I will admit to being a bit cranky at times. I suppose that the condition has worsened just a tad since I crossed the threshold of 50 a few years ago. Now that I have dated myself, it will not surprise you that I miss vent windows, fresh-air cowl vents and HVAC controls operated by simple cables instead of vacuum and electric thingamajigs.
However, this is not to rant about what is NOT on newer cars, but to rant about what IS on newer cars that makes life unpleasant. The list is probably fairly long, but I have narrowed it to this: Why must General Motors cars and trucks turn on their backup lights when their owners lock and unlock their car doors?
You have all seen it. Herb and Betty walk out to their Envoy or Lacrosse and hit the lock or unlock button on the key fob. On every other car in the civilized world, the (you guessed it) doors lock or unlock. But not for Herb and Betty. A touch of the lock buttons results in the backup lights shining brightly.
Dammit, GM, don’t you know that there is a longstanding code at play here? When the white lights come on the back of someone’s car, it means that the car is about to start backing up. If you are behind it, you have to get the hell out of the way. Or, if you are looking for a parking place, those white lights are a beacon of success, pointing you to a parking place that is about to become your very own. Unless the lights are on because Herb and Betty have just locked their car and are heading into the store. They might as well just turn, point their fingers and laugh, while yelling “Suckerrrrrrr!”
In terms of car equipment, I sort of follow the creed of the libertarian – carmakers, feel free to make your car do whatever you want, just don’t mess with other people. If GM wants to make the interior lights flash and the seats twirl around three times at the click of the remote, more power to them. But when they start crying wolf with backup lights, they have gone too far.
So, consider this a memo to GM: It is not 1965 anymore, and you no longer get to decide what is normal. Back up lights are to come on when the car is backing up, and not for any other reason. You are so all alone here, and I wish you would just knock it off.
There. I feel so much better. So, who’s with me? Or, is there some other feature of modern cars that grinds your gears?
Consoles eating up a load of real estate in the middle of your chariot. If I’m driving a car, I do not care to be swathed in console. I hate feeling cramped in a car and the console exacerbates it.
Also, navigation systems. Maps have been doing a fine job for a mighty long time. Navigation systems also dumb you down. How so? When giving directions to someone recently, I told them the meeting location was on Route B exactly 0.4 miles east of US 63, on the north side of the road. The response was if I had GPS coordinates; I stated no, but the location was exactly 0.4 miles east of US 63. How hard is that? Apparently that’s too complicated. Navigation systems / GPS systems are like digital clocks in removing any actual thought process.
I’m also not a fan of the jumbo large diameter wheels with tiny profile tires.
Neither am I a fan of front-wheel drive, four-cylinder engines, and dinky spare tires.
Gee, I guess I’m a crank also. So be it! 🙂
Also, I detest white on vehicles which seems to be about 33.3% of total production; the remainder is split between silver and gray with a token nod to red.
Plus the interiors that are any of fifty shades of gray. Deplorable.
Consoles, I agree with that, they have gotten way to big, it bugs my right knee on some cars.
You might like the console in my wagon Jason–the smallest, most unobtrusive one I’ve ever seen:
Is that the Brougham Volvo?
Why, yes!
Cool…
Yes, I do like that console. Functional, tasteful, and not so wildly out of proportion to its surroundings.
As someone that has fared pretty well without navigation, it usually does more harm than good from my perspective. Riding with a friend to the Long Beach GP a couple years ago, his navigation misdirected us off the freeway, where we were greeted by similarly stifled navigation users coasting along the curbs on both sides of a divided highway as they tried to figure out a plan B since they had become dependent on a fallible device. On another trip, his next-gen navigation system had us in the parking lot of an industrial complex, across a valley from our intended destination. This particularly irritated me because I had glanced at a map before we left and suggested a route that actually existed. Navigation also promotes driving that resembles drunken incompetence as much as any technology yet devised.
GPS zombies are the worst. Without fail, every single time I’m driving with someone like that, they’ll end up missing a turn… and instead of just making a U-turn to get back where they were supposed to go or turning down the next block, as any sane person would do, they continue driving straight until the GPS finishes “re-calculating route”. Doesn’t matter if it’s 10 miles out of the way, drives me totally insane!!!
Saw recently amongst some detour signs for road construction “Follow detour signs not your GPS!”
Ah, Jason, I hear you on both counts. The other day I got odd looks from friends when I was like, “Just use a map.” It would have taken them less time to open a trucker’s atlas than to type in the destination, which often comes up wrong… A map never shuts off and won’t steer you wrong, literally. We’ve lost a lot in the last few years..not to mention people killing themselves typing on smartphones and driving.
Maps, wonderful maps, don’t just direct you to today’s destination. Printed maps teach you the big picture every time you use them. They teach you to find North, or nothing else is useful. By depicting everything, at micro and macro scale, on one projection, they show you alternate routes and teach you how things fit together on the surface of the Earth.
Thats said, my iPhone map feature shows me real-time traffic. It’s hard to beat that, nine times out of ten.
Maps are hard to use unless you pull over to look at them.
I prefer to have a good set of written directions before I go on a long distance trip. Rarely fails.
As for what I don’t like on modern cars?
Blinged-out entertainment centers. Give me a good, strong radio with an input for my iPod and I’m satisfied.
Most useful navigation feature I’ve ever had in a car is a digital compass in the rear view mirror. That and some sense of where I’m going has never gotten me lost in a strange place, and I’m not exactly Mr. sense of direction.
Its called entry lighting and you can able it or disable it grandpa…….They are only supposed to come on when you UNLOCK the car, so it does mean that they would be potentially leaving, but if there is an early bird at stake, I could see how that would upset you, they DONT come on when you lock the car.
If the car is not backing up, go on to another space, you will live…..trust me. Its not worth getting your Metamucil all acidy Mr. Rooney.
I’m under 40 and I agree with Jim completely. When I’m driving through a parking lot and I see backup lights come on, I go into high alert of a car possibly backing out into me. Had numerous false alarms now because of this stupid lighting behavior.
My car has entry lighting: parking lights, taillights, interior lights, license plate lights and puddle lamps in the side view mirrors. No backup lights. It isn’t automatic though, it is a separate button on the fob.
I don’t know WHY backup lights would need to come on. Does any other manufacturer have that quirk?
The problem is that I could disable the “entry lighting” IF it were my own car. Of course, not owning a GM car, I don’t have to worry about it on my own car. But I can’t disable it on Herb & Betty’s Envoy.
I don’t care what other lights come on, but backup lights are for, well, backing up.
I have to agree with Jim as well. At least GM dumped the rear foglights that their domestic customers had no idea were on all the time.
Most manufactuers have at least one quirk feature that nobody else bothers with. With Ford it’s the keypad on the driver’s door. With VW, it’s the radio that works independent of the ignition key. With, GM it’s these lights and the flakey Twilight Sentinel system.
Lots of cars have some version of Twilight Sentinel or Autolamp feature as Ford calls it. Personally that is one of those must haves along with actual key less, not remote, entry which keeps my buying Fords. Of the vehicles newer than 1990 in my driveway only one doesn’t have Autolamps and two w/o key less entry.
Two days ago this happened too me at the supermarket. I drove buy a late model Impala as its occupants where getting out, I watched the guy hit the fob and woundered why his reverse lights went on. its a good thing I had seen him use the fob because I would have sat there waiting for his spot woundering why he wasnt moving.
I agree 100% on the backup lights thing. Hard to top that.
I don’t like the brake pedal interlock on the shifter that prevents you from shifting out of Park. I know it’s a safety thing and all, but it has caused me some annoyance and seems like something that will break and leave a car stranded, unable to get out of Park. Glad my pickup doesn’t have it.
Engine covers. When I open the hood, I want to see the engine, not a plastic cover that implies “no user serviceable parts under here”.
I’ll probably think of some better examples later.
+1 on engine covers. First thing to go into the recycle bin.
Lifting the hood on new cars has never been so uneventful. Even performance cars have ugly engine covers, which is blasphemy. The current Mustang for example may have literally twice the power of a 87 LX but that old OHV 5.0 certainly looked good. Same with the Camaro and Challenger for that matter.
They’re there to discourage tampering by the unwary…kids; people who don’t know what the fark they’re doing. With all the wiring, with coils on each cylinder; with FI hoses…they just want to do everything they can to keep unqualified idiots’ mitts off.
About the only thing an owner can do, these days, is check fluids.
About the only thing a “technician” can do, these days, is listen to what the computer tells him; and then R&R.
It is what it is. Cars are better now; and they last longer; but now you just about need a doctorate in mechanical and electronic engineering to understand what’s going on in there.
The problem is that since they have the engine cover it is usually quite a mess underneath one and quite ugly w/o it. I liked the Mark VIII with the little access door. The other functional thing they often do is add another layer of insulation to keep noise down.
Biggest bitch? Having to hold the clutch pedal down to start a manual shift car. I’ve always had the intelligence to make sure the shifter is in neutral before starting.
+1
Trust me, that’s just you and I.
Well…I don’t want to discount your annoyance. And I used to share this one. To where I took to bypassing the interlock on my cars.
Then one day…I goofed…don’t know why. I was tired, I guess. But I turned the key without stepping on the clutch; and yes, the car jumped forward and over the parking-lot tire stop.
No, it didn’t start. Fortunately; I’d have piled up against a concrete wall. I’ve probably bought and sold my last manual-shift car; but if I ever get another, I’ll leave the interlock alone.
