Quirky car controls

mcwhirter

Anyone know of cars which have quirky controls.
One I remember was the alfasud which had the right hand stalk down movement for the heater fan and twist for the wipers?
The alfa 90 had electric window switches on the roof headlining, it surely can't be just italian cars which have the quirks?

Any more odd designs?

mike65

The entire Citroen range until about 1982.

The Mercedes "all in one" stalk is/was not a clever piece of work.

Mike.

peasant

anything made by Citroen before they merged with Peugeot and became PSA

for example ...Citroen CX



EDIT ..baahhh ...mike beat me to it

Victor_M

Saab's and their years of putting the ignition under the hand brake. Do they still do that these days by the way?

crosstownk

Do a bit of googling on the Citroen CX. That'll satisfy some of your quirky needs

Stereo in the centre console - freaky wiper controls.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citroen_CX

EDIT - beaten to it long ago......

crosstownk

Victor_M wrote: »

Saab's and their years of putting the ignition under the hand brake. Do they still do that these days by the way?

Yep - 9-5 has it. I'm not sure, but I think the 9-3 has opted for convention these days.

peasant

My camper (Iveco) has the horn integrated into the stalk that controls the lights. The beautiful bit about that is that you can flash the lights and beep the horn all with one finger ...now guess, which one falls most ergonomically to hand?

yepp ...it's the middle one ...gotta love the Italians !

peasant

Victor_M wrote: »

Saab's and their years of putting the ignition under the hand brake. Do they still do that these days by the way?

On some models you could also only pull the key out when it was in reverse gear (or "P" on autos)

crosstownk

peasant wrote: »

On some models you could also only pull the key out when it was in reverse gear (or "P" on autos)

Yep - this also locked the gear lever in reverse (manual) rather than the conventional steering lock.

L1011

peasant wrote: »

My camper (Iveco) has the horn integrated into the stalk that controls the lights. The beautiful bit about that is that you can flash the lights and beep the horn all with one finger ...now guess, which one falls most ergonomically to hand?

yepp ...it's the middle one ...gotta love the Italians !

Standard on Fiat's with steering wheel radio controls AFAICT - my Dad's GP has it, and his older Stilo did too.

My car has its gearstick about two foot off the usual location...

blackbox

On my BX 16V the switches for the rear electric windows were placed on the console between the front seats where they could be operated by front or rear passengers.

Clever, simple & effective - I used to love Citroen controls, especially the 1st generation AX.

blackbox

Fiat 127 windscreen washer - it was a rubber bulb on the dashboard: odd, but it worked well.

pburns

The late '80s/early 90s Isuzu Gemini had lights and wiper buttons on pods that came out to meet the finger-tips each side of the instrument binnicle. There was only one simple stalk for the indicators AFAIR. Quite brilliant ergonomically actually.

Can't find a pic. I think the CX had something similar.

Hagar

The old mini used to have the headlights operated by a floor switch near the clutch AFAIR.

mike65

Did not the Alfa 75 also have the switches on the roof? Same era so probably did.

Mike.

peasant

blackbox wrote: »

Fiat 127 windscreen washer - it was a rubber bulb on the dashboard: odd, but it worked well.

My Renault 4 had the same bulb ..on the floor, next to the clutch.

The VW van I currently drive has the wahser reservoir inside the drivers door, in the floor,next to the step, coverd by a rubber mat (you'd never find it if you didn't know it was there) ...and the hydraulics reservoir for the brakes inside the dashboard, behind the speedo

Anan1

Victor_M wrote: »

Saab's and their years of putting the ignition under the hand brake. Do they still do that these days by the way?

There was actually a very good reason for that, it was so the keys didn't shred your knee in an accident!

Anan1

mike65 wrote: »

Did not the Alfa 75 also have the switches on the roof? Same era so probably did.

Mike.

The Giulietta definitely did.

colm_mcm

The old Saabs had a transmission lock instead of a steering lock, that's why you had to put it into reverse when you parked it.

The 9-5 still has this feature, but it also has an electric steering lock

The 9-5 has an electronic key that slots in behind the gear lever, but just has the electric steering lock, so you don't have to park it in reverse.

