Quirky car details

passatman86

Do your past/present cars have any quirky things about them

I'll go first - i bought it on September 11

On my nct cert the klms end in 666

Toyotafanboi

Since we are talking about 666 stuff,

The auld fella bought a Polo in 2002

02WW4666,

Traded that in for a Fiesta in 2005

05WW2666,

Got a facelift Fiesta in 2006,

06WW388, nothing significant about that but always remember the deal, think he traded in the 05 for the 06 for a €1400 cost to change iirc. God be with the days!

Heighway61

Number plate and house landline number were the same once.

Toyotafanboi

My Glanza is 98d79676, had a Celica at the same time 02d79276, not exactly my landline number but still similar.

mgbgt1978

Not mine but 666 DIE was on a '79 Escort

MrCostington

I had a blue Ford Sierra and I parked behind another blue one one day, then noticed the reg was exactly one digit off from mine, both must have been fleet cars.

Assuming the OP meant to include the actual design of the car, as opposed to the paperwork, I had a '96 Merc C class (W202) and the 'handbrake' as actually operated by a foot pedal to put on, and a pull lever beside the steering wheel to remove. My W123 has the dash mounter lever but it does both functions.

Does anyone watch Doug DeMuro's review videos? He goes into great detail of the 'quirks and features' of each car he reviews!

https://www.youtube.com/c/DougDeMuro/videos

BonnieSituation

I owned a 323 saloon of 01-KE {2 letters}-3456

ambro25

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117949549#Comment_117949549

Have a 07 W203 (one of the last) and the handbrake setup is still the same, foot pedal to set, pull tab by side of steering wheel to release.

Dunno if it qualifies as quirky, but had a 96 Brava 1.6SX which was perfectly fine in all respects, except if it snowed. And I mean literally 1 flake on the bonnet. On a cold start, it would instantly flood the engine on ignition (spark plugs dripping with fuel -flooded). Never did it with colder weather but no snow. Dealer never managed to sort the problem out (4 trips/attempts), I ended trading it in.

beertons

My parents had an A4 in 98, reg no 3751.

Sister got a Jimni a got years later, reg no 13751.

Both were in the drive at the same time.

delly

I never had one, but I always found the Nissan Almera 'curry hook' a great idea.

ba_barabus

Vectra B had a useful tyre air cap removal tool inside the fuel flap. Useful for keeping your fingers clean.

Del2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117951791#Comment_117951791

Lots of cars have them now, but you might need to check around the boot for it.

whippet

When I got my Skoda Superb in 2011 the umbrella in the door was a nice touch along with the little plastic clip on the windscreen for holding a parking ticket.

The J Stands for Jay

Renault 4 had a few quirks.

• Rear view Mirror on the dash
• Handbreak similar to the Mercs mentioned above (handle only, not the pedal)
• Gearstick sticks out of the dash
• Different wheelbase on either side

Allinall

In Cortinas of old, the main beams were switched on and off by means of a button on the floor next to the clutch pedal.

Heighway61

MkV Golf had a bottle opener in the centre console. Presumably, in case you wanted to get started before you got to the party.

Miscreant

My Hyundai Ioniq PHEV has the "handbrake" on the floor. Took a while to get used to.

MrCostington

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117951791#Comment_117951791

Excuse my ignorance, but what's that?

irishgrover

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117953883#Comment_117953883

it's a hook for carrying bags. Became know as the curry hook becuase it was handy for transporting take aways without spilling the content. or so it says here

https://europe.nissannews.com/en-GB/releases/nissan-celebrates-20-years-of-the-curry-hook

irishgrover

Saab used the chime from an airplane call button as the general car notification/warning chime, in tribute to its aeronautical roots.

MrCostington

Get it now, thanks!

I see now, I've been living like an animal all my life, putting my take-aways on the seat or floor!

Stallingrad

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117953955#Comment_117953955

They also had 'Night panel' to dim all non essential interior lighting, also a throwback to their aviation roots. Compare that now to the nightclub interiors of Mercs and others. Safety out the window for showroom wow factor.

For Forks Sake

Wasn't worth a sh1te as an actual cupholder (too flimsy + mounted far too high = coffee regularly bounced out of cup), but hypnotic to open and close

https://i.imgur.com/XEbsuol.gif

johndaman66

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117951936#Comment_117951936

Ah so that's what that was for. Having owned two Vectra B's for a span of about 5 years I knew it was there but never dawned on me what it was for or never thought too much about it.

iColdFusion

My first golf was a Mk4 and always thought it was cool that you could unclip one side of the sun visor and rotate it to use it for the side window.

ednwireland

horizontal speedo on my vauxhall viva SL

The J Stands for Jay

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117958068#Comment_117958068

Don't all cars have that? Every car I've ever owned had that.

cml387

That pic of an old speedometer makes me wonder if with modern digital displays you could recreate classic speedometers of yesteryear. The Austin thermometer , the Citroen rotating drum,etc.

barryribs

The two that jump to mind are the air freshener built into the dash on the DS3. Couldn't be bothered ordering a new one once it had dried up.

And the steering wheel on the C5 where only the outer part moves and the central panel is stationary at all times

Stallingrad

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117958068#Comment_117958068

Or what about the third mini visor above the rear view mirror? That was a groundbreaking car for interior (perceived) quality.

Gregor Samsa

My first car, a Citroen Xsara, had the horn button on the end of the headlight/indicator stalk. Subsequently, I got into the habit of leaning on the steering wheel with my elbow when reversing and looking back over my shoulder and steering with one hand. Which led me to inadvertently blasting the horn every time I reversed for the first couple of weeks when I got my next car.

