Topic: Great features that are no more

[Fobroader]

Still a bithc trying to tow one out of a drift when there's nothing to hook onto.  Even my Sonic has little hooks/attachment points for yanking it out of whatever you might get a Sonic stuck in.  Dog poo...?

I don't expect people to be taking them offroad, but like BW said, getting one out of a snow drift is damn near impossible. I don't care if its some shitbox sub compact or a 4Runner, everything should come with easily accessible, sturdy recovery points.

[erich]

More and more cars don’t have dipsticks. Ugh.  Dumb.

There is always the dipstick behind the wheel 

[Davep]

More and more cars don’t have dipsticks. Ugh.  Dumb.

There is always the dipstick behind the wheel 

 

[mlin32]

Perhaps this is me not being a die-hard old-school motorist like some of you guys, but I don't understand the obsession with having a dipstick for the oil.

My car has one, yes, but it's also electronically checked when starting up- a message pops up saying the motor oil level is correct. I think I've verified the oil level with the dipstick manually all of two times since I bought the car a year ago. The electronic check upon start-up suffices for me, it's not like my motor consumes oil.

[tpl]

My Q5 had an electronic sensor. It also had a dipstick tube but no dipstick...but the dipstick was available at the parts store.

I think I only used the electronic sensor twice in 5 years.

[random006]

Cornering lights.  I've always been a fan of additional lighting in nighttime situations and those lights are an excellent example of someone using their head to solve a problem.  All it takes is one unlit or badly lit driveway with drainage ditches or tight curbs on either side to make those extra lights appreciated.

Swivel lights such as on my Crosstrek are great but if you don't have those, the simpler fixed cornering lights would be a huge help to drivers, IMHO.

[OliverD]

Cornering lights.  I've always been a fan of additional lighting in nighttime situations and those lights are an excellent example of someone using their head to solve a problem.  All it takes is one unlit or badly lit driveway with drainage ditches or tight curbs on either side to make those extra lights appreciated.

Swivel lights such as on my Crosstrek are great but if you don't have those, the simpler fixed cornering lights would be a huge help to drivers, IMHO.

Unless I'm missing something, I think you've misunderstood this thread.

[Great_Big_Abyss]

Still a bithc trying to tow one out of a drift when there's nothing to hook onto.  Even my Sonic has little hooks/attachment points for yanking it out of whatever you might get a Sonic stuck in.  Dog poo...?

I don't expect people to be taking them offroad, but like BW said, getting one out of a snow drift is damn near impossible. I don't care if its some shitbox sub compact or a 4Runner, everything should come with easily accessible, sturdy recovery points.

So, I've been through this before when pulling modern cars out of ditches and drifts.  Most cars that don't have permanent recovery points (like two hooks on a truck) will have an eyelet that gets threaded into the front or rear bumper.  You pop off the little cover plate, and thread the rod into the weld-nut.  Then you have a recovery point.  The recovery rod/eye is usually kept in the trunk with the spare tire. 

[random006]

Cornering lights.  I've always been a fan of additional lighting in nighttime situations and those lights are an excellent example of someone using their head to solve a problem.  All it takes is one unlit or badly lit driveway with drainage ditches or tight curbs on either side to make those extra lights appreciated.

Swivel lights such as on my Crosstrek are great but if you don't have those, the simpler fixed cornering lights would be a huge help to drivers, IMHO.

Unless I'm missing something, I think you've misunderstood this thread.

How so?  I consider them a great feature and I haven't seen them on a car since the Oldsmobile Alero.  How many manufacturers still use them in mainstream models and how many are available here in North America?

Note that I would be happy to find out that they are widely available and/or coming back.

https://jalopnik.com/a-tribute-to-the-most-un-appreciated-light-the-corneri-1625241633

[OliverD]

Cornering lights.  I've always been a fan of additional lighting in nighttime situations and those lights are an excellent example of someone using their head to solve a problem.  All it takes is one unlit or badly lit driveway with drainage ditches or tight curbs on either side to make those extra lights appreciated.

Swivel lights such as on my Crosstrek are great but if you don't have those, the simpler fixed cornering lights would be a huge help to drivers, IMHO.

