Features on cars that never took hold….

jaybee said:
The things at the top of the windows? These are popular in the car modding scene still if they are what I think you mean.
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Most of our Scania’s at work have these wind deflectors at the top of the window I don’t think they are standard ,that said, I can’t see why they’d be chosen as an option….
 
Rroff said:
I remember the "digital" dashboard on Citroens BX and similar models including the earlier takes with the scrolling wheel thingy for speedometer (Citroen BX phase 1 dashboard). Most of that stuff never caught on.

Earlier version

Later one was like something out of Star Trek.
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Reminds me of this:


And this:


Great thread OP :)
 
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Diddums said:
Do fog lights/DRLs still turn off when cars indicate? We had a period of a few years where cars looked like they were having a stroke when going around corners, either I don't notice it any more or it's disappeared, will hafta pay attention.
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Some of them dim, which they should, because LED-based DRLs or dipped beams can be super bright - makes it difficult to see indicators
 
strange quirk on daughters galaxy had me wondering till i looked at the handbook when she turns left the front underbumper foglight comes on then when she turns right that one comes on wierd , ive had mondeos where the lights physically move with the steering wheel but didnt know about the front fog/driving light ?

on the c max despite wanting the self park having tried it it may become a gimmick, the wife wanted stop start and i noticed the other day she had it turned off ( it keeps turning the engine off...doh) i do really like being able to turn the radio/sat nav display off with a seperate button so no distraction .
 
gc123 said:
strange quirk on daughters galaxy had me wondering till i looked at the handbook when she turns left the front underbumper foglight comes on then when she turns right that one comes on wierd , ive had mondeos where the lights physically move with the steering wheel but didnt know about the front fog/driving light ?
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Turning lights, seen them on quite a few cars. Great idea IMO.
 
gc123 said:
strange quirk on daughters galaxy had me wondering till i looked at the handbook when she turns left the front underbumper foglight comes on then when she turns right that one comes on wierd , ive had mondeos where the lights physically move with the steering wheel but didnt know about the front fog/driving light ?

on the c max despite wanting the self park having tried it it may become a gimmick, the wife wanted stop start and i noticed the other day she had it turned off ( it keeps turning the engine off...doh) i do really like being able to turn the radio/sat nav display off with a seperate button so no distraction .
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Several VW models have that feature - I thought something was broken when I first saw it on my parent's car.
 
Scania said:
Driving my Scania recently, it occurred to me that it has a feature from its SAAB DNA that you don’t see on other cars (or trucks for that matter) namely the ability to disable all the dashboard lights other than the speedometer (and, in the trucks case, the outside temperature) at night, I find this feature very helpful as it removes so many other unnecessary distractions from the dashboard and leaves you far more focused on the road ahead…

I just wonder why this feature isn’t more common on other platforms?

I use it all the time and like it….

Thoughts?

Dashboard on.



Dashboard off.

Apologies for the iPotato picture quality!
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Our old Citreon C4 Grand Picasso, 2007 model, had modes on the dash that you could hide gauges etc and just display speed and fuel.

Stu999 said:
That’s a fancy dashboard.

Haven’t seen many ‘city’ driving buttons that featured on the Fiat Punto in the early 2000s.
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Ah the limp-wrist mode :p


On topic

I had a Fiat Stilo estate that came with a folding front passenger seat with a tray & cup holder on the back. It also had a wine bottle chiller in the dashboard, wonder why that didn't catch on.....
 
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Scania said:
namely the ability to disable all the dashboard lights other than the speedometer
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I would love this. I always have dashboard lights turned down as low as possible. The last thing I want is instrument lights being so bright that they mess up my night vision.
 
The Alfa Romeo 90 came with a briefcase that fitted into the dash board.

Some 90s Citroens had a pin code immobiliser, Just imagine that had take off. We'd now have cars with two factor authorisation.

EDIT: Headlamp wipers, although they were very common for a while.
 
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K.C. Leblanc said:
The Alfa Romeo 90 came with a briefcase that fitted into the dash board.

Some 90s Citroens had a pin code immobiliser, Just imagine that had take off. We'd now have cars with two factor authorisation.

EDIT: Headlamp wipers, although they were very common for a while.
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Peugeot 406 also had it. Flip down keypad by driver's right knee.
 
The large satnav screen on my BMW was always a bit too bright on night journeys even on its dimmest setting. You could switch it off or dim it with the i-drive but it was a bit convoluted and you had to change it again in daytime. Then I worked out how to program the ability to turn it off to one of the configurable buttons; press it once and darkness, perfect.

As for a feature that's missing from modern cars that older cars had? Road feel, going by some of the modern cars I've driven.
 
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