Little Things that Annoy You About Your Car

"BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind" (briangriffinsprius) 04/27/2016 at 08:47 • Filed to: None

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I just bought a new Golf SportWagen (Thanks for the advice, Oppo!). My wife loves it, and it’s “her car”. I think it’s fine, if not a little soulless.

BUT! It has keyless / proximity key...and the stupid thing doesn’t lock when I walk away from it with the key in my pocket. I need to train myself to hit the little indent in the door as I’m leaving the car. Why, engineers, couldn’t you just make the car lock when the key is out of range?!?

What are the little annoyances about your vehicle that bug you?

GTI Sprinks > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 04/27/2016 at 08:55

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Hm. I swear my mk7 gti autolocks the doors after being inactive for some time. I don’t have KESSY but i know that the proximity lock is a feature that can be enabled via VCDS. Good ole vw hiding the useful features in their ecu’s.

http://www.golfmk7.com/forums/showthr…

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 04/27/2016 at 08:55

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My keyless unlock doesn’t work most of the time. And no it’s not the batteries in the remote. I’ve changed that like 5 times.

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 04/27/2016 at 08:56

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The front seats. They squeak and have almost no lateral support.

There are other rattles that come with a cheap interior, but they don’t really bother me. If I find a cheap set of H3 seats those stockers are in the bin.

SVTyler > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 04/27/2016 at 08:58

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In the first-gen Focus someone at Ford decided to put the radio controls on its stalk behind the wheel. Why I don’t know, but I do know that it’s mounted juuust low enough that every so often your knee hits it when changing gear and turns the radio volume down.

450X_FTW > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 04/27/2016 at 09:01

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Why, engineers, couldn’t you just make the car lock when the key is out of range?!?

Because the proximity scanner doesn’t always work. None of them work 100% of the time. This is evident by when a person tries to unlock their car with the keys in their pocket but it takes more than 1 try. Likely would result in the same thing for it to lock when you walk away, it could not lock or it could lock as soon as you shut the driver door before you had a chance to get something out of the backseat. My guess at least.

yamahog > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 04/27/2016 at 09:07

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Because somewhere out there, more people were like “why, engineers, would you make a car automatically lock when I walk away from it??"

Tripper > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 04/27/2016 at 09:07

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That feature can be enabled via VCDS, I had it switched off on the Audi. Next time you’re at the dealer ask them to do it. They didn’t charge me.

jjhats > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 04/27/2016 at 09:07

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if you start a mk3 focus then leave the car running with the key in your pocket you cant leave the car and close the door without it honking twice. so every winter morning I start the car grab the ice scraper and close the door to let it heat up but the stupid honk goes off. theres a bunch of other things that annoy me but this is the easiest for ford to fix

V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 04/27/2016 at 09:08

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All W220 owners will know what I'm talking about when I say that the underseat plastic bins just detract from the car as a whole. They're just cheap, rattletrap plastic pieces of shit.

TractorPillow > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 04/27/2016 at 09:09

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The AC cuts off when I push it hard.

The side sills hide an exhaust desperate to burn me.

If my battery dies, there is no keyhole to manually open the doors. You have to jump the car before you can even get inside it (or go through the narrow back hatch).

fhrblig > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 04/27/2016 at 09:10

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Sound quality from the stereo in my Optima isn’t very good, but that I can live with. The most annoying thing about the stereo is that when I’m listening to Sirius and using the tune knob to change channels I have to push the knob to select the channel I’ve turned to. Why? You don’t do that on am or fm. Not only that, but if you don’t do it within a second or two it resets and you have to start over.

Wobbles the Mind > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 04/27/2016 at 09:11

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In the WK2 my biggest annoyances are that you can’t disable to the Multi-Displacement System. It automatically turns off a bank of cylinders below 2,750 rpms or so. Also that you can’t really close the door without either touching the paint, the window, or the gloss black window frame (all of which are surfaces that catch your oily fingerprints and dust immediately sticks to where ever you keep touching it). Oh! There’s no MUTE button!!

The Amanti...I’ve got nothing that it “should” but doesn’t. It’s very well thought out to be honest, even let’s me take it to redline and hold gears (if you get into them from a downshift) when using manual mode. There is a random hard spot where my right rear thigh sits but that may be it just getting worn out.

Probenja > jjhats 04/27/2016 at 09:12

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At least in my mom’s Nissan if you hit the unlock and lock button on the key for some time it disables the honking feature.

marvthegrate > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 04/27/2016 at 09:12

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I have a similar issue with my Mazda6 keyless entry system. Most of the time it works every time. Every once in a while it doesn’t. Seems most common when my wife takes her time getting out of the car and I have already shut my door. I don’t know why her egress takes as long as it does...

buford-t-justice > SVTyler 04/27/2016 at 09:16

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that’s fancy, my first gen zx5 didn’t have this but it did have the option of a pond in the spare tire well.

fourvalleys > jjhats 04/27/2016 at 09:18

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I get around this in my Party ST by holding the fob right at the bottom rear corner of the window. The fob is JUST close enough to get it to think the key is inside the car, and it doesn’t honk.

