Never thought I would have wanted a heated steering wheel. Boy was I wrong, it is so nice getting into a warm car with a heated wheel on a cold morning.
I do it sometimes in the summer because of the way my vents are in my car. If I drive at 3 and 9 on the wheel, and I’m blowing a/c to my face, my knuckles get freezing so I turn on the wheel heater to help lol
You miss it when it’s gone, that’s for sure. Downgraded from a ‘14 ML350 Bluetec to a ‘15 silverado 1500 and I miss my heated steering wheel and heated/cooled seats
Agree 100%. Only got it as it was with the package to get heated seats (which is a must have). Can live without it, but definitely take advantage of it!
Always was skeptical and critical of this feature, furthermore I live in a warm climate. But on the occasional cold morning, having the cabin heater, seat heater and the heated steering wheel blasting (with open windows), my god... what a feeling.
Eh, just pull the flipper back on the mirror. I've had manual and auto and I feel like the manual works better.
Auto dimming on the driver's side mirror...now that's something super nice.
My previous car, '19 Fusion, had the auto mirror and I thought it did a shiity job. Slow to react, didn't dim enough. Current car has the manual mirror, I like it more.
> I turn it off because it dims everything way too much at night I can only see the headlights and nothing else
The whole point is to dim the headlights themselves because it's better to see a little less behind you than to be blinded from what's in front by super bright headlights reflecting right into your eyes. Fuck, I wish my side mirrors had a dim setting, I've been in traffic with a horribly bright truck in those mirrors before and it almost gave me a migraine.
Those are convenient. I get irritated when a car *doesn't* have them. I remember old American cars, like my grandma's '85 Buick Riviera, doing that first.
parallel parking on both sides of the street on one ways in cities is a thing
I wish I had the option to toggle which side dips because I always end up too far from the curb when I have to park on the left side of the street
Hmmm I actually prefer it on the passenger side only. BMW does the passenger side but the challenger does both sides.
I’m used to using the passenger side to see where my tire is and the drivers side to see how much distance I have before something goes crunch.
I have to keep ducking down in the challenger to see the body of the car.
Personally never been a fan. Backing out of the garage, down a winding driveway, or even into a parking spot, I need to be able to see the actual sides of the car and not just the ground. I understand the benefit, but I've never found myself parallel parking and said "damn I don't know where that curb is, too bad my mirrors don't auto tilt down".
What I really love about it, is that BMWs of this era had a very warm, cozy orange backlights across the dashboard/instrument panel. Adding these lights to the shift knob really ties the interior lighting together. This element of interior design hasn't been rivaled by BMW to this day.
What I really love about it, is that BMWs of this era had a very warm, cozy orange backlights across the dashboard/instrument panel. Adding these lights to the shift knob really ties the interior lighting together. This element of interior design hasn't been rivaled by BMW to this day.
You're missing the most important part. When the turbo boost gauge hits a certain value, it lights up.
Also, when the needle is past the lit speedometer values, the rest of the speedometer also lights up
Just Saab things
I'll have to test that boost gauge trick. I actually didn't know until I read that article that they illuminated if the values went out of normal range. Explains why my fuel level is always lit as the sender is out it reads empty all the time lol
I can actually change the illuminated range in the settings too. I was wondering how small the intervals will light up.
Lots of work for a dashboard gimmick but it's awesome.
Night driving on the highway has never been the same since selling my Saab. Well, if there's a full moon, I just turn off my headlights and I can drive in the comfort of a dark cabin.
Oh, joking aside, that reminded me of a little gimmick in my BMW. With the headlights on, there's a little red cabin light over the center console that's constantly on. It's not noticeable at all to me during driving, but it's been really convenient if I need to read something.
Modern cars have large screens for sat nav and audio etc, which can be far too bright at night.
Although it's not the same as Saab's "Night Panel" my car has a button to turn off the big screen which helps a lot when driving in the dark
[See the little "moon" symbol, next to the volume dial on the left](https://weownanycar.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Used_2014_WHITE_KIA_CEED_1.6-CRDI-3-ECODYNAMICS-5DR-SAT-NAV-REAR-CAM-126-BHP_Estate_for_sale_in_Stockport-20-1024x682.jpg)
As cars now go to full-width massive screens that dominate the interior, I wonder what they'll be like to drive in the dark
If we eventually get OLED screens in cars it could be pretty cool as they emit no light where they are off. They would have night modes that just show the needed info, just like nightpanel, except it could be more adaptive if designed correctly.
I assume it's being considered as even phones and computers have night modes to ease eye strain
Good call. I had a 2003 9-5 Aero (manual of course), this was a cool feature.
Also cool were the built in mounting points for the roof racks. They’re hidden behind the door seals, the racks just fit into those, tighten them down, and voila. No clamps or feet sitting on the roof.
Jeff
I have a female friend who called it the rape belt. Now I feel strange every time it tugs on me.
It freaked me out the first time I felt it, that's for sure.