Unless I'm missing something, I think you've misunderstood this thread.

How so?  I consider them a great feature and I haven't seen them on a car since the Oldsmobile Alero.  How many manufacturers still use them in mainstream models and how many are available here in North America?

Note that I would be happy to find out that they are widely available and/or coming back.

https://jalopnik.com/a-tribute-to-the-most-un-appreciated-light-the-corneri-1625241633

My GTI had them, as does my Clubman. I thought you were talking about cornering lights in general though, including the swivelling ones.

[tortoise]

I really like the cornering lights on the Golf.  Didn't know I had them until I first drove it at night.

[random006]

Cornering lights.  I've always been a fan of additional lighting in nighttime situations and those lights are an excellent example of someone using their head to solve a problem.  All it takes is one unlit or badly lit driveway with drainage ditches or tight curbs on either side to make those extra lights appreciated.

Swivel lights such as on my Crosstrek are great but if you don't have those, the simpler fixed cornering lights would be a huge help to drivers, IMHO.

Unless I'm missing something, I think you've misunderstood this thread.

How so?  I consider them a great feature and I haven't seen them on a car since the Oldsmobile Alero.  How many manufacturers still use them in mainstream models and how many are available here in North America?

Note that I would be happy to find out that they are widely available and/or coming back.

https://jalopnik.com/a-tribute-to-the-most-un-appreciated-light-the-corneri-1625241633

My GTI had them, as does my Clubman. I thought you were talking about cornering lights in general though, including the swivelling ones.

That is why I mentioned them as separate and therefore different solutions.

I wasn't aware that VW still has them.  Still, when I think of a feature being current, it needs to be widely available, i.e. most (if not all) the North American, Japanese and Korean manufacturers offering it as a standard.

[Marko]

One feature I want back is a spare tire.  I don’t want a car without a spare.

Meh... I've had 1 flat tire in 20+ years of driving (not counting the times it went flat overnight in my own driveway). With those kind of odds, I'd rather pay for a tow every 20 years than lug a heavy spare, plus a jack, everywhere while getting worse fuel economy. Although I'd probably think differently if I often drove to some construction site or something where flats are more likely.

[tortoise]

I thought the same thing.  Then I got a flat for the first time ever.  15 minutes later I was back on the road.  No need to pay for a tow.  And the spares aren't that heavy.  I can't imagine they have that much of an impact on fuel economy.

[Fobroader]

I thought the same thing.  Then I got a flat for the first time ever.  15 minutes later I was back on the road.  No need to pay for a tow.  And the spares aren't that heavy.  I can't imagine they have that much of an impact on fuel economy.

X2, had a flat on the side of the Yellowhead highway outside of Regina at 9 o clock at night, 15 minutes and I was back on the road on a full size spare, the hell with that goo and compressor BS

[Great_Big_Abyss]

I thought the same thing.  Then I got a flat for the first time ever.  15 minutes later I was back on the road.  No need to pay for a tow.  And the spares aren't that heavy.  I can't imagine they have that much of an impact on fuel economy.

X2, had a flat on the side of the Yellowhead highway outside of Regina at 9 o clock at night, 15 minutes and I was back on the road on a full size spare, the hell with that goo and compressor BS

Plus, the goo/compressor only works on small punctures.  If you get a slash, or some other sort of catastrophic failure, then you're hooped.  And I certainly wouldn't want to rely on a tow truck if I'm far outside of some populated area. 

I always carry a plug kit in my vehicle, plus I've never actually owned a car that doesn't have a spare. 

[Fobroader]

Thats my thing, I don't want to have to depend on a tow truck for something that I can easily fix on the side of the road. I lost my plug kit, gotta get another one.

[Marko]

I always carry a plug kit in my vehicle, plus I've never actually owned a car that doesn't have a spare.

Do you mean one of these? https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1083/3482/products/TIRE.TR21.jpg

[Fobroader]

I always carry a plug kit in my vehicle, plus I've never actually owned a car that doesn't have a spare.

Do you mean one of these? https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1083/3482/products/TIRE.TR21.jpg

Yup, very handy

[Great_Big_Abyss]

Yes.

Used one to fix a slow leak in one of my trailer tires last weekend.