I goofed once and only once. I parked my Toyota 4×4 in my garage after pulling a old truck out of its resting place of thirty years in my back yard. I left it in low range and as it was a squeeze its nose was tree inches from the garage door. I must have hit the clutch lockout button in my half asleep haze as I got in and hit the key the truck lurched forward and pushed the middle of the door out 10 or 12 inches before I was able to get on the clutch. As the door was mangled I removed it and enlarged the opening and filled it with two swinging barng doors that have to be opened manually before exiting instead of the roll up and electric door opener. I sold the truck a few weeks later.
I’m fine with the clutch interlock. What drives me crazy is the stupid button next to the ignition cylinder that has to be depressed to turn and release the key. And it’s only on the manual transmission versions.
That one has been around for awhile, though, hasn’t it? I seem to recall driving Japanese cars from the late 70s that had this feature.
Honda started putting it on their cars in 1989.
Do Jeep Wranglers have this now? I recall that the correct way of saving your clutch while rock crawling was to just key off the Jeep while leaving it in 1st gear in low range and using the starter to get going again. Can this still be done with new Wranglers?
On the pro-interlock side, I’ve seen a concours big Healey that was mangled because someone else at a show was demonstrating the remote start they’d put in their Lamborghini.
I wouldn’t take that advice seriously. If the mechanical reduction is enough that the starter motor can move the truck on an upgrade; than it’s reduced enough that you can start it from a standstill with the clutch without smoking it. In low-low, you could almost dump the clutch with the engine idling; it would snap your neck, maybe, but reduction is enough to where you’re probably not going to twist the input shaft.
I’ve never understood these people who come up with strange “special” ways of operating their gear – and even more strange rationales. I think whoever promoted that plan just liked playing with the truck and starter.
The guy teaching the starter method was a Rubicon guide of some repute.
He’s not the only one that advocates that and since they put the bypass switch on at least some Toyota 4×4’s Toyota must advocate it too.
…remote start in a Lamborghini? With a manual gearbox?
Yah. That would be an accident waiting to happen. I had remote start on one car, years ago…not even my car, my mother’s. But I’ve missed it since; and since all my cars except for my minivan were manual shift, I had to do without it.
There was a complex setup where a shop would put it in; but with several interlocks. But…the car has to be secured; if it’s parked in Neutral, then the parking brake has to be set.
On a warm car in freezing or subzero weather…not smart. NOOOO…not smart.
So I did without.
Dont forget tap the brake pedal twice before getting out. My father had a used 98 saturn with one already installed. Luckilly the instruction booklet was in the glovebox, tap the brake pedal twice to activate.
I’m not sure about the most recent Jeeps but I know that there are some 4×4 Toyotas that have a clutch interlock deactivation switch just for that purpose. It IS the way to go in some rough situations, left foot on the brake, right foot hovering over the throttle hit the key and go. Done it more than a couple of times in my Scouts.
“You are so all alone here, and I wish you would just knock it off.”
Not really. Ford has the just as infuriating ‘perimeter lighting’ that turns the parking lights on whenever the unlock button is pressed on the remote. What’s doubly aggravating is that, in years past, it was actually possible to disable this feature. But no more.
I guess the objective of having one’s vehicle stand out like a sore thumb in a parking lot is to be able to more easily find it, especially in the dark. But, to me, it’s just annoying and unnecessary.
I would much rather have the ‘cancel’ button back on the cruise control, which Ford saw fit to eliminate for a long time. During that period, in order to cancel a set cruise speed, one had to tap the brakes, which seemed a rather unsafe thing to be doing on the highway.
I’ve yet to see one of the Fords that lacks an Off/cancel button for the cruise control. It is there on my 10 and 03, and I know it was on pre 10 Fusions and Sable/Taurus that I’ve rented. Sometimes the on and off button are one in the same though.
I’m with you there. I have aftermarket cruise in my Nissan, it works great but has no cancel button, so I have to switch it off and on or brake-tap. Annoying!
While this is not really a complaint, my limited range of experience is that Japanese cars have more aggressive response in their cruise-controls than laid-back Americans. Do others have the same impression?
BTW on even lonely secondary roads, it seems few drivers care to use their cruise-control, judging from the frequently varying speed in vehicles I follow.
I remember changing out the cruise control module in my car, and grabbed one from the ‘yard for a 4 cylinder model.
Yeah, v6 and a cruise module that’s quick to give big jabs of accelerator made for interesting cruise characteristics..
I don’t know, not having driven many American cars, but I can tell you that for Nissans at least the European spec cruise is far more aggressive than the Japanese product! I frequently drive new Nissan product, from X-Trails (very mild Japan build) to Jukes (medium – Sunderland build) to Qashqai (foot to the floor! – Sunderland build).
Best cruise I’ve had was the factory cruise in my old ’05 Mazda 6 wagon. It resolutely held the set speed up hill or down, never varying by more than 3 km/h either side. My old ’08 Mazda 6 wagon was terrible – it’d gain up to 15km/h more than the set speed uphill, and when it realised it was way over, it would kill the throttle so sharply it was like I’d hit the brakes strongly. The aftermarket cruise I had fitted to my Nissan is adjustable for a huge range of settings, including response time, how much the speed can rise/fall before the module intervenes etc. The details on how to change the settings (and the fact they exist!) aren’t in the regular user manual, but are in the specialist installer manual. I’d never be without cruise control – it makes for smooth and economical driving. On cruise my ’05 6 would sit on 6.2 l/100km at 110km/h, and over the 3 years I had it, it averaged 7.5 l/100km – and no I don’t drive like a grandma!
Whether cruise control actually saves gas depends a huge amount on the terrain you drive in and how the system responds. We had one of the first generation Toyota Vans to come into the US and using cruise around here meant significantly lower MPG than knowiing how to drive economically. With the steep OD when you can to the slightest grade the car would slow significantly and since it was tied into the overall computer it would kick the trans out of OD, regain that speed and then some and stay out of OD until you were well down the other side of the grade. Being able to see the grade coming just a light throttle before it hit grade would keep it in OD up and over the grade.
Now with our Fusion Hybrid using the cruise does improve MPG since it will use the battery to boost it up over the grade and use regen on the way back down the other side.
Agreed. My terrain was (and is) a mixture of undulating roads and rolling hills. I believe how the system responds was the chief reason why my ’05 6 was good and my ’08 6 was bad. Both had the 5-speed auto, but the ’05 was a 2.3-litre and the ’08 was a 2-litre. The 2.3 6 would drop back to 4th for inclines and had enough torque to lope up the hills. Very smooth engine braking for downhills too. The 2-litre was under-powered and gutless and simply didn’t have enough torque to maintain speed on undulating roads – any hill would see 3rd gear instantly. The ’08 never averaged better then 8.9l/100km. My current ’97 Nissan is in the middle – not as good as the ’05 6, but not as bad as the ’08. Over the last 110,000km it’s averaged 8l/100km.
High belt lines. I want to be able to rest my arm on the window sill when driving with the windows down without having my elbow higher than my shoulder. Just picked up an ’03 F150 that allows me to do this just nicely…..
THIS.
I rode in a rented Camaro recently and felt like I was peering out of a tank turret. Visibility on new cars seems atrocious compared to the low-beltline greenhouse styling of the 80s. I don’t know how people maneuver half-blind in parking lots without bashing into each other on a regular basis.
+1
Bring back the visibility my 1993 Intrepid and 1973 Sedan de Ville had.
Nowadays you can only get that on minivans.
Yes, yes, yes! It beats me why so many ‘family’ cars have such a high waist line that rear-seat passengers can’t see out if they’re short or kids. Like the just-released new Mazda3 – who the heck’s gonna be able to see out of the back of that. Yes I like how it looks, but dropping the waist line a few inches wouldn’t have killed the looks… And don’t get me started on how unsafe it is when the driver has poor visibility…
This.
And for anyone who is shopping and cares, subarus still have good visibility. I guess when style doesn’t matter, the designers have more leeway 🙂
That’s the style, because it looks protective. Heck, it probably is protective against side impacts with the excess of lifted trucks & SUVs on on the roads. Up front, pedestrian safety standards have mandated high hoodlines. It’s easy for designers to draw that hoodline all the way back, raising the side windows. Meanwhile, the wind tunnel results are pinching the rear roofline into that fishy shape it loves so well. It’s easy to see why the restriction of visibility is happening, but I hate the results.
“Pedestrian safety,” don’t even get me started. Yeah, you will be SO much less gravely injured if a 2013 Focus hits you at 50 mph than if it were, say, an ’85 Civic.
Sorry, if ANYTHING hits you at 30, 40 or 50 mph, you’re going to have a really bad day…
shhhhh..if someone hears you, some alphabet soup group in DC will deem that all cars are made of Nerf material from the front end to the windshield.
Demolition Man was easily the most accurate futuristic movie ever made. At least regarding cars. Uber safety, self driving, ped safe, dull blobs.
“this car turned into a cannoli!” /end Stallone voice
Speaking of manual transmission cars, here’s an oldie from the sixties: for a while, GM had an interlock where you could not remove the ignition key on a manual transmission car unless it was in reverse. Never personally experienced it but it seems like it would be irritating.
I saw one of those once.
GM took the requirement to lock transmissions up, seriously in the early years. Console-shift automatics also locked; something that isn’t required even today.
