I'll give you a clue. There's 14 of them worldwideOriginally Posted by TheFlyingBanana
The only thing I miss is the scheduled or phone controlled heating in my old car. I hate sitting in the car on a cold morning waiting on the windscreen clearing so I can drive 5 minutes to the station.
Other than that I could happily live without most of the pointless crap if it meant the car was cheaper, lighter and faster.
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Definitely my heated windscreen and steering wheel.
Depends on whether you are referring to above sea level or including undersea of course.
😏
So clever my foot fell off.
Nah, just two wheels.
Tyre pressure monitoring- saves getting my immaculate fingers dirty.
Which pocket?.........doing that’s a recipe for disaster.
I put mine in the door pocket, a similar routine to putting the key into the ignition switch on previous cars. Routine is the secret, once you start leaving it in a pocket (jacket pocket....trouser pocket?....) there’s too much scope for losing it or leaving it in the car (jacket taken off and left in car.........key in pocket......with house key etc on key ring).
The act of finding the key and putting it in the same safe place ( which used to be the ignition switch) is something I’ll continue doing. My car keys live in one of two places, one’s my right trouser pocket and the other’s in the car door pocket when driving the car.
Paul
When will people realise that making things more complicated to make things easier actually tends to make things more complicated.
Good luck everybody. Have a good one.
Talking of roofs my toddler loves the panoramic glass roof on my saloon as he enjoys spotting the moon on our way home from nursery on these dark evenings. Not a toy as such, nor a necessity, but very much liked by my little lad.
Enjoy those moments when they are young and innocent.
It won’t be long before he communicates in grunts and likes the tinted rear windows because it enables him to stare at “hotties” without getting arrested or beaten up by their boyfriends.
So clever my foot fell off.
My 2001 MX5 has a TorSen LSD, better than anything else I have experienced in a modern car.
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Are you female?
With you there. On Friday my wife dropped me off at a pub in Town, I'd driven there then she drove home. I quickly realised I had the keys in my pocket after she'd set off. I had to sprint through the city centre, trying to catch her. Fortunately she got stopped behind a taxi and I was able to return the keys, but had the road been clear I've no idea how far she'd have got without the key.
I've yet to work out the benefit of this system, over just putting the fob in the dash to start the car.
Still enjoying the fitted wireless, the Home service is such delight with its jaunty tunes and helpful snippets of news.
Both our cars have heated windscreens which are a godsend in this cold snap - just sit and wait about a minute and the ice is gone, brilliant. I’m also a fan of heated seats - well, leather is so cold in the winter you need it to avoid piles - our Fiesta however has fabric seats and they aren’t necessary at all. Highlights how daft leather seats are imho - look fantastic especially when new but impractical really. Never felt the need for a heated steering wheel, not an option I’d ever bother ticking!
My eldest son is about to start learning to drive, and I am concerned how many distractions there are in modern cars. I had a long drive recently and found myself setting the dashboard to show nothing but the basics, stuck the radio on and set the sat nav to silent. My iPhone mutes itself whilst driving too which is also a welcome new feature.
I’ve been driving for 30 years now and I’m amazed how little cars have progressed. You can add electric motors and gizmos all over them but the mechanics of driving haven’t really moved on much - and I’m certain all the lights and gadgets must indirectly cause more accidents than they prevent. I wonder if there’s any data to either support my thoughts or otherwise?
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I like tyres that lose grip progressively rather than suddenly. Disc brakes too.
And most of you are bloody odd!
"A man of little significance"
A lot of the boring ones are probably the best ones. Things like abs and airbags, skid control etc - anything that stops me flying into the scenery unexpectedly. I’m also a lover of bi xenon headlights when my car has them - if the car coming toward me has them I’d rather the didn’t - am I alone in finding them headache inducing?
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I’m another who thinks keyless is great, and would definitely miss it - although I can see why the hobbled versions where you still need to use the fob at some point are a bit of a waste. It’s all or nothing imo.
Also like auto lights and windscreen wipers. Auto dim mirrors are surprisingly useful.
Bluetooth for phone and music is also great (and becoming ubiquitous now).
Can’t live without parking sensors/cameras now
I think satnav used to be great, but now I find smartphones actually do it much better (in terms of live data and ease of searching).
Waste of time - voice control, TV/video in front, cruise control (although I’d quite like one of the new systems where it will control you in stop-start traffic jams).
Did it not scream at you to say that the smart key had been taken away from the car?
It probably screamed at her, rather than him ?
A/C. It went wrong last week . Takes twenty minutes to get the screen clear without it!
Didnt have that in the Austin Cambridge!
Last edited by sestrel; 20th December 2017 at 08:43.
For me Lane Assist (or self drive on Teslas), self parking mode, sat nav obviously, memory seats and an auto gearbox, auto lights/wipers, pressurised cabin with bio weapon defence mode/Hepa Air Filtration ;)
Last edited by ryanb741; 20th December 2017 at 08:54.
I ticked the heated screen option and now bore everyone with how good it is on a frosty morning, I didn't tick the heated wheel option but after this cold snap I wished I had.
Voice control Bluetooth phone system is another revelation.
Or as my old dad put it when in the 80's I proudly showed him that my new car had electric windows; "it's just more to go wrong"
Honestly I could live without nearly all of the gadgets people have listed as 'essential'.
I once had a Ford with a heated windscreen and cannot believe that they aren't standard fit on every car these days, but sadly they're not.
Satnav is very handy and I quite like having all my music available on a couple of SD cards, but heated seats, steering wheels, 'intelligent lights' (What are they???), automatic lights, wipers, cup holders and the like are generally 'toys' that I rarely use.
My current car is my first non-manual and I hope it'll be my last. If I want something else to make all the driving decisions for me, I'll hire a chauffeur!
