Good car features that make an average car good

I think turbocharger is the big one. Lots of cars are getting them so that's looking up.

Manual trans of course.

One weird thing that i've noticed makes me feel affection for a car is 'similarity to operating really old machinery'.

My 90 Integra had an LED on the ECU that would give a series of long and short blinks to indicate fault codes for a CEL. I can't tell you how many trips to Autozone to get codes read this saved me .

Furious_E wrote: My 90 Integra had an LED on the ECU that would give a series of long and short blinks to indicate fault codes for a CEL. I can't tell you how many trips to Autozone to get codes read this saved me .

My first car, a Nissan Sentra, had that too, I assumed it was just a function of OBDI. It was a bit of a pain to get to the ECU though. Now I just use Torque and a bluetooth adapter. The lights and a screwdriver was 30 dollars cheaper though.

Torque

Gearheadotaku wrote: Sliding sunvisors. Notice when you move the visor to the sie window you get that uncovered area where the visor need to be 6 inches longer? My 1984 S-10's visor would slide on the rod to cover that. Never seen another car do that.

Yes! My truck has those, and I love them. Along the same lines, my 93 SHO had double visors, one normal one that you could flip to the side, and a second one to flip down to cover the front when you did.

Furious_E wrote: My 90 Integra had an LED on the ECU that would give a series of long and short blinks to indicate fault codes for a CEL. I can't tell you how many trips to Autozone to get codes read this saved me .

E34 BMWs had a procedure somewhat like that. You stomped the gas pedal in a certain sequence & codes displayed.

Furious_E wrote: My 90 Integra had an LED on the ECU that would give a series of long and short blinks to indicate fault codes for a CEL. I can't tell you how many trips to Autozone to get codes read this saved me .

I think most (all?) OBD1 cars had a way of doing that. On Fox Mustangs you bridged two points on the ECU connector to get it to do that.

Hatchback or wagon version available, also rear wipers, I don't know why every car doesn't have a rear wiper

Furious_E wrote: My 90 Integra had an LED on the ECU that would give a series of long and short blinks to indicate fault codes for a CEL. I can't tell you how many trips to Autozone to get codes read this saved me .

Lots of pre-96 Cars have this one way or another.

On GM cars you can jumper 2 pins in the OBD port with a paper-clip and the codes will flash on the dashboard.

I don't get why OBD2 cars don't seem to have this ability.

Sometimes it's not just a feature, there are intangible things that just make some cars feel good. I still remember the time I test drove an Omni GLH back in 85, even as a new car it was a raw econobox cheap-azz POS that would hit like a sledgehammer if you weren't ready for it. With only 150 horse it would snatch the steering wheel out of your hands if you popped the clutch mid-corner or hit a wet patch in the road. Today's hot and not-so-hot hatches would leave a stock GLH in the dust, but nothing felt like driving that thing before or since. It's why we still talk about the E30/36/46 or argue about which Miata is the "most pure". For lack of a better word, it's character that makes an average car good (AE86 i'm looking at you). But, if I had to name just one feature, it was the power ac vents in the '83 Mazda 626 that made that car special. Cool as E36 M3 and actually proved to be a panty-dropper in the summertime..

Heated seats. Formerly stupid luxo fluff, now a necessity.

Duke wrote: Heated seats. Formerly stupid Luxor fluff, now a necessity.

Duke wins this thread, wife was pissed cause my HHR had them and her brand new Sorrento did not.. I could put her in a 75 Ford Granada and she wouldn't complain if it had heated seats.

I have another one,an auto-dimming rear view mirror. My dad's 03 Sable has one, and I want to put one in my E36 now.

06HHR wrote: Snip But, if I had to name just one feature, it was the power ac vents in the '83 Mazda 626 that made that car special. Cool as E36 M3 and actually proved to be a panty-dropper in the summertime..

LOL, I had an 83 626 as well, apparently it worked: the girl I was dating at the time married me . She just rolled her eyes when I showed her this. Whatever...

