Head-Up Display, it just seems a bit gimmicky to me. I still automatically look at the speedo.
Condoms
MX5 mk3. Oil pressure guage. It isn't, the signal driving it comes from the CPU and is basically set to mimic what an oil pressure guage would read if it had one, i.e. the tacho with a quarter second delay. Aftermarket items are available for those who like to make progress.
The handbrake on my Mazda 3. Not pointless as such but its so far over from where it should be if there is a passenger in the car I cannot help but stroke their leg when using it!
MX5 mk3. Oil pressure guage
A lot of 90s Mazdas had one like that, as well as a temp gauge that had three positions: cold, somewhere between a bit warm and not quite on fire, and on fire.
Dishwasher tabs. My van doesn’t have a dishwasher 😅
The horn, never used one in any vehicle I've ever owned, it's there just to tell the world you're a ****.
The Starlight Headliner is pretty pointless. But when I’m kicking back after a hard day in the boardroom, it looks great.
I always thought the horn was there to inform everyone else they're a ****
The Starlight Headliner is pretty pointless. But when I’m kicking back after a hard day in the boardroom, it looks great.
The MX5 has a button that does that, but with real stars!
Agree about the "cornering lights" where the fog light comes on. I can't tell the difference if they're on or not, unless in a queue behind a shiny vehicle whilst signalling.
The medium and high settings on my work car's heated seats. I can just about handle the low setting for a few minutes, not that I really bother. However the medium and high are so warm I'd worry about melting any synthetic clothing I'm wearing!
On other cars, those indicators that replace the daylight running light when indicating. Genuinely more dangerous than separate ones IMO, due to being harder to spot at a quick glance as the lights look "balanced" side to side, all just to look a bit clever.
Ahhh that would explain it. The Mrs has a Mk3 MX5 with an auto box and I did wonder why the oil pressure needle moved with the gear changes 😀
Mind you, it can be run as full auto, flappy paddle or sequential (it’s really a 6 speed slush box) - clever I guess but I just leave it in auto.
this normally happens if you floor it (at some point on the pedal there might be a clicker, maybe not) you’re able to bypass the limit (but it may beep), if you drive gently it will hold you back (which is a sensible adjustment)
Nope, even says in the manual that it does not control your speed, it literally just controls the beeper! Even at slight throttle it just carries on accelerating regardless.
What happened to the good old days when people actually knew when it would be a good time to change gear?
given the number of people on here ignoring change gear lights, thus producing more emissions, it seems likely those days didn’t exist.
If I follow the shift indicator the engine can't maintain speed even at full throttle on the flat in 5th. It won't even accelerate in 4th. Known issue with my engine as it's a 1.2 3cyl with no power below 1800rpm, the shift indicator tells me to shift up at 2k. If I drive along using revs between 2 and 3k I can not only drive faster and put the engine under less strain it also uses less fuel. I can easily get 50mpg+ out of it even with a bike rack on the towbar, the book says it should only do 47mpg maximum. If I follow the shift lights I'm lucky to get 40mpg.
Eco mode. It makes it drive like I’ve filled it with water not petrol
My take on Eco mode. Makes no difference to performance, it just changes the throttle response so you need to push it over a notch to get the same acceleration on my Vauxhall. So I leave it on.
However, my van has a big light that fades from green through to orange depending on revs/acceleration. So I can drive gently and keep it green but it completely ignores the fact I'm able to slam on the brakes at every roundabout. Should take into account excessive braking to be useful, that's where the extra mpg's are hiding.
Oh and finally I've got a button showing an off camber track through a forest, but when you push it the display states you've enabled non-grip road mode. Of course you can't just call it off-road mode as someone will take their van bogging or something...
The sun visors in the Transit Connect. There's a massive gap in the middle where the mirror would be making it next to impossible to block the sun, not helped by the sneeze guard blocking access to the passenger sun visor (I have to supposedly protect me from a colleague who communicates by coughing it would seem).
The Eco button is only any use if the van is empty and even then I didnt notice any improvement in mpg.
It just feels like the turbo is broken and needs more gas to stay with traffic.
When a dash warning comes up saying ‘skid risk’, or ‘limited visibility’
Most pointless thing on my current car is the ability to do well over 70mph.
I used the speed limiter set to 70 during a trip on roads I didnt know well and thought it was great.
The gear change indicator is an interesting subject as I find it different so much from one car to another. My old fiat with hardly any torque wanted me doing about 1500rpm on flat roads, while my current car with much more torque wants me between 2000 and 3000rpm.
96 Toyota Hilux - idle speed control. I wish my life was interesting enough to need this.
Tesla Model 3 - where to start. It farts from individual seats? 🤷🏻♂️
DRLs that only work on front lights, not the rear, pointless and unsafe.