My weird controls observations:

Peugeot Boxer: electric window switches on the roof

Nissan Almera: heating and radio controls use the same buttons

Citroen Berlingo/Xsara: only 1 electric mirror

Fiat Multipla: handbrake on right hand side of drivers seat (think Pug 806 had this too?)

RobAMerc

Older 911s look like someone someone caught the switches and threw them at the Dash - wherever they landed they stayed.

The Renault 4 had the gear stick sticking out of the dash.

Older Mercs had a hand brake pulled from the dash, and now have foot ones.

Many motors I have driven have a rubber foot pump for the window wash.

Some Alfas have had their electric window switches and the check panel on the roof ( I think as a reference to aircraft )

Anan1

RobAMerc wrote: »

Older 911s look like someone someone caught the switches and threw them at the Dash - wherever they landed they stayed.

And they weren't sitting in the driver's seat when they threw them...

galwaytt

crosstownk wrote: »

Yep - 9-5 has it. I'm not sure, but I think the 9-3 has opted for convention these days.

No it hasn't - my mid 06 9-3 Tid still has it there.....:D

crosstownk

galwaytt wrote: »

No it hasn't - my mid 06 9-3 Tid still has it there.....:D

Well there's the proof I didn't Google.................. Oh wait it's not one of those threads :D

colm_mcm

crosstownk wrote: »

Well there's the proof I didn't Google.................. Oh wait it's not one of those threads :D

you mean one of the ones that gets locked after a few minutes despite the person that locked it starting a similar thread himself only a few hours earlier?

Fishtits

00 Golf, radio located at shin level...

peasant

colm_mcm wrote: »

you mean one of the ones that gets locked after a few minutes despite the person that locked it starting a similar thread himself only a few hours earlier?

stop stirring it ..NOW

dingding

Original mini with long switches on the dash with centre key.

alias no.9

pburns wrote: »

The late '80s/early 90s Isuzu Gemini had lights and wiper buttons on pods that came out to meet the finger-tips each side of the instrument binnicle. There was only one simple stalk for the indicators AFAIR. Quite brilliant ergonomically actually.

Can't find a pic. I think the CX had something similar.

Original Fiat Uno had the same dealey with the controls on little pods to the right and left of the steering wheel. One stalk for the indicators, switching between the high/low beam lights and horn.

alias no.9

The old fiat 500 and early 126's had a lawnmower style pull starter between the front seats.

copacetic

foot operated 'hand' brakes still in mercs? pure pain in the arse for no apparent reason.

colm_mcm

peasant wrote: »

stop stirring it ..NOW

Point taken, fair play for deleting your own thread.

ninty9er

Late 80s/Early 90s Ibiza with a 3 way home light switch type indicator on the dashboard. l-off-r.

Grandaunt had one. Strange car.

masseyno9

Drove a '03 citroen dispatch van for a while. Electric window switches on the headlining, handbrake on the right hand side of drivers seat, and very very low down. Gear stick poking out of dash and horn on the end of the light stalk. It was like it was assembled from all the spare parts they had left over from other models, didn't seem to have been considered at all.

Biro

All TVR's apparently have weird and wonderful controls. Opening the door for a start! Citroen are problably the most famous for it though.

RobAMerc

Biro wrote: »

All TVR's apparently have weird and wonderful controls. Opening the door for a start!

None of which work !
The car I drove died and wouldn't restart - trapping us inside - till we found the emergency door release.

Fab car though.

CrowdedHouse

I sat(only ) in a Merc CL 500 yesterday,after several minutes looking for the gear stick I noticed it was a stalk on the RH side of steering wheel with just R N D (IIRC)

Rovi

If I recall correctly, all the old Series II & III Lightweight Land-Rovers had their fuel fillers under the driver's seat; you had to lift out the seat base to get at it.

The car I learned to drive in, my Mum's Fiat 128 saloon, had a four position steering column switch to control all the lights: Off -> Sidelights -> Dips -> Headlights.
Moving the switch in the wrong direction from 'Dips' would supply you with instant darkness; great fun on a back road on a dirty wet night! :eek:

Omcd

I know this isn't a control as such, but would the centre armrest in Skodas and VWs that blocks reasonable access to the handbrake be worth a mention ?

