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Modern cars are rubbish (for cyclists and pedestrians)

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  • December 17, 2018 at 9:42 am #29203
    kil0ran

    Had the pleasure of driving a Merc C-Class over the weekend. I say drive but it was little more than turn the wheel every once in a while for 500 miles. So many buttons, so much automation, so much to distract you.

    The only redeeming feature was that the ride was fantastic and the seats extremely comfortable.

    Visibility was atrocious – privacy glass for the rear windows and windscreen, and huge A & B pillars. B pillar and roof line in particular was so badly-placed relative to the driver that it was almost impossible to see clearly when turning right from a side road. It was also possible to set the driving position so low that I could barely see above the belt-line, and I’m almost 6 foot. Made it tricky to judge gaps and passing distances relative to parked cars. I’ve also worked out why you see cars with gouges in rear doors – reversing cameras only deal with the back of the car, not the sides.

    From a safety perspective I liked using the speed limiter (important, because it was so quiet you had very little idea of how fast you were wafting along) but I’d imagine it just encourages drivers to drive at the posted limit all the time, rather than considering road conditions. No other active/passive safety features on this particular car because it was a hire car.

    It seems that manufacturers are effectively selling an interior/lifestyle choice rather than a driving tool these days, the car was completely uninvolving to drive, even on Sport+ mode (firmer suspension plus comedy throttle blips as you roll up to stop lines FFS)

    On the plus side I now have absolutely no desire to own such a technological marvel.

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  • December 17, 2018 at 6:25 pm #933027
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    kil0ran
    Duncann wrote:
    CygnusX1 wrote:
    there are still a few cars that I carry a flame for, the Lancia Delta Integrale in full rally spec being one of them.

    +1 but in road-going spec and a subtle colour (I liked the burgundy-purple).

    Biscuit leather interior with contrasting stitching

    (remember it featured in a PC driving simulator c.1994)

    December 17, 2018 at 6:01 pm #933025
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    kil0ran
    Yorkshire wallet wrote:
    A sensor in my car has gone that’s not even related to ESP but because this one sensor has gone it’s turned off my ESP. I’m sure there’s some Audi logic somewhere but I can’t see it. Don’t need ESP anyway as the 4wd kicks in better without it and I don’t need the over intrusive braking, sometimes you need to push a little over the traction limit to get the best out of it.

    Climate control has failed in my Passat. It’s a nylon cog that’s stripped on a motor buried deep in the dash. Need to rip the dash out to replace it – not much change from 12 hour’s labour. Means I have no heat in the car and can’t keep the windscreen clear. Car simply isn’t worth fixing, and all because someone in marketing said that Passat-buyers demanded automatic climate control, rather than having a manual slider to switch the airflow from hot to cold.

    And that’s a 2005 car – one of these modern lumps is so integrated that if anything electronic fails it’s hours and hours of labour to fix.

    December 17, 2018 at 5:42 pm #933023
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    Anonymous

    I’ve got a Delta in Gran

    I’ve got a Delta in Gran Tursimo Sport if that counts? With the VR headset it’s as close as I’ll ever get. 

    December 17, 2018 at 5:01 pm #933021
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    Dnnnnnn
    CygnusX1 wrote:
    there are still a few cars that I carry a flame for, the Lancia Delta Integrale in full rally spec being one of them.

    +1 but in road-going spec and a subtle colour (I liked the burgundy-purple).

    December 17, 2018 at 4:16 pm #933019
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    hawkinspeter

    .

    .

    December 17, 2018 at 4:15 pm #933017
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    freespirit1
    Yorkshire wallet wrote:
    Put some extra lamps on and this is about as far as cars needed to evolve.

    https://images.honestjohn.co.uk/imagecache/file/width/640/media/5693078/Sunbeam-Lotus.png

    I had one of those!!

    Gutted when I had to sell it

    December 17, 2018 at 3:59 pm #933015
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    Anonymous

    One of my main bugbears with

    One of my main bugbears with cars now is the minor improvements come at enormous expense. Lights for example. Not a massive increase to your buy price but when they die it’s £800 instead of £8. I can see used cars being a potentially expensive role of the dice and insurance write offs after minor prangs.

    A sensor in my car has gone that’s not even related to ESP but because this one sensor has gone it’s turned off my ESP. I’m sure there’s some Audi logic somewhere but I can’t see it. Don’t need ESP anyway as the 4wd kicks in better without it and I don’t need the over intrusive braking, sometimes you need to push a little over the traction limit to get the best out of it.

    December 17, 2018 at 3:44 pm #933013
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    Griff500

    Kapelmuur wrote:

    Kapelmuur wrote:

    It’s not been mentioned that cars have grown too big.


    …. And too heavy. Despite advances in materials and manufacturing processes, each revised Golf or 3 series is heavier than the one before. “when I were a lad”, a family saloon weighed a tonne. Now there are few less than 1500kg. Whilst some of this is undoubtedly safety related, some of it is stupidity. Who needs a self closing boot for example, or electrically adjusting seats? All this extra weight in electric motors and gadgets, just makes the car harder to stop, and of course burn more fuel.

