Most pointless features in a car

I'm surprised no one else has said this. Indicators seeing as alot of drivers don't see the need to use them:-D
 
Cruise control is excellent. I've got a dodgy right ankle that doesnt bend quite as much as it should and it will ache on long journeys if I have to keep it in one place on the accelerator. Cruise lets me move it around. Plus I find that cruise allows the ECU to really get the most optimal fuel/air/timing settings and so the best mpg.
 
Yugguy said:
Cruise control is excellent. I've got a dodgy right ankle that doesnt bend quite as much as it should and it will ache on long journeys if I have to keep it in one place on the accelerator. Cruise lets me move it around. Plus I find that cruise allows the ECU to really get the most optimal fuel/air/timing settings and so the best mpg.
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Fair point. Ok, get rid of cruise control except on yugguy's car! :lol:
 
I love cruise control.......go for a blat and set the cruise at your top speed then slow down to 10mph and then hit the resume button and hold on :amazed:

Great for giggles my XKR will try to get you back to 100+ as fast as possible :lol:


Also I find entertaining is to set the cruise to about 50mph and see if you can get all the way home without taking it off....OK I live in the country and I dont have to slow down until I hit a village so this is not going to work for all you 'townies' out there :blink1: but you will be amazed how quick it seems going around bends that you dont think you slow down for.


I dont mind daytime running lights cant quite see the point, we have survived a long time without them but they will be law on all new cars come Feb 2011
 
Some cruise systems are a bit ploddy on the resume/add-speed thing. My 406 had a similar idea to yours. Clearly nowhere near as quick as an XKR but more than convincing enough (and 320+ lbft did a good job of being convincing) to make you wonder why PSA programmed it this way. If I really want to accelerate rapidly I'd have used the pedal, surely? If I just wanted to add 10-12mph to my set speed using the cruise lever it didn't have to try and do it in 1 second flat.

I very much like you point about setting at 50mph and leaving it set for the journey to home. I, too, live in the country and have played similar games in various cars here and there.

In a proper sports car such as yours most people would not notice the cornering speeds and forces at 50mph. It would happen easily. But plonk 'em back in the ubiquitous Vectra tomorrow - they'll hit the same bend they rounded easily in your XKR yesterday and wonder how the hell they got round it at 50mph


Jagz said:
I love cruise control.......go for a blat and set the cruise at your top speed then slow down to 10mph and then hit the resume button and hold on :amazed:

Great for giggles my XKR will try to get you back to 100+ as fast as possible :lol:


Also I find entertaining is to set the cruise to about 50mph and see if you can get all the way home without taking it off....OK I live in the country and I dont have to slow down until I hit a village so this is not going to work for all you 'townies' out there :blink1: but you will be amazed how quick it seems going around bends that you dont think you slow down for.


I dont mind daytime running lights cant quite see the point, we have survived a long time without them but they will be law on all new cars come Feb 2011
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The push button start button on a 1 series bmw,

Right laugh when your passenger presses it and turns the engine off going round a corner
 
Jagz said:
I love cruise control.......go for a blat and set the cruise at your top speed then slow down to 10mph and then hit the resume button and hold on :amazed:

Great for giggles my XKR will try to get you back to 100+ as fast as possible :lol:
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That's freakin' hilarious :eek:
 
The cruise control trick doesn't really work in a manual car as your either up for a leisurely 6th gear pull or the second you dip the clutch to change gear it'll cancel cruise :(

Oh well... i'll live, but that sounded fun !!
 
RobBentley said:
The cruise control trick doesn't really work in a manual car as your either up for a leisurely 6th gear pull or the second you dip the clutch to change gear it'll cancel cruise :(

Oh well... i'll live, but that sounded fun !!
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Nope, it doesn't. But your's chould manage 100mph in third with ease though. Just start from about 35.

My 5 series is automatic but I can't resume from a standstill. I think it's inhibited below about 24mph.
 
I was reading TG mag yesterday and in it was an ad for an Audi A8.

It said that the 8 speed auto box (does a car really need 8 ratios?) was integrated with the satnav and would choose the right gear for the road ahead for you.

For the love of God no. I'll be choosing the gear thanks. The DSG is already bossy enough, it doesnt need to be any more bossy.



With cruise I find that because of my remap, when the cruise is regaining speed it will overshoot much more.
 
PLASTIC! Everywhere! Oil change takes about ten minutes, taking off the mountains of plastic surrounding everything you need to get at to do an oil change takes ages GRRrrrr!
I remember replacing a no.plate bulb on a hyundai, 24 screws to be removed! WTH is up with that?
 
Yugguy said:
With cruise I find that because of my remap, when the cruise is regaining speed it will overshoot much more.
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I found the Peugeot doing a similar thing after the remap. I guess that the cruise control's little chunk of the ECU's NVRAM was never advised it might have to deal with 320+ lbft.

