most pointless feature in a car

plissken

One of my friends called up to the house last night with his new motor a merc cl500, absolutely lovely car, comfortable, quick and good looking. In general it made a very good first impression with myself however my friend seemed to be obsessing about the cars soft touch doors (see the link if your not familiar http://youtube.com/watch?v=iH4P7F55ccE)

I just stood there with a bemused look on my face and asked him whats the point, "whats the point, there great they add a touch of class" was his response, so I had to ask him again why would anyone need such a feature.

Am I right in thinking soft close doors are pointless and what features do other people find useless

Stevie Dakota

Massaging seats...WTF! Every time I get a massage I want to fall asleep, hello? I guess that's why they had to invent Lane departure System...

green-blood

think of the market - overcoated gentlemen and business men, ladies who lunch with handbag straps - there is nothing worse than gettign your coat tails slamed in a cra door.... soft touch means, the car will alert that it has not closed correctly. they also provide a tighter seal thn if you slam a door against a panel and seal with rubber squished in between, so less wind noise.....

you could say a CL500 is pretty pointless initself, not the fastest, most exclusive, best handling coupe out there!!!

vectra

Pointless feature...??
BRAKES..!!

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

There are no points on the tyres or steering wheel:D

Seperate

My sisters new kitchen has the same thing. Fancy, and fair enough stops the drawers slamming, but still a bit pointless.

I understand them in cars though. My gf is forever slamming the doors on my car, it wrecks my head. These would solve that...

I guess the most sensible reason is that they would put less stress on the door locks/catches and therefore extend their durability.

JoeySully

on some megeans when you put it in reverse the rear wiper makes one swish across the window not a very nice noise when its a sunny day

Max_Damage

Wasn't there some Nissan that has an air conditioned glove box?

Alun

JoeySully wrote: »

on some megeans when you put it in reverse the rear wiper makes one swish across the window not a very nice noise when its a sunny day

My Ford does that but only if you've activated the front wipers, even just a quick one-off wipe, first.

JoeA3

Max_Damage wrote: »

Wasn't there some Nissan that has an air conditioned glove box?

I think mine is air-conditioned too! (VW Golf)... its so that your cold drinks and icecreams will stay cool

Zube

The point of soft-close doors is that they allow MB to fit really huge door seals improving cabin isolation. Without soft-close, many people would struggle to close the doors against those seals.

I think the most useless feature I've seen recently is the perfume dispenser.

Del2005

The vase in the new Beatle.

Anan1

Seperate wrote: »

I understand them in cars though. My gf is forever slamming the doors on my car, it wrecks my head. These would solve that...

How?

junior_apollo

Ya that vase is fair stupid...

I have the air-con in my glove box.. that along with the aroma dispenser which can also scent the air into my glove box?...

My favourite thing though in my car is the auto-chrome rear view mirror - People with full lights behind you annoying you are a thing of the past...

Cant think of a bad feature on the car to be honest... oh maybe the seat-belt things on the sides of the seat that can hold the seat belt at a different level (pregnant women or elderly i spose)... but its a coupe... they shudnt be in it anyway!.. :cool:

mike65

Back seats in most cars.

Mike.

craichoe

Speed holes

Padraig Mor

Soft close doors come free in packages if you select some other options with some BMWs. Perhaps it's the same with MB? Wouldn't pay for it myself...

Slig

fuel cap on my pajero, the nozzle of the diesel pump was never out long enough for it to be needed:D

Seth Brundle

For the Irish market, indicators tend to be regarded as the most useless item!

Lord Nikon

Max_Damage wrote: »

Wasn't there some Nissan that has an air conditioned glove box?

Now that is something I could to with, somewhere to keep my beers cold on a hot day.

Stevie Dakota

The big hunk of metal stuck onto the Toyota Avensis badge.

mike65

Saab were the first with the cool-box I think (the 9-5 mk1)

Mike.

Stephen

My Civic has the air conditioned glovebox too. There's a vent you can close in there if you don't want it cooled. I really wouldn't miss its electric mirrors though. Set them up on day one and they've never been touched since.

KTRIC

mike65 wrote: »

Saab were the first with the cool-box I think (the 9-5 mk1)

Mike.

I had it in my Mk11 900 CS, along with loads and loads and loads of nice little toys

alpina

kbannon wrote: »

For the Irish market, indicators tend to be regarded as the most useless item!

+1
& possibly the horn quite a lot of the time, beep at someone for doing something stupid & just get a bewildered stare back

Andrewf20

Rain sensing wipers gets my vote.

peasant

Only now that I'm back on wind-down windows have i realised what a PITA electric windows are.