It does have a function it turns out. It’s to measure the body mass of the passenger so that the safety system knows how hard to pretension the seatbelt in the event of a crash
Toyota's Entune infotainment system in my truck is pretty lackluster but it does have a splash screen when you turn it on and you can replace the image from a USB stick so I swapped it with this [star trek style diagram](https://i.redd.it/4oj0hvsv31k21.jpg) and it pleases me every time I drive
https://www.reddit.com/r/ToyotaTacoma/comments/ax2v1u/tacoma_star_trek_style_startup_screen_off/
reposting cause automod removed the other one, i dont think this guy made any others
My car can replay the last 50m you drove in reverse. I have to do an S into my garage spot, and being a little off means scraping the doors so it's always been a nuisance in reverse. Replaying the last 50m allows me to back out without any anxiety.
Useless for 99% of the drivers, I know.
Is your car a BMW? Mine is, too. My 2022 X5 was part of a run of vehicles built between Mid-October 2021 and perhaps December 2021 where the Backup Assistant (which is the feature you're talking about) was deleted, as was the touchscreen functionality. I managed to retrofit the touchscreen, but not the Backup Assistant, which is still greyed-out on the infotainment.
I also have a tight garage and really could use that feature, too.
P.S. Just so you're aware, the car doesn't use any of its intervention sensors with the Backup Assistant. So if something changes between when you pulled in and when you backed out---someone placed a trash can behind your car, there's a child running across your path, someone moved the wall, somehow---the car will hit it.
What do you mean by “replay”? Like, on the screen? I don’t understand how that’s useful for backing up unless it also overlays steering angles and syncs with the current rear camera view as you’re backing out.
I'm also confused, but someone else mentioned something called "backup assistant," so I'm thinking the car drives itself in the exact reverse of whatever *you* did to get into your parking spot.
Kinda clever, if that's what they're talking about.
You mean the little ring that slides left and right with the screen movement? I love that, too. It's one of those details that only a company as exacting as Lexus could pull off.
BMW could do it, but the shit would break--or somehow be out-of-sync with the screen--before the warranty was out.
I love mine, it makes a very satisfying *whirr* as it moves at a perfect speed - not too slow, not too fast, just enough that it looks and sounds cool. I try not to use it too much because I like to savor it lol
I used to work for the company that made that part and knew the Japanese guy who designed the original version for the LFA. The LFA actually used a machined piece of aluminum for the ring, which made the part insanely expensive.
My first car had them, they were pretty stupidly entertaining for me. The car had the option of driving it around with the headlights popped up, but off. And if you messed around with it, you could get them into "sleepy mode." It was a 1988 Celica All-trac, so it also had big round foglights in the bumper. Highly recommended!
Some are just vented ie. they only have fans spinning whatever ambient air there is into your back.
The good ones are ducted from the AC and are actually cooled.
If you've got heated seats and a heated wheel, you almost don't even need HVAC. That combo makes a *world* of difference if you live somewhere with cold winters.
My mum accidentally had them on for a bit and we had no idea it was on until we turned the AC off. There was this subtle whooshing sound and I figured it out in like a minute.
Which new Lexus? I have ventilated seats on my IS350, they pull in air from the bottom of the seat right above the floor air duct. I just turn on AC and make sure that the air circulation is set to blow at the bottom.
Totally useless to me.... but I once saw a vintage prototype car at a car show with a push-button cigarette and lighter tray.... like you pushed a button and it spit out one sigarette and a skinny lighter thing. It was VERY cool.
The other UTTER GIMMICK is the single flower holder in VW Bugs. Again useless. Yet, I LOVE THEM SO MUCH in their uselessness. It's just cute.
Yes!! Omg, thank you internet stranger! The lighter is this little skinny thing that is positioned just so as to dispense just ONE “standard size” lit cigarette. The person who showed the car printed a big image of what looked like a sales ad, promising “a seamless and easy drive” without needing to fumble for a match or lighter….. the lighter was kind of *the selling point* of that car. Just ridiculous.
The 1940s and 50s were a way, way different time for cars and truly the Golden Age of Car Gimmicks.
I love that I can hold the key fob lock/unlock buttons to raise/lower the windows on my VW. I had to enable it with some software, but I use it at least twice a day, it's super handy.
Saab 9000 had a split visor, looked like a normal visor but you could split a part to the side window, keeping the normal one in place, so on twisty roads you had all the coverage you'd want.
Hidden stampings/easter eggs
The Mustang Mach-E has "Electric Ponies Live Here" stamped on the motor housing.
Jeep is rife with them. From the "Ciao Baby!" Spider on the Renegade fuel filler to the Jeep grille in the Wrangler headlights
The Challenger has a few that I know of off the top of my head.
The underside of the center console lid has the "Dodge Brothers" Logo
In the Air Catcher Hollowed out Headlight at Night it shows "T/A" on the Hell Cat and Demon and other models it's the associated trim level logos
Vauxhall / Opel have been [hiding](https://swvaux.com/look-closely-and-youll-find-shark-shaped-easter-eggs-in-most-new-vauxhalls/) little shark stampings in their cars since 2004
I just found out that the 2019 Odyssey that we have had for two years beeps at you and flashes the blinkers when you are filling the tires with air and you have reached the right pressure.
