Features on cars that never took hold….

Back in the mid 90s, my dad was testing new cars for his company car.

Tried a Citroen Xantia. Didn’t like the way the car was lowered when stopping. The motion of this was the only car that made me car sick.

Did this feature stop?
 
ttaskmaster said:
Knew of one car (BMW or Merc, I think) that had fans up by the sunroof which, on a day of being sat in the sun for a while, were supposed to blow all the hot air out the car before you got in...
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Saab's had cooled seats which were a god send in the summer. I know later RR's have this but a Saab was a more middle class offering.

Sunroofs too are a by gone thing as well as they were super popular in the 90's but enjoyable on a summers day.

Saab's also had double sun visors so you could have both on the drivers side window and windscreen. Again I think RR's have this but it is very uncommon

Saab's also had a load tray that could be optioned on their 9-5 estate that would pull out so you could load without bending in then push it back in. You can get these in pickups but not seen another in a car. 200kg load capacity as well.
 
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adam cool dude said:
Sunroofs too are a by gone thing as well as they were super popular in the 90's but enjoyable on a summers day.
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I hope not. I love the sunroof on my 2013 C63. Not as good as top down, but far better than just an open window. It's very rare that I don't have it tilted open, and at anything below motorway speeds if it's not raining, usually have it slid open fully.

It helps that it lets you listen to that engine of course.
 
adam cool dude said:
Sunroofs too are a by gone thing as well as they were super popular in the 90's but enjoyable on a summers day.
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Can't say I'm rushing to have one any more - tend to just whack the AC up on a hot day, etc. they just seem an additional place for potential failures, condensation or leaks, etc. :(

The Qashqai has a non-opening panoramic roof and I think the blind hasn't been opened aside from testing it on purchase LOL.
 
It used to be a case of you either get a sunroof or ac, I know which I'd prefer and it's not the sunroof. Good shout on paranramic roofs (rooves?) They are pointless, even more so if the sun is just above you.
 
Sunroofs had their purpose outside driving. Remember sitting on the roof with feet dangling in the roof void watching air shows.

The funniest thing I have experienced with a sunroof was driving in France on a motorway. A wasp probably got hit by a lorry flew into the car via roof, went up Dad’s shorts and stung him in the groin area. Never heard my Dad swear before or since.
 
Kenai said:
I think you could even get ventilated seats on a Mondeo ten years ago
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Yp my gf Mondeo Titanium had fan cooled ventilated seats and that must be15 years ago now. It had more "toys" than my high end German car.
 
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cheesefest said:
Back in the mid 90s, my dad was testing new cars for his company car.

Tried a Citroen Xantia. Didn’t like the way the car was lowered when stopping. The motion of this was the only car that made me car sick.

Did this feature stop?
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Both my IPACE And Defender have a selectable access mode that does this to lower when stopping and parking the car.
 
theone8181 said:
Good shout on paranramic roofs (rooves?) They are pointless, even more so if the sun is just above you.
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Panoramic roof is fantastic, it makes the car interior feel light and airy, cars without them feel dingy in comparison. They are normally tinted, so the sun isn’t an issue and if it is, then close the blind
 
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Bear said:
Panoramic roof is fantastic, it makes the car interior feel light and airy, cars without them feel dingy in comparison. They are normally tinted, so the sun isn’t an issue and if it is, then close the blind
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This. Wouldnt have a car without one nowadays if possible unless its BMW and they only do the £2400 led one as an option in the UK rather than the usual £1000 option available in the rest of the EU. I balked at that price.
 
Bear said:
Panoramic roof is fantastic, it makes the car interior feel light and airy, cars without them feel dingy in comparison. They are normally tinted, so the sun isn’t an issue and if it is, then close the blind
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No blind on mine and unless it's a black tint it's not stopping the sun. I'd much prefer a steel roof, makes the car less of a greenhouse in summer (think what a conservatory is like).
 
sanaxe1 said:
My mum purchased a Mercedes and we drove two hours to get a specific one as it had the self park. She has never used it as shes scared of doing it wrong and it crashing. I imagine a lot of people will feel uneasy about self driving modes.
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I had a C Class with auto park. Only tried it once and it parked on my neighbours drive
 
I used to love sunroofs but hated the bright light coming through them. I’d get in the car, raise the back of the sunroof for ventilation but always leave the blind forward so there was no light coming through. Never ever had them wound all the way back.
 
Bear said:
Panoramic roof is fantastic, it makes the car interior feel light and airy, cars without them feel dingy in comparison. They are normally tinted, so the sun isn’t an issue and if it is, then close the blind
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I really miss the full glass roof from my old Civic, like you say, it really opened the car up
 
The pano roofs are nice in the daylight, but blooming cold at night/winter. You can really feel the cold air fall off them without the blinds over. I have the blinds over most of the time on mine.

I hate the current fashions of big screens high up on the centre dash so distracting at night and I often end up doing all the dash and turning the screens off.

The Range Rover has a fairly decent night mode button thankfully. Everything off completely and the main instrument cluster goes into a dimmed version too.
 
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