Annoying Car Features to Avoid
What are the worst features in modern cars to watch out for? That’s what we’re going to find out.
Although many modern car features are great, there are others which are just totally infuriating to distracting, potentially unsafe and potential reliability nightmares waiting to happen.
And I’m gonna share what those features are so you know what to watch for when shopping for a new vehicle.
Engine Start-Stop Systems
Let’s start with the first modern feature, which I absolutely despise and I know many other consumers do as well, and that feature is engine start stop.
This is becoming a very common feature on new cars.
Engine start stop is designed to save fuel by shutting off the engine every time you come into a light or stop sign and then starts the engine back up again the second you take your foot off the brake pedal.
In theory, it seems like a good idea, but in practice it’s just a total annoyance because it is so often jerky, abrupt and not very smooth.
And on top of that, the amount of fuel that you’re actually going to save by using this feature is minuscule and is not worth the trade off that you’re going to get with all the added wear and tear that you’re putting on the engine in the long run as a result of it constantly turning on and off.
Now, fortunately, this is not an issue whatsoever on hybrids which are designed to operate this way and do so far more smoothly, but on regular cars with regular engines, it’s just a totally annoying feature and a feature I cannot wait to deactivate every time I get in the car.
Touchscreen Climate Controls
The next modern feature, which I would put in the exact same category of ultra annoyance, is any new car that replaces traditional climate control buttons and knobs with touchscreens and capacitive feedback or haptic feedback controls.
There are some things that are just better left the traditional way and climate controls for adjusting your heat and air conditioning settings are definitely one of them.
Unfortunately though many modern cars are replacing physical controls for adjusting your climate settings with touchscreen controls, which can often be a bit of a pain.
Not only is using a touchscreen to adjust these settings just irritating and distracting, but it is a bit of a safety concern if the screen freezes or glitches out.
Imagine getting into your car on a freezing cold winter day and you’re not able to turn on the heat or turn on the defroster because of your screen that’s glitching or freezing.
Why Physical Buttons Are Better
Now this can obviously happen on a traditional car with physical controls, but it’s far, far less likely.
This is why climate controls are best left alone and fortunately there are enough automakers that realize this and tend to keep them out of the touchscreens, at least for now.
And I would put any haptic feedback or capacitive touch controls in the exact same category.
These are basically electronic touch controls which replace normal buttons only.
They don’t work as well and they often take a few attempts to hit properly and add to driver distraction while on the move.
Every time I get into a new vehicle which has these really annoying features, I often find myself just counting down the days until I give that vehicle back.
So automakers, please stop reinventing the wheel.
Run-Flat Tires:
Moving on to the next feature, which I absolutely despise and that is run flat tires.
For those who don’t know, run flat tires are special tires with reinforced sidewalls that are able to be driven on low or even no air pressure for a short distance.
The idea is that they eliminate the need for a spare tire if you get a puncture while driving and you’ll be able to drive yourself to a repair shop.
Now, in theory, run flat tires may sound fine because they also eliminate the need for a spare tire, but they do come with a lot of compromises, which makes them too difficult to recommend.
Firstly, they are incredibly expensive when compared to normal tires.
They generally don’t last as long. They tend to get noisy as they age and they create a firmer ride because of those rock hard sidewalls.
And finally, when you puncture them, you can’t just patch the tire for a very low price like you can with a normal tire.
You need to replace the entire tire, which is an absolutely ridiculously an unnecessary expense.
If I were buying a new car that had run flats, there is no question the moment the tires are worn out and need replacing,
I would be replacing them with normal tires immediately. Of course, though, the better option is just to buy a car that comes from the factory with normal tires and a proper spare tire in the back.
Oversized Wheels and Low-Profile Tires
Now while the subject of tires, another tire feature that I absolutely despise are extra low profile tires with extra large wheels.
It is becoming incredibly common for new vehicles to come standard with 1920 and even 21 inch wheels.
And while they may look attractive, the drawbacks are significant.
Extra large wheels are a lot more prone to damage if you drive over broken roads or through potholes.
They have much firmer ride quality due to the extra thin tires and of course the tires are a lot more expensive to replace.
So whenever possible opting for the smallest size wheels is the safer and less expensive way to go.
Driver Attention Monitoring
Now let’s talk about safety technology. Now for the most part, most modern safety features are extremely valuable to have.
They add a lot to the experience to make the vehicles much safer to drive on the road.
These include active safety features like backup cameras, blind spot detection and cross traffic alert, which warns you of oncoming traffic.