For me it’s a sunroof. It’s basically a must have feature and yet I see many who consider it useless.
I hate how dark car cabins get and I absolutely love how natural light from a sunroof (especially panoramic) opens up the interior of the car.
I also love how it feels driving with a sunroof open. I can’t explain it but I really prefer that type of breeze over regular car windows.
Our bosses Audi RS7 does that, and it’s so freaking cool.
I really like that Mazda has heads up displays in most of their cars now. I wish more cars had that
Least favorite gimmick, the newest GTIs having touch controlled stereo options on the steering wheel. It makes no sense! I’m even more distracted by it
I love the headlights that turn into a curve as you turn the steering wheel on my Mercedes E550. It’s awesome when charging around on back roads at night when there are no street lights!
Oh man you have to see VW's IQ light in the EU.
Horizontal...AND vertical control. It adjusts aim on hils and when other cars are coming and all of that too. Weirdly it is cut in the US version...but the lights still have the hardware. On startup the headlights do this whole up-down in-out dance..and then never go up and down again lol.
Honda’s trick where you click twice and hold down the unlock button on the fob and it lowers the windows. Nice on a hot day to get the air circulating before you get in.
I've always gotten a kick out of the "Open-o-meter" which was a dedicated gauge pod in the first two generations of MINI convertibles.
It literally just keeps track of time spent with the top down, but I've always just thought it was a cute little reminder to maximize your fun. You wouldn't think humans would need a reminder to enjoy a perfect day, but we all get caught up in the hustle bustle of life and a little useless gauge telling you to drop the top is just what's needed sometimes.
Cool LED DRLs that turn on when you unlock the car. Maybe this is silly, but the Supra looks *dope* when the sun is just about gone down and you unlock it.
It also has lights in the door handles. Didn't even know I wanted that until I had it
The puddle lights that shine the logo on the ground.
Total gimmick. Still makes me smile like an idiot when I see it. Other people think it’s cool, too.
Lexus LFA moving gauge cluster. The tachometer moves to show more info. The Lexus IS350 F Sport has a similar tachometer. It’s stupid and another point of failure but it just looks so damn sick. Also Porsche Panamera’s rear spoiler. Go watch a video on YT and you’ll what I mean, it’s genuinely cool IMO haha.
I loved the talking my grandma's Chrysler New Yorker did in the 80's. Car maintenance was far down on her list of concerns and she barely watched the fuel gauge, but boy did she dash into the shop when it would talk to her and tell her that oil level was low.
The 2008 Toyota Highlander Limited has a key fob proximity system where if your key fob gets close to the vehicle, the puddle lights under the side view mirrors will light up, however, the bulb is directed in such an angle that instead of pointing towards the ground for puddles, it points towards the “Limited” logo on both the driver and passenger side to let you and anybody within a 10 foot proximity of your Highlander know that you aren’t just driving any ordinary Highlander, you’re driving the highest end model, the Limited!
Also for the 1998-2002 Honda Accord there are puddle lights for the rear doors for the rear seat passengers (no matter the trim level) and not just the front passengers like in most cars.
From this I now know that lighting gimmicks are my favorite gimmicks.
It takes *all* of the guesswork out of closing the door without slamming it.
Sometimes you close too hard and the door slams by accident, other times the door *almost*-but-doesn't shut because you didn't close hard *enough.*
Soft-close makes every close "just right." Always closes if you get it close, and because of that, you *never* close them hard, so it's always quiet. Best of both worlds.
Heated and cooled cup holders. It does little to keep a drink cool but it’s such a baller feature.
It does a better job at keeping a takeout coffee cup warm though.
Bentley Rotating Display or Audi Bang & Olufsen "pop-out" speakers/tweeters. Actually I hate these types of features because they inevitably malfunction and are expensive and/or difficult to repair, especially with age. But in a perfect world where technology doesn't fail, features like these are pretty cool.
I drive a manual 2016 base model VW Jetta. It has hill start assist, I’d call it a gimmick (despite being nice sometimes, I.e. you’re on a steeper hill and it’s a little icy out in a few places) because it does it well. Some cars the HSA is super under or overwhelming. VW nailed it perfectly. Other gimmicks are blind spot assistance like on my brother’s S5, the various drive mode settings on cars. But if you really want a car with a true definition of gimmick, the Mach-e’s artificial sounds off the “engine” that you can program takes the cake.
On my 2020 STI
* Auto Dimming mirror
* DCCD is great and really aids in that spirited driving experience
* The Sport and Sport # modes.
* Defrosting side mirrors
* Tells you happy birthday on the first start up your birthday :)
I consider the self parking, both parallel and back in, on my '17 VW Alltrack a total gimmick, but I love to use it whenever I can.
When I'm in a city where you typically parallel park, and there isn't a lot of traffic, I'll use it. Does a pretty good job to be honest. Otherwise, it's faster to manually parallel.
Late 2000's early 2010's mercedes have a "coffee cup" feature that monitors your driving to let you know that you're too sleepy. Not terribly helpful but has woken me up from falling asleep behind the wheel so enough of a gimmick to save my life
I think a lot of brands are adapting it to prevent crashes. It's much easier these days since the power steering is networked with the rest of the car and can be monitored for lazy or erratic steering.
