My wife recently fulfilled her long-time dream of owning a “gold Lexus.” What model did she want? She couldn’t tell you, nor did it matter. Any gold-ish, crossover-shaped Lexus would do, and in her case, twas a 2023 NX250 that fulfilled her dream. The little 250 is hardly the most feature-laden Lexus model, but as she was coming from a 2015 RAV4, it was absolutely loaded by comparison, and she loooves it. Mostly.
There are two features she does not like, and I mean really does not like: the lane departure system, and the stop-start system. Frankly, I don’t like them either. Make no mistake, I’m not against these features, but as executed in the NX 250, I (and my wife) would much rather do without them. In the case of the stop-start system, we do do without it; it’s now a muscle-memory thing to press the on/off button for the feature right after engaging Drive. I’d leave it on if the system stopped and restarted the engine more subtly, but I can feel the restart to a sufficient degree that it’s annoying, and it takes a beat longer than I’d like to restart.
As for the lane departure system, I keep that one on, as it is useful and a nice bit of added safety just in case, though it’s never engaged for me in the way it’s intended, as I’m a good enough driver to stay in my lane. Where it does engage, frustratingly, is whenever I intentionally move right to enter the turning lane at the 4-way intersection that I navigate on virtually every drive. Every time, the NX fights me and tugs the wheel left. I’m like, “I know what I’m doing, let me steer!” I suppose I could avoid this by swerving into the lane like a maniac, but that seems worse.
So I could happily do without those two new-car features. What’s on your list?
Top graphic image: Lexus
Lane departure, because if Karen cuts me off & I need to perform evasive maneuvers, now is not the time to fight me on this.
Toyota’s crash avoidance. I know what I’m doing Toyota, he’s turning left there. Besides the time it saw someone coming to a stop sign on my right & thought I was in danger, jabbing on the brakes for no reason. Adrenaline is better than caffeine.
I turned off the rear seat warning, just a dash light for a bit now but worthless. Don’t need a warning that the car temp is low and no racing yet, I get it. Pretty much most of the new tech in the GR Corolla.
Not to mention screen controls, start stop (which I do not and will not have), … Get off my lawn.
I’d say auto start stop on anything without a hybrid powertrain is annoying and clunky. It makes the entire driving experience feel unrefined. In my Prius its fine, the car does its car thing with little drama or noise, but in any other gas only vehicle Ive driven with start stop its an unrefined mess. Even just hearing the starter noise is enough to set me off.
My only other gripe would relate to parking sensors that don’t have a physical button to temporarily quickly turn them off. Sometimes I get “too close” to the building at a drive through and my car beeps at me. Yes I see the wall. No I don’t want to navigate through the menus to turn the sensors off. Mainly because they will stay off after I restart my car and I do appreciate the beep in the event that I actually don’t see something around me.
The glass roof on my Ioniq 5. Useless. As a driver all it does is let the sun blind you. Good thing it has a built in shade. I never open it.
Captive buttons for the climate control for the same car. So many times I’ve barely brushed the hvac controls doing something else and it turns them on.
Despite having had a moonroof in every car I’ve owned (and wanting it, not like a forced package situation), if the only choice is a fixed glass roof like you said I’m likely going to pass. If I can’t even vent it, why bother?
The ventilation is the primary reason I choose moonroofs. If you can’t open it, then it just makes the car hotter.
It’s one of those perceived luxury items we all think we wanted until we actually got them and found they suck, you know, just like huge touch screens.
The only reason I got it was to get cooled seats. Cooled seats only came on Limited trim with the stupid roof. Living in San Jose I have my butt chiller on half the year. Once I drove a car with it, it became a must have.
Temperature controls that don’t let you specify AC vs heat. Yeah I want it 72 in the car if it’s 90 outside. I don’t want to heat up to 72 when it’s 64 outside.
Satellite radio, especially free trials that won’t shut up telling me to use them.
I also hate the “angels descending from the heavens” backup sounds. I understand the car shouldn’t be silent when backing up for safety reasons, but seriously I’ll take a boring beep beep over that any day.
the temp is a good one. it’s probably a holdover from my teenage years when I was buying gas $1.50 at a time and NEVER using the a/c, but I still hate not knowing if/when the a/c has kicked on.