That being said, some safety features are a bit over the top, unnecessary or just more frustrating than useful.
One feature that I would put into this category is driver attention monitoring.
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This feature uses a camera to watch your eyes to make sure you are paying attention and watching the road as you drive.
The moment you take your eyes off the road, the driver attention monitor will be triggered and beep or throw a message on the display.
Now I get that this feature is trying to cut down on distracted driving, but sometimes it can just be over the top and beep instantly the second you take your eyes off the road, which can be extremely irritating and I think that most drivers are just going to be turning the feature off.
Active Parking Assist
Another active safety feature that I would put in the same category of being really annoying and pretty much useless is any kind of active parking assist feature.
These are the systems which take control over the wheel and parallel park or perpendicular park by themselves.
It is a neat party trick, but very few are actually going to use this feature on a regular basis because it works far too slowly and just messes up half the time.
This is a feature I would certainly pass on or at least not pay extra for because it is just totally unnecessary and not helpful in any way.
Glass Roofs Without Sunshades
Another modern feature, which I find absolutely ridiculous are the extra large glass roofs that don’t come with a sunshade.
I get the appeal of an extra large glass roof whether they’re open or not, they create a really nice bright and airy environment inside the car that looks great.
That being said, it’s just silly how many of them no longer come with a proper shade to cover them.
And believe me on a very hot and sunny day, you are going to want to cover it.
It seems to be a more common feature on a lot of new EVs, but whatever the vehicle is, I would definitely think twice about buying any vehicle that has an extra large glass roof that does not have a sunshade.
And I would also do the same for large panoramic glass roofs in general that also open.
The thing with a power opening panoramic roof is that the actual opening distance is rarely any greater than that of just a normal sunroof.
But the downside is that panoramic roofs have a lot of drawbacks. They jack up the price of the vehicle.
They can be insanely expensive to repair if they break and they sometimes are prone to shattering on certain models, which is a major safety issue.
They are certainly nice, but they’re definitely not worth paying extra for. And if you can avoid them all the better.
Electronic Gear Selectors
The next feature that I would put in the exact same category are automatic transmissions that have electronic gear selectors.
More and more new cars are replacing traditional mechanical gear selectors with the classic PRND shift pattern and replacing them with an electronic selector, often with new and unique methods of selecting gears.
While some of them are okay and you eventually get used to them and can live with them, others are just frustrating to use and unnecessarily complex.
If you have multiple vehicles in your household and you have to learn a completely different way of changing gears on each vehicle, it can become extremely confusing and just an unnecessary inconvenience that you have to deal with.
Again, I don’t get why so many automakers feel the need to reinvent the wheel, but this is a trend I wish would just disappear.
Dual-Clutch Transmissions
And while on the subject of transmissions, another feature that’s just a complete annoyance and a potential repair nightmare in the long run is any vehicle that comes with a dual clutch automatic transmission.
Some automakers are replacing traditional torque converter automatic transmissions with what’s known as a dual clutch or DCT transmission.
Although they operate like a normal automatic, they are in fact a manual transmission which have computer controlled clutches for shifting through the gears.
The idea is that these types of transmissions help to conserve a bit of fuel, but the drawbacks make them absolutely not worth it.
Now, there are some exceptions, but for the most part, dual clutch transmissions tend to be less smooth than normal automatics.
They can stumble more when shifting gears and can feel a bit jerky.
And not only are they less refined, but their mechanical complexity makes them far more expensive to repair and replace when failures inevitably happen sometimes just outside or even during the warranty period.
So I would strongly recommend avoiding any car that has a dual clutch transmission because it’s just a potential headache that you don’t need to deal with.
Small Turbocharged Engines
And another fuel saving technology that I would put in the same category is any vehicle that comes with a really small displacement turbocharge engine.
Automakers are constantly coming up with inventive and sometimes overly complicated ways to conserve a bit more fuel here and there.
And another one of those ways is the use of a very small turbocharge engine.
Ordinary a three cylinder engine or a very small four cylinder engine would not have enough power for most in a heavy modern car, but a turbocharger helps to squeeze more power out of the engine while also helping to reduce tailpipe emissions.
Now that might sound okay, but the problem is that a turbocharger adds a lot of heat and pressure to the engine potentially shortening its longevity.
It also adds complexity with many additional components that can potentially go wrong and need replacing in the long run.
Not all turbo engines are problematic, but in general there is no question that you are safer going with a simple naturally aspirate engine if the goal is to keep your car as long as possible with the fewest repair issues.