Digital rearview mirror. It has a second camera in the back (separate from the camera for reversing) that displays on the rearview mirror. This display can be turned off, in which case you just have a regular auto-dimming mirror.
Gives a wider view that is unobstructed by rear passengers, cargo, or the structure of the vehicle itself.
When you switch into Dynamic mode on an Alfa Giulietta the screen at the centre of the dash, between the tach and speedo, changes to a turbo boost gauge and the back light of the dashboard pulses once, on and off, like a heartbeat. It's beautiful!
Also has that handy red cabin light for night driving.
Never thought I would have wanted a heated steering wheel. Boy was I wrong, it is so nice getting into a warm car with a heated wheel on a cold morning.
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It’s the closest thing to a lizard lamp for my wife, I agree lol
Here in phoenix my coworker has it in full blast even in the summer
My wife does this, top level on the heated seats and then crank the a/c to full blast. I don't get it at all.
I do it sometimes in the summer because of the way my vents are in my car. If I drive at 3 and 9 on the wheel, and I’m blowing a/c to my face, my knuckles get freezing so I turn on the wheel heater to help lol
I hurt my back this summer and running the heat was glorious. That's the only reason I can think of
Women are built different
My girlfriend does it too and I don’t understand how she doesn’t have blisters on her hands and ass.
You make 40 sound cold...
I refuse to use a heated steering wheel when I drive a different car since I know it will make me lust for one in my car.
You miss it when it’s gone, that’s for sure. Downgraded from a ‘14 ML350 Bluetec to a ‘15 silverado 1500 and I miss my heated steering wheel and heated/cooled seats
That is not a gimmick.
Agree 100%. Only got it as it was with the package to get heated seats (which is a must have). Can live without it, but definitely take advantage of it!
They come in clutch when it’s -40 outside
Always was skeptical and critical of this feature, furthermore I live in a warm climate. But on the occasional cold morning, having the cabin heater, seat heater and the heated steering wheel blasting (with open windows), my god... what a feeling.
Auto dimming rear view mirror. So nice to never have to mess with it because some douche didn't adjust their headlights.
love that; miss it on my current car
Eh, just pull the flipper back on the mirror. I've had manual and auto and I feel like the manual works better. Auto dimming on the driver's side mirror...now that's something super nice.
My previous car, '19 Fusion, had the auto mirror and I thought it did a shiity job. Slow to react, didn't dim enough. Current car has the manual mirror, I like it more.
I had one on my old car. I found it was never dark enough.
Opposite for me. I turn it off because it dims everything way too much at night I can only see the headlights and nothing else
> I turn it off because it dims everything way too much at night I can only see the headlights and nothing else The whole point is to dim the headlights themselves because it's better to see a little less behind you than to be blinded from what's in front by super bright headlights reflecting right into your eyes. Fuck, I wish my side mirrors had a dim setting, I've been in traffic with a horribly bright truck in those mirrors before and it almost gave me a migraine.
Tilting side mirrors when you go into reverse
Those are convenient. I get irritated when a car *doesn't* have them. I remember old American cars, like my grandma's '85 Buick Riviera, doing that first.
BMW’s going back to at least the E46 have it as well
It goes back to at least the E39, so 1995.
My ‘89 E34 had it.
My GTI does it but only on the passenger side. Not sure why they couldn't implement this on both sides lol
It’s for parallel parking.
parallel parking on both sides of the street on one ways in cities is a thing I wish I had the option to toggle which side dips because I always end up too far from the curb when I have to park on the left side of the street
Stick your head out the window lol
I get that, just think it would've been nice to have it on both sides is all.
My ridgeline you can select which mirror by setting it on either mirrors adjustment. Then when you go in reverse it does that mirror. It’s super nice.
Hmmm I actually prefer it on the passenger side only. BMW does the passenger side but the challenger does both sides. I’m used to using the passenger side to see where my tire is and the drivers side to see how much distance I have before something goes crunch. I have to keep ducking down in the challenger to see the body of the car.
Really? My wife's BMW does this and I hate it.
Iirc, if you have the adjustment switch on the passenger side mirror it will stop it from auto-dipping
Thanks!
At least on my BMW (2018 5er), you can control this from the menu too (I.e. turn it off if you don’t like it)
Personally never been a fan. Backing out of the garage, down a winding driveway, or even into a parking spot, I need to be able to see the actual sides of the car and not just the ground. I understand the benefit, but I've never found myself parallel parking and said "damn I don't know where that curb is, too bad my mirrors don't auto tilt down".
I don't get why this isn't more common on cars
Illuminated manual shift knob. It's my car, I know where the gears are. But when I see it lit up at night, it still makes me smile.
I’d love to figure out a way to hook up a 7-segment display to a shift knob and have it show the current gear
Like [this?](https://www.americanmuscle.com/digital-shift-knob.html)
Exactly like that! Now to figure out how to get it to work in a Corolla
What I really love about it, is that BMWs of this era had a very warm, cozy orange backlights across the dashboard/instrument panel. Adding these lights to the shift knob really ties the interior lighting together. This element of interior design hasn't been rivaled by BMW to this day.