Oooo, that’s a good one! This time of year in Austin, highs are anywhere from 50’s to 80’s, so I’m constantly having to reset the temp based on whether I’m dressed for a colder or warmer temps. It should take only a moderate amount of additional code to allow people to set separate temps for heat and ac.
Yup. Like probably most cars, my temp selector bears little resemblance to reality. I keep it on 64-66 in winter and it feels like 70. But this leads to weird situations like when I leave my (warmer) garage in the morning and feeling the a/c kick on despite it being 50 degrees outside. I know it’ll respond rationally after a few minutes, but I just can’t stomach needlessly cooling the car only to heat that same air 5 min later.
Any car feature that requires a phone to operate. Remote start, phone as a key, etc, are all terrible features. What the hell was wrong with a good old-fashioned key fob? Bluetooth and NFC in cars is unreliable, and auto manufacturers are usually terrible software developers, so the apps associated with the them are almost universally ass.
and will only get worse as phones and their software move on while the car does not. Much, much worse.
Cylinder Deactivation.
lane departure warnings and the steer against you lane keeping systems.
Start Stop of course.
Touch Screen Climate controls
Probably me, but can I pair a phone without it sending me notifications of text messages?
Proximity Keys.
Have to disagree with this one. I quite like putting the fob in my pocket before leaving home and not taking it out until I’m back home.
We have three cars that use keys and one that uses a proximity key that I rarely drive.
Maybe if I daily drove the fob car for a while I’d get used to it, but I would still feel like it is a tech solution to a problem that did not exist.
It solves some nice (minor) problems. Like not having to dig for a key if I’m carrying groceries. Having kids, my hands are often full with all sorts of crap so I appreciate it. I wouldn’t call it a must-have, but if given the choice, I’d take it.
I can’t agree more on the auto reverse braking, my driveway is so steep that any modern car freaks out thinking I’m backing into a concrete wall.
-Lane assist can go too, I haven’t used one that hasn’t tried to kill me on a highway.
-Auto engaging e-brake, because now I need a scanner to change my rear brakes
-Motorized climate vents, these will only break and cause a dash out.
-VIN paired parts that make it so I need a dealer/scanner to replace simple stuff like a headlight
-Screens for the sake of screen
-Convoluted motorized door handles, because they both break and kill.
-Not building base models because they made all this crap for the top spec and need the margins.
-Any in car subscription
Version 2.1 or below of any “safety” feature. It’s not properly proven until it’s been on the market for at least 10 years.
Screens, and anything controlled by them.
Although my personal answer is “basically everything”, the amount of people I clearly see glued to their phones makes it clear why we have all these features on cars to begin with.
I turned off the lane keeping assist. On my daily commute, I travel a three-lane road that splits into two two-lane roads. I am usually in the middle lane and take the road to the left when the split occurs, and the lane assist was going bonkers trying to decide where it wanted the vehicle to be.
Any wireless connectivity not directly related to navigation/music, including connection between the infotainment computer and any driving-related systems. I want Android Auto in a removable DIN head unit that talks to my phone, the amplifier, and nothing else.
All features that could require future over-the-air updates, and any antennae related to this practice.
Steer By Wire, Brake By Wire, Drive By Wire. These were listed in order from least acceptable to most tolerable.
It’s easier to list what I DO want from new cars: Matrix headlights, heated steering wheel, memory seats and a side mirror that automatically dips down when I engage reverse. And the small-overlap crash test, that’s nice, too.
Fake engine sounds.
“Every time, the NX fights me and tugs the wheel left.”
Top Tip: Use your turn signal as is appropriate in this right turn situation, and the lane keep assist will NOT try to turn back left. Who knew?
AH HA
I take it you normally drive a BMW?
Emergency braking/crash avoidance! I know what the hell I’m doing and I don’t need an unintended brake check when I’m trying to merge into or out of traffic on a busy ass SoCal freeway
AC, power steering, power windows, crumple zone, air bag, EFI. If they make a new car with features from 50 years ago I would happily drive it.
So you basically want to drive an uncomfortable, inefficient deathtrap?