Never knew that… guess it was inevitable that GM and Saab would combine forces one day.
I could swear that my 2004 Grand Am had this same interlock.
There are several.
First…remote entry has become almost universal. BUT…having the control as a KEY HEAD…does NOT work. IF I’m going to have it; I need a separate control.
Here’s why: I’m a little on the large side. Not grossly obese; but bigger than I should be. And I tend to wear my keys on a belt loop, with the keys dangling into my right hip pocket. Done that for decades.
Now…with the remote buttons on the key; the key on the ring in the pocket; jammed in there with wallet and in jeans that get a little tight as I sit or stoop…
…one of two things happens. The car, if anywhere in range, locks or unlocks at random; OR…the freakin’ ALARM goes off!
I’ve had that happen in MOST inopportune times. Such as when I’m at work; with my hands full, but within signal range of the parking lot. Alarm goes off; and since I’m a fair distance, the signal isn’t strong. So I can’t turn it off.
I want a separate entry unit; but those just aren’t available. Can’t even cut down another key, I’m told, since the battery also affects the key chip.
The smart guys get around this by having the spring-loaded ‘switchblade’ mechanical key that pops out of the key fob with the push of button. It can then be folded back into the fob for easy carry in a pocket. Seems like Mazda was one of the first to come up with this feature.
Mercedes had it on the new SL in like 1990.
I had no idea Mercedes invented the “switchblade” key (I always thought VW/Audi had at some point in the late ’90s), since they abandoned it when they switched to the pennant-shaped IR “SmartKey” circa 1998.
The SmartKey, by the way, is one of my favorite key designs, since it’s compact enough for jeans pockets. Of course, it’s probably expensive to copy.
There is even a remote starter accessory that works through the SmartKey, though it’s also priced accordingly.
(Photo not mine; credit on photo.)
I’m not seeing how this avoids the problem since the buttons are still out there to be activated, the way I read it he wants to leave the remote at home and just carry a key to prevent accidental unlocking and setting off the panic alarm.
I absolutely loathe remote entry keyfobs that are built into the key head. I refuse to buy another Honda or Ford until they stop doing this. Toyota does this too, but at least theirs is a little smaller.
Either use a switchblade key like VW, GM, Mazda, etc, or go keyless. Whoever designed these keys must have been a woman and/or never wears jeans.
Oh, heck, I think I’d rather just go back to no remote entry at all. Like it’s really that much more convenient.
The whole key with a huge plastic head seems like just another over government regulation comedy of errors. Back in the sixties, the ignition switch on nearly all cars was in a unobtrusive, relatively benign location, usually mounted low on the dash and to the right of the steering wheel.
Then, I believe there was some type of regulation that required the steering wheel to lock when the car was turned off, so the ignition switch got moved to the steering column.
Unfortunately, this location quickly became a safety hazard. In the event of an accident, someone could suffer quite a nasty gash if they happened to bonk their head on the metal key which was now in a much higher, protruding location.
The mandate then came down for the head of a key to be padded, eventually resulting in the remote being placed on the key head.
So, even if the remote were a separate fob, you’d still have a key that had a huge, padded head. One of the first to have this was the 1978 Ford Fiesta.
It started as a German thing. My 1972 Super Beetle had padded key heads…at the time, it was tres simple to just cut them off with a pen knife.
Ford started going with the Big Key Heads round about 1980…I remember the keys to my 1985 Escort. Outsized…but not padded. I guess, as someone said, it was for women to find them in their purses more easily.
By the late 1980s, Chrysler was using plastic-headed keys.
By the mid 1990s, everyone was.
THEN came the chipped keys…you didn’t DARE start cutting stuff off. And then the remote-entry fobs; and the first example of a push-button key-head I’d seen, was a Chrysler. I didn’t like it then; and less-so, now.
Toyota does it as well. But my latest Toy, a 2012 stripper Yaris, has electric locks but no remote entry. I bet it’s all wired for it; probably even with the receiver; but no key for it.
(That’s how it was with the missing cruise control! Everything was wired in except for the control handle; which a speedometer shop got and put in. Very simple, but very expensive…)
And it doesn’t have chipped keys, either; so I can just go get a Cole National key blank without the plastic junk on it. Freedom…for this last purchase. I don’t expect to be able to do it again.
I have a 1991 Volvo 740 and a 1996 Volvo 850. Neither car has a remote entry system – just old-fashioned central locking that requires you to lock and unlock the car using the key, all of the time.
And that’s the way I like it, and hope to keep doing for a long time with those cars. My parents’ ’85 Lincoln Continental had that stupid pushbutton keyless pad on the driver’s door and I hated that thing with a passion.
I hate the switch blade style since they end up being more bulky and I don’t like the way they hang out so much further than the Ford and Honda styles.
I’m not seeing any difference between having the separate Fob and one integrated into the head of the key unless you just want to not carry the remote. With me it always seems that I set off the panic alarm, not double lock or unlock the car. With the Ford you can get keys w/o the remote. You can also disable the remote function by removing the battery w/o it affecting the transponder that gets its energy from the “ping” of the coil imbedded in the ignition lock. In the owner’s manual for the wife’s car with the integrated key it specifically states that you can program up to 8 keys but only 4 with remotes.
Other issues: First, every new car I’ve had in the last five years, RACES on a cold start. Anyone who knows anything about mechanics, knows how hard that is on a cold engine. My Toy Yoda mechanic told me it was done with the computer-controlled fuel injection; and required for emissions. Got to get the catalytic converter hot ASAP.
Other: The slippery shape saves fuel; or so they say. And it basically precludes vent windows, which are gone so long that no one younger than I or JPC, remembers them.
But that slippery shape does something else. When you open the WINDOW…because it’s warm in the sun but not really hot outside; or because you were a cheapskate and special-ordered a car without A/C…
…at speeds above 35 mph or so, an air wave develops in pulsations. You can hear and feel it; and in some cars (three that I’ve had) the metal of the roof starts twanging like a piece of sheet steel being strummed back and forth. At that point, I typically rolled up the window to prevent popping welds.
The downside of the teardrop-shape; and had we vent windows, it could all be avoided.
The solution to this is to open one of the rear windows a crack. The same applies to when opening the sunroof. Of course, then there’s the problem of forgetting that that rear window is open upon exiting the vehicle.
I would imagine that the demise of ‘flow-thru’ ventilation which would allow open front windows to be free of the air wave pulsations is due to the universal installation of A/C in nearly all new cars, as well as the dearth of two-door coupes.
Trouble is, my current mount is a two-door sedan.
With fixed rear windows.
No solution…however, I do have A/C. I don’t believe in spending on it; but if you don’t, you really get hosed when the time comes to sell.
Our Aerostar did that buffetting pulsating thing pretty badly. It didn’t have A/C either, and no power windows, and the rearmost windows on those didn’t open anyhow.
The buffeting thing doesn’t happen with all cars. Years ago when I test drove an Edge that windows down buffeting meant it wouldn’t even be on the list if I was actually going to buy a new car at the time. The first time I rented a 2010 Fusion that was one of my tests and it passed, no buffeting at speed with either all, the fronts or just the drivers window all the way down.
How about the non stop Nannie warning chimes every ten seconds if you don’t have your seat belt fastened? Those chimes should be required on all vehicles, though, for when the turn signal is left on. This also brings back memories of the talking K-cars from the ’80s. “Your door is ajar. Your door is ajar.” No, it’s not a jar, it’s a door. Us kids were such smart asses.
Oh, that’s easy: No glass area, no glass area and no glass area. Maybe if there was, I don’t know, MORE GLASS AREA, maybe the manufacturers wouldn’t have to put stupid little cameras on new cars!
I am with you on the keyless entry back-up light activation though, it’s stupid. My uncle’s Trailblazer does this, and I always wonder what is the point?
The cameras are now required by law. Someone could build a bubble-top, no steel at all; and it would STILL have to have those cameras!
I read that that upcoming requirement got put on hold because the responsible agency hasn’t finished defining the specific requirements (viewing angle, light levels, etc)
“The cameras are now required by law.”
Not quite. Congress passed a law back when GW Bush was president, but NHTSA has yet to define what they are.
NHTSA keeps stalling. I presume it’s because they’ve read their own studies, which show backup cameras to be largely ineffective and not worth the cost. Since the agency can’t simply tell Congress to pound sand, it’s taking a passive aggressive approach to dealing with it. My guess is that they’ll eventually relent, because they have to, but the cameras will have at least come down in price.
This is mine. Every time I think I’ve found a car to replace my comparatively greenhouse-like 1997 Outback, I get in it, and its like trying to back a basement out of a parking spot. No thanks. I like to SEE around my car.
A related issue is opaque glass. Glass with black paint on it just makes no sense. You get the weight of glass, without the visibility.
The new Ford Explorer, for example, looks like it’s got “wraparound” glass in the back. But actually it has one of the thickest D-pillars around, covered by painted glass.
you beat me to it, the vast majority of cars I will never drive, but I have to LOOK at them still, and non-see-thru glass is the worst. Related bugs are the A-pillar window (the tiniest portion of which on some is not black) and yeuchh, the trend for surrounding headlamps with silvery plastic goo. There was a brief period where the car headlamp got smaller (or at least the glass lens did) – in the UK the Vauxhall Calibra and Mazda 323 Model F (2nd version) were examples of this – and, now, when they could make the light tiny, it explodes into a slivery fried egg mess
Anyone else think LED DRL’s are a bit played out? They’re okay on more expensive cars but it seems weird on cars like the Sentra. I’m also apprehensive on the whole touch screen movement, I figure it’s just more electrical problems to deal with in the future. I’m okay with rotary knobs, dials, and buttons, they’re more intuitive and are easier to keep clean. And +100000000 on high belt lines, I hate feeling like I’m in a bathtub. I love the belt lines on late 80’s-early 90’s Hondas/Acuras, like on my Vigor.
