Auto Annoyances

My Discovery only had the auto-down feature and that did nothing but annoy the everliving snot out of me. Sure it was nice having the window go down at the touch of a button but it was damned inconvenient when I was finished with the task that required the window being down in the first place (i.e. putting the cash in my wallet after the ATM trip, squeezing the oversized American-style fast food beverage into the European-style cup holder, etc.) I would have to literally pause my life to hold the button for the window to go up before doing anything else.

It was quite literally worse than seeing someone kicking your puppy with the oversized boot from that Simpsons Australia trip episode.


While on the subject of annoyances my Honda has a few as well. The turn signal doesn't have the push-to-turn off feature like every other bike I've ever seen so I have to manually slide it back to the off position. More often than not this results in the switch being placed in the opposite signal's position. The gearbox is a bit weird and the changes go in a never-ending cycle. Clicking down with my tow takes me from first through fourth, back to neutral, and up through the gears again. Pushing with the heel moves through the gears in the opposite direction. So I have to pay extra attention to what gear I'm in to know which part of my foot to use to change to the next gear.
 
While on the subject of annoyances my Honda has a few as well. The turn signal doesn't have the push-to-turn off feature like every other bike I've ever seen so I have to manually slide it back to the off position. More often than not this results in the switch being placed in the opposite signal's position. The gearbox is a bit weird and the changes go in a never-ending cycle. Clicking down with my tow takes me from first through fourth, back to neutral, and up through the gears again. Pushing with the heel moves through the gears in the opposite direction. So I have to pay extra attention to what gear I'm in to know which part of my foot to use to change to the next gear.

Push-to-cancel signals were not invented until the very late 70s and didn't become common until the mid 80s.

As for the shift pattern, it's a rotary, where you can shift back to first after coming to a stop from top gear without having to go through all the other gears. Shift patterns were not standardized on motorcycles until the mid 70s, either. If you hate that one, I recommend that you avoid any Bridgestone motorcycles over there.
 
I've never seen a car that has auto window switches for anything other than the driver.

both my car and my wifes car have this. Hers even has that for the rear windows and everything.

Anyway today I am annoyed by pushbutton airconditioning. Knobs are much easier to handle and quicker.

True dat. I hate pushing + 14 times when it's cold.
 
I hate pushing + 14 times when it's cold.
Automatic A/C FTW. Choose your favourite temperature (in my case, 21.5?C), select "auto" and never touch the controls again.

Anyway, my car activates the hazard lights upon an emergency braking. That annoys me. What annoys me more is that I learned of this feature just yesterday.
 
Why does that annoy you? It's great! I bet you the brakelights flashes quite vividly as well if you brake really hard.
 
Is annoys me because it irritates the drivers around me. They try to find out why I'm suddenly flashing the hazard indicators and if there is any danger. Additionally, it renders the indicators momentarily useless for their main purpose, indicating change of lane or direction. And, for example if I have to brake hard and at the same time have to change lines in order to avoid crashing, indicating that lane change can give the drivers around me the additional cue needed to resolve the whole situation without anyone crashing. I once had a situation when I used the indicators to show the driver behind me the direction I chose to make space for him and, equally important, the fact that I am aware of the situation and DO make space for him, because in contrast to me, he couldn't brake in time. It worked, he chose the other direction and passed me.

Flashing/pulsating brake lights would be the far better solution.
 
As a 16-year-old with 2 months of driving experience under his belt: I frickin' love driving.

That being said, I've found a few more naggly bits to the cars of my parents. Mostly the Saab, as I've been driving that most frequently. :mrgreen:

? The radio-control buttons on the wheel are far too easy to hit accidentally.

? Speaking of hitting things accidentally, whenever I turn the wheel, I'm in danger of my finger brushing the sliding control on the turn-signal stalk. This sliding control turns on the cruise-control function. Although it isn't set to a speed at the time, it's still annoying and potentially dangerous.

? My mum doesn't shut up. Not so much an auto annoyance as a person annoyance, but whatever.

? It's far too easy for my mum to lean over and see what the speedometer says. >.>
 
^ Of all those things, there's only 1 you really need to just suck up and get used to. I'll let you figure out which one.
 
As a 16-year-old with 2 months of driving experience under his belt: I frickin' love driving.


? My mum doesn't shut up. Not so much an auto annoyance as a person annoyance, but whatever.

? It's far too easy for my mum to lean over and see what the speedometer says. >.>

I have bad news for you. Even though my mother will admit I am a good driver she still nags me about things and will not even let me drive her new car because I went around a corner at twenty five on the test drive. 25 mph corners will not kill your car mother. I go around them at speed (see 40+) in my wobblebug all the time.
 
Parents are just used to having the steering wheel to hold on to when they go around turns too fast. You do the same thing (or even less) than they do every day while they're in the passenger seat and they freak out.
 
Parents are just used to having the steering wheel to hold on to when they go around turns too fast. You do the same thing (or even less) than they do every day while they're in the passenger seat and they freak out.

