First things first, I love technology but some of the features modern car carry are
are either unnecessary, dangerous or plain sad.
Today I’ll be showing you 5 annoying features found in modern cars.If you’re new here
welcome to the channel my name is Cristian, if you end up enjoying the video make sure
to subscribe for weekly automotive content.
Now let’s begin
The first annoying feature is Automatic stop-start systems.
For those of you that have no idea what this is, It’s a feature that switches the engine
off temporarily when the vehicle makes a complete stop and then switches it back on upon taking
off.
This is essentially a shortcut for auto manufactures to attain better fuel efficient numbers on
paper.
But the truth is, the savings have proved to be not all that great especially in situation
where a driver is constantly taking off immediately after stopping you know like when stuck in
bumper to bumper traffic.
Add the fact that most stop-start systems do not have a smooth nor quick transition
when when performing this action creating a delay when trying to take off.
And let’s be honest, having a delay in a situation where every millisecond counts like
trying to avoid a collision, is not good.
Just imagine you’re stopped at a traffic light and you see a car via the rearview mirror
quickly approaching from behind.
You hit the gas to try to avoid the collision but the car is still in the process of switching
the engine back on and you end up getting rear ended.
Something that you might have been able to avoid if you didn’t have that feature enabled.
Also reliability is a big question since the ignition and the engine experience extra wear
by switching off and on constantly.
Without such feature a driver may switch on and off the engine a few times when commuting
round trip.
Now imagine having the stop-start feature enabled during a long trip with lots of stop
and go traffic.
Thet ignition experiences 20x or even 100x the usage, which will lead to premature failure.
Some of you may say, if it’s so annoying then just turn the stop-start features off.
Well let’s just say, it’s not always that simple.
While some cars like the ones from BMW, you can completely turn off the feature forever.
Other cars you would have to turn off the feature every time you use the car.
And believe it or not some GM don’t even give you the option to turn the feature off.
BTW I created this video based on a poll I posted on my Instagram page.
If you want to be part of my video making process make sure to drop me a follow, I’m
very active on there.
The Second annoying feature are touchscreen and touch sensitive controls.
While some might like the modern factor of a big screen that controls everything in one
place, the truth is they can be both annoying and dangerous.
Stereo and climate controls should not, I repeat should not be embedded within a touchscreen
infotainment display.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with the volume knob, it does not need to be reinvented.
It’s fine the way it is, or should I say the way it was.
Having functions like heated and ventilated seats deep within the menus of a touchscreen
display can be both frustrating and dangerous especially with driving.
Unlike knobs and buttons which you can easily control with minimum attention, touchscreen
infotainment displays require you to take your eyes off the road and look at the screen
to access functions.
Knobs and buttons kind of reminds me of my middle school days when you can text without
looking thanks to cell phones having physical buttons.
Shout out to all the late 80s and early 90s people.
Texting today requires you to look at the screen.
I understand having touch functions for things like navigation where pinch to zoom, and double
tap can be useful but companies like Honda have touch screen volume slider controls!
What were they thinking?
So what happens if it’s cold outside and you have gloves on, or if the touch screen
becomes unresponsive?
Well you’ll be at a major inconvenience.
The third annoying feature is engine downsizing.
This is probably something that does not bother most people, but for car enthusiasts it does.
Remember the good old days of naturally aspirated engines?
A time where people lived by the words “bigger is better”.
The number of liters that a car’s pistons displaced with it’s engine cylinder was
the foundation of pride for it’s owner.
Bigger engines normally meant more power and which lead to more show off points.
Power is still in demand today but so is the demand for better fuel efficiency.
The solution for most auto manufacturers has been downsizing the engine and adding a turbocharger
which is by far the easiest and quickest way to squeeze more power from an engine.
By using both direct fuel injection and a turbocharger on a smaller engine you’re
able to increase performance while also increasing fuel efficiency, which is a win win for auto
manufactures.
Crazy to think that as engines get smaller, performance numbers increase.
A perfect example of this are Ford vehicles in particular the ones offered in Europe.
Ford offers 1L 3 cylinder ecoboost engine that produces more power than the 1.6L 4 cylinder
engine that was used in previous generations.
Also look at the Ford Mustang 2.3L 4 cylinder ecoboost that produces over 300HP!
Well why is this annoying?
what’s so bad about better fuel economy and more power?
Well since turbochargers are being used, reliability can be a concern as turbocharged engines get
very hot and get pushed to their limits.
You also don’t get that instant thrust you normally get with naturally aspirated engines
since they don’t have turbochargers that need to spool up.
But what’s probably most annoying to car enthusiasts is that the smaller engines don’t
produce as much engine sound, which leads me to the next annoying thing
Amplified or artificial engine noise.
How many of you honestly knew this was a thing?
This one triggers me!
Don’t you hate when you go to a concert just to see the artist lip singing.
Well imagine saving up to buy your dream car for it to only lip singing the engine noise.
Most people don’t know that the engine sound you hear from some of america’s best selling
cars and trucks are either boosted through special pipes or digitally faked.
The sad truth is that without artificial sounds today’s more fuel-efficient engines much
quieter, pushing away potential clients.
That’s right auto manufactures think that if a client really know what the car sounded
like, they might not buy.
Fake it till you make it, huh?
Vehicles such as the Ford F150 Ecoboost Mustang play engine noise through their speakers.
A supercar like the Lexus LFA loudly amplifies engine sound toward the driver seat.
The BMW M4 plays a recording of it’s motor through the stereo speakers, which automatically
changes depending on the engine load and power.
BMW 135i owner ripped off the M4 soundtrack to make his car sound like a beast.
Listen.
When you think it can’t possibly get any worse, the BMW i8 has a speaker inside one
of it’s exhaust pipes to artificially produce a engine sound.
One is exhaust pipe is real and one is a fake with a speaker in it.
In fact most of you favorite cars either funnel engine sound into the cabin or artificially
play engine sound via the stereo speakers.
Some cars include, the Kia Stinger, Volkswagen GTI, Audi S4, Ford Focus RS, Subaru BRZ, and
the car that probably started this trend, the Toyota Prius.
I think the part that upsets me most is that auto manufactures don’t advertise the artificial
engine to its customers.
Most people really believe the engine sound they hear is authentic
5th and final annoying feature or should I say features are the electronics.
As we move further into the future, vehicles are swapping things that were once mechanical
to electronic.
The driver selector has become much more complicated than they have ever been.
Gone are the days where you can hop into any automatic car and know exactly what you’re
doing.
It was as simple as moving the gear selector between P-N-R-D.
Now instead you get buttons, stationary gear selectors and weird knobs to control your
drive mode.
Then you have the electronic parking brake where you either push down a button and pull
on a small switch.
Some say the traditional lever was replaced to free up room, But let's be serious, room
for what?
From my experience the parking brake or ebrake was always placed either under the dash or
between the center console and seat away from everything.
And then comes every car enthusiasts favorite, electric steering.
I don’t care how much you can tune the steering feel, it will never feel as responsive and
satisfying as traditional power steering.
All these electronics and technology equal to 3 major things.
A higher chance of having reliability issues, repairs are much more expensive, and ultimately
the price tag on many today’s cars are much higher because of all the extra features we
don’t really need.
Well there you have it, if you enjoyed the video make sure to hit that like button and
if you haven’t already make sure to subscribe with notifications on that way you don’t
miss my next upload.
Which other modern car feature is annoying?
Comment below.
As always thanks for watching, till next time.