What are your biggest annoyances with cars?

Och

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Figured I put this here. Since this is a community of car enthusiast, we all share our passion for cars. But surely, everyone has their own annoyances with cars as well - whether its a particular brand, particular car, or all cars in general. I'm wondering what bothers you guys the most?

For me, its this.

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This is pretty much what I see whenever I'm driving any car. Since I started driving, I've owned probably over 10 different cars, and drove many many more on different occasions. If I had to guess, I'd say I drove at least 50 different cars. In all of the cars I drop the steering wheel down (and pull it all the way forward if it has telescoping option), and being a taller person the steering wheel completely blocks the view of my gauges. I could of course raise the steering wheel up, but then I would be compromising my favorite driving position.

One of my cars has a HUD (heads-up display) option that projects some of the information onto the windshied, and that helps a lot, but how hard can it be for manufacturers to design gauges in such way that they are not blocked by steering wheel?

And I hope nobody mentions those cheesy cheap cars, like Toyota Echo, where gauges are mounted in the center of the dash.
 

mmcartalk

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If your seat is in the fore/aft spot where your legroom is OK, and you still can't see the top of the gauges, try dropping the rake (seatback angle) a few degrees.....but not to the point where the seat-belt-assembly gets too loose, or where you would submarine in a collision.

My own biggest pet peeves in most of today's vehicles are: First, too much sport-orientation (and firm ride) in the tires/wheels/suspension. Second, ever-thinner materials, sheet metal, tinny doors, etc....,Third, over styling, with jelly-bean-shaped aer0-styling, massive grilles, humpback-whale rooflines, and no rear seat headroom any more.
 

Och

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If your seat is in the fore/aft spot where your legroom is OK, and you still can't see the top of the gauges, try dropping the rake (seatback angle) a few degrees.....but not to the point where the seat-belt-assembly gets too loose, or where you would submarine in a collision.

Thats not really an option for me. I like driving in "race ready" upright position, and leaning seat backwards just makes me uncomfortable. My wife also drives in the same position, but she is about a foot shorter than me, so its not an issue for her.
lygiajb.jpg


I just remembered that Honda Civic for example, since I think 2008 or so, has a split dash that solves the issue. Why can't more manufacturers do something like that?

lygiajb.jpg


My own biggest pet peeves in most of today's vehicles are: First, too much sport-orientation (and firm ride) in the tires/wheels/suspension. Second, ever-thinner materials, sheet metal, tinny doors, etc....,Third, over styling, with jelly-bean-shaped aer0-styling, massive grilles, humpback-whale rooflines, and no rear seat headroom any more.

I hear you, but at the same time there are more choices than ever. Of course you aren't going to find no more of the exteremely soft and floaty cars like Buicks of the 90ies, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. There are plenty of cars that are still comfort oriented, and with more advanced suspension technologies they can combine comfort and sporty handling as well.

As far as styling, it is of course subjective, but there are a LOT of great looking cars out there today. Stunning good looking cars. Even Caddilacs are no longer ugly (some are even almost decent looking).

Of course there are a lot of cars that are ridiculously overstyled as well, but it's all about personal choice in the end.
 

CIF

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Great topic Och! I agree with most of your points, both of you :).

The steering wheel/gauges issue is a pet peeve of mine too. I also like to drive in a similar seating position as Och; as I too am a taller person, I often experience this annoyance. Personally I find this less of a problem on Toyota/Lexus models than many other brands.

I guess you can say I am somewhat picky about cars. I see nothing wrong with that, since cars are a big investment, and I'm not one of those types that's constantly changing his cars. In terms of priorities, substance comes first, then style.

