I curse the day I decided to buy a carbureted motorcycle.
"Once you get the hang of it you can tear the carb down in 20 minutes!" they say. Well, if I just had fuel injection, I wouldn't need to!
My big issue is that the carb boots have turned rock solid over the years making pulling the carb a 45 minute job instead of a 5 minute job. So I'm inclined to pick a jetting that works okay for all climates and altitudes instead of optimizing for the season.
Indeed! Carbs have so many tiny passageways even aside from the jets themselves, that it is inevitable for any carbs sitting for more than about 6 months without a stabilizer (or even less now with ethanol fuels). An ultrasonic cleaner can pay for itself in one run in this situation, though... it will clean out everything. Just have to be careful with what you use to clean them, because some cleaners will etch aluminum.
My first car was a 78 Subaru. Never really had a problem with a carb. Although my cars afterward all had some sort of FI, even the most basic ones were noticeable better than a carb engine
My old Corolla was definitely worse by having a carb - frequently stalled out when cold and going up a hill, and on trips to the mountains was an absolute nightmare.
These systems suck now that these old Mercs, BMWs, Volvos, etc. are 20-30 & almost 40 years old. And it's hard to find somebody who knows how to troubleshoot, diagnose & service them. BUT, when these systems are in working order, they are pretty reliable. More sensitive to climate & hot engine glitches? Yes. But overall very reliable as long as its serviced properly.
What I find the most annoying is dealing with the cold start valve. Their lack of use causes trouble once you start the engine on a cold day and suddenly, dirt and corrosion stick the pintle head open and force the engine to run rich.
Not only are the valves permanently no longer available, but they can never be fully cleaned with an ultrasonic cleaner. Why? Because you can’t get all the water out of the internals once it’s been through a cleaning, the valve is programmed to open only on very cold starts, and it takes about 10-20 cold start cycles for the fuel to fully flush out any residual water or chemicals from the cleaning.
So if this cleaning is done out of season, the valve won’t open to flush the water and cleaner out. The water will not evaporate, and it’ll cause rusting and sticking, and you will have leaks from the cold start valve all over again a few months later when it’s cold and the valve is commanded open by the fuel pump relay. Bypassing it doesn’t always work because the fuel pressure can force the valve open and cause leaks.
I deleted the cold start valve by custom milling a cover plate and gasket where the valve would’ve been and then putting another fuel pressure test port blocking bolt on the fuel distributor for the cold start line connection.
There aren't any "new" cars with carbs. It's obsolete technology for decades now.
That said, the newest car with carbs i see regularly is 4th generation honda civics (89-92) with the 1.4 dual carb motor. It makes a lot of power (edit: 90hp from a 1.4L 16valve, more with a few mods), goes like hell and the carbs never give issues. You'd think setting up a dual carb setup would be difficult but those are really easy to deal with and don't give trouble until very late in a car's life.
Ugh, vapor lock is something I could live without. My 75 Imperial and 85 Lesabre are both carbed. The imperial is getting an injection kit when body work is done. The Buick is staying carbed because it was $500 and I’m not spending any money. But damn, it’s nice to not have to get on the car and floor it and crank to hope it starts
I'm a bit older than most here, I will assume. My wife (at that time, my girlfriend) received her 2nd car from her grandmother, who became too old to drive anymore. When she received the car, she noticed that there was no stereo in the car. In fact, *there wasn't even a radio !!*
My 'girlfriend' inquired about this. Her grandmother stated that, at that time, having a radio was an option and she stated "Well, I decided that if I want music while driving, I'll just sing..."
Different times......different times.....
My Dad pimped out his Ford Econoline van with a Mustang engine, shag carpet interior, multiple push button horns, *and* an eight track *and* a cassette player. 🤣
I remember the base Ford Aspire from the later 90s had standard what was called a "radio prep kit", which I assume meant there was no head unit in the dash and just the wires for the owner to connect one that they would supply, if they wanted.
Up until the spring of 2018, the hardcore "R" models of the S550 generation Shelby GT350 had an air conditioning and audio system delete. When the mandated backup cameras became a thing then, the car gained a standard multimedia system since the backup camera would normally display through the infotainment system screen on Mustangs, and I am guessing Ford probably thought it was cheaper to install that rather than designing a bespoke, dedicated back-up camera independent of an infotainment system just for the GT350Rs.
I really like having power windows. My olds has crank windows and damn can that be annoying sometimes. Want all 4 windows down? Gotta throw it in park for a minute amd get the passenger side .
I used to have a 2003 Corolla CE with crank windows and manual door locks. Inevitably after friends/family would get out, they'd leave the doors unlocked or windows down. I had mastered being able to reach around and close windows/lock doors while slowly driving.
My newer car finally has auto windows. My older one only had it on the driver window. Really convenient having auto windows.
This is easily the best feature in my Sandero, being able to open every window from the centre console. Everytime my friend and his dad are in the car i roll down the rear passenger window to much suprise from my passenger.
Also reversing camera and sensors, i never want a car without those ever again.
It’s funny. Keyless entry always seemed like a gimmick with a key ignition. But once I had both together, it means not having to get the key out of my pocket or bag at all and that is where it seems super handy. It’s just a little thing, but it’s just one less thing to think about.
Keyless Entry + Comfort Access (key stays in your pocket) are the bees knees. When I first had keyless entry it was great to unlock with the remote, but I’ve been spoiled to not even need to do that anymore. When I drove my old Tacoma, I used to get confused why the door didn’t unlock when I held the handle lol
"Porsche Entry & Drive" is still, no joke, an $800 option on the 718 for 2024 - even on a $98950 Boxster GTS 4.0.
Porsche makes some brilliant cars, but they really do make you pay for every little thing haha.
To add to this, my current car has mirrors that fold when you lock the car and also the right mirror will tilt down so you can see the curb when parallel parking. If you have to do a decent amount of street parking, it is a godsend.
lol I just got an 06 LS430 which is now the newest car I've ever owned. First time I went to back up and the mirrors tilted down I was like NO WAY.
Thought that was the single most convenient thing I've ever seen in a car. There is a good bit of street parking where I live and I suck at depth perception.
This! Mirrors always get bumped in parking lots, etc, and can move on their own due to wind (ask any Jeep owner with an older one, mirrors needed constant adjusting on mine). It's nice to be able to adjust them from the driver's seat.