Unfortunately, I usually have to get the scraper out of the hatch and forget that it’ll honk when I close it... oops.

I’m sure my neighbors appreciate it during those 4am winter departures. Actually, they probably do when you compare it to how loud the other cars are.

e: there’s other little stuff, too. The fact that there’s ONE button on the dashboard that locks/unlocks every door. All locked or all unlocked, sometimes you have to hit it twice to lock or unlock the door you want.

The automatic climate control.... what are you doing?! If I set it to 73 degrees, it’s fine. If I set it to 74 it tries to melt me full blast with hot air, if I set it to 72 it’s freezing my face off. I don’t use the automatic setting anymore.

Also, the rear cargo floor piece can be lowered about 4" where there once was.... dead space. I don’t get why they set it up that way. Google it if you’re curious, because it’s odd.

Oh, and the flasher module is built into the ECU. No big deal, but I’d rather have a swappable DENSO flasher module than install in-line resistors to use LED bulbs.

My car has a couple of obnoxious rattles. One from the passenger floor somewhere that comes and goes, and one from the steering column that only happens under acceleration. It’s hard to pinpoint because you can’t really poke your head under there while you floor it.

Still, this is all super nitpicky. I absolutely love 99% of the stuff about the car. It’s incredible.

450X_FTW > jjhats 04/27/2016 at 09:20

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Little things like that that can be turned off by the owner are ideal,which is how it should be. My truck would honk twice when I use remote start, but it can be turned off in the cluster menu.

FrankAtlanta > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 04/27/2016 at 09:24

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I think the default would upset people either way. If it automatically locks…there’d be instances/people who’d complain about that as well (somebody was in the car and when they exit, they set off the alarm, etc.).

Not saying you don’t have a valid point, but rather, there’s also a rationale for the current set-up (and there’d likely be complaints if it defaulted the other way).

OPPOsaurus WRX > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 04/27/2016 at 09:26

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in my wifes van, the shifter is on the lower dash, right next to the radio, so if I reach for the radio sometime I can knock the stupid POS of of drive

OPPOsaurus WRX > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 04/27/2016 at 09:29

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the stupid van also doesn;t unlock the doors until you either manually unlock the doors or shut off the van. Even if you pull the handle you cannot get out until you hit the button. While this is probably a great thing for the passenger doors, its the dumbest fucking thing for the drivers door.

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 04/27/2016 at 09:31

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The fact that when the rear window motor fails, I have no access to my hatch.

Also, the flimsy as spaghetti parkingbrake.e

Bourbon&JellyBeans > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 04/27/2016 at 09:32

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Well, my car has an aftermarket exhaust which makes the interior a little unhappy sometimes. It’s an S197 Mustang, so rattles come with the territory. It’s always something different. At certain temperatures and frequencies, different things buzz and shake and rattle throughout the cabin. Primarily, its the cheapo chrome plastic vent bezels that are held in by loose clips and the goddamn rearview mirror which rattles crazy loud. I think I might have to tape around it tightly to get it to stop - which is kinda unprecedented for a 3 year old car.

Nymphicus Hollandicus > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 04/27/2016 at 09:48

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Aside from the gas mileage (18mpg combined lol) I don’t like how the doors won’t lock if I put it in drive.

DasWauto > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 04/27/2016 at 09:48

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Gearbox. It should have six gears and the ratios should chosen so they change linearly. As it is it has 5 gears and the drop in revs as you change gears is smaller in higher gears than the lower gears - 1st from 2000rpm will get me 1100 rpm in 2nd, 4th from 2000rpm will get me 1600rpm in 5th. You get used to it but it’s infuriating when it catches me out the odd time and the powerband falls flat on its face when I’m not expecting it.

interstate366, now In The Industry > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 04/27/2016 at 09:52

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Sometimes, my 5th gen Prelude’s throttle body will stick closed after idling for a bit (say, at a stoplight) and the gas pedal won’t move unless I absolutely stomp on it. In order to get moving when this happens I either have to let the car stall and stomp on the pedal while it’s down, or launch it at about 3000 RPMs. I’ve tried cleaning the TB to no avail, so I’m just going to replace it at some point. I have another one, just have never gotten around to putting it on the car.

On my 3rd gen Prelude, the arm rest will get in the way of shifting into 2nd and 4th if you’re not careful.

