- Auto-making is all about progress.
Who can go the fastest (engine roaring)
and farthest and safest, (crashing)
while looking the coolest for the cheapest?
Most new trends are awesome, like boosted economy cars,
automatic lights, standard a/c, cooled seats,
but sometimes, progress gives us some duds.
Like vinyl roofs, bubble tops, and way too many cup holders.
It's up to us, as the car consumers,
to raise our voices together and shout,
"We don't need paddle shifters in our minivans!"
Look, I know I probably sound like a cranky old man
that's scared of the future,
but some of these trends really grind my gears.
With a new decade upon us,
we're gonna look at 11 factory car trends
we need to leave behind in the 2010s.
(upbeat percussion music)
Before we get into it, make sure to hit that like
and subscribe and let us know in the comments
what car trends bug you!
Let's start with the one feature
that's in basically every new car nowadays,
from econoboxes to luxury SUVs.
Touch screens are cool looking centerpieces for your dash.
Luxury brands are pushing the boundaries though,
seeing how much of the driving experience
can be controlled through a single touch screen.
It's usually convenient,
but sometimes convenience goes too far.
Porsche has automated air vents,
which means instead of grabbing that little tab
and adjusting it yourself in half a second,
you need to navigate to the climate menu,
select a specific vent,
(rapid electronic beeping) and then hack it
like some sort of cyber genius.
But the worst offender here is Tesla.
In some newer models, you gotta use the touch screen
to open the glove box.
How un-intuitive is that?
Oh, sorry officer, my touch screen is broken
and my license and registration are in the glove box.
Besides, a glove box necessitates driving gloves, right?
And good luck using the touch screen
with your cool-ass gloves on.
You do have to wear fingerless gloves to use them.
I wore fingerless gloves in high school.
(upbeat music)
(siren wailing)
Responsible driving is a good thing,
but when you start up most new cars,
a message pops up on your screen,
asking you to obey traffic laws.
Uh, yeah, no (beep)!
This is fine, but it's super obnoxious!
The worst offender is Subaru, who has a disclaimer screen
that won't go away until you press agree.
Way to shield yourself from liability, Subaru,
I'm sure you've avoided
at least two frivolous, unwinnable lawsuits.
I love the driving experience.
My favorite part is when I sign a legal waiver
every time I start my car.
Sure, the message goes away after five seconds,
but that's five seconds I could've spent
opening my glove box on my touchscreen.
Vents cool your engine and help it breathe.
There have been some extremely sweet designs
to put an aesthetic spin on this necessity.
For example, look at the hood scoop on the 1969 Mustang.
It looks amazing.
You know what's not as amazing?
Vents that don't do anything.
Worst offender: the Honda Civic Type R.
There are (pencil scratching)
no holes in these vents,
which means they ventilate nothing.
They're just there to give you
that cool street-racing aesthetic,
while providing a little extra drag.
If your car doesn't have fake vents, but you still wanna
make it suck, (farting)
you can buy these stick on vents
that tell the world, (fire roaring)
"Hey, I didn't get enough oxygen as a fetus,
"and now I'm denying oxygen to my car."
Reverse lights, (crashing)
were a great idea.
They're a simple, automatic way for you to communicate
to other drivers, "Eh, I'm backing up over here!"
Who's our worst offender?
GM.
On some newer Chevies, if you remote-lock your car,
(pencil scratching) the reverse lights come on,
(horn beeps) and they can be set to stay on
(ticking) for two minutes.
Why do they do this?
This is so pointless, knock it off GM.
(enthusiastic music)
If luxury cars have proven anything,
it's that people will pay more for better stuff.
They've also proven that these manufacturers
will push it sometimes, offering features and services
for a premium, when they really shouldn't cost
anything at all.
The worst offender here is BMW.
Up until December of 2019, BMW charged $80 a year
for Apple CarPlay, which is available free
on pretty much every other new car.
After public outcry, BMW finally stopped charging
for this universally free feature,
which means BMW is at least listening to people,
so that's pretty good, I'll give 'em credit for that.
But, if you can't offer free things for free,
I guess just make your car cost more, that's right,
BMW, I demand that you make your cars more expensive.
BMW subscription services don't end there, though.
You can get in car wifi for $20 a month,
real time traffic information for $6 a month,
you can remote start (engine turning over)
and lock your car, (electronic beep)
with your phone, for $20 annually,
there's a concierge service for $100 a year.
You can even subscribe to the car itself,
for as low as $1,000 a month, you can get BMW Access,
where a BMW is delivered to you, wherever you are
and whenever you want.
It comes with a full tank of gas, insurance is included,
maintenance is taken care of,
that actually doesn't sound that bad.
Right now, they're running BMW Access
as a pilot program in Nashville.
But to be honest, I'm kinda interested
to see how it shakes out.
It could potentially change the way
the car industry operates.
Either way, I'm glad BMW stopped charging money
for something that should be free.
(peppy percussion music)
Safety features are well intentioned, right?
