Aron9000

Watched a review of the new McLaren 720S on youtube(Doug DeMuro, look him up). That car has one of those little touches/features that I find in the category of "well why in the hell did nobody think of this before???"

When you turn the car off, it tells you how many days of battery life it has left. This is really damn cool feature for a car that may sit for a long time.

I know some of you are going to say, "well why don't you have it plugged into a battery tender". Maybe some people don't have access to an outlet where they store their cars. Maybe its parked in an underground garage in a big city, or above ground on the 10th floor of a huge garage. Maybe its stored in a storage facility that doesn't have an electrical outlet in it. Maybe its stored in your old barn or shed with no electricity(hopefully under a car cover as well).

Anyways, that one little attention to detail really impressed the hell out of me on the new McLaren, I mean its one of those nice touches that really isn't necessary but greatly appreciated for the way that car is used.



Another nice design detail I like on newer cars are engines that still use a traditional spin on oil filter. Changed the oil on a 2013 Rav4, stupid thing uses a cartridge style oil filter. Only way to get the oil filter "cap" off is with a special wrench you have to buy for $10-15 on Amazon. Not only do you have to buy a special tool(designed to keep people from DYI oil changes and taking it to the dealer), the stupid filter is an oily mess compared to regular spin on filters. I mean on my old cars with spin on filters, I can remove the damn things with my bare hands and replace them likewise.

Stroock639

THIS...


is a good feature to put on a car of such nature

yea it's interesting that nobody really has a time left until the battery runs flat indicator, even on "regular" cars. knowing if your battery is about to die is a useful feature regardless if you have 2 cars or 20 cars. i'm pretty sure i saw (probably also in a doug video) that the super fast model of the bentley continental as a similar feature, or maybe it was just a little outlet for a plug to be plugged into, almost like a built in trickle charger

JDR76

This battery feature is an interesting one. I wonder how accurate it is.

I had had to design a similar system on an airplane. Intent was to show the crew if there was enough battery power available for braking while being towed. It really wasn’t easy.

Toys4RJill

On my 4Runner, and other Toyota V8s from that era, it has a auto crank feature when starting the engine and there is also a feature that prevents the starter from engaging a second time while the engine is running.

UDel

A battery meter that tells the life left in the battery and when it is about to go would be very useful and I am surprised it has not been implemented. Also a system that shuts off accessories like lights if they were left on if the battery is about to be drained and won't be able to start the car would be useful, I remember back in college running the battery down and needing a jump after leaving the lights on during a daytime storm a few times.

On cars with rear seat controls, I always thought you could put your own radio station on in the rear and listen to it with headphones while front seat occupants could listen to a different radio station but when looking into it I don't think any of them can do that which is odd to have radio controls in the rear for a system up front that the driver could control. I would also like to see cup holders that can really cool/warm a beverage to where they will stay cold or warm during a longer drive, a instant heating system like what is in a space heater would be a good idea so you immediately get heat in cold temps as soon as you turn it on instead of having to wait a few minutes. A system that senses and lowers windows to keep the interior as cool as possible on hot days but rolls them up when it rains or someone is lingering by the car would be interesting too.

Toys4RJill

my 4Runner can play its own radio station in the back. There is a remote and headphones to do it. Never used it.

MedicalDoc

My car has a feature that tells me when it is dirty. It's called, my wife. It's not OEM though.

mmarshall

Along that line, one of several unique features that I really liked on the plastic-body Saturn S-Series cars from the 1990s (I owned an SL-2 myself) was a spin-off transmission filter, much like the spin-off oil filters, that made transmission service a breeze, without having to disassemble a bunch of bolts/gaskets/panels and having a mess all over the place. The OEM Saturn spin-off filter also had a built-in magnet attached to it, which, of course, held iron and steel shavings to it....the aftermarket spin-off equivalents didn't. The magnet-ring simply detached from the filter, was cleaned off, the shavings were disposed, and then re-used with the new filter. The transmission fluid itself drains out through an oil-style drain plug, also making that part of it a lot easier and simpler. It was just one more reason (among many) why these cars were such a success until GM's bozo managers completely screwed up the division's marketing.

UDel

Really, a 4Runner can do it but higher end luxury sedans can't? I remember sitting in and asking if a LS460, GS350, and A8 with a rear seating package could do it and they all couldn't. I asked what is the purpose of having the audio controls in the back if the rear seat passenger can't listen to their own station and they just control what everyone else is listening to when the driver can do that and the salesman agreed after thinking about it.

Toys4RJill

yup. I assume the GX 470 of the same era could do it too.

rxonmymind

Watched a show awhile ago of a Mercedes having a door "stop" feature. Hard for me to explain. But it allowed you to open a door and it would "lock" at any point you determined and stay there and not slam back at your shins. Very useful if parking on the hills of San Francisco. I wish all cars would have this.
Also hill assist to keep you rolling backwards.

oldcajun

The RX350 will invite the driver to have a cup of coffee if it determines that the car is wandering on the highway. It, will not pay for the coffee.
Steve

Aron9000

I think Mercedes had something similar on the old model S-class when it came out about 10 years ago. Car bonged at you and popped up a picture of a cup of coffee in the instrument display if it found you driving all over the road. Guess the coffee would be good to wake you up or try and sober you up lol.

Also something cool, seen it on the last gen and this gen Ford Raptor(might be on other Ford trucks now too), built in factory auxiliary switches. These are great if you put a winch on your truck or mount those now trendy LED light bars on the front bumper or above the windshield. A lot of truck guys run those light bars, nice to see the factory give you a switch for them so you don't have to drill into the stock dash. That's something I hope they do on the new Wrangler as well.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

i love not having a gas cap on my jeep.
i also love that it's pretty much auto everything... wipers go on/off by themselves, headlights same, high beams same (it's amazing how far away it can detect oncoming cars or cars going the same direction - it must see the read tail lights somehow).
i love the remote start from the key fob. works at huge distances too so whenever i come out of a store or restaurant, i remote start the car. if it's dark, the lights on the car help me find it!

Aron9000

The automatic lights are nothing new, Cadillac had that one their cars back in the 1950's. Turned themselves on at dusk/night, turned themselves off when you shut the car off(had an adjustable timer). Called it Twilight Sentinel, because everything had to have a registered trademark name(Hydra-matic transmission, E-Z Eye glass, Autotronic Eye headlight dimmer)

They also had this sort of sci-fi looking pod on the dash that dimmed your highbeams when another car approached, had a photo-voltaic cell in there. The "Auto-tronic eye" high beam dimmer didn't work all that well and that option was discontinued in the early 1960's and didn't reappear until recently.