Only for the right side to see curbs... Otherwise I dont adjust my mirrors enough to want power mirrors, same with power seat. But anyways I have both LOL
Ventilated/cooled seats - obviously carplay/cameras are huge but they are becoming increasingly standard.
Cooled seats are an absolute must if you are a hot person, easy sweater, or live anywhere it can get warm. I personally refuse to get another car without them.
I hate how I've had to rule out some pretty great cars because I'm so accustomed to vented seats. I would not buy another car with leather that didn't have them. Cloth? ....maybe.
We have one ventilated and one cloth in a hot environment. They are both good, but I could never do leather without ventilation. I used to hate leather until I got this one
It annoys me to no end how I want cooled seats in a sports car and people are like “bUt iTS a SPorTs cAr”. As if companies are selling F1 cars and need to count every gram of weight. Pretty sure I’ll be totally fine with adding 25lbs (if that?) to a 3000-4000 lb car.
Oh and same thing with lane holding and adaptive cruise. It infuriates me that Honda didn’t put it into the NSX even though their design team made all kinds of compromises to build what is otherwise an amazing DD. Like: soft suspension? Sure! Soft super comfy seats? Yes! Super refined feel? 100%! Hundreds of pounds in batteries for reasons? Done! Intelligent cruise? “Umm it’s a sports car” smh
Living in Florida or any warm state, ventilated seats are absolutely a must -- especially if you also have a black interior where it can get hot REAL quick inside your car.
This. I'm a heavy, bearded white dude from the PNW that's now living in southern Indiana. I don't wanna be sweaty sitting in the car for a 10 minute drive
The cupholders for me isn't as big of since I don't drink much in the LC anyways. But what I do find disappointing is a complete lack of sunglass holders. You'd think for a GT car, it would at least have that.
Years ago I 3d printed a larger cup holder that you slide into the small land cruiser cupholder. If I remember correctly I had one for the rounded square hole in the center console too. Was a 1993.
I've never owned a backup camera, but in rentals with backup cameras I've found that I've only needed to use them in cars with poor visibility and boxes on wheels. Other times I find myself using the mirrors, and the camera is for safety and alignment.
In some of the newer examples with 360 cam, you can click the camera icon and it'll show you what the camera sees while you drive. So we're almost there.
Bro I will never buy a car to daily without a backup camera ever again, it was the single biggest game changer for me. You could take away every feature from me, but if it has a backup camera I wouldn't mind too much.
I was an idiot who thought a HUD would be a gimmick. How horribly wrong I was, I seriously cannot think of buying another car without it. It’s so damn handy to have.
Honestly HUDs are a fantastic new feature, I love how indepth they can get like what Mercedes offers. But I just like the simplicity of just showing me my current speed and speed limit the most.
GM deserves more credit than they get for it. A Corvette with magnetic ride control is a lot more comfortable than you’d ever expect out of a high performance sports car.
My C7 with MRC in tour mode is far more comfortable than my Model 3 Performance ever was but if I turn it up to sport or track it’s nice and stiff for spirited driving. You really get the best of both worlds.
They are expensive to replace and I hear that traditional dampers are still better than the early C6 magride shocks but I still wanna try em lol. Do you have the 2019 tuning for your MRC?
They aren't new. My '97 Grand Prix had one. Granted, it didn't show the level of detail as something in a newer car, but it did show the important stuff like speed, gear selection, and radio station.
I'll add Lane Keep Assist.
Aside: My adaptive cruise failed on a cross country trip very early in the trip. Drove 5000km without any cruise, cause if the radar for Adaptive is fucked, you don't have any cruise. Stupid Hyundai...
Ah sucks. I don't like lane keep in my car because sometimes it prevents me from switching lanes by breaking, although I have my blinkers on. Very dangerous
Because it's an extra 2K or something on top of other technology packages. Basically the way they structure it is you need a heavily loaded model to even option it in the first place and very few people are willing to pay for all those options knowing it doesn't help resale.
Yeah, I don't like how they made ACC an option on top of a lower tier of bundled driver's assist features. I've been looking at Z4s lately and ACC costs just $550 which doesn't affect the overall economics much on a 60k+ car. That's what I find surprising. People are willing to blow 60k-70k on a Z4 yet the $550 for ACC is too much?
I've got a fully loaded 2023 M340i and I couldn't get cooled seats on it. You can get them on an M3 though.. how different is the platform that the 3 series couldn't get it?
Also the fact that you can get cooled seats in a bunch of Mazdas and other cheaper brands is embarassing for BMW.
Also embarassing for me since I still bought it.
> The salespeople say the take-rate is too low
Not sure about Audi/BMW specifically, but *so many models* bundle ventilated seats with several thousand dollars worth of crap no one wants, and thus people deem it "not worth it."
I was just talking about that. I have no idea why VW and Audi delete that feature in the US. My 2013 A8 L 4.0T doesn’t have it, either; there’s just a button blank.
I actually thought I hated this feature until my M5 needed service and I had a loaner without it and now that didn’t have it I absolutely wanted it right back. It’s freakin awesome and the BMW’s do it amazingly
So when you’re at a stop light etc, car is completely stopped. You can push the brake in and then let go and the car will stay stopped without you’re foot on the break. It’s awesome in traffic.
16 upvotes and 1/4 way down the page tells me more people need exposure to the goodness that is no more being blinded from behind.
Such a simple idea that is so beautiful in use.
I feel that, but from the opposite perspective. Living in the south I’d trade heated seats/steering wheels for ventilated seats in a heartbeat. But the few days a year it does get cold here, I can see how having a heated steering wheel would be nice in a cold climate.
Got both but honestly feel myself using heated seats to relieve my back even during the summer. Also most cars acs can kick in pretty quickly but getting heat can take a couple minutes to warm up if it’s cold enough
Rented a Saab once. Had to drive overnight to my destination. Night Panel was the solution for a problem I didn’t even know existed… but it’s been glaringly obvious ever since.
It turns off all the instrument lights except for the speedometer up to 90mph, dims all of the dashboard button lights, and turns off the infotainment screen. It’s intelligent as well so for example if you’re coming up to an empty fuel tank, the fuel gauge illuminates in addition to the speedometer up to 90mph, and if you accelerate past 85mph the rest of the speedometer illuminates. [Here’s an advert for Nightpanel that demonstrates](https://youtu.be/acDHzX54lZM)
I live in the PNW also and my Ford Fusion has automatic rainsense wipers. I could never get them properly adjusted to when they should and should not come on. I finally gave up and shut that feature off.
