Been thinking about this...while our LS' have tons of great features, what features do you find to be completely and absolutely useless? I'm intrigued to see if someone can tell me a good reason why certain items exist...maybe alter my thinking around their being "useless!"

I'll go first: On my '08, when I press the "Disp" button on the steering wheel, it adds a pic of a thermometer and another MPG related graphic to the temp and MPG gauge. Why? Is something else happening that I'm not aware of???

What do you say?

Brian
'08 LS460

 

Those graphics are just for aesthetics. You can turn them off.

I actually don't find these cars have any useless features really...

 

The temp display is very useful. When in my early 20s, I travelled from Boston where it was rainy and 60 degree to New Hampshire where the temp dropped to 30. I had no clue it was that temp outside and did a spin out on black ice and nearly hit a state trooper tending to other accidents. If I had a temp display I probably would have taken it easy on the highway.

Moderator, close thread

 

No, I'm not saying the temp display isn't useful. Of course it is. What I'm saying is if you hold down the "DISP" button, a thermometer image appears behind the temp display. Nothing else changes. WHY???

 

BMWs have a useful feature that sounds a tone when the outside temp hits 34* F - the temp that black ice begins to form.

 

Its just for looks. Thats how you turn the animations on or off.

 

My 2015 has a button in the glove box that will lockout access to the trunk, unless you use the physical key. I have never felt the need or wanted such a feature.

 

Its for valet parking

 

I have a 2014. I don't get why on the screen when you have pressed menu there is an option to turn the display off. I think that is what the button in the top right does. Never used it.

 

I don't know if it's useless; but I find it annoying. The front passenger seat adjustment buttons on the inboard side of the front passenger seat back.
I drive with my right elbow and forearm on the center counsel pad. I'm constantly hitting those buttons with my elbow moving the seat around into ridiculous positions. I'm not sure if only the L has that feature. I get it; it's for the back seat guy to get more leg room. Is there a way to turn the feature off?

 

Friggin Radar Cruise Control. It is so abrupt. It's as if the LS is looking away at it's on smartphone, and looks up and makes adjustments later than it could / should. I'm describing a situation when there's little to no traffic ahead, and then that changes and you come upon some traffic in one way or the other. Or if following cars on a windy enough road, the "radar" loses sight of the car ahead in the middle of a turn, tends to accelerate to my original set speed, then has to brake after the turn ends because it has "caught up" and gotten closer than it should have to the car in front.

The handful of times I've used it, I'm thinking … "ok, I would have let off the pedal or pulled the cruise cancel feature by now … long before now, finally it's letting off and/or braking." It's just too abrupt in my opinion. I pay a lot more attention than the DRCC. I like my accelerations in any direction to be smooth. And the DRCC just doesn't do it for me. I use my eyes, my brain and the traditional CC and the cruise is much smoother.

The only times I've used DRCC is to try to convince myself to like it, because most others on here love it. But I hate it every time. So, I basically don't use it, which makes it the most useless feature to me.


Jason Oliver

 

Actually I think it’s a good feature. The driver can easily adjust the seat for someone in the back or for someone entering the vehicle.

 

I do wish there were something other than temperature as the default top display in the cluster. We already have an ambient temperature readout in the dashboard's climate control area.

Jason, the only cruise control I've ever liked is the throttle lock on my '91 Honda ST1100. Constant throttle maximizes MPG, not constant speed.

 

My 07 has the most useless feature, it’s called the Executive seating package
99% of the time it doesn’t get used & because of the center console I don’t have a middle seat.
all jokes aside, probably the most useless feature would be the self parking.
Takes forever to setup, I can park quicker, but it’s a good party trick for an 07

 

Ok, this thread seems to veer towards annoying issues now, so I might as well whine...my 08 always jump back to nav screen after shifting from reverse to drive, instead of what was on before which is the radio or VL2 screen. And sometimes it goes to the blank screen which I would have to push one of the switch on the side to redisplay again!
And I wish the steering wheel heater was on the center console or somewhere else more accessible instead of behind the wheel on the dash.
Ok, off to enjoy my cheese now...