Premium car features you would pay extra NOT to have

[Bletchleyite]

Here are mine:

Touchscreens: fine for added features like satnav, but should be illegal for controlling things you need on the move like the heater and demister. Even bad for the radio, though most cars have steering wheel controls as well I suppose.
Electronic handbrakes: less control than a manual one, no emergency use possibility, plus you don't need one to do hill start assist - my Kuga has that and does it using the footbrake circuit.
Leather seats: sticky and look really bad once they get old and cracked
Low profile tyres: poor ride and expensive to replace
Run-flat tyres: cannot be repaired, only replaced (and I'd rather just have a full size spare!)
Automatic dim-dip: never does so quickly enough so blinds people
Lane departure warning: maybe useful for motorway driving but just annoying if you want to drive a quiet country lane enthusiastically by taking the racing line when safe and appropriate
Automatic locking as you walk away: don't trust it, you can't try the doorhandles to confirm they've locked properly
Electronic boot catch: just why? What's wrong with a physical one? I get why people might like the "wave your foot underneath" ones, but if it's a button how's pulling a handle harder? Just something else to go wrong.

Any more for any more?

 

[gg1]

Lane departure warning: maybe useful for motorway driving but just annoying if you want to drive a quiet country lane enthusiastically by taking the racing line when safe and appropriate

When it's merely a warning I can just zone it out, but my car goes a stage further and nudges the steering back into the 'correct' lane, problem with this is in certain circumstances it's actively dangerous. When driving along a narrowish country road with white lines along each side of the road it tries to nudge you back towards the centre of the road, not good when there's minimal clearance between you and an oncoming vehicle.

I would also add to the list:
Keyless ignition: the increased theft risk isn't worth the marginal benefit of not having to put a 'key' into a 'keyhole' (doesn't technically have to be a key as such, could just as easily be a fob into a socket)
Auto-wipers: specifically the type where the auto function is instead of intermittent wipe, Nissans were (and quite possibly still are) like that

 

[Bletchleyite]

When it's merely a warning I can just zone it out, but my car goes a stage further and nudges the steering back into the 'correct' lane, problem with this is in certain circumstances it's actively dangerous. When driving along a narrowish country road with white lines along each side of the road it tries to nudge you back towards the centre of the road, not good when there's minimal clearance between you and an oncoming vehicle.

I wonder if that's caused collisions with cyclists, by nudging someone back when trying to overtake?

Yes, you should go fully into the other lane to pass a cyclist, but most people pass closer, which means this poses an extra risk.

Perhaps it should operate only over say 65mph indicated? Its intention is to stop people drifting accidentally on the motorway, after all, it doesn't serve much of a useful purpose on other roads.

 

[Cross City]

Here are mine:


Automatic dim-dip
Lane departure warning:

You don't need to pay extra to not have them, you can just disable them.

 

[Bletchleyite]

You don't need to pay extra to not have them, you can just disable them.

I'd perhaps rather auto dim dip wasn't offered, as I'm sick of my retinas being cooked by other people with it.

LDW I think you have to disable each time you start the car, so it's a faff.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Run-flat tyres: cannot be repaired, only replaced (and I'd rather just have a full size spare!)

Or, even worse, just a spray can of emergency tyre puncture sealant gunge. Very much not a premium feature and makes a simple tyre repair impossible.

 

[gg1]

I wonder if that's caused collisions with cyclists, by nudging someone back when trying to overtake?

Yes, you should go fully into the other lane to pass a cyclist, but most people pass closer, which means this poses an extra risk.

Perhaps it should operate only over say 65mph indicated? Its intention is to stop people drifting accidentally on the motorway, after all, it doesn't serve much of a useful purpose on other roads.

It's definitely a risk, if it hasn't happened yet I'm sure it will at some point. Now I'm used to the car I anticipate the nudge and immediately override it but for someone who's driving a rental car with this feature who's not familiar with it I can definitely see accidents occurring as result.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Or, even worse, just a spray can of emergency tyre puncture sealant gunge. Very much not a premium feature.

Yep that too. Unfortunately spare wheels are pretty much dead on electrics as the space is needed for more batteries.

You also can't repair a tyre that's been gunked, which if you pick up a lot of nails (e.g. you go to the tip a lot) can prove rather expensive.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 11 Apr 2023 ==

It's definitely a risk, if it hasn't happened yet I'm sure it will at some point. Now I'm used to the car I anticipate the nudge and immediately override it but for someone who's driving a rental car with this feature who's not familiar with it I can definitely see accidents occurring as result.

