# Gadgets and gizmos in cars



## Kiashuma (May 4, 2011)

Hi all :wave:

Just wanted to gather peoples thoughts. I had a Astra CDTI or something estate as a hire car on holiday. It had so much electric stuff, lane assist, rain sensitive wipers, lights came on themselves it was so hard to work things myself.

The parking sensors were the most annoying, they went "bong bong" all the time in a busy car park that was narrow. If i had stopped in the space like the sensors told me the ar5e of the car would have been hanging out of the space.

Was a dream to get back to my Santa Fe & my Shuma (not something you hear often)

Anyway whats people thoughts, all these gadgets for me just annoy me (can you tell :driver
I want to put the lights on when i want and if i want to crash in a carpark then that's my choice :lol:

Is there too much stuff in new cars taking away the drivers role?


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## rf860 (Jul 24, 2011)

Personally love it. 

Having things like auto lights and wipers, lane assist, active cruise control, city braking, parking sensors, auto climate control, drowsiness detection, lane assist etc etc all help with avoiding accidents.


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## Kiashuma (May 4, 2011)

Cheers, i think its just me, my wife said she would love all the stuff


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## Melkor (Aug 16, 2012)

I must confess I do like gadgets in cars, but in my own cars before my lexus, I would have counted ac as a gadget lol


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## RisingPower (Sep 21, 2007)

rf860 said:


> Personally love it.
> 
> Having things like auto lights and wipers, lane assist, active cruise control, city braking, parking sensors, auto climate control, drowsiness detection, lane assist etc etc all help with avoiding accidents.


I find the best way to avoid accidents is to pay attention when driving and use a little common sense 

The only thing I ever found useful was the parking sensors on the m3, but rarely so. Auto lights were useless apart from in tunnels, auto wipers weren't much use either.


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## PugIain (Jun 28, 2006)

I like venting my anger at the voice command woman in my car.
I can say things the wife would stab me for saying to her.


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## RisingPower (Sep 21, 2007)

Kiashuma said:


> Cheers, i think its just me, my wife said she would love all the stuff


That's because most women are too busy applying their make up to pay attention to driving


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## alan hanson (May 21, 2008)

Auto wipers would annoy me but guessing they can be turned off? It's nice having All these toys but soon there's going to be accident and some dozy sod will blame the car didn't tell him not to fall asleep, don't have many if any toys climate I would like heated windscreen is a god send. I worry more that it just means more to go wrong g


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## slim_boy_fat (Jun 23, 2006)

They're fine....until they start to go wrong. [ask me how I know this ]

And I'm old enough to remember vacuum wipers......


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## martyp (Oct 24, 2006)

Hate driving cars without parking sensors, now having them on the front means I've got used to that too... I love all the little aids.

I feel like I need to do a work out driving a company car. Need to change gear (hate this the most), put the lights on/off, operate the wipers, HVAC controls, think when parking etc... Ugh, I'll take the easy life anyday! :lol:


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## RisingPower (Sep 21, 2007)

martyp said:


> Hate driving cars without parking sensors, now having them on the front means I've got used to that too... I love all the little aids.
> 
> I feel like I need to do a work out driving a company car. Need to change gear (hate this the most), put the lights on/off, operate the wipers, HVAC controls, think when parking etc... Ugh, I'll take the easy life anyday! :lol:


So basically, you hate having to think when driving? Maybe the sensors will fail one day, would you rely on them to stop you driving off a cliff?


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## Kerr (Mar 27, 2012)

Cars have that many gadgets it appears too many drivers forget steering and braking is still their job.


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## PugIain (Jun 28, 2006)

Kerr said:


> Cars have that many gadgets it appears too many drivers forget steering and braking is still their job.


+ Indicating.


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## RisingPower (Sep 21, 2007)

PugIain said:


> + Indicating.


Get you with your handbags and tractor causing jams


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## PugIain (Jun 28, 2006)

RisingPower said:


> Get you with your handbags and tractor causing jams


It only causes jams when the drives of other cars are too busy looking at me


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## RisingPower (Sep 21, 2007)

PugIain said:


> It only causes jams when the drives of other cars are too busy looking at me


No, that causes accidents as all their mirrors shatter and they can't see anything for the glass breaking


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## PugIain (Jun 28, 2006)

RisingPower said:


> No, that causes accidents as all their mirrors shatter and they can't see anything for the glass breaking


Only the Datsun's have that issue. It's a well known one. Bamboo glass or something..