    December 17, 2018 at 3:03 pm #933011
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    Kapelmuur

    It’s not been mentioned that

    It’s not been mentioned that cars have grown too big. Every new model is longer and wider than the one it supersedes.  For example, the current VW Polo is bigger than an original Golf.

    I ride mainly on rural roads and lanes and am constantly menaced by the enormous 4 x 4s that appear to be compulsory in Cheshire. They fill the width of the road and very few attempt to pull in for cyclists.

    December 17, 2018 at 2:41 pm #933009
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    Griff500

    I did 300 miles in a rented
    I did 300 miles in a rented Nissan fitted with lots of gadgets a couple of weeks back. At first I was impressed by the lane change warning lights which came in if anything was moving in the field of view of the door mirrors. This being an attempt to stop you switching lanes if anything was over, or undertaking you. Then out in the country, the system fail lamp started flashing, which seemed to broadly coincide with passing forested areas close to the road. Not a failsafe system then. Then the self dipping headlights, whereby in the best case the car had a second of thinking time after you switched to main beam before the lights changed. Worst case, which seemed to be right hand bends with the headlights reflecting off trees, embankments etc, it wouldn’t allow me to put main beam on. If I need main beam, I don’t expect the effing car to stop me! There may be an override, but being a rental, I didn’t have time to check it out. Not impressed with any of it. And this is all pretty basic compared to the level of intelligence a fully self driving car needs.

    December 17, 2018 at 2:34 pm #933007
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    kil0ran
    cyclesteffer wrote:
    He said that they’ve found out that people are completely unprepared to take back control of the car.

    Two instances of that in driving the Merc for me

    First – forgetting it was an auto and trying to use the brake as a clutch (fortunately nothing behind me). I’d been wafting along for 20 minutes on cruise control with both feet off the pedals.

    Second – having the limiter on and trying to overtake a driver doing 45mph on a national speed limit single carriageway. Popped out, floored it, went up to 50mph and no more. Cue frantic scrambling to disengage the limiter as traffic approached.

    (Actually the Merc has a limit disabler built into the throttle pedal – double tap from your right foot and it switches off and gives you full bananas and a decent shove in the back)

    Granted the first one you can end up doing in any automatic if you’re used to driving manuals but the isolation from the driving experience undoubtedly contributed to it.

    December 17, 2018 at 2:27 pm #933005
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    kil0ran
    Yorkshire wallet wrote:
    Put some extra lamps on and this is about as far as cars needed to evolve.

    https://images.honestjohn.co.uk/imagecache/file/width/640/media/5693078/Sunbeam-Lotus.png

    Completely agree. Did a track day in one of those, utterly, utterly brilliant

    December 17, 2018 at 2:17 pm #933003
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    davel
    HawkinsPeter wrote:
    cyclesteffer wrote:
    I went to a presentation night at the University of the West of England. They’ve been involved with lots of robotics and automation. There was a guy doing a presentation on a lot of the challenges faced by driverless cars.

    One of the ones he said was a major problem, with driverless cars, is when the car asks the driver to take back control as it cannot cope with a situation up ahead.

    He said that they’ve found out that people are completely unprepared to take back control of the car.

    I guess its a bit like when you’ve been driving for hours on a motorway, and then stop to take over from your partner. It takes you a while to kind of flip your brain back into driving mode.

    Yet with autonomous cars, the car might be asking you to take back control within a second, and they’ve found out people are completely unprepared for it, when the car has been driving for a couple of hours.

    Autonomous cars that rely on having a driver are a complete waste of time and probably more dangerous than just letting drivers drive. At least if you’re actively driving there’s a chance that you’ll be paying attention, but to expect a non-driver to suddenly become alert and responsive to the situation is just laughable.

    Absolutely – the uber case in Arizona earlier this year. Car didn’t detect (or avoid) the person wheeling a bike across the road, and the human ‘driver’ shat themselves.

    https://road.cc/content/news/253393-uber-warned-over-safety-issues-its-self-driving-cars-days-cyclist-killed 

     

    December 17, 2018 at 1:46 pm #933001
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    Bmblbzzz

    It seems that manufacturers

    It seems that manufacturers are effectively selling an interior/lifestyle choice rather than a driving tool these days, the car was completely uninvolving to drive, even on Sport+ mode (firmer suspension plus comedy throttle blips as you roll up to stop lines FFS)

    Hasn’t this been the case for a couple of decades now? Since they first installed cup holders, at least. 

    December 17, 2018 at 1:44 pm #932999
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    Bmblbzzz

    It is through the gradual

    It is through the gradual creep of all those driver-assistance features (antilock brakes, etc) that fully autonomous cars will eventually arrive. Made by car manufacturers, not Google or Amazon. Arguably this started in the 1930s(?) with the first automatic transmissions. 

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