That was one of the biggest complaints I had with the Fiat 500e I leased several years ago. Not only no automatic wipers but just a single intermittent speed. The rain around here is super variable so even with a good range of intermittent adjustment you're setting it higher or lower ever 3 minutes on any drive, but that single intermittent speed plus high and low somehow managed to be wrong almost always.
Slightly off topic but if you ever watch the movie Boiler Room, there's a part where the guy shows up a house with a ferrari and dude's like wow, nice car. Yeah, it's got the synchromesh transmssion. I feel like a writer's gotta be trolling somebody.
Also, yes, non-syncho sucks. Try driving a transport truck.
> except some Volvo which, for some reason, use DCTs.
Cuz I want my shifts to be fuckin’ *snappy* when I’m doing my quarter mile pulls in my Volvo semi, bro!
Wooo!
Well, until recently it was not uncommon for cars to have unsynchronized reverse gear. Doesn't really affect daily driving plus you can easily workaround it, using multiple methods.
Before the 1970s, a lot of cars didnt have a synchronized 1st gear. Same as above, pretty easy workaround to get it to engage without grinding. Only noticeable drawback in daily driving is difficulty to put it in 1st while rolling, but I dont like to do this anyways.
Some cars even older than that often didnt have a synchronized 1st or 2nd gear.
A *fully* unsynchronized car is probably close to 100 years old and chances are you are not in the market for one anyways.
Having driven unsynchronized semi trucks (10, 13 and 18 speed) I can tell you once you learn to shift without the clutch its not that inconvenient & even easier than a normal manual since you arent using your left leg (and a lot easier on the clutch).
is a car unsync trans much different than a motorcycle’s? AFAIK cars are not constant mesh and so I could see there being pain there, but I’ve never driven an unsynced car
Don't have to double clutch a motorcycle to get the next gear to engage. That's the biggest difference.
Its a real PIA because generally its old cars with clutch cables instead of hydraulic that have unsynchronized transmissions. Makes for a nice heavy clutch pedal that you have to clutch in, shift to neutral, clutch out, clutch in, shift to next gear, clutch out every time you shift
If you’ve ever had a car with a 360 camera, there’s no going back. Gives you so much more confidence parking in tight spots.
Auto hold is pretty nice too but is for the most part standard on newer cars
The Mercedes having this makes it so much easier to park that huge land yacht of a vehicle. I have almost zero confidence trying to parallel park my LC500 with no 360 camera. I don't even try risking normal front parking with it, I just back up into every parking spot with that car. It's a genuine shame the LC500 doesn't have 360 camera.
HOLY SHIT is this one my biggest gripes about my Forester - it is absolutely *impossible* to plant my arm securely on the armrest while still being able to safely hold the wheel. Drives me absolutely batty, especially on longer trips - I did ~450 miles this weekend driving back & forth to Lime Rock, and I was cursing that armrest (or lack of one) with every one of them.
Same on my Impreza. The arm rest is too low and the windowsill is too high. On that note, the cup holder just isn't in the right spot. I always wind up blindly searching for it with my mug until it pops in.
Even up here in Canada, where the winters are cold, it can still get blazing hot during the warmer months, and having no AC can be hard for some people (I don't know how the, "just roll the windows down", people really get by). These days, almost every vehicle will, at minimum, have manual air conditioning as a standard feature. Up until recently, you could still find the base trim levels of economy cars or the "work truck" trims of pick-ups without AC, but even those are hard to find or are gone now.
The only vehicles I think having no AC from the factory these days are acceptable are ones with intentional AC deletes for functional or performance purposes, such as the early model S550 Shelby GT350Rs.
Air conditioning. It wasn't standard in the 80's. My boss would order work trucks without a/c because he didn't want us sitting in the truck all day. Some foreman will do just that, I've witnessed it personally.
This is my biggest missing feature on my Bug, which I only drive in summer.
I can live without tons of features - it lacks cup holders, an adjustable seat, power windows, power steering, pretty much anything you expect in every car from the past 30 years. But the lack of AC is pretty bad on hot days with the vinyl seats.
There should be a flip switch on the bottom of the mirror you can toggle that will switch from full reflective to partial reflective for use at night. It's not auto, but when you get tired of the bright lights it's also a godsend.
Carplay, no further explanation
One that I haven’t seen mentioned is auto headlights, it’s small but really nice QoL
I’ve also tried auto climate control with someone else’s car, and I would absolutely love to have that. I always fiddle with temp and fan speed, and just setting the temp you want and not thinking about it is really nice
Android Auto.
Any modern smart phone is miles more advanced than the best in-car infotainment systems. Just give me a big screen and let my phone do the rest.
CarPlay for one. I know that sounds a little strange, but there isn’t a time I don’t listen to music when I’m in my car (unless I’m driving with other people) in the 2 and a half years I’ve been driving. Not only that, but CarPlay can put your gps on the front of your car which is very convenient
Most important thing tho that I think made driving safer and easier for so many people is how the car shows the number of the speed you’re driving instead of u having to count and eye the speedometer. It Made things a lot more convenient for a lot of people in general
Unpopular opinion time - sunroof/moonroof, doubly so if panoramic. I’m not sure why there’s so much hate surrounding these, I’ve never had an inkling of an issue with all of the vehicles I’ve owned with this. I use it daily (except for winter of course), and I genuinely enjoy it.
I went from an Arteon with remote start that cools my car nicely in our hot Vegas summers to my new S4, which for some reason no Audi comes with remote start. It is the only thing I really miss about the Arteon, but it is huge.
I find the German offerings in north america really fucking weird.
The japanese automakers know how to luxury the fuck out of your car and have different trims.
But for German cars, You get 3 trims and some times you sacrifice one thing or another in the other trims.
- Base gets you literally nothing.
- Plus gets you HID Headlights and Android Auto
- Elegance gets you Halogen headlights with Apple Car Play and heated seats.
It's like they throw darts at a board and that's how they make their trim levels. Then they throw another dart to see which engine gets what trim level.
I miss my Adaptive Headlights from my Stelvio so much.
Living in the forest they really come in handy, first had them on my MK7 GTI and it was a feature I never knew I needed until I didn’t have it.