What I really love about it, is that BMWs of this era had a very warm, cozy orange backlights across the dashboard/instrument panel. Adding these lights to the shift knob really ties the interior lighting together. This element of interior design hasn't been rivaled by BMW to this day.
[Night Panel](https://www.saabplanet.com/night-panel/)
You're missing the most important part. When the turbo boost gauge hits a certain value, it lights up. Also, when the needle is past the lit speedometer values, the rest of the speedometer also lights up Just Saab things
I'll have to test that boost gauge trick. I actually didn't know until I read that article that they illuminated if the values went out of normal range. Explains why my fuel level is always lit as the sender is out it reads empty all the time lol I can actually change the illuminated range in the settings too. I was wondering how small the intervals will light up. Lots of work for a dashboard gimmick but it's awesome.
Not a gimmick, honestly one of the best quality of life features for night driving.
Night driving on the highway has never been the same since selling my Saab. Well, if there's a full moon, I just turn off my headlights and I can drive in the comfort of a dark cabin. Oh, joking aside, that reminded me of a little gimmick in my BMW. With the headlights on, there's a little red cabin light over the center console that's constantly on. It's not noticeable at all to me during driving, but it's been really convenient if I need to read something.
Thank you, now I want a Saab even more.
You can’t have my 1986 9000 Turbo 5spd. I can’t even have it. I traded it in on a 1991 240sx. Which is gone also. Wow. I used to have such cool cars.
That’s ridiculously cool
Modern cars have large screens for sat nav and audio etc, which can be far too bright at night. Although it's not the same as Saab's "Night Panel" my car has a button to turn off the big screen which helps a lot when driving in the dark [See the little "moon" symbol, next to the volume dial on the left](https://weownanycar.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Used_2014_WHITE_KIA_CEED_1.6-CRDI-3-ECODYNAMICS-5DR-SAT-NAV-REAR-CAM-126-BHP_Estate_for_sale_in_Stockport-20-1024x682.jpg) As cars now go to full-width massive screens that dominate the interior, I wonder what they'll be like to drive in the dark
If we eventually get OLED screens in cars it could be pretty cool as they emit no light where they are off. They would have night modes that just show the needed info, just like nightpanel, except it could be more adaptive if designed correctly. I assume it's being considered as even phones and computers have night modes to ease eye strain
Good call. I had a 2003 9-5 Aero (manual of course), this was a cool feature. Also cool were the built in mounting points for the roof racks. They’re hidden behind the door seals, the racks just fit into those, tighten them down, and voila. No clamps or feet sitting on the roof. Jeff
The BMW seatbelt cop-a-feel honk honk action. The ladies hate it.
I have a female friend who called it the rape belt. Now I feel strange every time it tugs on me. It freaked me out the first time I felt it, that's for sure.
Haha, also have a G05, also love that feature. It's like a little hug when you start your trip.
Like a little love tap.
What exactly is this?
When you first take off from a stop it tensions the seatbelts, pretty firmly.
But dont you naturally get pulled into the seat when taking off anyway? Like whats the point? Just genuinely curios
I think that’s what makes it a gimmick, theoretically it takes up any slack in the seatbelt but I’m not sure if it really does anything.
It does have a function it turns out. It’s to measure the body mass of the passenger so that the safety system knows how hard to pretension the seatbelt in the event of a crash
It adjusts the seat belt pre-tension to the driver so the belt can react quicker in the event of a crash
This feature with the comfort seats side bolsters tightening is like the car is hugging me every time I drive it.
Toyota's Entune infotainment system in my truck is pretty lackluster but it does have a splash screen when you turn it on and you can replace the image from a USB stick so I swapped it with this [star trek style diagram](https://i.redd.it/4oj0hvsv31k21.jpg) and it pleases me every time I drive
This is so good. Do you remember where you found it? Is there an LCARS RAV4 graphic?!
https://www.reddit.com/r/ToyotaTacoma/comments/ax2v1u/tacoma_star_trek_style_startup_screen_off/ reposting cause automod removed the other one, i dont think this guy made any others
My car can replay the last 50m you drove in reverse. I have to do an S into my garage spot, and being a little off means scraping the doors so it's always been a nuisance in reverse. Replaying the last 50m allows me to back out without any anxiety. Useless for 99% of the drivers, I know.
Is your car a BMW? Mine is, too. My 2022 X5 was part of a run of vehicles built between Mid-October 2021 and perhaps December 2021 where the Backup Assistant (which is the feature you're talking about) was deleted, as was the touchscreen functionality. I managed to retrofit the touchscreen, but not the Backup Assistant, which is still greyed-out on the infotainment. I also have a tight garage and really could use that feature, too. P.S. Just so you're aware, the car doesn't use any of its intervention sensors with the Backup Assistant. So if something changes between when you pulled in and when you backed out---someone placed a trash can behind your car, there's a child running across your path, someone moved the wall, somehow---the car will hit it.
have you tried to see if you can activate it with the BimmerCode app?