It does strike me as having a bit of an element of that Boeing "safety" system about it, i.e. an unsuspecting driver/pilot ending up in an accident because it was unexpected.

 

[Cross City]

LDW I think you have to disable each time you start the car, so it's a faff.

It's just a simple turn of my light stalk by my steering wheel to disable my auto-dimmers. a physical switch than can be left off should you wish. I assumed most cars were like this?

 

[gg1]

Automatic dim-dip: never does so quickly enough so blinds people
Lane departure warning: maybe useful for motorway driving but just annoying if you want to drive a quiet country lane enthusiastically by taking the racing line when safe and appropriate

You don't need to pay extra to not have them, you can just disable them.

In the case of line departure warning I have to cancel it every time I start the car, there's no setting option to permanently disable it.
For automatic dim-dip it's automatically engaged whenever I flick the high beam on, disengaging it requires a second flick, not a major problem but still annoying. Again no option to permanently disable it.

 

[Harpers Tate]

Touchscreens: agree totally
E-Handbrakes: never use mine so it's immaterial either way
Leather Seats: My last but one car had these. At 12+ years old, they never failed substantially in appearance (with no attention given to them beyond simple damp wipe cleaning) and were never uncomfortable. And they were (as in my current car) heated, which is nice.
Low Profile tyres: agree
RunFlats: don't know but I think I'm with you
Automatic Dip: My current car has this, and I'd say it's better at it than I am. "I'm sick of my retinas being cooked by other people with it" - they are more probably those without.
Lane Departure Warning: I disable mine as part of my "pre-flight checklist". As long as that's an option, I wouldn't pay to have it removed.
Automatic locking: don't know but I think I'm with you. My current car pings me a message after a few minutes if it isn't locked and I can remote lock it from my phone.
Electronic Boot Catch: I had that on a rental in the USA and there was (in 3 weeks) one instance when I was carrying so much stuff that I used it. I can see why. I wouldn't pay extra for it to be no there, but neither would I care if it wasn't.
Keyless ignition: Don't care.
Auto Wipers: Fine on the whole in my experience. Can always force them on or off if the conditions outside are such that they do something "wrong".

 

[MotCO]

Auto-wipers: specifically the type where the auto function is instead of intermittent wipe, Nissans were (and quite possibly still are) like that

I have a 10 year old mid-range Zafira. The intermittent wipe seems to be more than it says - it seems to adjust the gap between wipes depending on how wet it is. Sometimes it is almost continuous, at other times it is every 5 seconds or so. I was expecting a regular timing, but this seems better - maybe it was from the parts box of a more expensive model.

Back to pet hates - car headlights which automatically come on when it is dark. Except they come on when going under a railway bridge, and then stay on for longer than just passing the bridge.

 

[gg1]

Auto Wipers: Fine on the whole in my experience. Can always force them on or off if the conditions outside are such that they do something "wrong".

The type I was referring to are where the wiper settings are off>auto>1>2, ie where an option to manually turn on intermittent wipe just isn't available. My old Qashqai used to have that 'feature', I don't know if Nissan have subsequently changed it on more recent cars so you now have both options though.

 

[Bletchleyite]

E-Handbrakes: never use mine so it's immaterial either way

Do you just leave it in gear, or is it an auto so you just use the park setting? One thing I've noticed is that outside the UK people seem more likely to park in gear than use the handbrake. Even the Americans call it an 'emergency brake'.

Leather Seats: My last but one car had these. At 12+ years old, they never failed substantially in appearance (with no attention given to them beyond simple damp wipe cleaning) and were never uncomfortable. And they were (as in my current car) heated, which is nice.

Add heated seats to my list. All they seem to achieve is give the feeling of having wet oneself.

Automatic Dip: My current car has this, and I'd say it's better at it than I am. "I'm sick of my retinas being cooked by other people with it" - they are more probably those without.

Problem I find comes on country lanes at night. I manually dip mine as I see another car's lights about to round the corner, whereas auto dim-dip cars don't seem to dip until there is another car's headlights shining at them, thus meaning a short time of cooked retinas. It's definitely premium cars with the feature.

Occasionally a bad driver forgets, but that's far less often than every single bend on the A421 of an evening.

They're also awful for pedestrians and cyclists, because a good driver manually dips for them, but the automatic ones mostly don't.