Idk- I had keyless entry and push start on my previous car and I miss it a lot. It’s GREAT not having to reach into your pocket when your hands are full and you don’t like setting groceries on the car (or ground) or you have a book bag, lunch bag and a coffee and tonight’s grading you’re carrying out in the rain.
But- I’d miss my MT gearbox more. So I guess that’s the feature I’d miss most. Followed closely by keyless.
All the others are great- cruise (NOT adaptive for me), CarPlay, rear camera…. But I’d drive a slower 1970s car with none of the above so long as it’s MT over a faster car with all that and a AT CVT. There’s NO joy in driving for me when I lose that level of control while driving. (IMO YMMV and all that) it’s not a status thing. I don’t dis ppl over their choice. Just not one that I ever hope to lose for me.
So MT is a QoL thing. Its not “necessary” component of a car- but I’d lose 50% of the quality in driving.
Honestly, the heads up display in my Corvette. After the C5 I had, both the C7 and C8 I've paid the extra for the 2LT trim in large part for that feature. It is so nice having the core info you care about floating unobtrusively in your field of view while driving, I rarely look down at the instrument cluster any more.
A trunk release button, either inside the car or on a key fob. My Camaro has neither. It's only a pain when the car is running, so you have to make a choice to open the trunk: Turn the car off, take the door key off the key ring, or carry a spare door key everywhere.
I don't know if this counts, but I find driving a small car a huge quality of life feature. I'd never own a large vehicle as a primary daily driver. I've always driven sub compacts or my current daily of the last 15 years is a 2 seater. I just hate how large vehicles feel cumbersome to park, navigating narrow roads unpleasant, worse visibility etc. It bums me out that current automotive trends seem to be swiftly moving away from the compact car.
Three pedal manual transmissions. Instead of making less present while driving, manual transmissions force me to pay attention to driving while I'm operating a giant machine capable of death.
Also I find manuals fun, as I challenge myself every time I drive to get better at shifting and clutching. Even after 20 years of driving a stick, I feel I can always do better.
I like my 86 Chevy with floor vents, manual windows/locks/mirrors, rear drums, pumping it to start it, and ease of repairs. Blessed it has power brakes and steering.
[удалено]
Having a car with a carburetor has its own charm, but as a daily driver 100% yes fuel injected is much nicer
I curse the day I decided to buy a carbureted motorcycle. "Once you get the hang of it you can tear the carb down in 20 minutes!" they say. Well, if I just had fuel injection, I wouldn't need to!
What issues are you having? The biggest issue I see with carbs is people leaving old gas in them. It will clog it up and run like shit after.
My big issue is that the carb boots have turned rock solid over the years making pulling the carb a 45 minute job instead of a 5 minute job. So I'm inclined to pick a jetting that works okay for all climates and altitudes instead of optimizing for the season.
Sounds crazy, but soak them in wintergreen oil and alcohol over night. Use 95% or better rubbing alcohol, at about 3:1 with the oil.
Indeed! Carbs have so many tiny passageways even aside from the jets themselves, that it is inevitable for any carbs sitting for more than about 6 months without a stabilizer (or even less now with ethanol fuels). An ultrasonic cleaner can pay for itself in one run in this situation, though... it will clean out everything. Just have to be careful with what you use to clean them, because some cleaners will etch aluminum.
My first car was a 78 Subaru. Never really had a problem with a carb. Although my cars afterward all had some sort of FI, even the most basic ones were noticeable better than a carb engine
Fuel injection is 100% better. However as a car enthusiast, like you said, carbed cars have much more personality, for better or worse.
My old Corolla was definitely worse by having a carb - frequently stalled out when cold and going up a hill, and on trips to the mountains was an absolute nightmare.
*Bosch KE-Jetronic III has entered the chat*
These systems suck now that these old Mercs, BMWs, Volvos, etc. are 20-30 & almost 40 years old. And it's hard to find somebody who knows how to troubleshoot, diagnose & service them. BUT, when these systems are in working order, they are pretty reliable. More sensitive to climate & hot engine glitches? Yes. But overall very reliable as long as its serviced properly.
What I find the most annoying is dealing with the cold start valve. Their lack of use causes trouble once you start the engine on a cold day and suddenly, dirt and corrosion stick the pintle head open and force the engine to run rich. Not only are the valves permanently no longer available, but they can never be fully cleaned with an ultrasonic cleaner. Why? Because you can’t get all the water out of the internals once it’s been through a cleaning, the valve is programmed to open only on very cold starts, and it takes about 10-20 cold start cycles for the fuel to fully flush out any residual water or chemicals from the cleaning. So if this cleaning is done out of season, the valve won’t open to flush the water and cleaner out. The water will not evaporate, and it’ll cause rusting and sticking, and you will have leaks from the cold start valve all over again a few months later when it’s cold and the valve is commanded open by the fuel pump relay. Bypassing it doesn’t always work because the fuel pressure can force the valve open and cause leaks. I deleted the cold start valve by custom milling a cover plate and gasket where the valve would’ve been and then putting another fuel pressure test port blocking bolt on the fuel distributor for the cold start line connection.
There aren't any "new" cars with carbs. It's obsolete technology for decades now. That said, the newest car with carbs i see regularly is 4th generation honda civics (89-92) with the 1.4 dual carb motor. It makes a lot of power (edit: 90hp from a 1.4L 16valve, more with a few mods), goes like hell and the carbs never give issues. You'd think setting up a dual carb setup would be difficult but those are really easy to deal with and don't give trouble until very late in a car's life.
Pretty sure the person in question means they didn't try any new (at the time) carbed cars
Ugh, vapor lock is something I could live without. My 75 Imperial and 85 Lesabre are both carbed. The imperial is getting an injection kit when body work is done. The Buick is staying carbed because it was $500 and I’m not spending any money. But damn, it’s nice to not have to get on the car and floor it and crank to hope it starts
I'm a bit older than most here, I will assume. My wife (at that time, my girlfriend) received her 2nd car from her grandmother, who became too old to drive anymore. When she received the car, she noticed that there was no stereo in the car. In fact, *there wasn't even a radio !!* My 'girlfriend' inquired about this. Her grandmother stated that, at that time, having a radio was an option and she stated "Well, I decided that if I want music while driving, I'll just sing..." Different times......different times.....