Rico > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 04/27/2016 at 09:53

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My car has no volume bar/number you just turn it up or down and never really know where it’s at. Has definitely taken me off guard a few times when the music starts really loud/low.

Seats are not as bolstered as I’d like.

Invinciblejets > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 04/27/2016 at 10:01

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Rx7: Water seals leak, smells like premix, 13mpg, stock brake MC has terrible feel, weak NA trans. Those are usual gripes of old cars tho.

Altima: soulless, ugly, slow, cvt, terrible blind spots, fwd, it has no soul and I hate it.

facw > OPPOsaurus WRX 04/27/2016 at 10:03

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I really want to know who thinks those dash mounted shift levers are better than buttons, dials, or column shifters (obviously the best option).

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 04/27/2016 at 10:04

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Sometimes I get annoyed with how perfect my car is.

BmanUltima's car still hasn't been fixed yet, he'll get on it tomorrow, honest. > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 04/27/2016 at 10:11

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At around 80-90 kph my steering wheel shakes. It stops if I go faster or slower than that though. Also, there’s a couple rust spots which are annoying and I’m planning to fix, but other than that, it’s pretty much perfect.

smobgirl > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 04/27/2016 at 10:14

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As far as I can tell, there’s no way to unlock a Fiat hatch from inside the car if it’s on. I don’t need that feature often, but I was idling at the entry to the Air Force Academy and they check your trunk. Mine was locked, and turning off the car to use the key fob was an unforeseen deviation in their process. Thankfully the superior officer was intrigued by a female driving an Abarth so the young guy didn’t yell for long.

There are also a couple airport car rental facilities that insist on a security check of the vehicle before letting you drive onto the lot, and even though they know everyone is driving an unfamiliar vehicle they get IRATE when you don’t know how to pop the trunk/hatch.

M54B30 > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 04/27/2016 at 10:21

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Did you get a good deal? We were going to buy a Sportwagen TDI in November when my wife got back from her deployment but obviously we have to wait.

I’m hoping VW offers crazy good deals to push their 6+ month surplus of TDIs

OPPOsaurus WRX > facw 04/27/2016 at 10:26

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i’;m guessing it was an accountant that designed that

DasWauto > DasWauto 04/27/2016 at 10:35

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Also, switchblade key, ironically not very good at cutting stuff, which is annoying because I tend to use the key to open packages.

The Crazy Kanuck; RIP Oppositelock > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 04/27/2016 at 10:38

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The reverse lights, it seems to be a common trend with GM cars. When I unlock my Sonic it turns on the reverse lights making others thinking I’m backing out when I’m just waking up to it.

BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind > M54B30 04/27/2016 at 10:49

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I checked all over and most dealers are selling GSWs for about the same price. You're looking at around $19,500 for a S, $22,000 for a LE, and $23,500 for a SE after incentives and if you finance through VW.

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 04/27/2016 at 11:22

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You can’t get the keys out without bumping the wiper stalk, so when you come back later and turn the key suddenly EEERREEEEEE dry wipe because I forgot I bumped it :(

Land_Yacht_225 > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 04/27/2016 at 11:40

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All the stuff that was just a little too ambitions for what was actually possible at the time.

My mock surround sound function sounds really really awful. My suspension can handle absolutely any terrain or road and be smooth as glass...except a standard speed bump in the grocery store parking lot, which dismounting feels like driving off a curb at 20 mph. I have to stand next to the car for about 30 seconds before the proximity sensors pick up the key in my pocket and let me unlock the car by touching the door handle. Sometimes the car won’t recognize the key for the push button start either. Oh, and when that happens and I start the car with the remote in the dashboard, memory settings for the seat and steering column are different. The memory settings associated with the ONLY KEY I HAVE are different depending on HOW you use the key to start the car. And the radar cruise control works great! If you’re actually in traffic where it is constantly working and tracking the car in front of you. If you’re all alone, the car will just freak out once ever 10 miles or so and randomly deactivate 5 times in 30 seconds, citing some random repeating “external distronic malfunction” in the gauge cluster.

Svend > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 04/27/2016 at 11:45

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I’d have to say it’s the Safelock.

It functions on one press, where I’d rather it locked on one press and Safelocked on two presses.

It’s only a small thing but I can’t find anything else that bugs or irks me about the car.

XJDano > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 04/27/2016 at 13:20

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2nd gear syncro.

Nauraushaun > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 04/27/2016 at 19:32

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My MR2 has an aftermarket alarm that arms itself if the car is turned off for 30 seconds, so you’d better not leave your keys in it. It also locks the doors, but it doesn’t lock any doors that have been opened in that time. The result is that you’re never quite sure what it will do and you spend a lot of time unlocking and locking to be sure. And my girlfriend has even less idea than I do.