Here is a list of my annoyances in no particular order:

- limited steering wheel tilt/telescope adjustability
- limited seat adjustability
- Poorly placed dash controls (too close, too far, awkwardly placed)
- poorly placed air vents
- Poorly thought-out center console (not comfortable enough, limited storage, no elbow room)
- steering wheels that are too large (personal preference, I like smaller and medium steering wheels, don't like large ones).
- current market obsession with "sporty cars", at the cost of comfort and real-world practicality. This means a lot of modern vehicles struggle on roads that are bumpy, pot-hole ridden, or uneven. I'm totally fine with a car having sporty dynamics and abilities as long as it does not detract from the comfort and real-world practicality of the car. I do make an exception with some models, like really sporty coupes or supercars.
- creaks and rattles in an interior, I find that very annoying. Directly related to this, cars with poor noise, vibration, and harshness levels
- peaky, high-revving, low torque engines. I personally can't stand them :D.
- thin interior materials/thin sheet metal/poor sound and vibration insulation
- interior features or functions that serve no meaningful purpose and just mostly take up space. In other words, "gimmicks" as I like to call them
- interior functions/features that distract or detract from driving such as highly reflective interior materials, overly bright, overly dim or annoying lighting, loud or annoying interior sounds
- seats that are too firm/have poor long-distance comfort
- poorly designed gauge clusters, such as having important things like RPM/temperature/oil gauges not present, or hidden away in some sub-menus, just for the sake of appearing "clean", "simple", or "futuristic"
- poor utilization of interior space (a vehicle being physically large on the outside, but having poor room on the inside)
- very weak heating/cooling systems (takes too long to cool down, or warm up the interior)

Now I personally like Toyota and Lexus models for many reasons. Going back to what I said above about substance being my top priority in a vehicle, for me Toyota and Lexus vehicles do not have most of those annoyances. Some Toyota and Lexus models have zero of the above annoyances. So all those little things above quickly add up, and to me they matter, so I appreciate brands like Toyota and Lexus that sweat the little details.

That's all I can think of for now :).
 
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Brooks2IS

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One of my biggest pet peeves is a lack of storage nooks. IE: When Lexus decided to stop putting sunglasses holders in their vehicles, from 2010ish to present. Hopefully other Lexuses will follow the NX with its unique solution. I don't think people stopped wearing sunglasses, so I don't understand why the area went wayside for a while. I thought my IS didn't have much space, but then I sat in a new IS. At least I've got an empty slot where the ashtray goes to store items; 3IS owners have almost nowhere to put things!

Cheap feeling controls also get under my skin. Fortunately this isn't an issue at Lexus/Toyota. We had a Tahoe for a short while, and you had to pray that the dash didn't fall apart when you selected a different radio preset!

I can't think of any other annoyances at the present moment. Like others have mentioned, Lexus and Toyota do a great job of "sweating the details" which allows for years of pleasurable driving.
 

mmcartalk

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Brooks2IS said:
We had a Tahoe for a short while, and you had to pray that the dash didn't fall apart when you selected a different radio preset!

What year was that Tahoe? For the most part, that was the GM of the past....not the present.


I don't think people stopped wearing sunglasses,

For a lot of people, their car IS their sunglasses. :D

joe21-6419-albums-whip-751-picture-tinted-windshield-35%25-limo-rest-windows-5760.jpg
 
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Brooks2IS

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What year was that Tahoe? For the most part, that was the GM of the past....not the present.




For a lot of people, their car IS their sunglasses. :D

joe21-6419-albums-whip-751-picture-tinted-windshield-35%25-limo-rest-windows-5760.jpg
It was a 2013. Granted, the new one is a LOT nicer, but it in no way is up to Lexus or Toyota standards, even in $70k LTZ form.
 
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RAL

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Cheap interior plastics which scratch when you clean/dust them . . . regardless of how careful you are. The clear plastic over the gauges on the instrument panel is the worst.
 

mmcartalk

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Cheap interior plastics which scratch when you clean/dust them . . . regardless of how careful you are. The clear plastic over the gauges on the instrument panel is the worst.

Yep...that's a good point. I've learned to be very careful cleaning them. Probably the best and least-risky way is to use a detail brush.

buffandshine1501_large.gif
 

CIF

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One more annoyance I thought of, somewhat related to currently-posted annoyances, but vehicles that struggle in extreme weather conditions, ex. really cold or really hot.