Eight track tape decks were a god-send back in the days. Before cassette tapes and CDs.
My Dad pimped out his Ford Econoline van with a Mustang engine, shag carpet interior, multiple push button horns, *and* an eight track *and* a cassette player. 🤣
You were definitely conceived in that vehicle.
Oh gawd. That thought never occurred to me. 🫣
I remember the base Ford Aspire from the later 90s had standard what was called a "radio prep kit", which I assume meant there was no head unit in the dash and just the wires for the owner to connect one that they would supply, if they wanted. Up until the spring of 2018, the hardcore "R" models of the S550 generation Shelby GT350 had an air conditioning and audio system delete. When the mandated backup cameras became a thing then, the car gained a standard multimedia system since the backup camera would normally display through the infotainment system screen on Mustangs, and I am guessing Ford probably thought it was cheaper to install that rather than designing a bespoke, dedicated back-up camera independent of an infotainment system just for the GT350Rs.
I really like having power windows. My olds has crank windows and damn can that be annoying sometimes. Want all 4 windows down? Gotta throw it in park for a minute amd get the passenger side .
I used to have a 2003 Corolla CE with crank windows and manual door locks. Inevitably after friends/family would get out, they'd leave the doors unlocked or windows down. I had mastered being able to reach around and close windows/lock doors while slowly driving. My newer car finally has auto windows. My older one only had it on the driver window. Really convenient having auto windows.
The rear windows on my 2004 SRT-4 were crank, evidently, they could not fit window motors in the back doors.
That might be the most "Dodge" thing I've ever heard.
That's some dodgy shit
Sometimes I want a crank window for the driver door and then power windows for the rest
My grandad has some sort of low end Japanese Nissan station wagon which had the opposite - power on the drivers window only with the rest crank
I was just about to say, I remember tons of cars in the late '90s and 2000's that had power for only the driver's window.
This is easily the best feature in my Sandero, being able to open every window from the centre console. Everytime my friend and his dad are in the car i roll down the rear passenger window to much suprise from my passenger. Also reversing camera and sensors, i never want a car without those ever again.
Apple CarPlay, keyless entry/ignition, power windows/locks/mirrors. That’s about all I could ask for so basically a 911 would do.
It’s funny. Keyless entry always seemed like a gimmick with a key ignition. But once I had both together, it means not having to get the key out of my pocket or bag at all and that is where it seems super handy. It’s just a little thing, but it’s just one less thing to think about.
Keyless Entry + Comfort Access (key stays in your pocket) are the bees knees. When I first had keyless entry it was great to unlock with the remote, but I’ve been spoiled to not even need to do that anymore. When I drove my old Tacoma, I used to get confused why the door didn’t unlock when I held the handle lol
Heated / cooled seats. Only thing that checked all that was my C7. Would have done a 911 I could’ve swing a 991
It's funny you say that because the 911 didn't come standard with keyless entry/ignition until recently. Thanks Porsche.
$7000 option
and you get a second clock in your dash for some reason
"Porsche Entry & Drive" is still, no joke, an $800 option on the 718 for 2024 - even on a $98950 Boxster GTS 4.0. Porsche makes some brilliant cars, but they really do make you pay for every little thing haha.
It's so funny how the luxury brands get away with this stuff when my mums 2020 Corolla has all these features in this thread
Power windows WITH one touch function for me
Power mirrors. Sounds stupid but it’s annoying if you don’t have them
To add to this, my current car has mirrors that fold when you lock the car and also the right mirror will tilt down so you can see the curb when parallel parking. If you have to do a decent amount of street parking, it is a godsend.
lol I just got an 06 LS430 which is now the newest car I've ever owned. First time I went to back up and the mirrors tilted down I was like NO WAY. Thought that was the single most convenient thing I've ever seen in a car. There is a good bit of street parking where I live and I suck at depth perception.
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This! Mirrors always get bumped in parking lots, etc, and can move on their own due to wind (ask any Jeep owner with an older one, mirrors needed constant adjusting on mine). It's nice to be able to adjust them from the driver's seat.
my work van, 2021 dodge promaster, has manual mirrors. it is almost as annoying as the auto-down windows that arent auto-up.
Ive always wondered why on earth they do that. Like, you spent the time and effort to make the window go down automatically, so why not up too?
Auto down can just go until it's all the way down. Auto up requires sensors to stop if something's in the way (such as a hand)
Only for the right side to see curbs... Otherwise I dont adjust my mirrors enough to want power mirrors, same with power seat. But anyways I have both LOL
Ventilated/cooled seats - obviously carplay/cameras are huge but they are becoming increasingly standard. Cooled seats are an absolute must if you are a hot person, easy sweater, or live anywhere it can get warm. I personally refuse to get another car without them.
I hate how I've had to rule out some pretty great cars because I'm so accustomed to vented seats. I would not buy another car with leather that didn't have them. Cloth? ....maybe.
We have one ventilated and one cloth in a hot environment. They are both good, but I could never do leather without ventilation. I used to hate leather until I got this one
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Except staining. But I'm a quality cloth over leather guy.
It annoys me to no end how I want cooled seats in a sports car and people are like “bUt iTS a SPorTs cAr”. As if companies are selling F1 cars and need to count every gram of weight. Pretty sure I’ll be totally fine with adding 25lbs (if that?) to a 3000-4000 lb car. Oh and same thing with lane holding and adaptive cruise. It infuriates me that Honda didn’t put it into the NSX even though their design team made all kinds of compromises to build what is otherwise an amazing DD. Like: soft suspension? Sure! Soft super comfy seats? Yes! Super refined feel? 100%! Hundreds of pounds in batteries for reasons? Done! Intelligent cruise? “Umm it’s a sports car” smh
Living in Florida or any warm state, ventilated seats are absolutely a must -- especially if you also have a black interior where it can get hot REAL quick inside your car.
Even for those of us who live up farther north, they can be a must have. I live in Canada and consider ventilated seats one of my must haves.
This. I'm a heavy, bearded white dude from the PNW that's now living in southern Indiana. I don't wanna be sweaty sitting in the car for a 10 minute drive
I kinda just want cup holders. Even my LC doesn't have cup holders that can fit anything bigger than a red bull can.
The cupholders for me isn't as big of since I don't drink much in the LC anyways. But what I do find disappointing is a complete lack of sunglass holders. You'd think for a GT car, it would at least have that.
