We actually love new cars, but still…
There's a lot to love about modern cars. The idea that older cars were better is, simply put, just wrong. However, there are some things that make me crazy when I enter a new car and find the same mistakes are made over and over again. Here's a list that you can complete if you want.
1. Plastic is fantastic
Plastic quality is lower than it used to be on many cars. Especially compact and medium-sized cars are to blame – carmakers replaced squishy plastics with harder ones, in the name of ecology and weight saving. In fact, many cars have hard and toy-like plastics in places where they used to have softer and more pleasant materials, just for cost-cutting.
Even on rather pricy models, you can still find hard plastic everywhere. Ouch.
2. Glossy plastics full of fingerprints
The glossy plastics on the center console craze is in full swing. Apparently, nobody cares that you have to keep on cleaning them with a piece of cloth to erase the greasy marks. Twice a day.
Arrrrhg!
3. No room for feet in the back
Most carmakers brag about leg room in the back, but the sad reality is that you can't put your feet under the frontal seats anymore because they've become so fat with all those useless electric motors, there's no space underneath them anymore.
Ever been in a previous-gen BMW 7-Series or most of the other current luxury cars? Then you know that you're forced to sit in a very uncomfortable position, and no amount of knee room will solve this. Hello, carmakers, can you stop fattening your frontal seats? Please!
4. Textile quality is worse
Have you ever touched the soft and plushy material that covered seats in the 1990s? Of course, not on all cars, we're talking about medium-sized and premium cars here, mostly. What happened with velour upholstery and when was it replaced with hard and cringeworthy polyesters? Also, did you notice that most carmakers nowadays prefer dark interiors, adding to the drab atmosphere of modern cars? Why?
Yuck.
5. Almost any intervention has to be done in a workshop
Want to change a headlight bulb? Good luck, on most cars, you need to dismantle half a car to reach it. An air filter? Ditto. Producers have complicated the simple layouts of yesteryear in an effort to make more money out of car servicing.
Also, if a LED light is broken, on some cars you have to replace the entire headlight. That's a shame.
6. Automatic transmissions that keep the engine at lower revs
Low revs are not good for your engine, and that's why anyone that knows how to drive a stick shift has the habit to rev the engine a bit, just to be in the maximum torque zone or nearby. Not so with automatic transmissions of late – they're all optimized for ecological driving, meaning lower revs are preferred no matter what. Even if the engine clogs as a direct result of under-revved urban driving.
This is annoying because if you want to actually feel the car moving you're forced to put the shift in Sport mode, and you'll end up with higher revs than you would like. And a cold engine is not so ecological, isn't it?
7. Touchscreen commands for climate controls and other car settings
It's winter, so I'll be brief: most touchscreens are useless when it's cold outside, and even if it's hot, fiddling with climate controls while driving requires looking down at the screen on the center console, which might be dangerous. Just let the climate rotary knobs be! They provide the haptic response needed to change settings without looking down to know what you're doing.
Impossible to use when it's darn cold outside. And if the touchscreen doesn't work, then you're stuck with unwanted settings.
8. Downsizing at stupid levels
Proud of your turbocharged 0.9-liter 125hp engine? Laughing at 2-liter engines that provide the same horsepower? Well, laugh no more. Studies show that fuel consumption is not necessarily lower, polluting emissions are actually higher and, overall, driving pleasure is greatly diminished.
Downsizing is good, but only when it's done with responsibility for real-life use, not just with lab emission tests in mind.
9. Speech recognition that never works
I'll be concise on this. It doesn't. Work. Period.
It might sometimes understand what you're saying for very simple commands, but the fact is, most of the time it will simply take more time trying to make it understand the difference between "Media" and "Radio" or "Call Dad" and "Map" than it would take you to press a button for the same function. Like in the video above. Hopeless.
10. Phone holders still suck two decades after the mobile revolution
Carmakers try to push all sorts of gadgets inside the car, however NOT a decent phone holder. Some might even brag about the newly-created spaces to put your mobile in, but the reality is that most of them are absolutely useless.
You want to have your phone near to your line of sight so a place next to the navigation screen might be a good idea, isn't it? No, most automakers put it way below, at the base of the center console, and this is why lots of drivers crash while looking down to see if their partner just called to remind them to drive safe.
Do you also have things that make you annoyed with modern cars? Share them with us in the comments below.
Opening photo source: Ffueleconomy