We asked some of our Driving experts: What are your top pet peeves when it comes to car design? Here’s what they told us:
Alyn Edwards
I drive and rent a lot of cars. Why aren’t the gas fillers all on the same side? I only found out this year that the little arrow on the gas gauge denoted which side of the car the filler is on. I don’t know how many times I’ve been backing up around service stations to the puzzlement of other motorists. And then there is the issue of finding the latch to open gas doors. The last aggravating circumstance was trying to pry the gas door open on a rental car in -27 degree temperatures only to have the owner’s manual tell me to just push it in and it would pop open. I had to apologize for the pump-side tirade and then felt really foolish.
I also have overall disdain for unimaginative car designs that don’t allow me to tell one brand from the other. I know they all have to have doors, hoods, trunks and glass. But you have to pay for high style in cars these days and the cost is out of reach for most motorists. Most designs just don’t inspire me.
Canada is finally adopting the five-cycle fuel economy standards.
John Moore, Getty Images
Andrew McCredie
Hands down, big and bulky A-pillars. With the number of rules and regulations surrounding safety requirements, it’s unfathomable that some of the massive, sight-blocking A-pillars on new vehicles pass muster. Second place would be sedans with no rear legroom, a far too common design flaw that defies logic. People buy sedans to use the back seats. And the bronze medal would go to front seat designs that allow coins, phones, pens, key fobs etc. to fall between cracks that are all but impossible to access.
The 2015 Audi A3 Quattro Technik’s back seats are a wee bit cramped.
Chris Balcerak, Driving
Brendan McAleer
Some day in the future, people will look back on LED headlight surrounds the same way we now regard vinyl roofs. Not the smooth bars you get in the luxury brands, but rather the dots that you find on something like a Nissan Sentra; that’s not going to age well.
Also read: 7 modern car features that secretly drive us nuts
On the inside, it feels like we’re fighting a losing battle in The War On Visibility. Surely to goodness being able to see out of your car is a safety feature too? No more porthole-sized rear windows please.
Will LED daytime driving lights like this age gracefully?
Russell Purcell, Driving
Brian Harper
Though there’s less of it today, I think rear spoilers on most cars look rather absurd, even on performance and sports cars. (My wife’s Mazda Protegé — hardly a sporting machine — had one. She used it as a handle to open the trunk.) Oh, the subtle rear lip is OK; I’m talking about monstrosities such as the one found on the Subaru WRX STI or, for those of us “of a certain age” who were around for the original muscle car days, the 1970 Dodge Charger Daytona/Plymouth Superbird. I look at it this way: If Aston Martin can build stunning high-performance sport cars without an ironing board affixed to the back end, lesser machinery can do without.
A related beef is paddle shifters on cars with no sporting intent. If it doesn’t add to the driving experience, it’s a useless affectation, especially on most SUVs. With that said paddle shifters are totally appropriate for something like Mercedes’ AMG Speedshift dual-clutch transmission.
The 2015 Subaru WRX STI. Is this giant wing really necessary?
Handout, Subaru
David Booth
My number one pet peeve is keyless ignition systems. Seriously, of what benefit are they? When did I get so weak or feeble-minded that putting a key in the ignition switch and then turning it 45 degrees became too great a physical burden for me to bear? And at least when the key is in the ignition, I knew where the heck it was when I was exiting the car. Now, I have to remember if it’s in the cupholder, or my jacket or my pants or … it could be anywhere! It’s the least convenient convenience item ever designed. I’d buy an older car just so it would have a key.
Keyless ignitions and push button starts can be more a hassle than a convenience sometimes.
Patryk Kosmider, Fotolia
Derek McNaughton
Voice recognition systems. Most new cars have them; few ever get right what is being said. Give me a knob, a button, a touchscreen switch – anything but voice commands, which not only can’t understand clean English, they take too long to get past the preamble. “After the tone, say a command,” might be the shortest, but other systems follow the intro with a list of options. Yes, pressing the button again might cut off the intro, but some of the worst voice-systems move to initiate the action before it’s been confirmed — calling an ex-girlfriend whose number is still inexplicably stored in the phone, for example, when all you wanted was to “call mom.” No, not Marcy!
The 2015 Lexus NX 300h has voice command, but it doesn’t always work 100%.
Paul Choi, Driving
Graeme Fletcher
Generally, my peeves are small, but aggravating when used on a daily basis. In many cases, it boils down to something that is supposed to be for the betterment of one’s driving life, but ends up being exactly the opposite. The Hyundai Sonata has a smart trunk — it opens when it senses the smart key in a pocket. The problem is the lid is not powered, so while it opens, you still have to put down your packages to lift the lid. What’s the point, then? Likewise, so many of the infotainment systems that are supposed to ease one’s life end up complicating them. The new Lexus NX and its touch pad-based controller is so terrible it would be the deal breaker in an otherwise great ride. Mercedes-Benz and BMW are also culprits, as Comand and iDrive are way too cumbersome to make life easier. Am I suffering from a case of old-fartism? I don’t think so. Even my tech-savvy daughters are flummoxed by these systems!
2015 Mercedes-Benz C400 4Matic
Russell Purcell, Driving
John LeBlanc
Anything fake on a vehicle’s exterior. I’m talking non-functioning front grilles, spoilers on cars that can’t go faster than 160 km/h, black plastic pretending to be side window glass, Buick portholes — you get the picture.
2015 Buick Encore has non-functioning portholes.
David Booth, Driving
Lesley Wimbush
I’m sure I won’t be alone in lambasting whoever came up with the ridiculous idea of automatic dashboard lights. Without a darkened dashboard to remind drivers to switch on their vehicle lights, it’s far too easy for them to remain in the dark, a rolling hazard to other night time motorists.
Child locks that automatically engage whether I want them to or not also bear mention. Not only annoying – they’re a nasty little trigger for my obsessive-compulsiveness. Constantly terrified that I’m going to be locked out of the damned car while driving through a strange country in the middle of nowhere, I refuse to leave the car, even for a brief photo op, without having the keys safely in pocket.
Turn signals without an obvious “snick” to indicate on and off are not only irritating to the driver, but confusing to those following.
The 2015 Ford Fusion SE FWD doesn’t have a turn signal with a proper “snick” to indicate if it’s on or off.
Graeme Fletcher, Driving
Lorraine Sommerfeld
Gas cap release latches. Why? I want to hunt for fewer things, not more. I’ve seen them in ludicrous places – low down on the main console, completely hidden behind the shifter when the car was in park – and I’ve put up with them covered in crud because they’re exactly where you haul your slushy feet into the car, if it’s not stuck under a mat. More push-release fuel doors, please. And as long as we’re talking fuel doors, let’s throw away fuel caps while we’re at it. Ford’s Easy Fuel Capless system is genius; everybody else can take their fuel caps and go home.
Where is that damn gas flap release button?
Avantgarde, Fotolia.com