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## Maniac (May 20, 2012)

Yep love my gadgets. iDrive with 10" widescreen for Navigation, DVD Video playback, Music on Hard Disk, voice control, car settings, internet, weather, apps, auto lights, wipers etc all that.. but by far my most favourite feature is concierge where I simply press a button and a real life human being (yep not a gadget) asks what I want and then sends the info to the car. So I don't even have to type, scribe or dial things in, I just ask a person 'Where's the closest nice hotel' they give me options, I choose and then the navigation in the car takes over directing me there. Love that.


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## Kiashuma (May 4, 2011)

RisingPower said:


> That's because most women are too busy applying their make up to pay attention to driving


:lol:


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## PugIain (Jun 28, 2006)

Maniac said:


> by far my most favourite feature is concierge where I simply press a button and a real life human being (yep not a gadget) asks what I want and then sends the info to the car. So I don't even have to type, scribe or dial things in, I just ask a person 'Where's the closest nice hotel' they give me options, I choose and then the navigation in the car takes over directing me there. Love that.


I have that in mine. Plus it provides me with sandwiches, sweets and drinks. It's called "my mrs".


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## Kiashuma (May 4, 2011)

RisingPower said:


> I find the best way to avoid accidents is to pay attention when driving and use a little common sense
> 
> The only thing I ever found useful was the parking sensors on the m3, but rarely so. Auto lights were useless apart from in tunnels, auto wipers weren't much use either.


I agree totally, the parking sensors in the Astra were very odd, went off all the time in the car park i was in :thumb:


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## RisingPower (Sep 21, 2007)

PugIain said:


> I have that in mine. Plus it provides me with sandwiches, sweets and drinks. It's called "my mrs".


Can you play forza whilst driving though with that?


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## Maniac (May 20, 2012)

PugIain said:


> I have that in mine. Plus it provides me with sandwiches, sweets and drinks. It's called "my mrs".


I tend to find that option is also very irritating at times.


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## Kiashuma (May 4, 2011)

alan hanson said:


> Auto wipers would annoy me but guessing they can be turned off? It's nice having All these toys but soon there's going to be accident and some dozy sod will blame the car didn't tell him not to fall asleep, don't have many if any toys climate I would like heated windscreen is a god send. I worry more that it just means more to go wrong g


Yep got climate control and heated screen, these things are great, its all the parking sensors, auto wipers i can stand, they drive me mad :lol:


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## Kiashuma (May 4, 2011)

PugIain said:


> I have that in mine. Plus it provides me with sandwiches, sweets and drinks. It's called "my mrs".


:doublesho eating in the car :lol::lol:


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## Samba1360 (Jun 3, 2012)

slim_boy_fat said:


> They're fine....until they start to go wrong. [ask me how I know this ]
> 
> And I'm old enough to remember vacuum wipers......


Nothing wrong with your wipers going slower the faster you go and speeding up the slower you go.


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## RisingPower (Sep 21, 2007)

Otto: What's the matter Lisa, you're normally the first one off this death trap?
Lisa: The combination of me leaving arts camp and you driving on and off the shoulder has made me a little ill. 
Otto: I guess I shouldn't be playing this driving game while driving.


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## Samba1360 (Jun 3, 2012)

Maniac said:


> I tend to find that option is also very irritating at times.


Especially when they use the passenger foot brake pedal all the time.


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## DLGWRX02 (Apr 6, 2010)

Cruise control, I LOVE IT, I had to have it fitted to my Audi as it didn't come as standard in the s4 models


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## PugIain (Jun 28, 2006)

RisingPower said:


> Can you play forza whilst driving though with that?


Pah, console games 



Maniac said:


> I tend to find that option is also very irritating at times.


I agree. The talking bit especially.



Kiashuma said:


> :doublesho eating in the car :lol::lol:


Yep, only when I sanction it though. I can eat when I like though.