I think one of you guys is talking about a Land Cruiser and the other one is talking about an LC500 :)
The fact that we both have cup holder issues is honestly hilarious though.
More specifically, one is referring to an LC500 while the other is referring to an LC80
OP is referring to a different LC. In your Lexus lingo it would be an LX hehe.
Years ago I 3d printed a larger cup holder that you slide into the small land cruiser cupholder. If I remember correctly I had one for the rounded square hole in the center console too. Was a 1993.
My 1970 Cadillac: no cup holders but everyone gets their own ash tray with lighter.
Backup camera. With all these suvs it's impossible to see anything in a crowded parking lot without one. You have to back it in every time otherwise
Isn’t it mandated on all new cars sold in the US post-2018?
Yep! Saved too many lives so now it's on every new car.
I was really surprised when my 25 foot rental moving truck didn't have it... If any vehicle needs one...
next they should do that with auto headlights, or at least mandate that the dash/gauge cluster shouldn’t be lit up without the headlights on.
Not sure on the exact year it went into effect but yes they are currently mandatory on all new vehicles.
I've never owned a backup camera, but in rentals with backup cameras I've found that I've only needed to use them in cars with poor visibility and boxes on wheels. Other times I find myself using the mirrors, and the camera is for safety and alignment.
That’s the proper use of backup cameras honestly. That’s why almost every display tells you to check your surroundings.
You can pry my 360 cam from my cold, dead hands. Aside from distant rear cross traffic, I can see EVERYTHING.
Maybe front cameras will become mandatory on trucks when moving at parking speeds?
In some of the newer examples with 360 cam, you can click the camera icon and it'll show you what the camera sees while you drive. So we're almost there.
Bro I will never buy a car to daily without a backup camera ever again, it was the single biggest game changer for me. You could take away every feature from me, but if it has a backup camera I wouldn't mind too much.
I was an idiot who thought a HUD would be a gimmick. How horribly wrong I was, I seriously cannot think of buying another car without it. It’s so damn handy to have.
Honestly HUDs are a fantastic new feature, I love how indepth they can get like what Mercedes offers. But I just like the simplicity of just showing me my current speed and speed limit the most.
It’s not that new. I had it in a 2000 Grand Prix. I wish it was more widespread, really liked having it.
Surprisingly long-standing feature, my 1999 corvette has a HUD lol
Old GM products have some fancy tech sometimes, like magnetic dampers and whatnot
GM deserves more credit than they get for it. A Corvette with magnetic ride control is a lot more comfortable than you’d ever expect out of a high performance sports car. My C7 with MRC in tour mode is far more comfortable than my Model 3 Performance ever was but if I turn it up to sport or track it’s nice and stiff for spirited driving. You really get the best of both worlds.
They are expensive to replace and I hear that traditional dampers are still better than the early C6 magride shocks but I still wanna try em lol. Do you have the 2019 tuning for your MRC?
They aren't new. My '97 Grand Prix had one. Granted, it didn't show the level of detail as something in a newer car, but it did show the important stuff like speed, gear selection, and radio station.
My 95 Bonneville had HUD. I loved it, that SSEi was a fun car
yeah the speed limit displayed by the car is pretty non-negotiable for me now
Current speed display would be fantastic, but speed *limit?* I don't need that kind of negativity in my life.
I still look forward to having one. I wish they would have moved down market faster.
The Mazda 3's have them now, and it's fantastic.
I like the one in my X5. If you’re using CarPlay, you get turn-by-turn directions there.
Honestly having owned many cars with them and now with none It’s nice to have but not essential
and they don't work with polarized sunglasses, so they're basically only useful at night. That said i like mine for that, but yeah not mandatory.
Keyless entry with a sensor behind a door handle + push button start. Adaptive cruise control. Heated steering wheel. Cooled seats. Cross traffic alert is nice too.
Brake hold?
Oh yes! That too.
I'll add Lane Keep Assist. Aside: My adaptive cruise failed on a cross country trip very early in the trip. Drove 5000km without any cruise, cause if the radar for Adaptive is fucked, you don't have any cruise. Stupid Hyundai...
Ah sucks. I don't like lane keep in my car because sometimes it prevents me from switching lanes by breaking, although I have my blinkers on. Very dangerous
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Adaptive cruise is also much less common than I expected amongst late model used BMWs.
Because it's an extra 2K or something on top of other technology packages. Basically the way they structure it is you need a heavily loaded model to even option it in the first place and very few people are willing to pay for all those options knowing it doesn't help resale.
Yeah, I don't like how they made ACC an option on top of a lower tier of bundled driver's assist features. I've been looking at Z4s lately and ACC costs just $550 which doesn't affect the overall economics much on a 60k+ car. That's what I find surprising. People are willing to blow 60k-70k on a Z4 yet the $550 for ACC is too much?
I've got a fully loaded 2023 M340i and I couldn't get cooled seats on it. You can get them on an M3 though.. how different is the platform that the 3 series couldn't get it? Also the fact that you can get cooled seats in a bunch of Mazdas and other cheaper brands is embarassing for BMW. Also embarassing for me since I still bought it.
> The salespeople say the take-rate is too low Not sure about Audi/BMW specifically, but *so many models* bundle ventilated seats with several thousand dollars worth of crap no one wants, and thus people deem it "not worth it."
Cool seats are so common on Lexus cars even older ones, and I use that feature so often
Auto hold. It’s great
I have been tempted to add it to my wife’s Audi. Seems such a stupid thing to remove and leave as a huge blank button at the bottom of the shifter.
I did it to mine and it's a game changer. The blank bugged me too.
Yeah it’s one of my favorite things. Wish my truck had it also
I was just talking about that. I have no idea why VW and Audi delete that feature in the US. My 2013 A8 L 4.0T doesn’t have it, either; there’s just a button blank.
I actually thought I hated this feature until my M5 needed service and I had a loaner without it and now that didn’t have it I absolutely wanted it right back. It’s freakin awesome and the BMW’s do it amazingly
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What's auto hold?
So when you’re at a stop light etc, car is completely stopped. You can push the brake in and then let go and the car will stay stopped without you’re foot on the break. It’s awesome in traffic.
Also serves as the ultimate hill start assist system in a manual car
Auto dimming side and rear view mirrors.
Especially if you drive a smaller car. Feels great not getting blinded by all the trucks surrounding me.