Next thing they’ll probably do is totally eliminate glass. Instead you will have a periscope and twenty-five cameras. Because, oh goodness, people feel so much safer without all that glass…
I thought LED DRL’s were played out before they made production. They look like boring white Christmas lights.
A rotary analog knob can be gripped, or actuated by a gloved hand. On the other hand, a touch screen demands pinpoint eye-hand coordination that’s difficult to accomplish in a moving vehicle. As screens become a ubiquitous interface, we’ll see drivers demanding, even needing, flawless ride quality. That means soft suspensions, until the time we’re controlling shock stiffness in real time.
Automatic wipers..I know when it’s raining …I can flick a switch myself..And I ALSO know when it has STOPPED raining..And therefore know when to turn off said Wipers..thank you
I would be in favor of having the headlights come on automatically if you turn on the wipers (not if you’re just using the flick wipe to clear dust off your windshield, but if you actually have the wipers on for more than about 90 seconds). Around here, anyway, maybe one in three people realizes that if it’s raining during the day and you need your wipers to see, you really need to have your lights on so that other people can see you, especially if you have a gray or silver car that’s about the same color as the sky…
There are cars that have the lights with wipers function built in. My 2001 Grand Marquis and 2010 Fusion have it but the 2003 Mountaineer and Marauder don’t. It does have about a 30 second delay so you can do the wash function or a quick swipe, it also has another 30 sec delay until the lights go off after you’ve turned off the wipers. It is only active if you’ve got the Autolamps on.
I’ve read that some state just passed a law that says if your wipers are on you have to have the lights on.
Many states have this law including Illinois.
Austin, I used to think like you until I got a car with automatic wipers. I do a lot of driving, and on situations where you’re driving four hours straight in varying rain, they are a godsend. When I get in other cars that do not have this feature, I really miss it. A lot of rain where I live…
What;s with the stupid looking chrome strips across the back between the taillights? The 2006 Civic, for example, has a body-colored strip. In 2009 it was changed to chrome. Come on, Honda, it’s a Civic, not an RL. It looks goofy. Looks goofy on the Accord, too. And that brings up another thing…those JC Whitney-looking red taillight add-ons on the 2011 and 2012 Accord. That designer should be fired for that tacky add-on. It looks the same to me as those idiots who turn their Neons into Buicks (with the ventiports).
Now you have my gears grinding. I am with you on the GM backup light deal, but my top beef is that remote control locking has over time eliminated all exterior key locks except for the driver’s door. So you are forced to use the key fob. I am an old geezer who carries my keys in my pocket all the time I am away from home. I have enough stuff to carry without the extra large key or the separate remote control. What happens if your battery is dead and you need to get something out of the trunk (like jumper cables)? I haven’t done any research on the matter, and I know many cars have a back seat crawl through so you can get in the trunk to pull the safety lever. Is that universal? I remember when we had an Acura in the body shop about a dozen years ago. The front end was badly crushed. The battery was dead and you could not access it without some serious work. There was no trunk outside lock so the owner could not easily retrieve his stuff. I thought at the time how dumb. My opinion hasn’t changed any. So far I have avoided owning what would be considered a modern car.
I’ve noticed on the newest cars there is what I would call information overload. So much stuff is clustered in the speedometer area (time, temperature, current and average fuel mileage, distance to empty, etc., etc.) that it is hard to focus in on what is important. Again, no research so you may be able to turn some of that off.
Just this week I looked at a new Focus and noticed it has no inside manual door lock knobs. That would be a safety issue to me. Once again, no research. The front doors very well may unlock when you pull the inside handle, but I am sure the rear doors don’t.
I guess you need to unlock your doors right before a crash so you can get out of the car in case power is lost.
I could go on but you get the idea. I am an independent old cuss that does not do too well with modern technology of any kind. No doubt there have been great strides made in many areas due to technology. But it is forced on us by the market, and we as a society seem to take it without question. I often think of the old ‘B’ grade science fiction movies. The scientists build a monster, and then the monster takes over. We are getting to that point…
My wife’s Mazda 5 only has one key cylinder. That alone would be OK, but if you open the drivers door with the key, you can’t unlock the rest of the doors with the lock button on the door unless you turn on the ignition first.
Also, if you unlock the car with the remote and don’t open a door within 30 seconds, it relocks itself. Maddening.
The solitary key cylinder would be okay if the proximity (‘smart’) key system was standard across the board where it is possible to open any locked door automatically so long as the key fob is within a foot or two of the vehicle. Then there’s absolutely no need for more than one cylinder since it’s unnecessary to fish around in one’s pocket for either a key or remote.
In fact, it used to be that if a car did not have any kind of remote (base, strippo versions), they ‘did’ have a cylinder in every door. Then, when you moved up to the remote-equipped models, all but the driver’s door cylinder were deleted.
I don’t know how the new Focus is set up, but in VWs and BMWs with no manual knob, you can pull the inside handle twice to unlock.
I recently rented a Focus and after having it two days finally saw that there was a door lock/unlock button in the center of the dash just above (or maybe below) the flasher button. Not a place one would expect to find door locks.
I detest how many new cars GIANT headrests are unable to be adjusted backwards…several rental cars I have got in the past few years all have this in common. So 99.9% of the time you are uncomfortable for the .1% of the time you are protected from whiplash in an accident. No thanks, I want an adjustable headrest!
I agree completely, they look idiotic and aren’t comfortable if you want to lean back. Try sitting in the back seat and looking beyond these monsters. When I’d go on a long trip with my father in his Crown Vic I’d just remove them completely so I could see out of the windshield from the back seat.
Yep. Have a 2000 Crown Vic and I love how easy it is to see out of it with a glance..Rented a 2011 Vic with the new giant headrests and it killed the rear visibility. And I read online that the headrest mounting apparatus was changed so you can’t put the old headrests on the new seats.
VW has remained constant– for my ’09 GTI, I use headrests from my ’88 Quantum Syncro. VW also has the least aggressive headrests I’ve found. I spent two hours at a car show, sitting in a variety of makes, and only VW and Subaru – the car brands I already owned — allowed me to hold my head upright, with my head free of the rest.
It’s funny, a lot of older headrests, especially 90s Fords, drive me nuts because there’s never any way to adjust the seat into a position where I can comfortably get my head near the headrest. I get into a newer car like a 09 Focus? My god it’s like a fist against my head!
It seems like in addition to the ridiculously positioned, non adjustable headrests, there’s no padding in them.
Actually the more I think about it..
Here are the only things you really need.
ABS anti lock braking system.
An air bag..Touch and go this one..But I’ll include it.
And Air conditioning..If you live in a hot climate.
And ICE..a car stereo or ipod..or whatever.
I could live without power windows..power steering.( On ALL but the biggest of cars..Say from the Ford Mondeo on up. Ok fair enuff But.from the Focus and down..Not necessary..At all).Power seats with memory..( belongs in the dustbin of history)
Mostly all electronic aids are just Rubbish that goes wrong..
If you are rich and can afford it..
Go for leather seating..A fancier stereo.Or tinted windows…or double glazing ,whatever.
If your a business executive..then you’ll be needing hands free telephone for all the time between meetings.
I’ve excluded all the mechanical improvements such as fuel injection, turbos etc.
That’s a different subject.
YES! Can I say that as someone in retail who still occasionally has to get carts in the parking lot (as does everyone on up to the Store Manager) those GM ghost backup lights scared the bejeezus out of me the first time I saw ’em! I know now to look for the driver…but too many of them have black-tinted windows (another pet peeve, especially on tall vehicles. THE reason I don’t own an early xB.)
I’m also SO ready for the jacked-up with gray cladding fake off-roader look to be over…
Nav systems that cost more to update than a standalone unit…that comes with free lifetime updates (which is why I’m likely to not buy another car with nav).
Also, since I drive a number of vehicles, it bugs me that some manufacturers put the audio controls on the left and the cruise control buttons on the right, and on others it’s vice versa. Nothing like trying to bump the speed down a few mph, and instead find yourself going the same speed, but not being able to hear the radio.
Audio systems that are needlessly complex, and will be obsolete in a few years. For years we lived with less-than-perfect, two-knob, five-button radios that STILL function today, despite the lack of “program search,” RDS and other gewgaws that won’t be supported in several years, and are too complicated to use while driving.
And since you mentioned the teasing nature of backup lights that signal a parking spot that is about to become available: I never understand when drivers hold up all traffic by sitting in the middle of a parking lot aisle, just to wait for another car to exit a spot…when an already open one sits just a few cars down. It baffles the mind all the more when it’s outside of a multi-acre big-box store or a two-mile long shopping mall.
It’s because lots of people are lazy-butts. I usually park in the back 40, to avoid said lazy-butts from dinging or denting my car.
Imagine the people who bought mid-90s cars with those “new” GPS systems that are now boat anchors. My phone’s GPS works fine if I need such a function, and it’s not permanently attached to my car.