And the infuriating push button handbrake on Passats.

ART6

A car I had years ago (many!) had the dipswitch in the footwell beside the clutch pedal, so if driving at night on full beams and about to change down for a corner, if someone came the other way one could run out of feet. The car also had vacuum operated wipers, working off the engine manifold, so going up hill in a higher gear in the rain would have the wipers slow down or even stop. Conversely, running in a low gear and high revs would have them going ballistic:rolleyes:

Funxy

Biro wrote: »

All TVR's apparently have weird and wonderful controls. Opening the door for a start! Citroen are problably the most famous for it though.

Tvr's definitly have some of the quirliest and best interiors ever!

VH

peasant wrote: »

anything made by Citroen before they merged with Peugeot and became PSA

for example ...Citroen CX



EDIT ..baahhh ...mike beat me to it

hard to believe they're controls in a car

crosstownk

colm_mcm wrote: »

Citroen Berlingo/Xsara: only 1 electric mirror

Some older Volvos had this too - just the N/S mirror was electric.

copacetic wrote: »

foot operated 'hand' brakes still in mercs? pure pain in the arse for no apparent reason.

I actually prefer this to the regular set up. But since I had 8 months in a C4 Picasso with an automatic electrically operated handbrake I have, on more than one occasion, found myself chasing the C5 down the road

colm_mcm

check this one out, was in Romania recently, these were very common, They were launched in the 80's and they're called the Oltcit, they were a Citroen design that was bought in.


It was originally supposed to be a Citroen, but then Citroen based the Visa on the 104 after they merged with Citroen.

Anyhoo, mad looking controls!

crosstownk

It's certainly 100% Citroën!!

Cues the broken wrist while attempting to press those switches while conering.....

colm_mcm

It's bizzare, the only car choices at the time in Romania at the time seemed to be the Dacia (Renault 12) or the Oltcit

Stephen

I'm currently driving a Buick Lucerne rental tank in the US. It has everything on only 1 stalk, which is driving me insane. It took me a while to figure out how the hell you operate the windscreen washer in it in the dark :eek: It also has a foot-operated "parking brake" and the turning circle of an aircraft carrier.

p.s. its my first time in an auto, and yes I did do the whole left-foot-attempts-to-jump-on-clutch thing and jam the brakes on. Fortunately I haven't done it since leaving the airport car park :pac:

carchaeologist

Wasnt it the model T that had the go pedal in the middle and the brake pedal on the right,better not mix that one up!!

Rovi

carchaeologist wrote: »

Wasnt it the model T that had the go pedal in the middle and the brake pedal on the right,better not mix that one up!!

It's not as simple as that.

Here you go-


Driving instructions (from WikiPedia)-
"The Model T's transmission was controlled with three foot pedals and a lever that was mounted to the road side of the driver's seat. The throttle was controlled with a lever on the steering wheel. The left pedal was used to engage the gear. When pressed and held forward the car entered low gear. When held in an intermediate position the car was in neutral, a state that could also be achieved by pulling the floor-mounted lever to an upright position. If the lever was pushed forward and the driver took his foot off the left pedal, the Model T entered high gear. The car could thus cruise without the driver having to press any of the pedals. There was no separate clutch pedal. The middle pedal was used to engage reverse gear, and the right pedal operated the engine brake. The floor lever also controlled the parking brake, which was activated by pulling the lever all the way back. This doubled as an emergency brake."

bazz26

Some current Citroens have a fixed centre hub steering wheel that doesn't move when you turn the steering wheel:

VH

bazz26 wrote: »

Some current Citroens have a fixed centre hub steering wheel that doesn't move when you turn the steering wheel:

but your hands move when you turn the steering wheel - so you cant reach any of those controls! i think that's quirkyness for the sake of it

Blitzkrieger

On a '67 Continental, the switch for high/low beams is opeated with your foot. Though I think that was standard back then......