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How far do you go though, I bet nobody bemoans the lack of a starting handle because its less complicated...
Auto wipers are very handy, in varying rain conditions or a sudden spray from a passing HGV a good system means less messing with the interval delay or even scrambling to turn them on, and judging by the amount of people that actually do forget to turn their lights on, it would clearly be of benefit to them.
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Should be fairly obvious the more electronic garbage fitted to a car the more there is to go wrong, hardly rocket science.
My ageing Benz was deliberately sought out because it has the larger engine of the two with the simple bombproof 4 speed hydraulic gearbox all tucked neatly into the coupe body.
It also doesn't have the usual ASR or memory seats or Climate Control (what a ludicrous term) or cruise control etc, and it was made when drivers apparently still had the common sense to switch on their own lights and wipers or die crushed between a couple of 40 tonners.
Most amazingly none of those extras it didn't have and i didn't want have gone wrong.
If people buy into simple reliable switchgear (rest of car too if poss) the usual controls are instantly to hand, don't need all this menu rubbish, only menu i want is at a warm old school restaurant offering roast pork a nice bit of crackling and real home made roast potatoes, mmm.
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Starting handle might be simpler but knackering with modern high compression engines.
I do like auto wipers even though the sensitivity adjuster has to be used from time to time -so they aren't fully automatic - and it pigs me off that I have to remember to turn them off when I stop, otherwise they do a single wipe next time I switch on.
I switch the lights on well before the auto lights would activate so that's a useless gimmick.
Despite having climate control, I have to adjust the air distribution more often than previous cars with basic air-con.
Cruise control is useful and works well for me.
Auto transmission also works well for me - ECO and Normal/sport mode plus a "Tiptronic" facility on the odd occasion I feel the need to show my domination over the machine !
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Each to their own, I drive with my lights on all the time. A habit caught from my Dad who used to always be in Europe with dipped beam constantly.
I also drive a manual because its simpler and more reliable in the long term and set my climate control to 22 degrees, press auto and leave it alone....but hey! AC is my personal cant live without, although not really a gadget is it?
I dont have cruise on my personal car and miss it, my sister got her first car with autobox and cruise recently and loves it, costs her the same to run a 2.0 on the motorway as it did her Fiat 500, she is bad at keeping to a constant speed!
I do love gadgets though, when I had company cars while working for car companies, the new model with the new toys was always exciting, I loved wirelessly streaming music from phone to car in particular. ESP is a fantastic thing although of course my A4 is too old to have it.
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More gadgets = more likely expense. You pay your ££ and make your choice.
Auto lights, especially on some cars, don't come on automatically in fog.
My main car has useful features such as a bomb detection device, very useful for holidays in war zones. The other is a diesel estate version of gordonbennet's, so not even an ecu, turbo, dpf, but it does have airbags, abs, air, electric windows/mirrors, remote central locking.............enough electro gubbins.
Edited by Trilogy on 03/01/2013 at 09:55
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Bunch of whingeing luddites living in the past. :-)
If you buy well designed and built electronics, they will outlive the car. I still have a 1980s HP12C calculator in full working order - great for DCFs, dates and days etc..
Of course if you buy French or German electronics or wiring, and you expect them to work you are emulating a muppet.
MB self decaying W124 engine wiring for GB? :-)
Teeves ABS
Anything Renault...
QED.
Edit
I recall 30 years ago people saying the same about EFI...
Edited by madf on 03/01/2013 at 11:42
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There is something to be said for "keep it simple stupid" - ALL the problems in the Mazda3 (fortunately not my model, a Euro-specced 1.6 petrol TS2) were down to new, complex parts and equipment (e.g. DSC, ESC and elements of the common-rail PSA/Ford-sourced diesel engines). Taking out those models would mean the model range would've had almost no faults (of consequence) at all (none on mine as it didn't have DSC or ESC).
Much of Merecedes cars' problems from the late 90's/early 2000's appear to have been caused by the firm putting vastly more toyts/features on their cars at the expense of mechanical and general electrical build quality and fit and finish. I think too many car manafacturers, goaded on by the media, are now in a never-ending war to install as many gizmos and gadgets into their cars, making them even more susceptable to faults - the old addage of "the more they overtake the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain" often holds true in my view.
I'm not advocating going back to cars with Morris Minor-levels of technology, but I think makes could have a "budget" range (which would likely have to be built where labour is cheap), rather like the opposite for Toyota that uses Lexus as a "luxury" range. This could include parts that were both very cheap (and easy) to source (maybe even using "generic" parts to save money), which would help many young people "get on the ladder" (as it were) of car ownership without the huge costs associated with buying and running (including insurance and repairs, which would be lower as a result).
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Three cheers then for the much-derided PostmanPat-mobile!
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They sell all their quota in Germany so there must be a market for simpler cars.
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But the UK market has been taught that cars must have alloys, air con, front fogs etc. etc.
For me, as a buyer of second hand cars which never subsequently visit a main dealer, I'm happy to have any modern gizmos provided if they fail, they don't render the rest of the car inoperative. So, for example, if the auto lights facility failed, I could still operate them manually and not have to spend hundreds getting a spotty oik with a computer at the main dealer to fix them.
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There is a large proportion of the UK market that wants simpler vehicles just like the German or French or any other place .There is nobody more car conscious than the Germans today they released 100 special BMW 3 coupes that will do over 200mph all sold ,alloy wheels a must for winter tyres but still there are enough sensible people to buy bog standard Dacias as you will find in the UK.I might add there is a full range of Dacias available in mainland Europe.
Edited by Collos25 on 03/01/2013 at 12:42
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That might be because (despite money pouring in from the West post-unification) many east Germans have little money to spend on new cars, and were probably used to crappy old Trabbants or similar Soviet-design cars.
We Brits on the other hand demand brand new 3-series, even if we're on benefits, just because we can show off to our neighbours (yes, I know its a generalisation, but many people on limited incomes have quite flashy cars, often more than they can rightly afford). I suspect also that credit for the poorer people in that part of German is less forthcoming or frankly desired - again its us Brits that love buying cars on credit, not saving up to buy in cash.
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