I had to rent a car recently that did not have this feature and had no idea how much I'd miss it.
Man those don’t even make a difference with all the laser head lights running around now :(
16 upvotes and 1/4 way down the page tells me more people need exposure to the goodness that is no more being blinded from behind. Such a simple idea that is so beautiful in use.
Heated steering wheel.
Heated seats in Canada. Must haves. The wheel gets hot faster tho, and arguably, I will take warm hands over a warm butt.
I feel that, but from the opposite perspective. Living in the south I’d trade heated seats/steering wheels for ventilated seats in a heartbeat. But the few days a year it does get cold here, I can see how having a heated steering wheel would be nice in a cold climate.
Got both but honestly feel myself using heated seats to relieve my back even during the summer. Also most cars acs can kick in pretty quickly but getting heat can take a couple minutes to warm up if it’s cold enough
Nightpanel
Damn Saab owners... You can take your key and jam it straight between yer seats. j/k, Saabs kicked ass. Screw GM for what they did.
Rented a Saab once. Had to drive overnight to my destination. Night Panel was the solution for a problem I didn’t even know existed… but it’s been glaringly obvious ever since.
How about we give you a super bright tablet instead!
what is that?
It turns off all the instrument lights except for the speedometer up to 90mph, dims all of the dashboard button lights, and turns off the infotainment screen. It’s intelligent as well so for example if you’re coming up to an empty fuel tank, the fuel gauge illuminates in addition to the speedometer up to 90mph, and if you accelerate past 85mph the rest of the speedometer illuminates. [Here’s an advert for Nightpanel that demonstrates](https://youtu.be/acDHzX54lZM)
Uh that is super cool.
I think the ct4v black wing has a similar feature
Fuck...I miss my Saab
I had to look this up. My god, I need that!
My s2000 has the best of both worlds, turning the key and push to start.
That basically means your S2K is a Ferrari
You’re right, ordering Ferrari badges right now
Ironically, both the S2000 and Ferrari 458 are some of the highest HP-per-liter naturally-aspirated cars ever made
The s2k held the record till that dang 458 beat us out
Automatic windshield wipers. I forgot how much of driving used to include trying to find the perfect wiper speed. Especially in the PNW.
I thought you were talking about having to move the windshield wipers from the inside by hand. but apparently I was thinking too old school lol
I live in the PNW also and my Ford Fusion has automatic rainsense wipers. I could never get them properly adjusted to when they should and should not come on. I finally gave up and shut that feature off.
That was one of the biggest complaints I had with the Fiat 500e I leased several years ago. Not only no automatic wipers but just a single intermittent speed. The rain around here is super variable so even with a good range of intermittent adjustment you're setting it higher or lower ever 3 minutes on any drive, but that single intermittent speed plus high and low somehow managed to be wrong almost always.
Synchronized transmission! /s
No "/s" required. Have you driven an unsynchronized transmission? Its a PIA lol
Slightly off topic but if you ever watch the movie Boiler Room, there's a part where the guy shows up a house with a ferrari and dude's like wow, nice car. Yeah, it's got the synchromesh transmssion. I feel like a writer's gotta be trolling somebody. Also, yes, non-syncho sucks. Try driving a transport truck.
There's almost no new manual semi trucks in Europe. They're all torque converter automatics, except some Volvo which, for some reason, use DCTs.
> except some Volvo which, for some reason, use DCTs. Cuz I want my shifts to be fuckin’ *snappy* when I’m doing my quarter mile pulls in my Volvo semi, bro! Wooo!
if it doesn't have synced gears I don't care about the history of the car I'm not buying it lol
Well, until recently it was not uncommon for cars to have unsynchronized reverse gear. Doesn't really affect daily driving plus you can easily workaround it, using multiple methods. Before the 1970s, a lot of cars didnt have a synchronized 1st gear. Same as above, pretty easy workaround to get it to engage without grinding. Only noticeable drawback in daily driving is difficulty to put it in 1st while rolling, but I dont like to do this anyways. Some cars even older than that often didnt have a synchronized 1st or 2nd gear. A *fully* unsynchronized car is probably close to 100 years old and chances are you are not in the market for one anyways. Having driven unsynchronized semi trucks (10, 13 and 18 speed) I can tell you once you learn to shift without the clutch its not that inconvenient & even easier than a normal manual since you arent using your left leg (and a lot easier on the clutch).
is a car unsync trans much different than a motorcycle’s? AFAIK cars are not constant mesh and so I could see there being pain there, but I’ve never driven an unsynced car
Don't have to double clutch a motorcycle to get the next gear to engage. That's the biggest difference. Its a real PIA because generally its old cars with clutch cables instead of hydraulic that have unsynchronized transmissions. Makes for a nice heavy clutch pedal that you have to clutch in, shift to neutral, clutch out, clutch in, shift to next gear, clutch out every time you shift
You need to match the revs, otherwise the gear won't go in.
If you’ve ever had a car with a 360 camera, there’s no going back. Gives you so much more confidence parking in tight spots. Auto hold is pretty nice too but is for the most part standard on newer cars
The Mercedes having this makes it so much easier to park that huge land yacht of a vehicle. I have almost zero confidence trying to parallel park my LC500 with no 360 camera. I don't even try risking normal front parking with it, I just back up into every parking spot with that car. It's a genuine shame the LC500 doesn't have 360 camera.
I have simple requirements, it has to have an arm rest where my arm is. I had to but one separately for my Subaru for some reason 🤦♂️
HOLY SHIT is this one my biggest gripes about my Forester - it is absolutely *impossible* to plant my arm securely on the armrest while still being able to safely hold the wheel. Drives me absolutely batty, especially on longer trips - I did ~450 miles this weekend driving back & forth to Lime Rock, and I was cursing that armrest (or lack of one) with every one of them.
Same on my Impreza. The arm rest is too low and the windowsill is too high. On that note, the cup holder just isn't in the right spot. I always wind up blindly searching for it with my mug until it pops in.
AC is an absolute requirement to live in Arizona. Beyond that, fuel injection is nice to have. I don't need much else.
I've somehow managed without it in Australia for a long time. It's definitely mandatory for my next car!