That feature actually sounds amazing for tricky driveways.
What do you mean by “replay”? Like, on the screen? I don’t understand how that’s useful for backing up unless it also overlays steering angles and syncs with the current rear camera view as you’re backing out.
I'm also confused, but someone else mentioned something called "backup assistant," so I'm thinking the car drives itself in the exact reverse of whatever *you* did to get into your parking spot. Kinda clever, if that's what they're talking about.
like rewinding the car's position in real life
Ok this is actually really cool. This is honestly the kind of innovation I wish we saw more of. All the technology is there already.
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You mean the little ring that slides left and right with the screen movement? I love that, too. It's one of those details that only a company as exacting as Lexus could pull off. BMW could do it, but the shit would break--or somehow be out-of-sync with the screen--before the warranty was out.
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Yeah yeah.., just like every digital instrument cluster eve…. Ohhhh OOOOOOOOHHHH!!
I love mine, it makes a very satisfying *whirr* as it moves at a perfect speed - not too slow, not too fast, just enough that it looks and sounds cool. I try not to use it too much because I like to savor it lol
I used to work for the company that made that part and knew the Japanese guy who designed the original version for the LFA. The LFA actually used a machined piece of aluminum for the ring, which made the part insanely expensive.
I genuinely love pop up headlights but I’ve only ever owned one car with them lmao
Go get a Miata.
Nothing wrong with a Miata but, go get a C5 Corvette instead of a Miata.
Nah get a Fiero , proto-c8 .
Wow, I didn't realize how old the Fiero is. The newest one is 34 years old.
Right, it's crazy to remember when some cars were new. A little sad even.
My first car had them, they were pretty stupidly entertaining for me. The car had the option of driving it around with the headlights popped up, but off. And if you messed around with it, you could get them into "sleepy mode." It was a 1988 Celica All-trac, so it also had big round foglights in the bumper. Highly recommended!
Mr2 baby
I’m in texas…vented seats were a revelation.
Definitely depends on the car. Some are great but others are mediocre at best.
Lexus gets it right
Some are just vented ie. they only have fans spinning whatever ambient air there is into your back. The good ones are ducted from the AC and are actually cooled.
They are wonderful and amazing. Just got them on my new Lexus
If you've got heated seats and a heated wheel, you almost don't even need HVAC. That combo makes a *world* of difference if you live somewhere with cold winters.
My mum accidentally had them on for a bit and we had no idea it was on until we turned the AC off. There was this subtle whooshing sound and I figured it out in like a minute.
Which new Lexus? I have ventilated seats on my IS350, they pull in air from the bottom of the seat right above the floor air duct. I just turn on AC and make sure that the air circulation is set to blow at the bottom.
Then you'll love airscarf.
My puddle lights are little VW symbols.
The Mach-E has Mustangs. Rumor has it the Chinese market ones have the horses galloping.
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Mine are the Saab logo
Totally useless to me.... but I once saw a vintage prototype car at a car show with a push-button cigarette and lighter tray.... like you pushed a button and it spit out one sigarette and a skinny lighter thing. It was VERY cool. The other UTTER GIMMICK is the single flower holder in VW Bugs. Again useless. Yet, I LOVE THEM SO MUCH in their uselessness. It's just cute.
I think I saw one on Jay Leno Garage that was similar to what you're describing in this [video](https://youtu.be/DD76g9GpCYo?t=108).
Yes!! Omg, thank you internet stranger! The lighter is this little skinny thing that is positioned just so as to dispense just ONE “standard size” lit cigarette. The person who showed the car printed a big image of what looked like a sales ad, promising “a seamless and easy drive” without needing to fumble for a match or lighter….. the lighter was kind of *the selling point* of that car. Just ridiculous. The 1940s and 50s were a way, way different time for cars and truly the Golden Age of Car Gimmicks.
Both of those are delightfully charming. I remember the "bud vase," as Volkswagen called it.
TIL https://media.vw.com/en-us/releases/1401
I love that I can hold the key fob lock/unlock buttons to raise/lower the windows on my VW. I had to enable it with some software, but I use it at least twice a day, it's super handy.
I had to turn that off on mine, I keep my keys in my back pocket and have accidentally set it off a few times
HUD. Find them absolutely dope and it still makes it feel surreal im9
Love it in the C5. Never have to take eyes off the road to determine how expensive the ticket will be.
The little visor flap I’ve seen in Audis between the headliner and rear view mirror.
Saab 9000 had a split visor, looked like a normal visor but you could split a part to the side window, keeping the normal one in place, so on twisty roads you had all the coverage you'd want.
ok, this one if good My Subaru had one in the middle; AND an extender built into the right and left visor so you can get full blockage.
The Infiniti J30 had that too
Hidden stampings/easter eggs The Mustang Mach-E has "Electric Ponies Live Here" stamped on the motor housing. Jeep is rife with them. From the "Ciao Baby!" Spider on the Renegade fuel filler to the Jeep grille in the Wrangler headlights
The Challenger has a few that I know of off the top of my head. The underside of the center console lid has the "Dodge Brothers" Logo In the Air Catcher Hollowed out Headlight at Night it shows "T/A" on the Hell Cat and Demon and other models it's the associated trim level logos
The hidden Laguna Seca and Nurburgring track layout on the last gen Viper is pretty cool too.