 

[birchesgreen]

"Automatic locking as you walk away" - i'm in two minds about, i like not having to bother about getting the fob out of my pocket when returning to the car, especially if i got me hands full. Though its annoying when you do something on the driveway like putting the bins out and you forget the fob is still in ya pocket and you unlock the car.

 

[gg1]

Add heated seats to my list. All they seem to achieve is give the feeling of having wet oneself.

That's where we start to diverge, I do like heated seats, always a major plus point on a car's feature list for me, ventilated seats in the summer are nice too.

That does remind me of another annoyance though:

Electrically adjustable seats WITHOUT a memory function: A memory function on the seat adjustment is very handy for multi driver cars but without that electric adjustment is pointless, slower to adjust than a manual seat and a potential point of failure.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Electrically adjustable seats WITHOUT a memory function: A memory function on the seat adjustment is very handy for multi driver cars but without that electric adjustment is pointless, slower to adjust than a manual seat and a potential point of failure.

Agree. I can get in a car, sit down and shove a manual seat all the way back in one quick motion (as I have to do pretty much every single time someone else has driven it, e.g. at a garage). Would be happy with a memory function as it'd be one button to put it back as was, sometimes they fiddle with the back and steering wheel position too which are a faff to return to exactly where I had them.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 11 Apr 2023 ==

"Automatic locking as you walk away" - i'm in two minds about, i like not having to bother about getting the fob out of my pocket when returning to the car, especially if i got me hands full. Though its annoying when you do something on the driveway like putting the bins out and you forget the fob is still in ya pocket and you unlock the car.

I can see it being convenient, it's just that I've had a couple of cars where the locking has become "sticky" and not always worked, so if leaving the car with valuables in it or for a long time e.g. at the airport I like to go round and try all the doors to make sure.

My Dad's has it and I left my Macbook in his boot last weekend while we went for a meal, and I just felt nervous the whole time about whether it had properly locked or not and whether it'd be there on our return.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Indicators on BMWs seem to be an optional extra that their drivers would probably rather not have, as they don't ever seem to use them when fitted as standard.

 

[MotCO]

Indicators on BMWs seem to be an optional extra that their drivers would probably rather not have, as they don't ever seem to use them when fitted as standard.

They could benefit from automatic indicators, if only such a thing existed. Maybe it could be linked to the satnav, but it does depend on the driver following it exactly (requires the driver to pay attention!)

 

[Dai Corner]

My car has a display which tells me which gear it thinks I should be in, despite having no knowledge of what's ahead. I should really fork out for a bit of black tape to hide it as I find it annoying and distracting.

Talking of gears, I'd pay more for a manual gearbox if the situation ever arose.

 

[cactustwirly]

Do you just leave it in gear, or is it an auto so you just use the park setting? One thing I've noticed is that outside the UK people seem more likely to park in gear than use the handbrake. Even the Americans call it an 'emergency brake'.



Add heated seats to my list. All they seem to achieve is give the feeling of having wet oneself.



Problem I find comes on country lanes at night. I manually dip mine as I see another car's lights about to round the corner, whereas auto dim-dip cars don't seem to dip until there is another car's headlights shining at them, thus meaning a short time of cooked retinas. It's definitely premium cars with the feature.

Occasionally a bad driver forgets, but that's far less often than every single bend on the A421 of an evening.

They're also awful for pedestrians and cyclists, because a good driver manually dips for them, but the automatic ones mostly don't.

Heated seats are awesome when it's -2 outside and you drive a big diesel engine that takes a while to heat up.
You get a warm bum before the main heating comes on

 

[66701GBRF]

Heated seats are awesome when it's -2 outside and you drive a big diesel engine that takes a while to heat up.
You get a warm bum before the main heating comes on

Indeed. While I don't really use my heated seats all that much, I do use them as a sort of radiator when it's very cold just to heat up the cabin quicker. Once I'm driving I usually turn them off.

 

[Bletchleyite]

My car has a display which tells me which gear it thinks I should be in, despite having no knowledge of what's ahead. I should really fork out for a bit of black tape to hide it as I find it annoying and distracting.

I just ignore that. Its purpose is not to make you select an appropriate gear, as the appropriate gear is almost always lower than it says unless you like losing the turbo* or labouring the engine. Its purpose is to tell you in which gear you'll get closer to the specified emissions. Thus, it's all part of that massive emissions fraud thing.