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## Lloyd71 (Aug 21, 2008)

I like a few gadgets but I wouldn't want a car full of them as they add too much weight. I'm happy with my climate control and 'bigger' stereo if it means the car will corner like a dream.


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## CoOkIeMoNsTeR (Mar 6, 2011)

auto lights and auto dipping rear view mirror I love, plus climate and cruise control.

auto wipers I always find are catastrophically crap, parking sensors done badly also really get me, but the ones on my Dads 159 are great; very accurate and if you stop in the space, they shut up after a few beeps and start again when you move. Also has a little screen as they are optical or summat.

I was in a Volvo V40 the other day, and the owner freely admitted that the safety gear got on his nerves, all this BLIS, DSTC, CRAP rubbish is very annoying, the worst one for me is the little coffee cup in new Mercs, now that is demeaning, but I suppose some people really are that stupid that they need it


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## Dannbodge (Sep 26, 2010)

The joys of driving a 90s coupe is that I have electric windows & mirrors, AC, TCs and a stereo.
All the controls are heavy and feel connected. You can tell exactly what the car is doing.

I had a 13 plate DS5 as a hire car and it had everything. Built in sat nav is nice but that's the only thing I want. Sod parking sensors and cameras etc.
Because everything was so assisted you couldn't feel the road and it just seemed to float. It was horrible


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## rf860 (Jul 24, 2011)

Dannbodge said:


> The joys of driving a 90s coupe is that I have electric windows & mirrors, AC, TCs and a stereo.
> All the controls are heavy and feel connected. You can tell exactly what the car is doing.
> 
> I had a 13 plate DS5 as a hire car and it had everything. Built in sat nav is nice but that's the only thing I want. Sod parking sensors and cameras etc.
> Because everything was so assisted you couldn't feel the road and it just seemed to float. It was horrible


I think that's just typical of citroens and French cars in general.


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## Dannbodge (Sep 26, 2010)

rf860 said:


> I think that's just typical of citroens and French cars in general.


I think it's the electronic power steering more than anything. My old corsa had electric ps and it was as vague as anything


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## alan hanson (May 21, 2008)

And physical advantages too (unless u like the cyber stuff). There's certainly handy stuff but for actual parts of driving they should be left to the driver.


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## rf860 (Jul 24, 2011)

Dannbodge said:


> I think it's the electronic power steering more than anything. My old corsa had electric ps and it was as vague as anything


Agreed. However, the French cars are way too over assisted for me. There's no resistance at low speeds and it feels artificially weighted at high speeds.

Hydraulic gives the best of both worlds, however this is being/has been phased out because electric is more efficient.

Anyway, off topic rant over lol!


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## chrisc (Jun 15, 2008)

only gizzmo in my van is radio still got wind down windows


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## Naddy37 (Oct 27, 2005)

We test drove an e-class hybrid diesel estate earlier this year. No kidding, it had every single optional gizmo fitted. It even had some gadgets fitted that the sales guy said you couldn't even spec for the car. The dash dials looked like a Xmas tree all light up.

The joys of it being Mercs own actual demo car.


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## should_do_more (Apr 30, 2008)

auto dim mirrors, auto lights and parking sensors are great. i also love heated seats but that's maybe different.

climate control can get on my nerves when de-misting as it seems to be all or nothing, i quite like the climatronic in VWs where you still control the fan speed.

auto wipers really get on my nerves, especially if you forget to switch them off...you get a fright when a drop hits the car and they come on, also they always seem to be a tiny bit too slow on intermittent and it annoys me when they switch off altogether at traffic lights.

i like a lot of the driving gadgets like abs, traction control not so much, and the sport settings you get on some cars.

i'm also old enough to remember just how little stuff cars had in them so am still quite impressed with electric/one touch windows, electric sunroofs and central locking....sad really!

edit: forgot to mention one thing i really like is when stereos turn up and down the volume on their own to match speed - when you don't have it you really notice it


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## xlfive (Feb 18, 2006)

back in my day the optional extra was the 8 track :lol:,my first new car was a Mk1 escort lucky to have seats never mind what you have today
oh and dont get me started on parking sensors,if you feel you have to have them then in my opinion you need to hang up your keys :driver:


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## possul (Nov 14, 2008)

I'm suprised there's no moaning that indicators don't come on there own! Is it really that hard to flick a switch


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## 182_Blue (Oct 25, 2005)

I have had loads of gadgets but most dont ever get used, the ones i like are auto lights, hill hold, auto handbrake, auto wipers, heated screen, sat nav, parking sensors/ camera , DAB radio.