Bollocks. Your deliberate misunderstanding of what DRL’s are there for completely invalidates your argument. They are there specifically to make vehicles more visible to oncoming traffic in foggy or rainy daylight conditions so that idiots don’t try to overtake and run head-on into a 40-tonne truck, or car, or motorbike. Which also have DRL’s for that reason. The fact that stupid people don’t put their lights on when it’s dark or getting dark, or in thick fog is purely due to careless driving, or lack of attention. I’ve driven in town at night without my lights on because the street lights were so bright my headlights didn’t show on the road, as many others do, with DRL’s at least you can clearly see a car coming towards you at a junction, which you wouldn’t do otherwise. Following a car, you’ll be at roughly the same speed, and there are reflectors and number-plates that your own headlights will pick up some distance away. You are using your headlights, aren’t you?
Flappy paddles if I’d wanted to change gear I’d have bought a manual.
Sunglasses case under the rear view mirror – too small for midget glasses
My car has a semi-automatic ’box, and paddles, which I can use in Sport Mode, should I want to. I don’t, most of the time, because I’m in traffic and Drive Mode is all I need, which also allows auto stop/start; however, on a fairly empty A-road it’s fun to be able to shift when I want to, rather than the car deciding. I don’t have a manual ‘box because I have an arthritic left knee, and I find using a clutch, particularly in heavy or slow stop/start traffic, increasingly painful. There are some auto ‘boxes which are very slow to shift, (I’m looking at you, Peugeot and Citroen, and the Berlingo and Partner, and also the Nissan Juke), so having a manual override makes driving them a bit less irritating. I’m speaking from the point of view of someone who’s driven hundreds of different vehicles over the last four, going on five years, so I know pretty well what works for me by now.
As regards the glasses case above the rear-view mirror, mine’s quite big enough to hold a pair of RayBans, but a pair of Oakley Mumbos might be a struggle.
I bought my new car after having the opportunity to drive hundreds, and it has all the useful features that I wanted specifically, and none that I don’t, like heated seats, so it’s a win for me.
There are some auto ‘boxes which are very slow to shift, (I’m looking at you, Peugeot and Citroen, and the Berlingo and Partner, and also the Nissan Juke), so having a manual override makes driving
Out of interest what do you drive now? I test drove a Peugeot with a traditional automatic transmission and thought it was the smoothest and best performing auto box I'd driven. But then my last car was a Skoda with DSG.
When a dash warning comes up saying ‘skid risk’, or ‘limited visibility’
A "shart warning" light is clearly needed.
However, my van has a big light that fades from green through to orange depending on revs/acceleration. So I can drive gently and keep it green but it completely ignores the fact I’m able to slam on the brakes at every roundabout. Should take into account excessive braking to be useful, that’s where the extra mpg’s are hiding.
So what you want is a light that encourages you not to brake at roundabouts?
if I’d wanted to change gear I’d have bought a manual.
Pffft - who reads the manual?
Cigarette lighter.
Cup holders. The fact they don't actually hold anything other than a can of pop in place. Go round a corner and the cups fall over and leave the contents all over the floor. Its a van FFS, where workmen will want a cup of tea/coffee, so just make some that actually holds a cup!!
Lap timer. For my almost 2ton estate that’s never going near a track and even then most track days ban timing laps.
Flappy paddles if I’d wanted to change gear I’d have bought a manual.
Each to their own, but I find these very useful. Love the auto, but been able to select a gear before a potential manoeuvre is great to have. That's how I would drive a manual, so not sure why it would be a bad thing.
I've got one of those Soundaktors in my car....makes the 4-pot sound like a V8. Will get that coded out soon. Not a fan of the electric park brake either.
Next motor will do without.
Flappy paddles can be useful at times, but I'll get a manual next time.
96 Toyota Hilux – idle speed control. I wish my life was interesting enough to need this.
My work Hilux has this, its great when its -20 and the truck auto starts 30 minutes before I need it and is nice and warm before using it.
The first owner of my land rover was the queen (or whoever actually owns stuff the army drive around in). So, while it contains basically no features at all other than 4 wheels and an engine, it does have a couple of useless (for me) things:
1. Gun mounts (I don't have a gun)
2. Blackout switch (no function except confusing the MOT tester when none of the lights work)
3. Infra-red mode (don't think this actually does anything, sounds cool though)
Doors that open. Don't need 'em innit.
So what you want is a light that encourages you not to brake at roundabouts?
Yep. Its measuring the wrong pedal. We've a regular drive that is dual carriageway with lots of roundabouts. If I plan to go through each roundabout without braking (excluding the last few metres to stop/merge safely), the MPG will gradually climb from its average of 55mpg, I think it normally gets to about 69mpg and would go higher but I don't want to drive past my house! But...leaving the roundabouts, you can drive pretty normally without affecting it too much.
Sat Nav maps on the (quite nice) Panasonic stereo are so out of date they are getting more pointless every month. The only way to update them is dodgy complex 3rd party methods, or by paying Panasonic £150. Praise be Google Maps!
My car has an MPG swingometer, completely useless as it doesn’t show any meaningful information. Just waggles about.
What about the folks behind you in the dark when you have no lights on? At this time of year I see folk every day who clearly think their lights are on, as their dash is lit up.