I agree, but unfortunately in some states you risk a ticket by using a phone’s GPS while driving (California, I’m talking to YOU). So I’m reduced to using a purpose-built GPS, particularly if I’m driving alone.
I just start it and throw it on the seat before I drive. It tells me where to go; I don’t even look at it.
RE: the radios: yes! They’re as bad as VCR remotes now! Gone are the days of manipulating the stereo by touch alone. (Well not in MY driveway, anyway!)
Big tall rear ends. You can’t see around them from the inside, you can’t see around them from another car outside and they’re U G L Y. I know, I know, cargo. Everyone suddenly needs to be able to haul around oil drums apparently. But you know what? Every one of big assed cars have at least 10″ of dead space between the trunk floor and bottom of the quarters. I don’t know why that area is so underutilized considering nobody mounts fuel tanks in that area anymore, nor even uses a standard spare in a lot of cases(instead they give you a fix a flat type kit). Either utilize that or *gasp* lengthen the overhang.
Standard(?) limo tint on SUVs. This has irritated the hell out of me since I’ve been of driving age, I can not see a thing if I’m in traffic if I’m behind one. I can’t see street signs until last minute, I can’t see traffic ahead to pick a lane or exit, stop lights, sudden stoppers, ect. All I see is a wall of VanSUV.
Center mounted instruments. I’ve heard these are mounted there because they’re in the natural sight line. Well apparently my natural sight line, which is straight ahead, is wrong. The ones with the digital readout are even more ridiculous. Luckly though this feature is mostly relegated to kitschy cars for the moment, where the way forward is to always look slightly off to the right.
And my No. 1: Headlights pulled way into the fenders. Almost every car in the world has that grinning or slant eye look to it now. It makes me long for the days when sealed beams were mandated.
“Big tall rear ends…you can’t see around them from another car outside and they’re U G L Y. I know, I know, cargo.”
Hey, leave my Aunt Bertha out of this. No need to get personal.
Standard(?) limo tint on SUVs. This has irritated the hell out of me since I’ve been of driving age, I can not see a thing if I’m in traffic if I’m behind one. I can’t see street signs until last minute, I can’t see traffic ahead to pick a lane or exit, stop lights, sudden stoppers, ect. All I see is a wall of VanSUV.
I do wish clear/lightly tinted glass was still an option on those type of cars. I like tinted windows well enough (they can’t see in, mannnn), but only on some cars and only with certain colors. The dark factory tints also make it so that if you ever wanted to get the front windows tinted, you’d have a tough time getting them to match the rest.
+1 all the way.
1) Push button ignition
2) Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems
3) Back up cameras
They all make me f***ing nuts.
I’d probably have a seizure if I tried to drive a new Ford with all that electronic display shit on the instrument panel.
Oooh, I almost forgot: 20 inch wheels as standard equipment! Who wants to spend $1500 on a set of replacement tires?
TPMS is a royal PITA here, where snow tires are required by law during the winter months. I have a second set of wheels for the snow tires so I can install/remove the snows myself each year. But even if I paid for and installed TPMS sending units on those winter wheels, I would still have to go to the dealer, and pay a fee twice a year to reprogram the system to recognize the other set of senders.
So, I spend the winter months staring at a bright yellow TPMS warning light in the center of the instrument panel. Thankfully, it stops flashing after a minute.
It really should be possible to have TPMS systems that can be programmed (once) to handle any four of eight active TPMS sender IDs.
You just need to either buy a Ford who’s programing tool costs $10, or just use a transmission pan magnet, plus the sensors are only $25, Key on-off 6 times then key on and wait for the display to say program RF, point the tool at the sensor push the button or place the magnet over the stem, horn honks move on to the next until all 4 or 5 are programed.
Or buy your snow tires at Costco and have them do the swap, for free, and they will program them for you, for free.
TPMSs are pretty stupid. You see, they have this thing, it’s called a tire pressure gauge. You can get one for five bucks at any auto parts store in the world…
A friend bought a new Civic a few years ago and the TPMS warnings drive her and her husband nuts.
If the warnings drive them nuts then apparently it is a good thing they have it or they would be driving around with dangerously low tires, that or the Honda system is very troublesome.
Personally I was against the systems at first but it saved an expensive tire on my wife’s car. Otherwise she wouldn’t have known that the tire was low. With the fact that we have a gravel driveway and she parks in divots caused by turning the wheels to back out, you can’t tell the front tires are low sitting in those divots. The fact that it was the RF also meant that it likely wouldn’t have been noticed by her in a parking lot either, and I’m not going to check the tire pressure every day.
I had the opposite experience on my Kia. Driving along, and the TPMS light goes on. I pulled over, all tires looked ok. Drove further, light went off. I have checked the tires and they were OK. Maybe there was some radio interference somewhere. Still, it gave me a start.
This happened when the car was brand new and would go off if a tire was 1-2 psi low. It may have been a defective unit as the car is fine now.
My friends know how to maintain their vehicles.
My, we are a bunch of fussy old farts.
Kevin, I was thinking the same thing. I am a big fan of most of the new features that make driving easier. It’s that after market crap that bugs me: loud stereos, mufflers, crazy headlamps, etc.
And what of it?
Get off my damn lawn! 🙂
OK already, I’m off it!
GIANT CENTER CONSOLES
1. Lack of keyholes on passenger side and trunk. Sometimes the remote dies.
2. Hieroglyphics on the dash. What is wrong with good old words like lights, horn, wipers, volume, etc. Took a while to figure out what all those symbols meant went I got my last new vehicle in 2008.
I imagine that the hieroglyphics are for world market cars, because not everybody speaks English. That said, there is a stunning amount of English in my JDM Impreza built in Ota, Japan where nobody speak English at all. I think that’s hilarious.
Yes!! to key locks on the passenger door and trunk. Every remote I’ve had broke sooner or later. Either the remote itself or the system. Too bad if you have a dead battery and your jumper cables are in the trunk.
Thankfully all of my cars have a lock on the trunk even though they don’t have one on the passenger door. The real problem is the fact that since the key doesn’t get used in the door it is not uncommon for them to gum up and not work worth a darn. I know that was the case with our Taurus, the wife and I have remotes for it but when the son started driving he only got a key and had trouble with it. Thankfully just a little lube got it working like it should again. I really should spend the $6 and get him a remote though.
In styling I really miss “long and low”. Even the cars that attempt that sort of look are too tall. The Challenger is a good example. They all have black rockers to try to fool the eye, but if you are following one it looks tall and narrow. When you see a 70s or back normal car going thru traffic it looks like a custom dream machine in comparison to those around it. To be fair tho, my wife hates low cars. Her favorites are always little, high SUVs, claims she can see better.
@Buzzdog – you beat me to the “lawn” comment. Great minds think alike?
I totally agree about tinted windows, for seeing ahead through cars in front, but also for seeing other drivers’ faces. As a longtime cyclist, I long ago learned to catch drivers’ eyes at intersections, which you can’t do with tinted front windows. (Applies even when driving.) And I also fear they can’t see out as well either.
I’ll also add to the chorus against high beltlines and huge Gremlin-esque C and D pillars.
I know it’s a “safety feature” because of strengthened roofs, but the watermelon-thick A-pillar. I’m sick of having to play hide & seek with pedestrians, cars, school buses, and 747s that can all hide behind any modern vehicles A-pillar. Don’t even get me started on the D-pillar of the Toyota Sienna I drove recently. It hid half the state of Colorado.
The A-Pillar in new cars has that stupid “curtain” airbag.
Your government at work…mandating this idiocy.
Hey! When you get broadsided after not seeing the car coming at you behind the giant A pillar you’ll be happy that airbag is there!
Sorry Matt but some of aren’t afraid of our own shadow. I don’t need any Gooberment nanny crap on my car.
I wish the headlight dimmer switch was back on the floor like it was years ago. I could just park my left foot over the button and switch the lights back and forth as needed. With the column mounted switch, for those of us who do not drive with both hands on the wheel, it is a nuisance to have to move your hand to the lever to adjust the lights.
Oh, and I am with the person who said TPMS. Those can definitely go. It is practically impossible to get all tires the same and the OCD in me doesn’t take very well to seeing mismatched pressure in my tires.
And, what is happening to a true tilt steering wheel in cars – the one that could be tilted way up out of the way when exiting your car? My 2010 Malibu had only a limited adjustment tilt/telescope wheel and my new 2013 Buick Verano is the same way. My ’66 Chrysler New Yorker with the Tilt-O-Scope wheel offers an obscene amount of adjustment, I mean an OBSCENE amount of adjustment.
Mr. Bill
the majority of TPMS systems only activate when the tire is particularly low, in Ford’s for example it is 24 PSI they don’t send the actual pressure in any that I’ve seen.
It’s when I toggle through the vehicle information center, say to reset one of the information display features such as the trip odometer, that I encounter the tire pressure readout.
Well at least you don’t have to stare at it all the time.
Me, I think the dimmer switch on the turn signal stalk is a GOOD thing. First found it on my 1972 Volks; and I was pleased that other manufacturers picked it up. Although they were twenty years in getting it right…my Chevette’s dimmer toggle stripped out. That Great GM Feeling, again.
As for the tilt-wheel positions…blame that airbag. The airbag has to be positioned in a certain way; which means the tilt-wheel can’t move out of that zone. So you get weird adaptions…such as a wheel that TILTS but doesn’t raise or lower. Useless.
