Ask a car enthusiast – an actual one – about new cars and one would say too many things in a vehicle! One would rather prefer a 2.5-litre turbocharged petrol engine with a manual gearbox and rear-wheel-drive, in a car about the size of a Honda City or a Virtus. An enthusiast would trade all modern features for that.
Speaking of modern features, cars have become so complicated and a big distraction for many, and some features even proving to be fatal — soon. Here are five useless car features.
Top 5 unwanted car features
Sunroof
Let’s begin with one of the hottest features Indian consumers want — a sunroof. While it has a certain functionality or benefit, Indians have found a clever idea — sticking their children out. Woohoo! This is a disaster waiting to happen and if it does, the government may soon ban sunroofs in cars. And as a well-known journalist said recently, why build a car and put a hole in the roof?
And it’s not just me who feels this way! Here’s a fellow automotive journalist who feels the same! Good job, Gagan.
Touchscreen infotainment systems
There were times when cars had a music system — play a CD, a pen drive or even connect the phone and good music played via speakers. Now, they have become mini-computers and in most cases, an extension of the phone with WhatsApp and other notifications, making them a massive distraction! And adding to that is the size — from big to massive and to ones that rotate! Can we go easy please, carmakers?
Voice commands and personal assistant
People spoke differently to cars. Nowadays, they have to tell the car what to do instead of just doing it themselves or using buttons. Voice commands are a good marketing term to sell cars, but in reality, how many actually use them? That cost involved could have been redirected to something else — a turbocharger, perhaps?
Start-Stop button
Really now? While it feels cool to start a car with a button, keys never had an issue for many many decades. Why fix it if ain’t broken? Let’s be honest, it takes the same effort to reach out and push a button compared to turning a key. That said, buttons have also become a major concern for people to lose their key fob. Can we just have the keys back, please?
Wireless charging
Who came up with this idea now? With cables, the phone was still usable in a car since it can be moved around as long as the cable reached, but with wireless chargers, the phone has to be kept away completely. However, there is a silver lining — drivers won’t be using phones. But, there is always one, and one hard pothole later one would realise that the wireless charger, a feature you wanted so badly, did not charge the phone because it shifted slightly.