I love my safety, but sometimes they can be annoying.
Like a mom, or, if you're lucky, a dad.
Not everything done in the name of safety, though,
is a great idea.
For example, today, most new cars will beep at you
if it thinks you're doing something unsafe.
Which is fine, I guess, unless you're not doing a thing
that's unsafe.
For example, if you put something
(bell rings) heavy enough
in your passenger seat, (repetitive beeping)
it'll beep at you until you
(lock clicks) fasten that seatbelt.
Not helpful, 'cause that's where I keep my rocks.
The worst offender here is Toyota.
When their cars (loud beeping)
are in reverse, some Toyotas will do the reverse beep,
like you're backing up a van, right?
But, the beep (muffled beeping)
is only inside the car. (wheels screech)
Who are you warning, car?
I know I'm going backwards,
I'm pulling into my narrow-ass driveway.
I have to live in a cramped place, because I moved to LA,
and make internet videos with my friends.
We won a Streamy.
I'm following my dream!
(jazzy music) (engines revving)
Most automakers have started messing
with the standard PRND automatic shifter,
introducing shifter dials or digital shifters.
Like any new technology, there have been some reports
of the new design being confusing, imprecise, or finicky,
which begs the question, "Why change it all?"
'Cause if it ain't broke, please,
don't break it for no reason.
If you talk about autonomous vehicles enough,
you'll hear about how they're planning
on integrating social media into your car
and how you can communicate with friends,
or Tweet blooper vids while your car
does the driving for you.
But, in my opinion, until the task of driving
is fully automated, social media belongs nowhere near a car!
But Tweet that to the worst offender, Porsche,
who integrated Twitter into Porsche Connect,
(farting) their onboard user interface.
If you have a Porsche, everyone in your life
probably already knows that you have a Porsche,
that's why people get Porsches.
Right?
They don't need to be reminded every 10 minutes,
and you don't need to look at Baby Yoda memes
on your touchscreen, when you can just scroll
through Twitter on your phone while you're driving.
Right?
Look out for that tree! (screeching)
(crashing) Like, like what?
(intense heavy metal music)
If police are gonna pull you over for looking at your phone,
why the hell would a manufacturer put a big-ass phone
in your car, that they're gonna make you look at?
This is the dumbest (beep) that's on this list,
I can't even believe this.
My tweets, however good they are, are not worth your life.
However, they are worth that follow @nolanjsykes,
on Twitter and Instagram.
(electronic beeping)
As gas engines get more efficient,
they can produce the same power with less wasted energy.
This means engines are getting quieter.
But drivers associate noise with power.
We love that rumble, right?
(engine roaring)
No argument there.
Car makers realize this.
We have a lot of worst offenders here:
BMW, Volkswagen, Ford, and others,
that are piping fake engine noise
(horns tooting) into the cabin.
Look, I like the sound of an engine, but not like this.
Gesture control might seem like a cool idea, right,
you wave your arm to answer the phone,
you twirl your finger up to turn up the volume,
you do this to outrun the cops, that's offensive,
but, it doesn't take a prophet to see
how this might become problematic.
Worst offender, look, BMW I know I'm saying your name a lot,
but look at it like this,
you're taking a lot of chances on these features.
Some are good, some are gesture control.
I got an idea, how about the gesture for everything
is pushing a button, like it already is?
Dash interfaces have gotten pretty user-friendly and simple.
You know what's neither of those things?
Having to learn sign language to communicate with your car.
I'm swiping left on that idea.
(tires screeching)
Some crossovers are awesome,
like the El Camino with a Subaru BRAT.
What makes those so awesome, is that they take two extremes
of the consumer car spectrum
and force them together. (electric buzzing)
As twisted as the people who drive them.
Most people, don't need a car-truck,
but there's a vehicle for every need.
If you want something bigger than a coupe,
then go with a sedan, then a station wagon,
then a van, than an SUV, then a truck.
That should be enough variety, dammit.
The worst offender is Honda.
Look at the Honda CHR, which they're calling a
"crossover coupe," it's an SUV, Honda.
So there you have it, 11 factory trends
that we need to leave behind
as we flip the calendar to 2020.
(electronic beeping)
Hey guys, we made a show called
- "Car Wars!"
- It's the Donut gang going against
some of your favorite YouTubers, like MatPat.
- I was one point away from failing
my first ever driver's test.
- [Nolan] We did some crazy challenges.
- So I was like,
"I wanna win I don't wanna eat that chip," so.
- [Nolan] Loser had to eat a very spicy chip.
- Victory is sweet, but defeat
is spicy. - Is spicy.
(laughing)
- Spoiler alert, I had to eat it a couple times.
Very spicy, very uncomfortable, but very fun to watch.
So please check it out, "Car Wars,"
it's on YouTube and Facebook, right now.
It was a lot of fun.
Eh, I'm backin' up over here!
I'm walkin' over here.
This is what we have to deal with.
Be kind, see you next time.
Little pupper!
Ooh, little pupper!
Go bug Graham.
There you go.