I always thought the floor of a car was a monumentally stupid place to put an electrical switch.
The worst was the early dimmer switches where the electrical connections are under the floor board. Great way to prevent corrosion of the contacts and wires, not that on the floor of a vehicle that has carpet is all that much better since the carpet can hold that moisture for a long time.
I agree that the backup light feature on GM products is stupid. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve slammed on the brakes or jumped back if on foot, only to find the owner far away from the car.
Let’s flip this question around: what SHOULD (reasonably) be on all new cars, but isn’t? For me, it’s amber turn signals all around.
Many of these have already been said, but in no particular order, here goes:
1. Obtrusive headrests (rented a CR-V, and actually turned the headrest around)
2. High beltlines (I too like glass)
3. LED headlights on every car (They used to be cool and special!)
4. Mainstream cars trying to pass as luxury cars (I don’t care that your Kia Optima has heated and cooled Nappa Leather seats! It’s still no Mercedes!)
5. All-black interiors with aluminium accents (If I wanted my car to be as cold as a dungeon, I’d drive a horse and buggy!)
6. Heated and cooled cup holders (If it takes you that long to drink something in your climate-controlled car, you have a problem. I usually don’t eat or drink anything but water in my car anyway.)
7. 3rd row seats in tiny crossovers and SUVs (Nothing but a sales gimmick to pitch to customers. They’re cramped and uncomfortable for 5 year olds!)
8. High overall vehicle height (Sedans have gotten ridiculously tall in the past decade. Cars like the Taurus, Corolla, and Accord, to name a few, are about 5-6 inches taller than they were in the 90s. This Lincoln MKS, at 61.6 inches tall, is less than 3 inches shorter than the 1984 Plymouth Voyager/Dodge Caravan!)
I know there’s plenty more but I’m tired of typing. I like complaining though if you haven’t guessed already.
Man, gone on vacation for a week, how much I must have missed!
Well, I’m not going back, so my biggest pet peeve on newer cars is the ultra-wide, constricting center consoles. Fortunately, my 2012 Impala’s is narrow by comparison.
The next? Uh huh – fixed windows on larger coupes – the Camaro demands a pillarless style.
High beltlines, thick pillars, no more “three-box styling”, chrome bumpers.
Oh well, that’s progress I suppose. I’ll get over it…
I drive quite a few cars as rentals as a I travel a lot for work. Here is my list:
-Infotainment systems. I recently had a Ford Focus Titanium and I could not, for the life of me, figure out the touch screen thingy. It was the worst of the type I have used and that is saying something, since most suck.
-George Jetson dashboards with freaking K-Mart grade plastics. Most of the modern stuff has horrid materials that they jazz up with far out shapes that “young people” buy. Problem most new car buyers aren’t young.
-“Upgrade” packages. I am a base car buyer and what I see on “upgrades” is a bleeding waste of money. The leather in said Focus was so bad and the billion speaker stereo was so lame it was obvious it was all about the spec sheet. The Focus, to me anyway, is a good $20,000 car but no way worth $30,000. You are in Camry XLE hybrid money than and that’s worth it.
-Visibility. It is really hard to see out of cars now. I had a Kia something, a little one and it was like peering out of a bunker. The all-black craptastic interior didn’t relieve the gloom
I also rented a Focus with a touchscreen, and spent the week listening to Mexican “Banda” music in El Paso because I could not easily change the station. Even if there had been a manual in the car, I wasn’t interested enough in the entertainment system to sit there and read up on it.
The dash padding went away when airbags got mandated. Thinking is, the airbag will keep you from EVER contacting the dash, so what’s the point of padding?
And the lack of padding makes a removable panel easier as well. Me…I’d just like to do without the airbag. A three-point harness, properly anchored and set up, is as safe or safer; and doesn’t raise the cost of damage in low-speed impact to a write-off. Which, in the whole, works to keep auto insurance costs reasonable (which they now are not).
Early passenger airbag dashes were still padded. I think a lot of reason they’ve gone to thick plastic is to minimize repair cost. Airbags tend to destroy the padded dashboards when they blow, not just the cover like it’s supposed to.
1) I loathe touchscreens in general — I had to deal with a touchscreen on a work phone and for one of my cameras and find them completely infuriating — and the idea of building one into a car’s center stack to operate things that would work perfectly well with buttons and knobs is maddening. Also, while it’s been a long time since I lived somewhere it got really cold during the winter, I distinctly recall having to wear gloves while driving …
2) I really dislike sunroofs, in particular because the type of retractable moonroof used by some automakers has a basic design flaw that means the roof will sometimes leak if you park outside in the rain at some kind of angle (e.g., in my assigned space). I’ve noticed that some newer cars compound the annoyance by only including a translucent mesh sunshade rather than a proper opaque sliding cover, so on a hot summer day around lunchtime, you can’t escape the feeling of the sun trying to burn a hole into your skull.
3) Last and definitely not least, I am frustrated by the busy-looking and pointless compound curves that current designers seem to love adding to the sheet metal in an effort to make a bland shape look interesting; the main result is to make a brand-new car look like it’s already got body damage.
Speaking of which, the most obnoxious iteration of this trend is the current fad for sharp-edged body side creases through the front fenders and doors, a trope used by more recent cars than I can readily remember. The problem is that the creases are usually positioned so they’re the widest point of the body sides (which of course no longer have rub strips) and thus take the hit every time someone parked next to you opens their doors too wide, leaving an ugly divot. With that kind of shape, I’m guessing that fixing such injuries is beyond the reach of cheap paintless dent removal services, so suddenly what would have been a $100 irritation becomes thousands of dollars worth of bodywork.
Last night, I spotted one of these cars whose owner had installed full rubber door-edge guards on all four doors: a little dorky-looking, but admirably courteous …
I’m with you on all of these. Sunroofs waste headroom, weaken the roof, invite rust, etc. And as for the excess compound curves, I think they’re the tailfins/Rolls grilles/heavy plastic lower-body cladding of the new millennium. A new Sonata is a real looker? Sure…like a new Grand Am was in ’92.
Guess I am the odd man out; I love the sunroof in my Acura. Still plenty of headroom and I like the light and fresh air when it is open. Rust isn’t an issue here and the car is in a garage most of the time.
+1. I’ve always had a sunroof on my cars.
Same here, whenever I’m buying a car I always look out for ones with a sunroof. It is a real bitch when they do leak, though… fortunately I’ve only ever had that happen on one car; unfortunately, it’s the car I currently own and I’m ready to weld the damn thing shut!!
Yep, I luuuurve sunroofs. In fact I love them so much that when I bought my old R33 Nissan Skyline 10 years ago without one, I had the roof cut off and replaced with another Skyline roof with a factory tilt-slide sunroof in it. Sounds mad I know, but it was actually cheaper to do it that way than to have an aftermarket tilt-slide one fitted. It did help though that I’d popped the car through a 5-wire fence and the insurance company was repainting the whole car!
I love sunroofs too.
Three giant loaves of bread (Federally mandated) lined up above the rear seat, blocking a good portion of the view through the rear window. Easy enough to remove, but a pain in the ass in rental cars when you just want to get in and go.
I just hate all of the damn bells and chimes. There might be a situation where I need to have the vehicle running and a door open and I don’t want to hear “ding, ding, ding, ding” the whole freaking time!
The same goes for the seat belt. If I am sitting still, I may need to unbuckle the belt to perhaps get something out of reach and maybe I don’t want to hear a freaking “ding dong, ding dong”
So basically, I just wish modern cars would shut up.
And another thing! I can’t stand the Euro cars that have 1 terribly bright tail light bulb (only on one side of the car) that stays lit when the fog lights are on…I end up just staring at that light like a memorized deer!
This would not be a problem if people used their fogs light… when there’s fog.
I have traveled to Holland many times, and often driven in the worst fog I have ever seen. These rear fog lights really work, and save lives.
You can’t prove that they’ve saved one single life. Sorry to burst your bubble.
I don’t believe anyone has mentioned this yet: Daytime running lights combined with gauge lights that come on automatically at night. I am ALWAYS seeing people driving on the highway with no taillights on because of this. They don’t realize their full exterior lights aren’t turned on.
+1
Oh, God yes, the number of people I see doing this is shocking- thought it was just a local habit!
Yes! I’ve been noticing this phenomena at a dangerously regular rate over the past few years.
The early years of daytime running lights, the lights on were high-beams with reduced voltage. So…you really couldn’t see much at night. They were to BE seen, not to illuminate.
Now, of course, on cars that have them…they’re bright and low-beam or as bright as headlights.
Not so good. Any situation that needs that kind of illumination up front, needs taillights to be on as well.
I haven’t seen the “automatic gauge lights” yet; although with some Toyota models, the panel is set up so it CANNOT BE READ without lighting. There is no non-illuminated lighting. It’s not LEDs (although it’s yellow LED backlit) but just transparent openings in the black face; to another black background behind the lighting setup.
Turn the key on, and everything’s lit. Turn the headlights on, and the panel lights dim..instead of full-intensity brightness.
Makes you wonder how all this is getting past the NHTSA. This, taken together, is a REAL safety issue…and they were worried about how fast the speedometer reads.
On the contrary, while LED DRLs might be gaudy, at least there’s no way (I think) to think the main headlights are on, since they lack a beam pattern.
The LED DRLs don’t put out enough light to con the driver into thinking his lights are on.
