car sound systems pumping out about 40,000 watts per channel and drowning out my system from 4 blocks away.
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Front fog lights.
Sunroofs.
Carpets in most vehicles.
Body colour bumpers-should be rubber.
Ludicrously heavy seats.
All air bags but the drivers.
Most attempts at "styling".
But I wont buy another car without aircon,and,probably,auto,either.
Cant we have a nice semi matt,superdurable paint option in some correct colour such as 18% grey,field green,khaki?
Why do I need hubcaps?
Since height adjustable suspension was perfected half a century ago why is it not fitted to every car? Think about it also in mpg terms.......
What happened to Rostyle wheels? I mean,they didnt HAVE to look so awful....
Never understood chrome,although wood can be durable and relatively light,and leather is surely the only thing ever to be any good on seats?
Mention of a vehicles cubic capacity(engine)
This is irrelevent,the thing either has acceptable power and torque characteristics or it hasnt.And very few modern petrol engines come under"have" sadly.
What road vehicles for actual use want is big,light,low stressed engines operating an automatic gearbox over a very narrow range of rpm.
Not only will they be efficient and clean,but "accidents" will plummet.
By accident I mean the antics of the combative fringe drivers who have yet to understand that the roads are for business and the racetracks for fun.
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Well at least I can agree with you on one thing. Bumpers should be black at the very least and rubber if possible. They are, after all, for bumping other cars/things as their name indicates.
A car with completely white glossy front and rear ends (not bumpers) would be my worse nightmare.
David
David
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Exactly,and I've got so used to using them for bumping other cars that the thought of driving The Lovely Victorias new Xsara Wagon on thursday reduces me to shivering terror!
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ladas have proper bumpers, made out of chrome and not an integral part of the car.
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Can't agree with the electric mirrors and windows. Even on the drivers side they are great as I can adjust the mirrors without leaning forward and moving my head. Careful choice of car will reveal some on which the windows can be closed after the ignition has been switched of and even some that will close themselves when you lock the doors.
The most annoying tweak to be added to modern cars is "sports" suspension and low profile tyres which seem to do nothing but destroy the ride quality. I imagine it comes from motoring journalists test driving cars on race tracks and expecting them to handle in these circumstances. Witness the Rover 75 which had a reputation for good ride quality transformed into the MG monstrosity.
Front fogs are pointless too but I've ranted about those before on these pages.
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Andrew Smith wrote:
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> Can't agree with the electric mirrors and windows.
50/50 here. Electric mirrors on the Cavalier got rid of rain, ice, condensation etc in no time. Currently in an old Renault and missing them badly, especially as the window - electric - on the driver's side doesn't work.
But then I've been in cars where the mechanism for winding the window down manually wasn't there either, so maybe the answer is to sort out the bits which don't work!
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Windows that close themselves when you lock the doors - what use are these to a dog owner? And the same goes for alarms that set themselves automatically after you have left the car. Clearly all car designers own cats.
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the good thing about electric windows, are when you are doing 70 mph and want to close the window, just push the button and its done, but if you have manual windows, then you have to slow down or stop to close the window.
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Clear front indicator lenses, as seen on practically all cars in the last ten years. Impossible to see orange bulb inside flashing in bright daylight conditions. Utterly stupid trend, IMO.
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"if you have manual windows, then you have to slow down or stop to close the window."
I think you'll find that's just a Lada thing. Window winders that take both hands to operate, in a car with no directional stability to speak of.....
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i was talking about ALL cars with manual winders, not just lada's. i know that when all you lot are having to take your cars back to the dealers because of the recalls etc, my car will keep on going, and my car is very basic, easy to work on, and my lada 4X4 is better off road, then a land rover, range rover, jeep, etc etc.
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Agh! Where's the quote button gone Martyn???
Author: ROBIN (---.cache.pol.co.uk)
Date: 08-10-01 22:43
>Why do I need hubcaps?
Why indeed? When ours fell off we didn't replace them and never missed them. Should we have done?
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Its not related to cars, but why is there an eject button on the remote control of a VCR ?
Its not as if it takes the cassette out, puts it in its box and places it on the shelf for you.
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