Fine on windows you can't reach (sort of) but on the drivers side getting the widow to just the right position was a matter of having at least three goes at it ..the windy yoke is actually much quicker (doesn't have a one touch open-close function though )

Green Hornet

JoeySully wrote: »

on some megeans when you put it in reverse the rear wiper makes one swish across the window not a very nice noise when its a sunny day

In fairness, its a Renault and its probably not meant to do that. Its the electrics gone wrong......again.

Only joking;)

Rowley Birkin QC

Tax disc.

JoeySully

bigkev49 wrote: »

Tax disc.

that wins my "post of the day ":D

bazz26

Silicone dampened grab handles.

Kali

My honda has a button that lowers the aerial to half height.. thats gotta be up there

Run_to_da_hills

The most pointless feature in any car is the nut behind the wheel

Rowley Birkin QC

Kali wrote: »

My honda has a button that lowers the aerial to half height.. thats gotta be up there

I think that was a feature they developed for the NSX. God knows why I know that.

Jimbo

Gearchanging paddles/buttons on an automatic. I have used mine twice in two years. You have to keep checking the dash to see what gear your in, bloody dangerous

joolsveer

Cigarette lighter and ashtray. Dangerous as well as pointless.

colm_mcm

the cigarette lighter is very good for lighting cigarettes though, and the ashtray makes a great ashtray.

Run_to_da_hills

joolsveer wrote: »

Cigarette lighter and ashtray. Dangerous as well as pointless.

I use my cigarette lighter socket for powering my phone charger / GPS and the ashtray for loose change.

mthd

my car has a little drawer on the dash for holding credit cards

Run_to_da_hills

mthd wrote: »

my car has a little drawer on the dash for holding credit cards

Probably designed for countries using credit card size driving licenses, ie USA, Australia etc. Not a good idea to leave them in there unattended :eek:

Guy:Incognito

My car has the least pointless thing ever. A clip on the insde of the windscreen on the drivers side for holding pay and display tickets.:D it's qualiy.

colm_mcm

I like the little clear plastic clip on VW cars that holds your parking ticket against the windscreen (I presume that's what it's for) that's useful, so is a card holder in the dash (handy for putting multi storey parking tickets into on the way out)

EDIT: That's bizzare what just happened there! I swear I didn't read Stekelly's post

unkel

Kali wrote: »

My honda has a button that lowers the aerial to half height.. thats gotta be up there

I think we have a winner

KTRIC wrote: »

I had it in my Mk11 900 CS, along with loads and loads and loads of nice little toys

ToysRgood

It BeeMee

Electric windows on anything other than the driver's door.
I mean, feck it, the passengers have more spare hands than the driver....usually....

JoeA3

Stephen wrote: »

My Civic has the air conditioned glovebox too. There's a vent you can close in there if you don't want it cooled. I really wouldn't miss its electric mirrors though. Set them up on day one and they've never been touched since.

I wouldn't agree, I often dip my passenger side mirror when reversing into tight spots, to guard against my paranoia of kerbing the alloys!
I also find the auto-dipping mirror and auto wipers pretty useful, despite being very very skeptical before experiencing them.

My favourite feature in my last couple of cars is Climate control, simply fantastic. Anyone who says its a waste of time or no use in "our climate" is talking bonkers IMO.

Tropheus

Rear seats Porsche 911. Useless for anything more than storage. Passengers would need to have their legs amputated.

unkel

ksimpson wrote: »

Rear seats Porsche 911. Useless for anything more than storage. Passengers would need to have their legs amputated.

You obviously don't carry (small) children as passengers, ksimpson

CrowdedHouse

Sun Roof

Often noisy when open...in the middle of the the day the sun blazes in,so you have to close the blind.....

Green Hornet

JoeA3 wrote: »

My favourite feature in my last couple of cars is Climate control, simply fantastic. Anyone who says its a waste of time or no use in "our climate" is talking bonkers IMO.

Must say that I agree. Was skeptical about it before I had it but its great.

Del2005

It BeeMee wrote: »

Electric windows on anything other than the driver's door.
I mean, feck it, the passengers have more spare hands than the driver....usually....

Electric windows on passenger windows are very handy for us non air con car owners, how else do you get air through when stuck in traffic. Electric for the driver doesn't have any real benefit. Any HGV I've been in has a winder for the driver and electric for the pasenger.

unkel wrote: »

You obviously don't carry (small) children as passengers, ksimpson

But with the new child seat rules they aren't any use any more. I'd say it's fun fitting a child seat into one:D

slimjimmc

JoeySully wrote: »

on some megeans when you put it in reverse the rear wiper makes one swish across the window not a very nice noise when its a sunny day

I know that sound but it only happens when the wiper stalk is left in auto position, just flick it up to the off position on sunny days.