[jro4566]

In general new cars are fantastic - vastly more reliable and better-built than the cars of the past. But some have features you wish would stop working, or that had never been installed in the first place.

Here's a quick sampling:

GM's always-on parking lights. When I was in high school, the sure brand of a loser wanna-be was the guy driving around the lot in his clapped-out '77 Camaro with Gabriel Hi-Jacker air shocks out back and the parking lights turned on in the middle of the day. So cool, man. General Motors installs the same basic deal on several new cars, including the '04 Corvette, which has pop-up style headlights and so can't really deploy the also-annoying (and unnecessary) Daytime Running Lamps (DRLs) that keep the headlights burning whenever the car is running. But the Cadillac CTS, Camaro/Firebird, and some other GM models are equally afflicted - bestowing upon their owners all the cachet of a notice-me-please teenager cruising the shopping mall parking lots in his glass-packed 15-year-old Civic, hoping it'll impress the girls.

Toyota's back-up alarm. When a big trash truck or something like that starts backing-up, it's not a bad idea to let people who might otherwise get smushed know what's coming. But is it really necessary for a compact sports car (Celica) or econo-compact (Echo) to ding-ding-ding! every time you put the thing in reverse? Why not just have a flailing robot pop out of the trunk? Danger! Danger! Will Robinson!

Source: TCC

 

[Rex Raider]

This author is clueless.

He loses all credibility immediately on the "reverse beeping" of the Toyota Celica (and some others). The beeping on a Toyota in reverse can only be heard INSIDE the car. The reason it beeps is to alert the driver that he is in reverse, and not in first gear, since both shift positions are close to each other. This doesn't happen it automatic Toyotas, and only happens on models with a 6 speed.

As for his other gripes, they're pointless.

DRL's aren't a cry for attention, they are a safety feature, and here in Canada, they are mandatory on ALL models. Some cars (Chrysler minivans, Vette) use the parking lights instead of the headlights. Same effect.

Radar-Guided Park Assist: Hey, I'd rather the old lady in the Town Car doesn't back into me while parking. And insurance rates only go up the more people make needless claims. Warning systems come in handy. Sure, most drivers can live without them, but those that can't, it's a great idea.

How is idiot proofing a bad thing? It's easier to idiot-proof than to get rid of the idiots.

"Belt Minder": What's wrong with a seatbelt minder? I think all people should buckle up. Why would you want to rish death/serious injury? If you need a friendly reminder, it could save your life. If you automatically put on your belt by habit, the minder doesn't come on, and wouldn't bother you.

One-touch power windows: ? C'mon. Self torture? I hardly think so. If you can't figure out how to stop the window from going the whole way down, then maybe you don't have the hand-eye coordination to be driving in the first place, or writing a "news" article.

Eric Peters the author of the most useless artice of the year certainly needs a better editor that doesn't greenlight these puff pieces. Go review a car or something. Must be a REALLY slow news day.

 

[BigAls87Z28]

agreed on many parts, but on others its kind of just annoying.
The DRL's along with auto headlights are odd. I see the saftey side of DRL's, but people coming on base get hassled by the guards for the lights on and that seems to be a big problem. The Autolights are just flat out LAZY!! If you cant reach your hand 3 inches to turn, pull or flick a knob, then you do not belong behind the wheel. Auto-off is a good idea.
Belt reminders are annoying, but I always wear my belt so I dont care
Personaly, I love that amber glow that you can see for some miles out, and you know that its a GM car heading down the road. I can deal with that. One touch power windows have adapted over the years to now you have to depress it to a certain point to make the window go down. They use to just go down if you pushed it slightly.
Another thing is auto-locking doors... for some reason I cant stand that!! I always lock my doors, but when I want to get something out of the rear of the car, by the time I get out and shut my doors, all of them lock and I have to open the doors again!!! AHHHHHHHH!
Anyway, they are annoying, but I guess there are a lot of dumb people out there.

 

[LGRpup]

I think DRL's are a good thing, and I much rather have them in the running lights instead of the headlights. I wish my TB had them in the running lights instead of the headlights, I am tired of replacing my $20 Silverstars. Watch it, I was one of those kids in highschool with there running lights on at all times, we called them "pimp lights" and i pimped the crap out of mine. Okay so I had a Corsica how much of a pimp could I have been. As for the Express down windows, I rarley need it except for maybe the bank, fast food etc. I think its a pain to have to hurry and push the button up when you want to stop the window, but thats just me.

 

[montecarlolsus]

I dont care either way about daytime running lights. I am glad though on some vehicles they use the parking lights instead of the brights. As for automatic locks, mine in the Montecarlo are programmable for if you want them to or not. I have them lock in drive and unlock in park and never even notice it.

 

[Rex Raider]

I wrote to the author directly to tell him how fluffy and useless his article was. Let's see if he responds.

I also like automatic on/off headlights.

There's nothing worse than returning to your car after a long day somewhere only to discover your battery dead due to you leaving the lights on by accident.