Personally I prefer to hold out for the additional benefits of poor reliability and little to no parts availability.
My 50 year old Buick is incredibly easy to find mechanical parts for.
Now, I don’t want to daily drive it. But I would prefer to freeze technology in cars to about 20 years ago.
“If you think you hate it now – just wait until you drive it.”
yeah weird no one is saying “crumple zones!”
…or collapsable steering columns, seat belt tensioners, airbags…
I ride motorcycles, its even more uncomfortable and dangerous than that old car.
There are these things that are available called used cars… but you want a model from the 70’s (50 years ago was right in the middle of the malaise era)?
Just find a base model Honda or Toyota from about 1984 or so. You can probably get all the lack of features that you’re looking for.
plus some of the ones you don’t! (tape deck)
Most won’t pass smog.
Solution: move to Texas (or Montana, I think) – no smog rules for almost anything, much less a car that’s over 25 years old.
Bonus points for Texas: as long as you’re not on the coast, rust is not an issue.
When I retire I’m definitely moving to a place where I can register any car I can buy!
Internet connection
Some day, when the great thinkers that make the cars absorb the tiniest bit of customer feedback, you may get a version of what you want. That will be when someone gets the idea for the next big thing, subscription delete.
Lane keeping is number 1 for me. I shut it off on my truck because it was constantly fighting me very slightly and it was actually more tiring to drive with it on. I also don’t want fancy cruise until it’s at least L4 and I can trust it to follow people 100%. If I need to pay attention anyway then I’m going to control the gas myself.
This is where I ask whether David switches lanes without using the turn signal. It tells other drivers and the car that you’re switching lanes.
Sure, you might say “oh, but the people behind me don’t need to know I’m switching lanes” but you cannot know for sure!
That’s valid, but I’ve also run into a lot of issues with it in construction zones where you may need to cross a line but aren’t changing lanes or turning. It’s a very unpleasant feeling to have your car pushing you toward orange cones.
This is how I failed my driving test as a 16 yr old in my buddy’s beat up Nissan Hardbody. I actually did signal my move to the right turn lane but because the truck had so many rattles and noises I didn’t notice the turn signal reset so I made my right turn without signaling.
The lane departure on my newest car doesn’t let me forget signaling for those lane changes or for merging even when my on-ramp lane is clearly ending. It is most annoying though on long interstate runs when driving with a light touch it thinks I have stopped driving and need to be awakened.
Peter. David’s wife’s gold Lexus is a size bigger and a few years older.
Digital Dashes.
Period.
Partial digital instruments are okay. My Mazda 6 has a digital speedometer, but with an analog tach and fuel/temperature gauge on either side.
“I can see my dash so I don’t have to wonder if my lights are on.”
Subscription car features like the using the app to remote start, etc.
Worst of all, adds on displays.
Who here hasn’t almost been tossed through the windshield because you tried to stomp on the clutch and there’s no clutch… just a big wide-assed brake pedal?
I’m happy enough to keep picking gears myself, thanks. Is it logical? No. It’s not logical. It’s ridiculous. That’s me.
This is the oddest reason I think I have ever seen to avoid automatics.
Putting a car in full send mode and stomping the brake seems a little aggressive. Maybe start by familiarizing yourself with the particular car you’re driving.
Also, “almost getting tossed through the windshield” is something that happens when you’re not wearing a seatbelt… so it sounds like there are some basic driving fundamentals that need to be remediated upon.
Are seatbelts on your “features you could do without” list, as well?
Sid’s comment will make more sense and aggravate you less if you turn your Literality Meter down several full notches.
Yeah, okay. Silly is still silly.
Oh man, it’s the worst part about having both a stick shift and an automatic in the driveway. I’ve made some passengers very unhappy by reflexively going for the clutch and hitting the edge of the brake pedal instead.
Very much same. When you’re just cruising along at highway speeds and you want to bleed off a few MPH for one reason or another and you go to fully depress the clutch, not even intending to brake at all, and then your wife is very upset because you just cut your speed in half in 3 femptoseconds in traffic for no reason in her car
The “new” part. I’m mostly okay with the “car” part.