Clarkson on Optional Extras

"sm70- why not Duesenberg?" (sm70-whynotduesenberg) 11/29/2015 at 13:30 • Filed to: None

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I have to say, I disagree with him on every single one he says isn’t worthwhile. I have all these features on my car, and I wouldn’t get rid of any of them. Okay, so my semi-automatic gearbox I could do without, but I do use it. And I’ll grant him that traction control systems were much more primitive in 1998, but still. I know there are a lot of us who will agree with Mr. Clarkson’s assessment, but I think that traction control, heated seats, cruise control, parking sensors (and even cameras now), AND PASSENGER AIR BAGS, the whole lot of them are worth my money. Now today, these are all common items, but I still state that whether I’m speccing up a car online or shopping for a used one, I want the features.

LongbowMkII > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 11/29/2015 at 13:35

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I still think that parking sensors/cameras are needless.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > LongbowMkII 11/29/2015 at 13:37

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For most people, most of the time, they may be. But even on a small car with great visibility, there are still things (and little people) that can get behind a car without you seeing them. Also, for the tight parallel parking, well-calibrated sensors do help.

Leon711 > LongbowMkII 11/29/2015 at 13:37

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To you and I maybe, to most of the public? It’s required.

Leon711 > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 11/29/2015 at 13:41

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TC is a funny thing, in my GTI you can’t turn it off, only the ESP, but it spins up the wheels easily and you barely notice it. A friend has a z4 and it’s extremely intrusive.

GhostZ > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 11/29/2015 at 13:43

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I think the issue isn’t that the features are useful, it’s that they cost so much extra on top of the price of the actual car. Most of these (including stability control which fixes his problem with traction control) are now standard on most cars and you don’t have to pay $3-5000+ in options just to get them.

MGS315 > LongbowMkII 11/29/2015 at 13:44

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I wouldn’t mind parking sensors on my van, simply because it’s a fucking ball ache reversing into tight spaces. Currently I just use the bumpers. Keep reversing slowly til I can’t reverse no more.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > GhostZ 11/29/2015 at 13:45

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I suppose that’s true. Many of the features he listed here are standard on new cars, some even mandatory. As for when they weren’t, worth is in the eye of the beholder, and to me all those things are worth every penny. Okay, I don’t want a needlessly complicated radio, but a really good one is a plus.

daender > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 11/29/2015 at 13:49

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Or...you know...research the options before you order it?

That said, cruise control is miracle for me with the Miata. I have bad knees so being able to rest my legs on long highway drives is amazing. People bitch about the optional Bose sound system being too boomy but I think they’re too lazy to press the right knob twice to adjust the bass levels down...and instead pay more money on an aftermarket system. ABS? Not really needed unless you want to imitate BMW owners by tailgating everyone. Sport suspension package with 16” wheels, larger brake calipers and rotors, and thicker sway bars? Minus the 16” wheels, hell yes .

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > daender 11/29/2015 at 13:50

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I’ll only disagree on the ABS. One can’t possibly drive in such a way that guarantees they will never have to make a panic stop.

TheJWT > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 11/29/2015 at 13:55

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My car has exactly none of the features mentioned in that video, but if I were buying a new car, parking sensors would be the only thing I may consider. Depending on what/where you drive, they can be a godsend. (A few weeks ago, I had to parallel park a Tahoe between a lamppost and one of the few Lancia Delta Integrales in America, and I was quite happy to have sensors and a camera...)

daender > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 11/29/2015 at 13:56

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True, but I’ll take my chances with putting trust in my own braking abilities than a mediocre ABS system. Granted, ABS has exceeded human capabilities in the past decade but I doubt it had reached that point when my ‘02 rolled out of Hiroshima.

Klaus Schmoll > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 11/29/2015 at 13:58

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This egment is almost two decades old. So keep in mind that stuff you have on your Civic today, was seen as weird and esoteric back then. His point still stands that optional extras depreciate much faster than the rest of the car.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > daender 11/29/2015 at 14:00

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Probably true. I like having them on my car partially because even if it is from 2001, at 4200lbs it’s far from as agile as a Miata.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > Klaus Schmoll 11/29/2015 at 14:01

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True enough. But I think it’s also an interesting way to demonstrate that ehe expensive safety options that some of us sneer at today (Blind spot monitoring, radar cruise control, etc.) will be fairly widespread and accepted down the road. That’s always kind of been the case.