Actually there is one worse thing: driving at night with some guy with no headlights either behind or in front of you.

I don't understand how you can forget to turn your lights on at night. Isn't your whole dashboard dark?

 

[IMPALAon20s]

prior to getting my 02 impala, the last 4 cars i had were all 80's products.. and after driving the impala for 2 months, one weekend i got into my 88 monte carlo, and was annoyed that i had to reach over and actually turn my headlights on and that it took awhile to lower the power windows.. love those automatic headlights on my impala. actually i think some of these new features are great, i can recall before the days of drls and automatic headlights, i once drove 30 minutes at night and forgot to turn headlights on, and yes the dashboard was dark but thats because it was a ford and dash lights had shorted out years before that!! lol

only things that annoy me about modern cars are the bright yellow warning stickers on visor that are hell to take off. even on my leather seats, the rear seat has little imprinted logos on the leather to show how to buckle the seat belt or something. and specificly the gm radios that if swapped, make resetting oil monitor difficult and you'd loose warning chimes.

 

[coolcaddy]

Where's iDrive on that list? :huh:

 

[Ming]

3 headrests in the back of a small european car that can only comfortably seat 2 people tall enough to need them, and so big that they obstruct the view out of the rear window.

Safety Freaks.

 

[JAllan]

Auto-locking doors: Another over-the-top result of our increasingly safety-obsessed society. Put the car in gear and thwunk! All the locks slide closed, securing you inside. Sure, the auto-locks can be shut off, deprogrammed or whatever. But like cell phones, they're really just another "convenience" that adds needlessly to the stress and complexity of life.


Talk about grasping for straws. this guy has nothing to say.

 

[jro4566]

Originally posted by coolcaddy@Jul 9 2004, 09:29 AM
Where's iDrive on that list? :huh:

:lol: EXACTLY!

 

[paul8488]

Originally posted by [Corporal Dan]@Jul 9 2004, 04:05 PM
Talk about grasping for straws. this guy has nothing to say.

good point! if automatic light ands locks are the low point of his day, he's not doing too bad!

 

[LGRpup]

Originally posted by LakeMichigan@Jul 9 2004, 07:53 AM
don't forget a feature NO LONGER offered, at least to my knowledge...
"Guidematic" the automatic dimming high beams....I can still see the "eye" on the hood of seeral of the cars the parents had when I was young....

The 05 STS will get a feature like this, its called Intelibeam. I hope the new system works better, I remember being in my friends moms car, some 80's Caddy and people would always flash her to turn her brights off.

 

[Dodge Drivin' Paul]

I remember the extensive research done to prove that DRL's actually made our roads safer. I never figured out why, instead of having just the headlights on, have a DRL system where just the parking lights are on. Just as effective, but without the annoying glare and the added benefit of better visability of the rear. I think the always-on parking lights is a much improved version of DRL's.

What's missing from his list are things like idiot lights to replace the oil pressure and volt gauges, and automatics with a tach - a volt gauge would be so much more useful than a tach in a car with an automatic. You can't bump-start an automatic with a dead battery like you can a stick shift. Or how about headlights that turn yellow and fade after a few years. Used to be you replaced the whole headlight, lens and all...today, for the same price of the whole headlight, all you get is the bulb...and if you want to replace the yellowed, scratched-up lens, you're into hundreds of dollars.

I have to say I agree with Ford's seatbelt reminder, which is intrusive and annoying (at least on the Ford minivan I drove once). However, that's specific to Ford...Chrysler and GM continue to offer the gentle reminder after the car's started.

Then there's ABS, which might be a good thing if it didn't make drivers over-confident about their car's stopping ability, and air bags which do as much harm as they do good. At least DRL's were researched for years before they were mandated.

My biggest gripe, however, is bumpers that can't be bumped. Used to be, cars came with bump-resistant bumpers mounted on shocks...now they're simply a rebar wrapped in overpriced styrofoam and plastic bolted right to the car's frame. You bump into someone in a parking lot, and you're into thousands of dollars worth of damage. The fact that this guy overlooked this demonstrates to me that his priorities are all mixed up.

 

[montecarlolsus]

The new bumpers tick me off a bit also. Somebody just touched my 2000 montecarlo with his truck. Cracked it and the whole cost was over $700. Had that been my 1981 Bonneville it might have collapsed one of the shocks and that would have been the end of it.

 

[CyberianHusky]

I like the DRL's on my car. Some states are requiring lights for when you run your wipers or when there's certain weather conditions around the area. My home state of Illinois is one of those. And I don't know about other GM vehicles, but I know that I can deprogram them on my 2000 Grand Am. Not that I would want to.

I also dig my auto-locks. Once I was able to get out of a bad situation where I about to get car jacked because all I had to do was throw my car into drive. My hand was already on the shifter. If I had to reach up and hit the locks I don't think I would've made it under a panic situation like that.

I can't think of any feature on my car that I don't like or find useless.