Assuming we have to have DRLs…this is probably a good development.
Yeah I frequently see Toyotas driving with only the DRLs on due to having the lighted dashboard set up. Most of them do not have an old school cluster so it comes on with the car as that is the only way you can see it.
Remember it is Transport CA and NHSTA that is the driving force behind those DRLs, of course w/o understanding just how unsafe they are in the hands of the average idiot who now drives at night w/o the real lights on.
One of them is me…
+1 One major reason why I hate, hate, hate DRLs.
Good point. My Honda Fit does this, instrument lights are always on. I will confess to having driven without my lights on in the dark a time or two.
It’s less a problem at night – when the full-intensity instrument panel lights tell you something’s amiss – and more the problem in low-light situations. Overcast; late in the day, etc.
Seems the designers of these things are just too clever by half…which is most of the problems we’ve been griping about.
I agree with many of these, especially the tiny windows and poor vision from newer cars. But worst of all are the numbers on the bottom of the Monroney sticker that tells me I can’t afford any!!
My pet peeve? The full size 2wd trucks that come from the factory with 4wd ride heights. If I want to be up in the air like a 4×4, I will buy a 4×4! One of the advantages of the lower ride height of the 2wd pickup (have they forgotten?) is a LOWER LOADING HEIGHT in the bed. Nothing like trying to wrestle some heavy cargo up and in (instead of straight in). Add to the fact that the higher ride height moves the center of gravity to ,oh, the height of my eyebrows–add that to the massive tail-up attitude that seems to be s.o.p. to go with the higher stance, now the marginal handling becomes even more so. I hate running boards, I hate nerf steps, and I really hate the idea of using a rope and grappling hook to enter the cab. (btw-I’m not short/6’0″ tall). Time to peruse the Bell Tech catalog for a lowering kit……(mutermuttergrumblegrumble…)
+1
Yesterday, the kid loading my ’93 at Lowe’s said he LOVED my old truck, because he could throw the bags of manure over the sides. Try doing that in some of the newer trucks, unless of course you’re unusually tall.
My wife’s vehicle is a 2008 Mercedes Benz ML550, a gift from her father. It has manumatic transmission buttons on the back of the steering wheel (where Chrysler products usually have their volume up & down and channel up & down buttons). Can’t tell you how many times we’ve both upshifted or downshifted by mistake. It is a truly annoying (and I would argue dangerous) feature.
My vote goes to any cars that still use red rear turn signals instead of amber. It’s ridiculous to have to stare at the rear of a car in the adjacent lane for a second or so at highway speeds to see if there is a turn signal operating in addition to the brake lights, when amber signals are always immediately visible. Can’t believe there isn’t a legal standard for this.
Amber turn signals on the rear are what should be outlawed. I live where it is frequently foggy and people often don’t use their headlights. So you can’t tell whether that car up in the distance with the single flashing amber light is coming at you and about to turn in front of you or if they are going your way.
There is a reason that side marker lights behind the rear wheels have to be red by law and why for years, until the foreign car makers petitioned to make amber rear signals legal, all lights behind the rear wheels had to be red except for back up lights.
Having amber lights on the rear also won’t tell you which end of the car you are looking at when the 4 way flashers are on by themselves in the dark or in fog.
After having driven on the road some time, I’m becoming more convinced that most amber rear turn signals are just too small. The red ones are easier to see from a distance. Maybe the amber signals work well in urban Europe and Japan, but in rural and semi-rural North America, they are just too damned small.
No, the amber rear turn signals suck here in Japan, too.
Glad to know I’m not the only one who thinks that rear turn signals should be red.
Add me to the hoards who dislike high waistlines and stupidly-forward headrests. My biggest bugbear though is the lack of soft-touch surfaces nowadays. My ’97 Nissan is a tactile dream compared with many new cars…
I miss switches that actually switch things on and off and can be replaced simply; I think centralized control hubs for every electronic device is not only hubristic on a manufacturer’s part but dangerous. It’s one thing to have the HVAC system and radio on the same touchscreen, but it’s another thing entirely to have the entire car running on shared buss networks…One little subcontracted printed circuit cracks, and you get what happened on our ’09 Beetle – the wipers get switched on and the radio shuts off, and the airbag stops working, and possibly the brakes, too. Oh, and the windows go down by themselves and aren’t able to be fixed because they’re on the same hub. That car was bought back by VW as a lemon.
So why can I buy the cheapest $99 air conditioner with a manual control knob and on/off switches, but I can’t buy a car with the same things?
it’s the “module” trend. You know, where when your window fails it could be the $457 non-returnable module that wirelessly communicates with the door window motor that you can’t test, or even configure after installation, without the $857 factory testing doohickey. Bring back the $15 dollar window switch. There’s no need for super high tech methods of making the window go up and down to save the 15 cents in wire between the switch and the motor.
Is sub-assembly involved? Have the assembly made in China; shipped over; and what used to take five stations on the assembly line takes one.
Add to that, the law and liability-related problems: Windows that have to stop and then retract when coming up against a resistance against so many pounds force. That takes a smart circuit…are these required? I know windows that stop are; and I heard talk of requiring reversing circuits…even if not required, some might be used.
I’m speculating on this last. But believe me, the manufacturers aren’t making them complicated for the same of complexity. Someone has to design these units; and then either engineer them or contract them out; and then use them.
A little of it is about saving some pennies on the wire but the big thing is saving weight because copper is heavy. So you have the CAN Bus module that just need one large gauge wire running to it that supplies the power to maybe a 1/2 dozen items and two tiny communication wires to tell it what to activate at a given time.
It’s also quicker and easier to diagnose electrical problems with everything linked up. You can plug a scan tool into the DLC under the dash and trouble every subsystem from the fuel injectors to the trunklid popper.
Bigger problem with these is that they often have antitheft built into them so if a component fails, there’s no other option but to buy new.
Adding to the curmudgeonry one last comment, what the hell is up with every car having tiny windshields? Not only does the ‘chopped’ look make us all look like we’re driving around in some weird Batman comic, as a 6’4″ human I am constantly forced to look through a narrow strip at the top of the windshield between the horrifically large a-pillar and the auto-dimming-nav-homelink-washer sensor mirror unit…. I can’t see, dangit!!!
Probably because with the beltlines being up around your shoulders, normal height windshields would make your Camry as tall as a Transit van.
I think most of the comments above already covered all of my gripes, but in my opinion, the lack of lateral leg/knee room due to wide consoles is my biggest gripe. Number two are dead pedals for your left leg that intrude into your legroom. I have bad knees. When you have bad knees, you don’t always want to have pressure on your leg from a dead pedal. Sometimes, you just want to be able to stretch out a bit, and you can’t if that stupid dead pedal is in the way.
The rest of the stuff is more minor to me. I’ll take the good with the bad except when it interferes with my comfort.
Gauges that go to dim and unreadable when you turn headlights on during the daytime for the wiper law for example. Cars that have an ambient light sensor should use it to keep the gauges on bright during the day.
So I’m late to the party again! Most of the things that keep me loyal to my 21-year-old car have already been mentioned. I would add the steeply-raked windshields/windscreens that seem mandatory on everything that isn’t a SUV, a truck, or a pretender to either of those categories. My forehead gets pushed up against the glass, which causes me to fear for the safety of my frontal lobes. I wouldn’t mind it if more cars had adjustable pedals, so you could put some distance between yourself and that big slab of glass. The combination of being able to move the seat and move the pedals both would give a driver the ability to really fine-tune his driving position. Of course, I’m talking about adding a gadget, which is not exactly the point of this thread!
Im surprised no ones mentioned keys yet. I would much rather have a real metal key that can be replaced or duplicated for $2 at a hardware store instead of $300 at the dealer. Plus I hate the huge key fobs and push button starts that so many new cars have and quite frankly its a safety issue.
Agreed. I have long been in the habit of keeping a set of keys to all 3 cars on my key ring. But with two modern cars (plus the thin $2 replacements to the 93 Crown Vic) I have had to move the huge wad of car keys to a separate ring. These keys are made for women who go fishing for keys in their purses, not for guys who keep them in their pockets.
Drive by wire throttle. I have never ever driven a drive by wire car that was as satisfying as a good old fashion cable throttle. They are never natural or linear feeling.
Yup. Try to heel-and-toe with a drive-by-wire setup. At first the throttle doesn’t respond to a tap; and then when it does, it does too much. Computer won’t let you goose it – bad for the air, dontcha know.
It’s one more reason I gave up on manuals.
I’ve had two drive by wire cars that were horrible for rev-matching a downshift ( Honda Civic, Ford Mustang), but in my current 13 Focus ST the DBW throttle does a good job — easy to modulate throttle input from just a tap, or a more prolonged application. Works great….
Thank you! The backup lights on unlock has been the source of more panic braking in parking lots than anything else I can remember. Dumb design.
I generally like modern cars. They’re superior in just about every way to the old ways.
But the move to touchscreens has been too far, too fast. Burying basic controls under submenus really makes no sense in a driving environment, where controls need to be primarily tactile rather than visual and used with minimal effort.
I remember many years ago seeing a very rough prototype of BMW’s iDrive at the BMW Museum. My impression then was that it couldn’t possibly happen, because the setup was so distracting. Little did I know that the automakers would not only adopt the idea but they would jump in with both feet. It’s presumably cheaper and easier to install a screen than a bunch of buttons, but that’s where the advantages end.