Justin T. Westbrook > LongbowMkII 11/29/2015 at 14:06

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I never used a rear backing camera until I loaded the back of the Focus hatch with the rest of my move to college this week. When you can’t see out the back window, it’s better than only having the side mirrors.

Dusty Ventures > LongbowMkII 11/29/2015 at 14:12

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Parking sensors/cameras are needless for people like us, because we actually care about being competent. Drivers in places like New York City on the other hand, where the term “bumper” is taken more literally...

K-Roll-PorscheTamer > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 11/29/2015 at 14:12

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And yet, some people still bump into, crash into, and wreck other cars regardless of the systems. I’ve seen it, and it just baffles me.

That being said, I do appreciate sensors, but I’m not much a fan of cameras except for large vehicles.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > K-Roll-PorscheTamer 11/29/2015 at 14:15

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Never underestimate the power of stupidity.

touring the brook - now with ZHP! > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 11/29/2015 at 14:19

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To be honest, I’ve never really agreed with Clarkson on anything.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > TheJWT 11/29/2015 at 14:20

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I don’t think I would ever DD a car without airbags.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > touring the brook - now with ZHP! 11/29/2015 at 14:20

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He’s very entertaining to watch though.

K-Roll-PorscheTamer > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 11/29/2015 at 14:24

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Definitely. I never do, especially when it gets colder out here. I’m still adamant that the newest systems of today aren’t for safety reasons; rather, they’re for preventing stupidity, which I prefer to separate from safety.

ABS, traction control, features like that are perfect fine to me if they can be fully turned off at my discretion. Lane changing sensors, adaptive cruise control. auto parking, auto braking, and those features are for the lazy and those who are incapable of performing the simplest tasks when it comes to driving. If you can’t keep to you’re lane and you’re getting tired, get off the road. If you can’t change the speed on your cruise control on your own, you have a foot for that and unless you have a bad foot or knee, it makes no damn sense and you can even adjust the speed with your hand. If you’re about to run into something or someone, you must not be paying attention well enough to brake on your own and I do not trust any computer in a situation where lives are at stake. And if you can’t park......No.

Not to mention, it’s all these standard features that jack up the price of new cars. You can no longer option a barebones model with nothing on it save for the very few options you like. Everything is sold as a package deal which makes sense of course, but it still sucks.

V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 11/29/2015 at 14:28

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This. I enjoy having things on my car. Parking sensors and backup cameras? Sure ! It just make life easier.

touring the brook - now with ZHP! > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 11/29/2015 at 14:28

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Indeed.

yamahog > LongbowMkII 11/29/2015 at 14:28

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Depends on the car. I would have paid for a whole “safety package” just to get side blind zone alerts on the Camaro.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches 11/29/2015 at 14:35

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This is why we drive old German luxo barges. Low price, ALL THE FEATURES!

Probenja > TheJWT 11/29/2015 at 14:47

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I think cameras are more useful than sensors if I had to choose one or the other but if you can choose both then that is the best option.

Nibby > LongbowMkII 11/29/2015 at 14:53

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Rearview cameras are amazing for squeezing out every possible inch during parallel parking.

Steve in Manhattan > LongbowMkII 11/29/2015 at 14:59

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A Civic I rented last year had one - I had never thought about it, but it’s a nice thing to have in a car that’s mostly blind spots, like that Civic.

MGS315 > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 11/29/2015 at 15:00

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Aye, there’s always some idiot that does something you can’t ever comprehend at some point, even if you leave plenty of room. Especially on Sundays.

Steve in Manhattan > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 11/29/2015 at 15:23

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I disagree with a lot of what he said, but of course that was ... 15 years ago? The traction control on modern cars, which I want, is much more sophisticated. And who doesn’t like airbags? Anything that might save my life, gimme more.

TheJWT > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 11/29/2015 at 21:39

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Its got a MOMO racing wheel with zero padding whatsoever so it’s safe though