I always liked the radio controls on my 03 Focus being on a dedicated stalk rather than the steering wheel, as you could use them no matter what position the wheel was in.

My old Volvo V50 had a "wine bottle holder" in the rear footwell.

Hurrache

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117960307#Comment_117960307

I'm sure I had a Punto or Bravo, maybe even a Mk1 Octavia, that had one of those, that's going back some time.

magicbastarder

getting back to the quirky car reg plates - about 30 years ago family friends living in derry had a car where the reg ended with 147. they got a letter from a company offering to buy the plate from them - £200, and that included the company sourcing and fitting a new plate for them, they wouldn't have to lift a finger.

easy money for them; their plate would have been sold on to a snooker enthusiast.

mikeecho

I've a BMW.. it apparently has some orange lights that flash on the corners of my car.

I still can't work out how they operate.. some kind of Easter egg feature.

The One Doctor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117963902#Comment_117963902

They're in case you need to double park at the airport or casino.

Some use them for telling people if they're turning left or right, but everyone assumes that a BMW/Audi driver is going to do whatever they want anyway.

Wishbone Ash

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117952684#Comment_117952684

That was standard in many cars up to the 1960's.

colm_mcm

The e39 BMW had a hole in the ashtray that was perfect for holding a Cornetto

magicbastarder

just one cornetto?

ofcork

Only thing with all my reg plates have had a 5 in them.

MrCostington

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117965593#Comment_117965593

Hard to tell from the pic, but is that not where the lighter goes?

cml387

The original Morris 1100 had the switch for dipping headlights on the floor beside the clutch pedal.

colm_mcm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117974106#Comment_117974106

No it’s totally separate to the lighter. It’s a hole in the chrome piece

johnayo

My Alfasud back in the 80's. Jaysus, the rust was epic.🙃😌😤

passatman86

The new manta "opel" emblem at the front lights up - looks led... That's fairly quirky

D3V!L

I once had a bike that had the same reg as my employee number for the company I was working for.

fancy pigeon

Plenty of cars with weird quirks, I'd say the easiest to write about is the Peugeot 607:

I had 3, and they were all different despite being in concurrent years (02-04) and yes, a few of the more interesting modules didn't interchange either!

The drivers side had the newer door switches, the passengers got the old button style switches. Driver only got the one touch window too, the peasants had to make do with standard electric windows

Most of the looms were detachable (no splicing needed)

If you locked the car with the key barrel it didn't deactivate the auto lights if you left them on. So you'd wake up to a dead pair of batteries. This didn't happen when locking the car with the button for the alarm as this deactivated auto lights

Auto lights and wipers working absolutely flawlessly otherwise

It had TPMS with was given the bin as it didn't work right

The mileage is tied to the ECU and not the speedo. So haha, inserting a 100k pair of clocks won't work on your 250k mile car

The oil temp also doubled up as the oil level indicator

It played a strange jingle when you pressed what was the horn button on other models (406 etc)

The crappy twist radio stalk to cycle through the stations rarely worked, but worked flawlessly for volume and manual tuning

It had heated rear seats

It had 2 batteries, one up front and the other in the boot. This was optional

The headrests were electrically operated

All the glass was UV protected. Which is lovely until you come to a toll booth with your e-flow tag!

It had a HUGE boot with a soft opening and (optional) soft close button, yet had no key tumbler should the unit fail

To remove a headlight, the unit had to go back towards the centre of the car

And as a weird twist, it was insanely easy to work on, as well as being shockingly well put together. This left it whisper quiet inside when moving

DoctorEdgeWild

5 cars currently:

1 doesn't start when hot (nightmare tracking down the problem, intermittent, long term)

1 has to go through 3 unlock/lock cycles every time you want to open the door

1 likes to overheat in London traffic only. (Birmingham, Manchester, etc., all fine, just London, like it knows)

1 has no problems whatsoever

The last one, which I keep wanting to move on, have put feck all money into, treat it like a work van, would sell it tomorrow, the absolute most reliable car I've ever owned. 😂

colm_mcm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117962436#Comment_117962436

That was the Octavia alright. Golf and Passat had them around that time too.

kirving

Not quirky, but a stupid software flaw.

1/ Have a BMW 3 Series (F30). If I stop the car when I'm on a phone call, the radio stay ons, connected to the call. So rather than just pick up my phone from the cup holder and continue the call, I have to unlock the phone, and fully turn off bluetooth before getting out of the car.

If I turn off the bluetooth audio from the phone app, it just swaps the audio, but leaves in connected to the car still. It drives me absolutely insane almost every day as I often take work conference calls on my way to the office.

2/ No mute/pause button. Say you're play a song on the phone over bluetooth and want to switch to radio. Can't pause the phone from a dedicated button, so you need to reach over and press the volume knob in. Then swap to radio - it's also muted. So you press the radio knob again. Radio comes on, but the phone then plays in the background too as it's still connected.

Volvo's parking ticket holder, and fold flat front passenger seat were fantastic.

L1011

There's only two different numbers in the important bit of the VIN, which is annoying close to a million (993999 I think it is)

I gave back an old work van as I couldn't change to 1st/3rd/5th without changing radio stations, due to how small the gap between the gearstick and dash was.

RosieJoe

Skoda Kodiaq has a REST button, it can be pressed when the engine is no longer running and the heating has switched off. The REST button enables residual heat from the engine and cooling system to be blown into the cabin to continue to heat the interior of the car.