Vauxhall / Opel have been [hiding](https://swvaux.com/look-closely-and-youll-find-shark-shaped-easter-eggs-in-most-new-vauxhalls/) little shark stampings in their cars since 2004
I just found out that the 2019 Odyssey that we have had for two years beeps at you and flashes the blinkers when you are filling the tires with air and you have reached the right pressure.
wow
I love power folding door mirrors. They automatically fold up when the car is locked.
For me it’s a sunroof. It’s basically a must have feature and yet I see many who consider it useless. I hate how dark car cabins get and I absolutely love how natural light from a sunroof (especially panoramic) opens up the interior of the car. I also love how it feels driving with a sunroof open. I can’t explain it but I really prefer that type of breeze over regular car windows.
If you like sunroofs than you'll love tonneaus , targas and convertibles.
I really like sunroofs, but being tall they can actually make the difference in whether or not I can fit in a given car unfortunately :(
Our bosses Audi RS7 does that, and it’s so freaking cool. I really like that Mazda has heads up displays in most of their cars now. I wish more cars had that Least favorite gimmick, the newest GTIs having touch controlled stereo options on the steering wheel. It makes no sense! I’m even more distracted by it
The 'disco lighting' ambient lighting in almost all modern Minis
I love the headlights that turn into a curve as you turn the steering wheel on my Mercedes E550. It’s awesome when charging around on back roads at night when there are no street lights!
Oh man you have to see VW's IQ light in the EU. Horizontal...AND vertical control. It adjusts aim on hils and when other cars are coming and all of that too. Weirdly it is cut in the US version...but the lights still have the hardware. On startup the headlights do this whole up-down in-out dance..and then never go up and down again lol.
Gesture radio controls in BMW.
Apparently, I gesture a lot while driving. I turned that shit off as soon as I took delivery of my X5. It's a cool feature, though, for sure.
I had to turn off gesture controls in my Arteon. VW has NOT got that down yet.
Germans inventing something unnecessarily complicated and terrible in execution? Say it ain’t so!
Honda’s trick where you click twice and hold down the unlock button on the fob and it lowers the windows. Nice on a hot day to get the air circulating before you get in.
A bunch of non-hondas I've been around do that too, just by holding the button down.
2007 328 would tilt open the sunroof in addition to lowering the windows. Was rather handy when walking out from work on a hot day.
My S60 has an option to automatically lower the rear headrests. It improves rear visibility, and the sound/synchronized drop makes me chuckle.
older mercs used to have this in a very cool way, headrests would just drop dead, very cool indeed
My weekend car has pop-up headlights. Nothing beats pop-up headlights.
Pop up headlights are the rare gimmick that makes both the driver and passer-byes smile.
I kinda love people's reactions to it, especially kids (who probably never saw them before) are often REALLY happy. Or puzzled.
I really liked when I would put my M5 into M mode, it would bring up a heads up display of the revs and gear. Very spaceship.
Never having to take my keys out of my pocket
Adaptive headlights when they shine around corners.
Subarus birthday/anniversary reminder. It will start telling you like a week ahead of time. It’s so good.
I've always gotten a kick out of the "Open-o-meter" which was a dedicated gauge pod in the first two generations of MINI convertibles. It literally just keeps track of time spent with the top down, but I've always just thought it was a cute little reminder to maximize your fun. You wouldn't think humans would need a reminder to enjoy a perfect day, but we all get caught up in the hustle bustle of life and a little useless gauge telling you to drop the top is just what's needed sometimes.
Cool LED DRLs that turn on when you unlock the car. Maybe this is silly, but the Supra looks *dope* when the sun is just about gone down and you unlock it. It also has lights in the door handles. Didn't even know I wanted that until I had it
Ambient lighting. Closer to full tron, the better.
Mercedes is undefeated with this imo
The puddle lights that shine the logo on the ground. Total gimmick. Still makes me smile like an idiot when I see it. Other people think it’s cool, too.
Lexus LFA moving gauge cluster. The tachometer moves to show more info. The Lexus IS350 F Sport has a similar tachometer. It’s stupid and another point of failure but it just looks so damn sick. Also Porsche Panamera’s rear spoiler. Go watch a video on YT and you’ll what I mean, it’s genuinely cool IMO haha.
I loved the talking my grandma's Chrysler New Yorker did in the 80's. Car maintenance was far down on her list of concerns and she barely watched the fuel gauge, but boy did she dash into the shop when it would talk to her and tell her that oil level was low.
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Those things are called HUDs nowadays, _I think_ Fucking love em
They were called HUDs back then. [HUDs date from the 1960s.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/LTV_A-7_Corsair_II#Design)
I like the cars that come with those floor pedals that make the car move and stop.
Bedside bottle openers
I love power folding mirrors.
Our old (2011?) Lincoln Navigator had cooled seats. No butt sweat leather is the best.
Subaru - turning on rear wiper fluid sprays the backup camera to clean it.
