Useless features in modern cars

A few ago I had a small SUV, pre rear camera.
We come off the mountain trail where in i was parked in a picnic area.
I went to the rear of the SUV and get 2 bottled teas.
Get in drivers door. Hand a tea to my lady friend and put mine in the cup holder.
Crank , clear, and start to backup.
She screams I think a kid is behind us!
Shut it down and go to the rear.
There's a 3-4 year old boy standing directly behind my SUV.
He apparently was attracted by me opening the rear window and getting the teas.
And He apparently came from the passenger side and I never saw him until I went back the second time.
She caught a glimpse in her rear view mirror.
Yes! I do like my rear look camera.
 
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Tyrod said:
Cars you can sit in to start are too new fangled for me. I prefer the ones you have to stand in front of to start.
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And what about that fancy foot feed?
Mr. Ford put it on the steering column where it belonged and ya didn't need cruise control to stay at speed! :)
 
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Although my coworkers have used the "old guy" term around me, I like most of the new features in cars - except the lack of manual A/C controls. First World problem, to be sure. Last fall, I bought a '13 Audi RS5, replete with electronic features. Not my first VW/Audi rodeo, but a major improvement in many ways. Lane warning and forward/rear radar avoidance bloody near drove me to drink on the way back from Orlando, but since I've adjusted them to suit me (no asphalt agoraphobia here), I like em. Fortunately, the urge to drink remains ;) Rear-view cams are long overdue. Could do without the power seat features, but then, I preferred the manual controls (no stupid ratchet adjusters) in my R32. Auto dimming rear view mirrors, speed variable volume, Bluetooth cell phone integration, auto-adjusting wipers: yep, yep, yep, yep. Love the MMI; much better than the previous gen Audi and VW infotainment controller systems. The nav phone app rocks-can send destinations straight to the car from the iPhone.
No touch-screen: :)
Naturally-aspirated V-8: :D
450HP: :D:D:D
MPG: :(
I do want the 13" TFT in the current gen VW/Audis, but can wait a few years for that. It's a keeper.
 
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Well I hate to be a party pooper and parade rainer but I'll tell you one techy feature I just discovered I dearly LOVE. The backup camera in the Honda Ridgeline I just bought. I have arthritis in my neck and when backing out of a parking space in a tight parking lot, while this doesn't replace the rearview mirror, it surely expands the view and eases the pain from turning my head too far one way or the other. I also discovered it's KILLER for hooking up a trailer. My hitch ball shows dead center in the bottom of the screen and I can back straight up to the trailer first time every time. No more jockeying or needing somebody to stand out there pointing their finger left or right. I didn't look for a Ridgeline with all these features but this one has them and I ain't the least bit sorry.
 
TomkinsSP said:
If it taint on a '55 Chevy. You don't need it. Probably don't need it if it's not on a CJ-2. (Automatic=luxury, A/C=luxury, Radio=luxury.)
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Seat belts? Airbags? As I recall, folks did get impaled on non-collapsing steering columns.

There are some valuable improvements. OTOH, I have no desire to see autonomous cars (despite Florida drivers' seemingly deliberate attempts to drive like they already exist.)
 
I have no desire.......

I have no desire to sit with the manual and learn all of those features.

ONE THING i WISH THEY WOULD INCORPORATE INTO CAR SOUND SYSTEMS.

A compressor and limiter. If you listen to music with quiet passages and a big dynamic range, you are constantly turning the volume up and down from 'can't hear anything' to 'DAM TURN THAT DOWN!"

I like the Telarc recording of 'Carmina Burana'. Though the recording was made in the 60s it is a landmark of natural recording and capturing the dynamic range. It has passages that go from a whisper suddenly go to speaker splitting volume and back many times. I can enjoy this on a quiet day in my home, but in the car it REQUIRES some compression and limitation to allow you to hear the quiet parts without blasting your ears out during the loud parts.

Does anybody know if they have car systems with this feature. I can remix my CD music to compress and limit, but it's time consuming and putting enough effect on it distorts the sound some. I could maybe figure out an ideal setting but it would take a LONG time of experimentation to get it right.
 
Had a Chevy pickup with a 4.3 V6 engine and a 5 speed manual.
The real cowboys-plowboys turned up their noses at the girlie-man 4.3.
The urban weekend rowdies couldn't shift the 5 speed.
Finally found a older guy out in the Mountains East of here who thought that would be a great ride for him!
So I probably won't buy another manual tranny.
 
Had my Tundra in for warranty repair (air induction pump,thank God they were paying for that). Gave me a new Ram 1500. Was just sitting in it, the service guy comes out to ask what's wrong. I say where the H is the gear shift? It's a knob on the dashboard. I can't bring myself to say I knobbed it into gear.:mad::mad::mad:
 
les.b said:
Why did they take the dimmer switch off of the floor where it belongs?

Best Regards, Les
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Back in 1990 we got a nice '85 Crown Vic for my Mom, which was a big step up from the Pinto's she had been driving. We're driving along and she decides to put the hi beams on, and nearly stomped a hole in the floor trying to find the switch. We had to get the owners manual out to discover the switch was no longer on the floor.
 
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Electronic heat and ventilation control

I liked the two horizontal levers.

In the winter I would keep the fan off and adjust the cabin temp with the hot/cold lever
 
LVSteve said:
Call me a Luddite curmudgeon if you like, but here is my list of stuff you find in cars that I think we can live without....
Click to expand...
My own lists includes bells and buzzers that can't be defeated. In the old days you could just unplug a buzzer, or cut the wires. Try that in a modern car and there's a good chance the car won't start. They've incorporated the positive presence of the device into the electrical circuit and software of the car's computer! :eek::mad:
 
THE PILGRIM said:
Had a Chevy pickup with a 4.3 V6 engine and a 5 speed manual.
The real cowboys-plowboys turned up their noses at the girlie-man 4.3.
The urban weekend rowdies couldn't shift the 5 speed.
Finally found a older guy out in the Mountains East of here who thought that would be a great ride for him!
So I probably won't buy another manual tranny.
Click to expand...

My Dad would not buy a F150 unless it was a manual trans with the bulletproof 300 six cylinder engine (aka 4.9L). That combo would run forever, his '84 got over 300,000 miles. It was still running when he got rid of it, but the rest of the truck had mostly rusted away. His last truck was a '99 (I couldn't find him a decent pre '97 for reasonable money) so he had to accept the 4.2 V6. I still have the truck, but wish it had the 300 six. That 4.2 is not my friend.
 
Speaking of Ford PUs - just the other day I saw a primo 56 Ford PU.
The owner opened the door so I could see the interior.
It had the push button start button.
Just about brought tears to my eyes!
 
Kernel Crittenden said:
My own lists includes bells and buzzers that can't be defeated. In the old days you could just unplug a buzzer, or cut the wires. Try that in a modern car and there's a good chance the car won't start. They've incorporated the positive presence of the device into the electrical circuit and software of the car's computer! :eek::mad:
Click to expand...

Cut the diaphram out of the speaker with a pointy knife-It still vibrates but hardly makes a sound.
 
Don't know if other makes offer this but our Malibu has AUTO STOP START. Under certain conditions when you stop at a light the engine cuts off. Take your foot off the brake and the engine starts instantly.
GM says it saves gas. I say whatever gas is used sitting at a light, I can afford. Cannot turn it off.
 
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