In my family, it's my mom who causes the freak outs while driving. I have a flat policy to do everything I can to drive everywhere I go with her. She's an absolutely frightening driver. She still gasps and grabs the oh-shit handle when I drive though. Sometimes I swear she's still nervous about me walking. It's been 28 years mom! I've got it down!
 
Parents are just used to having the steering wheel to hold on to when they go around turns too fast. You do the same thing (or even less) than they do every day while they're in the passenger seat and they freak out.

It's been 8 years and my dad is JUST getting used to the right seat.
 
My dad thinks the way I drive (like a prick) is just funny. But then he's the one who taught me to drive aggressively; not defensively. My mom is the complete opposite though. I can't stand her driving and she can't stand mine.

The main annoyance about my Pontiac is that it's a microcosm for GM's failure as a car manufacturer. It sucks. But it's reliable and cheap.

My annoyances with my E30 stem from the fact that it's German; and German's love "engineering for engineering's sake".
 
Parents are just used to having the steering wheel to hold on to when they go around turns too fast. You do the same thing (or even less) than they do every day while they're in the passenger seat and they freak out.

my friends freak out hours before my mom does, she just sits there, enjoying the smooth ride :D
 
My mum doesnt get how the clutch works. It's fine once she gets into Top Gear but the way there is choppy.
 
My mum doesnt get how the clutch works. It's fine once she gets into Top Gear but the way there is choppy.

Aah, that's great.

I tried the manumatic in the Saab today for shits and giggles.

Confused stares from passenger seat ensure: "Why are you wiggling the gearshift? And why does the engine sound so.......engine-ish?"
 
hmm, there's a few annoyances about my Saturn I can't stand:

1. Lack of "standard" cupholders. There are none in the front of the car unless you order the Armrest/storage console. And with that you get one flimsy cupholder that can't possibly hold more than a small water bottle at best. Like previous posters have mentioned regarding their car's, my car has a odd tray in the glovebox door that has two circular indentations that are way too shallow to be taken seriously. There's a multipurpose "tray" of sorts in the spot the optional Armrest would slot into that could be used as a cupholder for rear passengers, but that's a spill waiting to happen. This was mostly rectified in the 95 freshening where the car essentially got the second gen model's dash and center console.

2. Rattles/vibration: The early car's weren't well regarded in terms of noise control. The hard dash plastic has plenty of seams where rattles can form-most of mine went away once I did the engine mount change

3. Automatic Seatbelts: Because the driver's airbag was an extra cost option (My car has it), all Saturn's up to the 1995 freshening came with those annoying automatic motorized seatbelts that move along a track, when the door is opened/closed or when the car is started and the belt is at the far end. I don't really mind except for having to hear every passenger I have bitch about it. Some also ask "why are you wearing two seatbelts?" when I latch the lap belt non auto portion. My driver's one died as well, luckily in the latched position as I'm probably not going to replace it.

The rest of the car I love. It's still pretty nice looking, all the electrics work, it drives "ok" i guess, and gets excellent gas mileage. Sure it can be a eyebrow raising experience merging into highway traffic with only 85 horsepower, esp. in summer with the AC on, but the way it drives for an old car, the price I paid for it, and the mileage make up for it.
 
The rest of the car I love. It's still pretty nice looking, all the electrics work, it drives "ok" i guess, and gets excellent gas mileage. Sure it can be a eyebrow raising experience merging into highway traffic with only 85 horsepower, esp. in summer with the AC on, but the way it drives for an old car, the price I paid for it, and the mileage make up for it.

Actually, I have a soft spot for these Saturn shitboxes, too. I had a buddy with a '95 (until he DUI'd it to death) and because the entire thing is made of plastic, it would GO when you stood on it, despite having precisely no horsepower. In a fair run it would outpace my Focus all the way to 95mph, at which point the Saturn ran out of gears and start slowly creeping through the upper part of the rev band, and the Focus would shift one last time. It's also remarkably agile (down to the low ride and nonexistant weight) - if you turn the silly traction control bit off, which REMARKABLY they provided a button for (it also had a "PERF" switch on the transmission panel, which seemed to do nothing to make the transmission more PERF-y)
 
Actually, I have a soft spot for these Saturn shitboxes, too. I had a buddy with a '95 (until he DUI'd it to death) and because the entire thing is made of plastic, it would GO when you stood on it, despite having precisely no horsepower. In a fair run it would outpace my Focus all the way to 95mph, at which point the Saturn ran out of gears and start slowly creeping through the upper part of the rev band, and the Focus would shift one last time. It's also remarkably agile (down to the low ride and nonexistant weight) - if you turn the silly traction control bit off, which REMARKABLY they provided a button for (it also had a "PERF" switch on the transmission panel, which seemed to do nothing to make the transmission more PERF-y)

LOL! Mine has the "Perf/Normal" switch as well (Yes it's an automatic-parents orders:rolleyes:) and I've never tried it for fear of breaking the damn thing. :lol: I'll agree that it's surprisingly nimble-it's saved my bacon once or twice.
 
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