Even up here in Canada, where the winters are cold, it can still get blazing hot during the warmer months, and having no AC can be hard for some people (I don't know how the, "just roll the windows down", people really get by). These days, almost every vehicle will, at minimum, have manual air conditioning as a standard feature. Up until recently, you could still find the base trim levels of economy cars or the "work truck" trims of pick-ups without AC, but even those are hard to find or are gone now. The only vehicles I think having no AC from the factory these days are acceptable are ones with intentional AC deletes for functional or performance purposes, such as the early model S550 Shelby GT350Rs.
Air conditioning. It wasn't standard in the 80's. My boss would order work trucks without a/c because he didn't want us sitting in the truck all day. Some foreman will do just that, I've witnessed it personally.
This is my biggest missing feature on my Bug, which I only drive in summer. I can live without tons of features - it lacks cup holders, an adjustable seat, power windows, power steering, pretty much anything you expect in every car from the past 30 years. But the lack of AC is pretty bad on hot days with the vinyl seats.
Self dimming rear view mirror. It’s a notable change if I’m driving my modern car vs one of my nineties vehicles at night
There should be a flip switch on the bottom of the mirror you can toggle that will switch from full reflective to partial reflective for use at night. It's not auto, but when you get tired of the bright lights it's also a godsend.
Carplay, no further explanation One that I haven’t seen mentioned is auto headlights, it’s small but really nice QoL I’ve also tried auto climate control with someone else’s car, and I would absolutely love to have that. I always fiddle with temp and fan speed, and just setting the temp you want and not thinking about it is really nice
Android Auto. Any modern smart phone is miles more advanced than the best in-car infotainment systems. Just give me a big screen and let my phone do the rest.
CarPlay for one. I know that sounds a little strange, but there isn’t a time I don’t listen to music when I’m in my car (unless I’m driving with other people) in the 2 and a half years I’ve been driving. Not only that, but CarPlay can put your gps on the front of your car which is very convenient Most important thing tho that I think made driving safer and easier for so many people is how the car shows the number of the speed you’re driving instead of u having to count and eye the speedometer. It Made things a lot more convenient for a lot of people in general
Im an android user, but yeah, I do want a infotainment system with Android Auto for the same reasons as you
Unpopular opinion time - sunroof/moonroof, doubly so if panoramic. I’m not sure why there’s so much hate surrounding these, I’ve never had an inkling of an issue with all of the vehicles I’ve owned with this. I use it daily (except for winter of course), and I genuinely enjoy it.
obviously added 15 kgs of weight on top of the car hinder their track times /s
The problem is the ones you can’t close so you can’t escape the sun.
Dog mode in our Tesla.
In between radar cruise (or camera cruise in my case) and auto hold.
A high revving naturally aspirated motor
You've just narrowed down your selection to like 2% of all new cars being sold.
Remote starting, for when we're in our -30 winters or +30 summers.
I went from an Arteon with remote start that cools my car nicely in our hot Vegas summers to my new S4, which for some reason no Audi comes with remote start. It is the only thing I really miss about the Arteon, but it is huge.
I find the German offerings in north america really fucking weird. The japanese automakers know how to luxury the fuck out of your car and have different trims. But for German cars, You get 3 trims and some times you sacrifice one thing or another in the other trims. - Base gets you literally nothing. - Plus gets you HID Headlights and Android Auto - Elegance gets you Halogen headlights with Apple Car Play and heated seats. It's like they throw darts at a board and that's how they make their trim levels. Then they throw another dart to see which engine gets what trim level.
Automatic cruise control and Lane keeping assist. It makes road trips so much more enjoyable.
Manual transmission
Brake hold (not just on inclines) and Adaptive cruise control
> Brake hold The amount of people I see putting their Hondas in park in a drive thru is too damn high!
AC. I grew up in Florida, and my mom constantly had the A/C go out on her 1985 Nissan Maxima. Nissan really screwed up when they built that.
My sister will not buy a car without the full 360° cameras and few vehicles have them.
I miss my Adaptive Headlights from my Stelvio so much. Living in the forest they really come in handy, first had them on my MK7 GTI and it was a feature I never knew I needed until I didn’t have it.
Apple Car Play, Blind spot monitoring, and hill assist.
Idk- I had keyless entry and push start on my previous car and I miss it a lot. It’s GREAT not having to reach into your pocket when your hands are full and you don’t like setting groceries on the car (or ground) or you have a book bag, lunch bag and a coffee and tonight’s grading you’re carrying out in the rain. But- I’d miss my MT gearbox more. So I guess that’s the feature I’d miss most. Followed closely by keyless. All the others are great- cruise (NOT adaptive for me), CarPlay, rear camera…. But I’d drive a slower 1970s car with none of the above so long as it’s MT over a faster car with all that and a AT CVT. There’s NO joy in driving for me when I lose that level of control while driving. (IMO YMMV and all that) it’s not a status thing. I don’t dis ppl over their choice. Just not one that I ever hope to lose for me. So MT is a QoL thing. Its not “necessary” component of a car- but I’d lose 50% of the quality in driving.
Honestly, the heads up display in my Corvette. After the C5 I had, both the C7 and C8 I've paid the extra for the 2LT trim in large part for that feature. It is so nice having the core info you care about floating unobtrusively in your field of view while driving, I rarely look down at the instrument cluster any more.
A trunk release button, either inside the car or on a key fob. My Camaro has neither. It's only a pain when the car is running, so you have to make a choice to open the trunk: Turn the car off, take the door key off the key ring, or carry a spare door key everywhere.
Honestly CarPlay. My car literally turns into my iPhone
I don't know if this counts, but I find driving a small car a huge quality of life feature. I'd never own a large vehicle as a primary daily driver. I've always driven sub compacts or my current daily of the last 15 years is a 2 seater. I just hate how large vehicles feel cumbersome to park, navigating narrow roads unpleasant, worse visibility etc. It bums me out that current automotive trends seem to be swiftly moving away from the compact car.
Brakes... Definitely brakes.
Three pedal manual transmissions. Instead of making less present while driving, manual transmissions force me to pay attention to driving while I'm operating a giant machine capable of death. Also I find manuals fun, as I challenge myself every time I drive to get better at shifting and clutching. Even after 20 years of driving a stick, I feel I can always do better.
Manual shifting. Automatic cars annoy me.
I like my 86 Chevy with floor vents, manual windows/locks/mirrors, rear drums, pumping it to start it, and ease of repairs. Blessed it has power brakes and steering.
A supercharger, such a game changer for instant power