My thing with centralized touchscreen control, is what will people do for beaters in the future? When that fails, you lose the climate and radio controls and I am sure the replacement part cost is staggering. You really wonder if it isn’t social engineering at work…if you don’t make enough money to buy a new or late model used car, too bad…why don’t you move into the city and try our new public transit system?
Been there – my Nissan’s climate control is part knob (temperature), part button (recirculation and a/c on/off) and part LCD touchscreen (fan and direction). The screen went pffffft last year. The touch part still worked, but I couldn’t see anything and I had to guess which menu screen I was on based on where the a/c air was blowing from… I replaced the whole control unit with a secondhand unit, and even that was expensive enough… At 15 years old the car’s effectively a beater. For me, I like it and it’s my only transport, so it was worth fixing, but I can see that the majority of folks would just not bother.
“You really wonder if it isn’t social engineering at work”
That’s just a wee bit paranoid, don’t ya think?
For the automaker, the touchscreen makes life easier. Instead of installing a bunch of buttons and levers and configuring all of the wiring that they need, now they can just drop in a screen with a wiring harness.
The automakers say that the customers wants high tech, which is true. But the best thing about the touchscreens is that they make vehicle assembly that much easier for the producers. With high volume production, it may even make it cheaper.
The customers are short sighted. What looks cool today is going to look absolutely jurassic in 8-10 years. Digital stuff never ages well.
I used to think I was paranoid, but seems lately every time you go online and read the news you hear things that are wilder than the extreme conspiracy theories used to be. 🙂
Planned obsolescence at work would be more accurate. Everyone likes to whine about old American cars with that built in, but really, most of the obsolescence in those came down to falling out of style. Big whoop. Their mechanical maladies always could be repaired, rebuilt, or restored 10-20-50 years down the road and be like new. Try sourcing a touchscreen unit for a 2012 _____ in 2063.
Agree completely. Bought a year end clearance ’12 F-150 Lariat recently, and apparently just eluded one of the damned My Ford Touch Screens.
Most here survived seat belt buzzers, door mounted seat belts, talking cars, and pointless digital dashboard functions that have died justified deaths.
I love the relatively simple buttons on my dash. It will be interesting to see if menu driven touch screens that are too complicated to be used while driving will also die out in time.
Ford recently announced that they’re going to go back to adding more buttons, in conjunction with the touchscreens. Ford has caught a lot of flak for the system, plus the problems that users have with the in-car technology reduce their JD Power initial quality ratings of their cars.
Kvetch, kvetch, kvetch.
IMHO, cars won’t be full of enough gadgets until we reach the cars of the “Jetsons”.
Looks like they eventually figured out a way around the too-thick-pillars syndrome, at least.
Gosh so much, some of it regulation driven, some cost cutting, some styling trend.
Regulation
* Hate not being able to use navigation while driving. Last time I checked only Honda and BMW allowed this. The passenger can do it while you drive. Better than having to stop to program in a new address.
* Thick pillars and headrests for everyone have killed visibility.
Styling trend / fuel economy
* Too fast windshields
Cost cutting
* More touch screens, fewer controller knobs. I prefer using a mouse/touch pad when it comes to computers. I’m same way in cars. The controller approach allows you to rest your arm on the console and have the controller fall to your hand. Sooooo much easier than holding your arm up to press touchscreen buttons and run the system.
* No more floor-hinged accelerator pedals except at certain German companies and Japanese luxury.
Pure styling
* Hate those chromed exhaust outlets faired into the rear bumper facias. Such a fad, and wasted cost. Plus they make everything look like an old Acura.
* Vinyl tops, opera windows, bodyside cladding have nothing on the silly LED running lights on the front of Audis and other cars.
* Plastic engine covers. Audi did it so now, for no other apparent reason, everyone feels they have to as if looking at a sheet of cheap black plastic is soooooo much nicer than seeing engine parts. Were valve covers, spark plugs, ignition wires and the intake runners really that ugly? Probably not to a car guy and if you aren’t a car guy (or gal) do you really care what it looks like under the hood?
Low profile tires on expensive, larger diameter rims
* Sure they look good and the steering response can be pretty amazing. But hit a pothole, even a small one, and you’re looking at needing a new tire and rim. Stupid.
Blinding blue LED headlights!
When they first came out, I sometimes mistook them for a cop’s blue lights. Now they’re just annoying and unsafe.
1. Modern lights, be it HID or standard. The reflectors blind on coming drivers at night. The plastic covers ALL yellow after years in the sun. Pricing out a replacement cover means buying the entire light housing. Have you looked at the cost for these things?
2. Overblown styling: There is no doubt in my mind that the INSECT has been the major design influence for automotive designers these days. Just terrible.
3. Govt mandated pedestrian safety front ends that have given the insect inspired monstrosities a certain, bulged, blunt and high look to the front end. Sporty cars now have the blunt appearance of a late 80’s F-150.
4. Starter Buttons: Really, how hard is it to put a key in a lock cylinder and turn it?
5. Check Engine Lights: Every time this little light goes off, 120 dollars immediately is deducted from your wallet for shop time.
6. Uninspired Names: EX, CL, ST. WTF?
7. Prices: Corvettes and Camaros are just a nice thought for me. Looking at the sticker prices makes me realize I will never own another new car again.
8. Overpriced markups at the dealerships: Especially behind the parts counter. For those who buy to own, sometimes OEM is the best. Ever price out a catalytic converter for anything from 1989 onward?
9. The old Cassette or CD stereo has been replaced by a sea of buttons that somehow get you to the Bass Adjust feature. And we have a problem with distracted drivers on the road?
I have rented a couple of Mazda 3s that automatically turn on the AC when you rotate the temp knob towards cool by a certain degree. In the middle of a prairie winter!
I would look down and see the AC light on, wasting all that gas for nothing.
I will add my comment about not liking the push to start feature on many new cars. You still need to have the fob nearby to start the car, how hard is it to insert and turn the key. Anyway, my dad’s 1950 Ford featured push button start; of course it was just a mechanical push button and not some electronic device. When I was about 6 years old I discovered that the starter button on the Ford was “live” at all times, even if the key was not turned on. I nearly punched a hole in the back of the garage one day by pushing the starter button while the Ford was in first gear.
1. The tiny windows and thick pillars, as discussed. I think it is truly frightening that there is less visibility–SIGNIFICANTLY less visibility–in new cars, with their backup cams, driver and passenger-side mirrors, sensors, etc, than there is in a ’77 base model Electra 225 with a driver’s only mirror that is 222 in long and thus a good 2 feet on anything produced in 2013. Add that to the many things people are carrying around to distract them in their cars today, and it is really disturbing.
2. Entertainment systems: both for the distractions from the road and for the sad commentary on our culture—kids can no longer look at the scenery or read or play with a map, nope, they have to watch some brain rotting crap. Still worse when the driver appears to be watching the show, too. That’s safe…
3. High replacement costs for every single part. If I want a second set of keys, I shouldn’t have to get a reprogrammed fob for several hundred dollars. I want to just to be able to go to the hardware store and have them do it for $3. Also, I once met a guy whose car died at the gas station and was calling his wife to bring a keyfob. He had forgotten his fob but its pull was apparently strong enough to allow him to get a few blocks from home. What? Also, someone I met recently was paying $50 for replacement headlights. I think the bulbs for the Electra are $11 each and can be screwed in from the front. I’m not saying I love taking apart my car; I leave complicated things to the professionals, but why complicate things that by their very nature should be simple and cheap such as headlight and key replacement.
4. Touch screens, generally. Hate them. I like reaching over and turning on the air conditioning without taking my eyes off the road.
5. Absence of VENT/ECONOMY/FRESH AIR option on climate control. Perhaps I don’t want the air heated or air conditioned to 72 degrees. Perhaps it is a nice day but I’m going 65 on the highway and I’d like some fresh air without major drag on my mileage and the wind whipping in my face. Since there are no vent windows, the least we can do is allow some vents.
6. The big consoles are super annoying, agree. I just want to stretch out. Even the biggest cars (I’m talking to you, Chrysler 300) feel like penalty boxes with huge consoles and the aforementioned high little windows.
7. Speaking of the Chrysler, the backlit speedometers in bright blue, bright red, etc. I liked old speedometers, with the digits printed, that the lights when turned on would then illuminate, not illuminated numbers themselves. They further “enhance” the cave experience in the Chrysler 300.
8. As above, lack of exterior and interior color choice except in ugly novelty applications (see lime green Camaro)
9. Lack of low end torque.
The genuine Strattec keys for my Fords are only about $15 and as long as you have two keys you can add more in about 15 sec. Sweet talk the people at the hardware store and you can get it cut for free or buy a key for $2 and have them cut yours instead.
Where do I start… there’s just far too many things I don’t like about modern motor vehicles. The more crap they ladle on them the more I like my ’78 Fairmont…
I was passed by a silver-haired guy in a rough looking Granada yesterday. I thought, “I bet he’s owned that since it was new. He probably hasn’t made a car payment since Jimmy Carter was in office.”
All these comments really, really make me appreciate my 2013 Versa. It’s dirt simple inside with NO touch screens! Manual transmission that let’s me hypermile occasionally. Crank windows. Non-power mirrors. Old style A/C & door locks. Manual lever activated seats. Non-complicated radio. It has enough visibility to make me un paranoid when backing up. Absolutely the closest thing to a stripper car that you can find in 2013.