I do a humongous amount of travelling - and rent dozens and dozens of cars.
Had one a couple of years ago (Hertz, Gatwick Airport) that had a little illuminated snowflake showing on the dashboard.
Turned out to be an "external ice warning". Clever.
Quite impressed with the new driving mirrors that automatically dim themselves when some git pulls up behind you with his headlights blazing through the back window.
Rented a Toyota Avalon last week - had a mains voltage power outlet in the centre console (run DVD player, laptop computer etc). Small inverter wired into the vehicle during the build.
This week (Pontiac Grand Prix, "Widebase") had a small LCD screen that kept track of current fuel consumption and average speed - as well as monitoring tyre pressures and engine oil pressure/quantity.
Also had a small switch to instantly swap the (anaolg dial) speedo from MPH to KPH.
Some clever toys nowadays. What's your favourite????
Rented some micro Peugeot a couple of years ago in the UK. It had auto wipers, First I thought what a useless gadget but aftera hundred miles of on/off drizzle I loved them, dead reliable, wiped evry time just when needed.
The Guild of Experienced Motorists don't agree.......
A recent publication of theirs lists some of the drawbacks of "clever cars".
Basically, the Guild is saying, the driver is being cocooned from the environment, in terms of weather awareness, lack of regular vehicle checks (too much reliance upon warning systems) and preventative maintenance.
I agree ...... to some extent. I do wonder if the majority of motorists would still be better with the gizmos, on the basis that they'd otherwise do absolutely nothing anyway ! At least, for example, an ice warning, or a "low oil level" caption will register with a motorist. Advanced concepts, such as feeling the cold and deducing that it may be icy, and checking the oil level dipstick are apparently beyond some motorists.
BTW -- Did you hear about the lady who went to her car dealer asking to buy "a new 710 cap" ?
(a "710" cap rotated 180 degrees becomes.....an "OIL" cap !)
As an aside.....
The adverse effect of gizmos is definitely occuring in commercial aviation. The electronic aids now built into aircraft are removing the pilots from the loop, in terms of situational awareness, systems monitoring, hands-on operation, etc, often whether the pilots like it or not. Manual flying skills and basic airmanship are being eroded.
Mate's new Isuzu Wizard 4WD has a HUD! No bull, it shows the altimeter and tilt and roll indicators in the centre of the windscreen, about 6" above dashboard height.
Didn't Ford brought out a car a couple of years ago with the speed on a HUD thingy (Was it a Taurus?!). The car looked like crap, but the HUD was cool.
"Protection pack" which includes all-round airbags
We dropped the SatNav system from the spec when we decided two of us with a map was a bit cheaper than the £1000 or so for the option ! And missus likes the heated seats, and nipper likes DVD - so do I, it's great to hear him chuckling over Pingu as we're driving along.
But don't rely on those ultrasonic thingys when reversing cos I had a vehicle with one and it didn't see a barbed wire fence ( nor did I) result big scratch on rear panel.
Before you say learn to reverse it was an RV with no rear visibility at all except the mirrors - no fence in them either!
Not sure which car it is but I saw this on top gear a few months ago, I think it was Japanese but it is in production, it a fully automated parking car!!
All you have to do is park parallel and hit the switch and it parks the car for you, the ultimate lazy (or useless) mans gadget!
Got the ultrasound thingers in my rather nice not-so-new-now car. Go into reverse in the High Street and then some sod stands behind the car waiting to cross the road - it goes ballistic.
How inconsiderate.. honestly.
Or the way the radio stores the last ten or so traffic anouncements then plays them back to you when you start the car in the morning.. took a while to get *that* switched off.
I'm reminded of that episode of The Simpsons where Homer sees all the gadgets that can be run off the lighter socket and buys them all. So then when he's on the phone, baking brownies in his microwave, and watching the game on TV, he suddenly finds out he's about to run off the end of the pier, writes SOS on a piece of paper and sends out a fax...
4.6 litres of v8 should do it. Failing that I like the cool switch to turn the display from MPH to KPH.
My vote for best gadget has to be parking sensors though - don't work too well in a head on crash, the little things hardly peeped before I collected the front of a Focus. Cheap shoddy goods I say,
Mate's new Isuzu Wizard 4WD has a HUD! No bull, it shows the altimeter and tilt and roll indicators in the centre of the windscreen, about 6" above dashboard height.
Practically useless, totally cool.
Cool? Juvenile and naff more like. Confirms my views on 4X4 owners, though
The one gadget I'd really like they don't make yet - an autopilot. I'd like to be able to settle down in the back to a good book or a kip if it's a long trip, while the car drives itself to the destination.