M.
PS Proper cruise control is horrible IMO, but I do find the speed limiter functionality pretty useful.
Last edited by snowman; 20th December 2017 at 09:19.
Apple CarPlay is worth every penny. Bird’s eye cameras are amazing witchcraft. Heated seats aren’t good for a gent of a certain age.
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In Order of importance
keyless entry
Auto tailgate
Heated seats
Heated windscreen
Adaptive Zennons
A far cry from my 1968 MG Midget when you wanted heat, you opened a little flap in the bulkhead to get heat from the engine.
Pop-up headlights in the Elan m100
Don’t Ford have a patent for this?
Here here.... I'm with you on the subject of Electronic handbrakes........ hate the things - give me a traditional good old hand brake any day!
Mike
most useful - virtual cockpit - great when travelling and putting the whole map right in front of you.
heated seats / steering wheel- in winter a no brainer.
least useful - auto high beam assist - a lottery if it dims or not when it encounters an oncoming car. Looking for a way to disable it !
My last two Landrovers have had them...... and SWMBO has one on her Mini...... absolutely superb feature and wouldn't be without it....
Mike
I think everything Ford owned (LR, Jaguar, Aston) have them, presumably the patent went along with the company, but I can only assume that's the reason they're not universal yet.My last two Landrovers have had them...... and SWMBO has one on her Mini...... absolutely superb feature and wouldn't be without it....
Mike
Of course, that doesn't explain Mini having them!
I think they're reasonably common now, but only as an extra, a bit like ABS and airbags used to be.
M
I would take all of your gadgets and gizmos, every single one of them, and swap them for a/c for the one day in June that you need it. Love it love it love it.
Love the satnav as well though. Love the way it tells me where I’m going even though I’m going 6 miles home and have done that everyday for ten years, same route.
My wife’s had a number as Astras with QC Windscreens and her current Insignia Grand Sport has one also.
I thought also that ford had the patent, but assume it’s now expired??
ISTR that abs/airbags/skid control are now compulsory anyway but better cars do at least have buttons to turn some of the nannying off.
Adaptive Headlights are a revelation driving down unlit country roads and I'd always try and spec a heated steering wheel now having had that for the first time, cheap option too normally.
tbh I'm a bit boring and care more about how the car drives so I couldn't care less about any phone or bluetooth rubbish. Not a fan of electric handbrakes - in my day the handbrake was also termed as an emergency brake, if your brakes fail at 70mph on the motorway going downhill then better to have a 'proper' handbrake with a cable going to the brakes. Remote control is good on those freezing mornings when the locks are frozen (not so often nowadays I agree) and I must admit I'm getting to like the parking sensors. SWMBO likes heated seats but I never use them. I can't really think of any other toys that are worth having in fact there's a raft of buttons and menu options in our Polo that I still don't know what they're for and I've done 28K miles so far in it.
I agree, how can you do a handbrake turn with an electronic handbrake?
One feature I'd really like to see is a heads up, hands free texting device so drivers who want to text & drive, & there's a hell of a lot of them, can keep an eye on the road ahead at the same time. Maybe learning how to text & drive should be incorporated into the driving test as well? :-/
My Honda has automatic everything and it is great. Heated seats, heated mirrors, reverse cameras, auto wipers, lights and probably a few things that I haven't yet cottoned onto.
Last week I was in a supermarket car park and was admiring a Mercedes Bens W series saloon from the 1980s/90s. It looked immaculate but the adulation stopped when the owner came up and had to fumble in his pockets for a key to the boot. It just looked so dated and unnecessary. We just walk up and open the doors, all very effortless and easy.
My wife was rammed sideways on by an old chap in his 80's last year. There were airbags everywhere but she got out without a scratch and that has to be good. The car was only 9 months old and was written off, so no bodged up repaired wreck still being driven about. Cars are always getting better and safer and that has to be good.
The real bonus has to be driverless cars that allows your dear old granny to be able to drive around the M25, up the various motorways to Scotland and she can sleep all the way in complete safety.
Brilliant, brilliant and brilliant again.
Electric windows for me also central locking is very useful. Must admit not to overly taken with heated seats though as it feels as to if my bladder has given up and I've had an accident.
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Don't Fords have that option.... text-to-speach?
tbh if they made texting part of the driving test I'd fail right away... don't have a phone (just an emergency nokia phone in the glove box that hasn't been switched on for at least a year) and never sent a text!
Yes, I think there must be a patent issue with the heated front windscreen, otherwise I’d be really surprised if all of the manufacturers didn’t do it.
I find that hard to believe... I can think of at least two other marques that have a heated screen as an option e.g. Land Rover, well they used to anyway.
Some google research seems to show that Ford did have a patent on one particular method for doing a heated screen but that patent died several years ago now.... well that's what the internet 'experts' seem to be saying.
Last edited by solwisesteve; 20th December 2017 at 11:13.
Its not often I use it, but having a lid for the X1/9 when caught in torrential rain comes in handy!
My dad has the same mindset. I remember a TV remote control was “something else to go wrong”, and we only had non-remote TVs when everyone else moved on (and rarely had problems with their remotes). I think he said the same about electric windows as well.
My VW does, I think.
As I mentioned before, I think the patent transferred with AM and JLR when Ford sold them. Not sure about AM, but I know JLR models can come with heated screens.
M
Does that work when you're driving forward normally? Just wondered as I can never understand why 4x4's always seem to drive in middle or the road trying to force oncoming drivers to give way.
If you have kids or a car with frameless doors then soft close doors are awesome. Just gently pull them to and the door closes itself the last few inches. Saves all the hassle of either doors not being closed properly or wondering if the kids are going to break the glass slamming it too hard if for instance you have a convertible with frameless doors.
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