ProDarwin wrote:

Furious_E wrote: My 90 Integra had an LED on the ECU that would give a series of long and short blinks to indicate fault codes for a CEL. I can't tell you how many trips to Autozone to get codes read this saved me .

Lots of pre-96 Cars have this one way or another. On GM cars you can jumper 2 pins in the OBD port with a paper-clip and the codes will flash on the dashboard. I don't get why OBD2 cars don't seem to have this ability.

My 2002 Grand Cherokee did this. There was a sequence with the key, and the odometer would show each code in turn, followed with "done" at the end of the codes.

I love a car with good seating position. My Escort is a slow tin box beater wagon but I love driving it because it just feels natural to sit behind the wheel. I think it has ZX2 seats that sit lower so maybe that's cheating.

A vehicle that you can turn off some or all of the nanny controls with a push of a button. This would include ABS for stopping in snow.

Duke wrote: Heated seats. Formerly stupid luxo fluff, now a necessity.

This x eleventy. SWMBO's Saab has them and I completely underestimated how awesome they are.

Also, telescoping steering wheels.

RWD. Even a boring car seems more fun when it's sideways.

Because I'm really tall, I'd put lots of headroom in there, as well as good seats and a decent stereo. Otherwise, that's kind of a tough question, since for me, that feeling of connectedness and willingness in the chassis and powertrain is really what I'm after, and that tends to be what separates the good cars from the great in the first place.

I like the extend-o visors but not enough to make me think the whole car is better.
Memory seats are pretty cool. I already like my 328i but the fact that my wife and I could use different keys and the car remembers all sorts of things like seat & mirror position, radio stations, and stuff like wether you like the daytime running lights on or not... that's pretty cool. (Pretty confusing though if you're "key agnostic" I had a "Hey WTF?" moment this weekend when I inadvertently grabbed the other key after being in the car for hours and the radio was on when I know I was just listening to a CD.)

Heated seats have to be the killer app here though. Pretty sure my wife would drive a Pinto if it had heated seats.

I really like those Gentex rear view mirrors with an integrated compass, auto-dimming, etc.; having a compass display anywhere else just isn't quite as good.

The under-seat subwoofer is pretty much mandatory if you own a Subaru. Took the stereo from unlistenable to enjoyable.

Chrome exhaust tips, all-weather floor mats, and red gauge / footwell illumination were added to my car by the dealer, and these things do contribute to my enjoyment thereof.

Heated steering wheel. Once I had one for a winter, it became a necessity.

Also, keyless ignition/entry. No more fumbling for keys, ever. Nice to just leave them in your pocket.

If it is going to be a boring commuter, it may as well be a comfortable, convenient boring commuter.

Maybe an overlooked "feature" is miles per gallon. Some cars without good mpgs really are average.

BlueInGreen44 wrote: I love a car with good seating position. My Escort is a slow tin box beater wagon but I love driving it because it just feels natural to sit behind the wheel. I think it has ZX2 seats that sit lower so maybe that's cheating.

QFT. Also related; low window beltline. Any EF civic or crx has a nice low beltline where all the windows end. Really makes the cabin feel open, improves visibility and makes the car feel faster than it is to me. The exact opposite is the the WWII style pill box cabins with 6" tall windows so popular with manufacturers these days.

ProDarwin wrote: I don't get why OBD2 cars don't seem to have this ability.

You want to sit there and blink out a 5 digit code, four of which are hexadecimal? Screw that. And then you'd have to do it multiple times, to get current, history, pending, and failed since the last clear.

It's a standard, and while the lowest common denominator of the standard isn't stellar, it's FREAKING AWESOME compared to the data or lack thereof that you could previously get.

If you are only looking at codes, you're missing the point of OBD-II. There is so much more data available. And you can access generic on anything made after 1996 with a $150 scantool, no need to get a $20k scantool for Brand X, a $15k scantool for Brand Y, a $25k scantool for Brand Z.

And don't get me started on how awesome Mode 6 is. Mode 6 is access to the internal data regarding test results. You can see if tests failed by a tiny bit or by a lot. You can see if tests are almost but not quite failing yet, as an indicator of issues to come. SO AWESOME