I’ve moaned about this for years, and have always had cars that don’t light the dash up without the lights on - great 👍. The Polo even had a light sensor somewhere that meant the dash was lit up until it got dark, which was nice.
The new van lights the dash up all the time, I’m definitely going to be one of those forgetters at some point.
When a dash warning comes up saying ‘skid risk’, or ‘limited visibility’
That's quite useful, shirley? In newer cars the skid risk is actually a live warning from a car ahead which has triggered the ABS or traction control.
I'm with the "pointless" side on flappy paddles. My Volvo is equipped with them, but they're fastened to an 8-speed gearbox. On the odd occasion I've tried to use them I just got lost in the gearbox within about 30 seconds. And then I forgot that it was in manual and joined the motorway. It auto-shifts up at the red line but doesn't have a rev-counter, so I did about 40 miles with the engine at red-line minus 5%.
Good sound-proofing in the cabin though.
Currently... the engine.
It's been 3 weeks since i last turned it on.
That’s quite useful, shirley? In newer cars the skid risk is actually a live warning from a car ahead which has triggered the ABS or traction control.
You what now? Since when has that been a thing & how does it work?
Surprised that no-one's mentioned the nut that holds the steering wheel 😉
Idiot lights (DRLs) are utterly pointless - all that was needed was a change in the lighting regulations that all motor vehicles must have dipped headlights lit when moving. DRLs have just reinforced idiot behaviour.
Had an interesting situation following a Tesla last year. Driving "sedately" we were on a straight bit of road when his "brake" lights came on. I couldn't see anything ahead. The lights went off, then on, then off, etc. I then realised that with it being a sunny day the light sensor was reacting to the light and shade of individual trees by the roadside!
LED headlights - blind every other ****er on the road just so you can drive at exactly the same speed as with Halogen lights.
@spooky_b329 - I regularly try and get back from the Lakes along the A65 without using the brakes (gear changes are allowed). Makes it a very relaxing drive, you just need to keep your distance from the vehicle in front to give yourself time, maybe a minute slower than "making progress" especially on a Sunday evening when the road is full of traffic.
The sat nav on my citroen is pretty crap. Going from the Erskine bridge to Falkirk it decided that the fastest way was up the Great western road into the middle of Glasgow (traffic lights every 250 metres) as opposed to an extra 5 miles of motorway (on a 40 mile journey)
The new van lights the dash up all the time, I’m definitely going to be one of those forgetters at some point.
This is the problem with DRL's and the fact that they are bright enough to light up the tarmac in front of you so there's no visual clues that you've not got your lights actually on. Ususally in my van it's fine because auto lights just take care of it, but if someone else has switched them off, MOT tester or the garage when servicing for example, there's little chance I'm going to realise until it's actually pitch black or someone is flashing me.
Also think the skid warning from the car ahead thing is bunk. Please explain to me I'm wrong.
Mine has a pull down convex mirror (between the rear view mirror and useless sunglasses holder) so that I can watch the kids beating the shit out of each other. However, as they are sat about 3ft behind me I am usually already aware when this is happening.
For those complaining about:
- Switches to turn ESC / Traction control off: Have you ever driven on snow, ice or wet grass?
- Flappy paddles / manual on an auto: Have you ever driven down a long or steep hill without riding the brakes?
What about the folks behind you in the dark when you have no lights on? At this time of year I see folk every day who clearly think their lights are on, as their dash is lit up.
That's an issue with automatically backlit dashboards rather than DRL's, plenty of folk still did it before DRL's came along. I did it on a borrowed car once, it's very easily done when you're used to an oldschool dash that only lights up when you tell it to.
given the number of people on here ignoring change gear lights, thus producing more emissions, it seems likely those days didn’t exist.
Depends on whether you are looking at economy and mechanical sympathy or not, a lot of gear change lights come on well before the car really gets into its power band, certain cars (VTEC or over specced VVT turbos) REALLY do not like this and you can end up seizing bits (vanes or actuators) when they don't get a regular workout.
It also has one of those japanese pop-up parking poles from Previous Owner In Japan, which is totally totally pointless but I still love it
That's actually a really neat feature, I'd have loved one of those! Really good for tight city parking (if you were taught to park properly).
Flappy paddles / manual on an auto: Have you ever driven down a long or steep hill without riding the brakes?
You've just opened a whole new can of worms now. (yes I'm aware that there are actually signs that tell you to engage a low gear on steep hills) Engine braking deniers to the front please. That also applies to your snow/mud example.
Had an interesting situation following a Tesla last year. Driving “sedately” we were on a straight bit of road when his “brake” lights came on. I couldn’t see anything ahead. The lights went off, then on, then off, etc. I then realised that with it being a sunny day the light sensor was reacting to the light and shade of individual trees by the roadside!
Either that or he was lifting off enough for regents braking to kick in. My i3 lights the brake lights without me touching the pedal, it is slowing down quicker than a car normally would.
@phil5556 - there was no actual braking, or at least none that was discernible, and they were maintaining a steady speed on flat terrain. Once I twigged what was going on I could see the car enter shade, rear lights on, leave shade, lights off.