The speedometers are integrating devices in lots of cars and this can give the impression of the overshoot being more significant that it actually is.
 
Self adjusting headlights as they dont always work. Also electronic door locks my car battery went flat wednesday had to put on charge but could not lock the doors as battery was disconnected and when i locked them then disconnected the power alarm kept going off also only have door lock on passenger door you can unlock that door and open that door but dont work other doors
 
Dan2587 said:
Self adjusting headlights as they dont always work. Also electronic door locks my car battery went flat wednesday had to put on charge but could not lock the doors as battery was disconnected and when i locked them then disconnected the power alarm kept going off also only have door lock on passenger door you can unlock that door and open that door but dont work other doors
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It is a Laguna II, though. They're not best known for their reliability. I know, I had one for eight whole days.
 
You must have done ok as you had it 8 years. They are built better than the mk1/mk2 vauxhall vectra (The diesel ones are ok) but they suffer with bad electrics not all as you can get a bad car in all makes.
 
waynne said:
The arm rest in Audis costs about £170. With it down it is impossible to engage the hand brake and changing gear is pretty hard. So effectively it is only applicable on long cruises where you won't need to do either of those things.

Rear parking sensors! DOH you've really got me going. When these things work which in my experience is never the beeps are really irritating, surely a camera would be a better fix.

There is another option which stops the car rolling backwards on hills? Isn't that a skill we are supposed to learn in our tests? What happens when someone who actually needs this options jumps into an ordinary car?

Brakes! Who needs these things? Not me!?? :eek: Um I'm getting a bit carried away here aren't I.
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Armrest... really? If they are the same as in the Passat I love it, makes changing gear alot easier for me, as for the handbrake, just lean to the right and its fine :p.

And yeah... brakes, what are they all about?!? :p
 
Rstra said:
Armrest... really? If they are the same as in the Passat I love it, makes changing gear alot easier for me, as for the handbrake, just lean to the right and its fine :p.

And yeah... brakes, what are they all about?!? :p
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id agree with waynne the armrest is only any good on motorways, changing gear is awkward and the handbrake is covered up
 
Yeah Paul it might be an idea ;)
Rstra love it on the motorway whack the cruise on and armrest down and im happy sitting comfy but for normal / enthusiastic driving its a pain
 
I do have cruise and armrests as well. And if the armrest is put in the lazy git position then changing between P R N D is fiddly. Even with the pathetic little selector lever in the E39. Going to sport/pseudo-manual mode is even moreso. And parking brake is a no-no.

So, most pointless feature in a car? Give it 15-20 years and I think I could well answer 'drivers'. We'll just adopt the role of controlling passengers.
 
Anti roll back on a hill, people should just learn to drive.

Lane assist, auto braking, adaptive cruise control - are people getting lazy or are they just too dozey to take responsibility for their own safety now?
 
Auto-hold, Lane Assist and Auto braking... I agree, I've had cars with all of these and its pretty pointless. Adaptive Cruise on the other hand, I do like this for during 'Average Speed' cameras. They're epically boring to drive through and its so very easy to find yourself doing 54 when you should be doing 50 as a result.. but cruise is impossible to use as you're constantly turning it off because somebody else is doing 49mph. Set to 50... let it follow the car in front, or do 50. It's a nice feature to have.

The most useless feature award, in my opinion, has to go to what Land Rover called 'Lazy Entry' on the Range Rover Sport I had. This epic feature, when switched on, would raise the steering wheel by a massive 2 inches when you opened the drivers door, so as to let you get in that little bit easier. I can't say I've ever been in a situation where it's been difficult to get in a car with the steering wheel where I left it!
 
IMO it has to be a passenger. I could really do without them !!
Kids, the Mrs, the mother in law, the parents.......
Try stopping them getting in it and I get grief.
Cheap single seater I need !!!!
LET THEM WALK !!!!
 
what is it with modern cars having lights illuminated on the dashboard, I have been fooled plenty of times driving my mams fiesta, dashboard lit up, no lights on the road. only happened when at dusk sort of time.
 
geraint13 said:
what is it with modern cars having lights illuminated on the dashboard, I have been fooled plenty of times driving my mams fiesta, dashboard lit up, no lights on the road. only happened when at dusk sort of time.
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Yeah my dads A6 does this, and its really annoying.

I've also got a new nomination for the most pointless feature... 'Needle sweep'... I actually tested this theory on dads A6 by enabling it (its not from factory on the standard A6, but can easily be enabled via diagnostics)... and his only reaction was, whats the point in that..
 
... oh and a 'bips' to confirm the car is locked. I don't need this, I'm not on a movie set (I notice they always seem to have this on movies, even for cars that don't do it) and I know the cars locked. Firstly I just pressed the lock button and secondly I heard all the central locking go 'clunk'.
 
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