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## nbray67 (Mar 22, 2012)

My fav gadget is the Reno key fob that adjusts the seat, stereo, a/c and mirrors for each driver, me and the mrs.


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## Kiashuma (May 4, 2011)

Dannbodge said:


> The joys of driving a 90s coupe is that I have electric windows & mirrors, AC, TCs and a stereo.
> All the controls are heavy and feel connected. You can tell exactly what the car is doing.
> 
> I had a 13 plate DS5 as a hire car and it had everything. Built in sat nav is nice but that's the only thing I want. Sod parking sensors and cameras etc.
> Because everything was so assisted you couldn't feel the road and it just seemed to float. It was horrible


My thoughts too :thumb:


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## Kiashuma (May 4, 2011)

xlfive said:


> back in my day the optional extra was the 8 track :lol:,my first new car was a Mk1 escort lucky to have seats never mind what you have today
> oh and dont get me started on parking sensors,if you feel you have to have them then in my opinion you need to hang up your keys :driver:


:lol: love the last comment :thumb:


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## Samba1360 (Jun 3, 2012)

xlfive said:


> back in my day the optional extra was the 8 track :lol:,my first new car was a Mk1 escort lucky to have seats never mind what you have today
> oh and dont get me started on parking sensors,if you feel you have to have them then in my opinion you need to hang up your keys :driver:


8 Track! my first company car, Mk1 Escort estate didn't even come with a radio, but it did have plastic seats and rubber mats instead of carpet...


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## andy665 (Nov 1, 2005)

I'll trade gadgets for good steering, brakes and suspension set-up. Too many manufacturers seem to spend too much time focusing on the gadgets instead of making a vehicle fundamentally safe and enjoyable to drive.

Only things that I consider gadgets that get used are average fuel consumption on trip computer, climate control and heated seats

My Saab 9-5 has a fair number of gadgets - tbh didn't buy it for them and most dont get used, my Alfa and Boxster have virtually no gadgets and are all the better for it


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## richard56 (Sep 29, 2013)

Well my jaw started to drop at 'Drowsiness Detection'. Then when you chimed up with 'Concierge Service' I knew this thread was a wind up.
I know auto headlights and auto handbrake are real. But seriously you lot are not getting me with all the other stuff.
I do have a bi-focal windscreen so I don't need my specs to drive .
Hold on, someone will tell me you can actually get them.
Rich


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## Shiny (Apr 23, 2007)

nbray67 said:


> My fav gadget is the Reno key fob that adjusts the seat, stereo, a/c and mirrors for each driver


My seat goes back and forth and has a hand pump ball to increase the lumber support! :lol:


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## Chrisr1806 (Aug 6, 2013)

I love gadgets in my cars,. Current Freelander has Auto lights/wipers, front and rear parking sensors, sat nav etc.

My new Range Rover Sport due in March will have all those things along with rear parking camera, keyless entry and electronic tailgate. All of which I'm looking forward to.


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## Alex_225 (Feb 7, 2008)

Gadgets are nice but they don't make or break a car for me, mainly as I don't spend a great deal of time in cars so doesn't phase me.

I consider my Clio 172 fairly basic but it does still have electric mirrors/windows, climate control, auto wipers, auto wipers, Xenons etc so it's not really sparse by comparison. 

I think some gadgets are more worthy than others. For example on my Megane, I have keyless entry. So as long as I have the keycard on me, I can unlock the car by touching the door handle. Nice idea but fairly pointless and my prone to going wrong than a straight forward fob and key. Where as the self tinting rear view mirror is a great little gadget that is really handy.


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## shl-kelso (Dec 27, 2012)

For me I want a good in-car sat nav, excellent stereo with Bluetooth, leather interior with heated seats for the cold Scottish mornings, and if it is a big car then a rear view camera is useful too (missing it in my Sorento while I wait for a warranty repair to fix it!)


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