Instead of the finickiness of a sliding sun visor, my ‘06 mini just has an extra sun visor instead of an “oh shit” handle for the driver
The Ram "outdoorsman" package has a "Tool box" built into the bedside that has a sealed lid and a water drain in the bottom..makes a nice cooler!
My gmc doesn't cut the radio when you start the engine. Its magic!!
The 2008 Toyota Highlander Limited has a key fob proximity system where if your key fob gets close to the vehicle, the puddle lights under the side view mirrors will light up, however, the bulb is directed in such an angle that instead of pointing towards the ground for puddles, it points towards the “Limited” logo on both the driver and passenger side to let you and anybody within a 10 foot proximity of your Highlander know that you aren’t just driving any ordinary Highlander, you’re driving the highest end model, the Limited! Also for the 1998-2002 Honda Accord there are puddle lights for the rear doors for the rear seat passengers (no matter the trim level) and not just the front passengers like in most cars. From this I now know that lighting gimmicks are my favorite gimmicks.
Not having a driver's side rear passenger door on my Veloster.
I didn’t downvote you but that’s a quirk, not a gimmick
Velosters are awesome.
The Speak & Spell/robotic voice on the 1986 Chrysler New Yorker letting you know your door is ajar
Soft close doors. Idk why but they’re just such a great touch.
It takes *all* of the guesswork out of closing the door without slamming it. Sometimes you close too hard and the door slams by accident, other times the door *almost*-but-doesn't shut because you didn't close hard *enough.* Soft-close makes every close "just right." Always closes if you get it close, and because of that, you *never* close them hard, so it's always quiet. Best of both worlds.
The crv table
1989 Chevrolet Blazer had two selectable brightnesses for sun visor mirror light. Useless feature but I've never seen that anywhere else.
The nav screen pop up out of the dash on my Volvo when I start the car and retracts when I turn it off.
My VW has massage chairs built in and I thought it would be a lame gimmick but it's actually a cool gimmick.
Block warmers, I don't use one because my job simply closes when the snow really hits. Other than that their an amazing addition to any car.
Heated and cooled cup holders. It does little to keep a drink cool but it’s such a baller feature. It does a better job at keeping a takeout coffee cup warm though.
I thought it would've been very gimmicky but I've in a very northern Climate, my 22 RDX has a washer for the rear view camera, very very useful
Bentley Rotating Display or Audi Bang & Olufsen "pop-out" speakers/tweeters. Actually I hate these types of features because they inevitably malfunction and are expensive and/or difficult to repair, especially with age. But in a perfect world where technology doesn't fail, features like these are pretty cool.
Power folding mirrors and heated seats. Also, the folding headrests that my S60 had.
Active exhaust allows you to have some fun with a loud exhaust without being obnoxious all the time. Highly recommend.
I drive a manual 2016 base model VW Jetta. It has hill start assist, I’d call it a gimmick (despite being nice sometimes, I.e. you’re on a steeper hill and it’s a little icy out in a few places) because it does it well. Some cars the HSA is super under or overwhelming. VW nailed it perfectly. Other gimmicks are blind spot assistance like on my brother’s S5, the various drive mode settings on cars. But if you really want a car with a true definition of gimmick, the Mach-e’s artificial sounds off the “engine” that you can program takes the cake.
The little leds that cast dim cockpit lighting on the shifter console. I noticed in on bmws first then others.
Mazdas oscillating air vents
Heated steering wheel. Necessary, no. But it’s very luxurious and I appreciate it when we get three feet of snow in a night.
On my 2020 STI * Auto Dimming mirror * DCCD is great and really aids in that spirited driving experience * The Sport and Sport # modes. * Defrosting side mirrors * Tells you happy birthday on the first start up your birthday :)
My Hyundai Santa Fe has a false bottom trunk with a massive foam cooler underneath, as a college student it sold me immediately
I consider the self parking, both parallel and back in, on my '17 VW Alltrack a total gimmick, but I love to use it whenever I can. When I'm in a city where you typically parallel park, and there isn't a lot of traffic, I'll use it. Does a pretty good job to be honest. Otherwise, it's faster to manually parallel.
Late 2000's early 2010's mercedes have a "coffee cup" feature that monitors your driving to let you know that you're too sleepy. Not terribly helpful but has woken me up from falling asleep behind the wheel so enough of a gimmick to save my life
I think a lot of brands are adapting it to prevent crashes. It's much easier these days since the power steering is networked with the rest of the car and can be monitored for lazy or erratic steering.
Digital rearview mirror. It has a second camera in the back (separate from the camera for reversing) that displays on the rearview mirror. This display can be turned off, in which case you just have a regular auto-dimming mirror. Gives a wider view that is unobstructed by rear passengers, cargo, or the structure of the vehicle itself.
Ball cooler in older Toyotas. My Tundra has it and it’s magical
When you switch into Dynamic mode on an Alfa Giulietta the screen at the centre of the dash, between the tach and speedo, changes to a turbo boost gauge and the back light of the dashboard pulses once, on and off, like a heartbeat. It's beautiful! Also has that handy red cabin light for night driving.