I've had a lot of annoying, and some quite bad experiences with a few vehicles in the past that easily overheated in scorching hot weather. This is related to overall reliability of course. Not surprisingly, those same vehicles gave me a lot of struggles in very cold weather. Suffice to say, I'll never own those vehicles nor any vehicles from that brand again.
 
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mmcartalk

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One more annoyance I thought of, somewhat related to currently-posted annoyances, but vehicles that struggle in extreme weather conditions, ex. really cold or really hot.

I've had a lot of annoying, and some quite bad experiences with a few vehicles in the past that easily overheated in scorching hot weather. This is related to overall reliability of course. Not surprisingly, those same vehicles gave me a lot of struggles in very cold weather. Suffice to say, I'll never own those vehicles nor any vehicles from that brand again.

I don't know which brands you are talking about, but most of today's cooling systems, when working properly, are efficient enough that overheating or very slow warm-up is not usually a problem. Before going into production, vehicles are tested in various environments ranging from northern Canada in the wintertime to the Arizona/California desert in the summer.
 

CIF

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I don't know which brands you are talking about, but most of today's cooling systems, when working properly, are efficient enough that overheating or very slow warm-up is not usually a problem. Before going into production, vehicles are tested in various environments ranging from northern Canada in the wintertime to the Arizona/California desert in the summer.

Yes I know all that, but some vehicles unfortunately struggle in extreme conditions, while others cope well. Also quite clearly not all automakers test equally in terms of methodology, type of testing, and length of testing. Well one brand was Chrysler, which was an older model. The other couple of vehicles were Hondas actually. Both made in Japan models, both had proper maintenance, yet on several different occasions I had issues in extreme heat and cold conditions. Since then I've never bought a Chrysler or Honda, and never will. Now to add to that, I'll never buy those brands for a multitude of different reasons, not just what I mentioned above. Toyota and Lexus models on the other hand have never let me down.

I do appreciate brands that are known to handle tough weather, or extreme heat/cold.
 

mmcartalk

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Yes I know all that, but some vehicles unfortunately struggle in extreme conditions, while others cope well. Also quite clearly not all automakers test equally in terms of methodology, type of testing, and length of testing. Well one brand was Chrysler, which was an older model. The other couple of vehicles were Hondas actually. Both made in Japan models, both had proper maintenance, yet on several different occasions I had issues in extreme heat and cold conditions. Since then I've never bought a Chrysler or Honda, and never will. Toyota and Lexus models on the other hand have never let me down.


Well, certainly no arguments from me about Chrysler. Over the years, me and some members of my family owned some Chrysler-built lemons ourselves (Omni/Horizon, K-Car)....and we learned. Only recently do they seem to be getting their act together with better vehicles.
 

CIF

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Well, certainly no arguments from me about Chrysler. I've owned some Chrysler-built lemons myself....and I learned. Only recently do they seem to be getting their act together with better vehicles.

They're part of Fiat now, not sure if they'll ever fully get their act together ;):D.
 

mmcartalk

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when i see this!
2014-bmw-i3-giga-world-electronic-shift-lever-and-engine-stop-start-button-photo-548066-s-1280x782.jpg

I'm with you on this one, Tragic. I don't like that design, either. Mercedes and BMW do that on some of their higher-line vehicles....and Mercedes also has the annoying habit of sticking the cruise-control lever on the left side of the column, where it can be confused with the turn-signals.
 
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mmcartalk

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They're part of Fiat now, not sure if they'll ever fully get their act together ;):D.

They are definitely getting their act together on style, fit/finish, nicer interiors, and, in most of their products, drivetrain/chassis refinement. Long-term reliability on some of those new models is still a question mark, though....and still seems to be a problem in the Jeep Grand Cherokee.
 

mmcartalk

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Here's a couple more of my pet-peves, BTW.........zig zag shifters and manual prop-rods for the hood instead of struts.. Mike can tell you.........those are two things I've complained about for some time. ;)

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