* On my Kuga if you pick too low a gear the turbo spins down and so when you get to a hill you get a nasty lag and judder as it spins back up. Even the aircon compressor kicking in is enough to do that. While that's the only small turbodiesel I've driven regularly enough to notice something like that (took me a while to realise what it was) I don't doubt that most are the same because diesels below about 2.0l tend to have so little torque before the turbo spins up that they'd have a job pulling the skin off a rice pudding.

Indeed if we expanded this to "car features" then it'd be "any diesel engine under 2.0l" but equally that's not premium

 

[JohnMcL7]

E-brake, touchscreens, auto stop/start and lane departure warnings are all annoyances for me on newer cars, another one is automatic gearboxes which are difficult to avoid in higher spec cars these days.

My car has a display which tells me which gear it thinks I should be in, despite having no knowledge of what's ahead. I should really fork out for a bit of black tape to hide it as I find it annoying and distracting.

Talking of gears, I'd pay more for a manual gearbox if the situation ever arose.

I've driven a number of cars with that gear feature and it seems entirely pointless as it wants the engine kept at very low revs, even turbo diesels where you're below the turbo engaging and potentially wearing down the DMF. I had a Kia Picanto with a one litre engine that had very little power and was struggling up a hill in 2nd and the display was showing to change to 5th...the only way it was going up that hill in 5th is if it was towed.

Agree with you on the manual gearbox although many cars now are auto only with no choice of a manual.

 

[Devonian]

I appreciate that I am almost certainly in a minority of one, but my current car was chosen specifically because it does not have electric windows, and I would happily pay to have manual winders on any future car.

It's not entirely irrational: I became infuriated by having to go through a distracting sequence of nudge down-down-down-up-down-up-down-up-all the way down-all the way up-down-up-down to get my gap of choice at the top of the window. The number of times that I have forgotten to close windows before taking the key out also has a bearing.

 

[gg1]

I appreciate that I am almost certainly in a minority of one, but my current car was chosen specifically because it does not have electric windows, and I would happily pay to have manual winders on any future car.

It's not entirely irrational: I became infuriated by having to go through a distracting sequence of nudge down-down-down-up-down-up-down-up-all the way down-all the way up-down-up-down to get my gap of choice at the top of the window. The number of times that I have forgotten to close windows before taking the key out also has a bearing.

Re the last point, I used to own a 2008 bottom of the range Golf which had a handy feature, holding down the lock button on the remote for a few seconds closed any open windows. No car I've had since has had the same feature.

 

[Essan]

I appreciate that I am almost certainly in a minority of one, but my current car was chosen specifically because it does not have electric windows, and I would happily pay to have manual winders on any future car.

It's not entirely irrational: I became infuriated by having to go through a distracting sequence of nudge down-down-down-up-down-up-down-up-all the way down-all the way up-down-up-down to get my gap of choice at the top of the window. The number of times that I have forgotten to close windows before taking the key out also has a bearing.

I totally agree. Manual windows are also an important safety feature should you ever need to get out after an accident. I can't believe that electronic only windows are even legal!

 

[Bletchleyite]

I totally agree. Manual windows are also an important safety feature should you ever need to get out after an accident. I can't believe that electronic only windows are even legal!

Car side windows mostly aren't laminated. Just elbow it out if you can't open the door. If you fear you can't do that then one of those little hammers may be a good investment.

If the door is distorted enough not to open it's unlikely the window winding mechanism (a scissors shape taking up most of the lower door body) will be undamaged anyway.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 11 Apr 2023 ==

Re the last point, I used to own a 2008 bottom of the range Golf which had a handy feature, holding down the lock button on the remote for a few seconds closed any open windows. No car I've had since has had the same feature.

I think there's a wariness about this sort of feature because of the risk of closing a window on someone.

 

[PG]

Back to pet hates - car headlights which automatically come on when it is dark.

Think these things are terrible because a lot of drivers just leave them set at the auto feature which invariably doesn't activate the headlights in poor daylight visibility e.g. mist/har or bucketing down rain, so their car is virtually invisible to other traffic! Also they often only activate the sidelights which have the same (lack of) effect.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Re the last point, I used to own a 2008 bottom of the range Golf which had a handy feature, holding down the lock button on the remote for a few seconds closed any open windows. No car I've had since has had the same feature.

I think there's a wariness about this sort of feature because of the risk of closing a window on someone.

Indeed. You probably wouldn't want the window to auto-close, after inadvertently pushing the 'close' button, on the neck of a child poking their head out of the window.