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Many times I felt that companies are trying to "fool" people by providing unwanted equipments. Case to point... Tacho... Its just that I didnt feel abt writing about this till I came across the below article.
Metrics That Matter–What's Your Company Currency?

Does any one share my thoughts that
1/ companies are trying to provide unwanted feature?
2/ customers too are "sucked" into this? I have read quite a few thread where people crib (or write as -ve) that tachos are not provided.

This thread is not abt tachos, but also for other things for which you might have felt the same (eg: rear wiper - which I find to be very useful in mansoons, but perhaps others might have same feeling for it, as I have for the useless tachos.)

LOL buddy!!.. Being amidst a bunch of enthusiasts, and starting a thread pointing out the tacho is useless.. well.. what can I say??!!..

Please go through http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...v-counter.html to get an idea about how important the tacho is for an enthusiast!!..

Now, coming to the topic. Yes there are some features that might be not used by all, but still they are features, and I would welcome it.

Customers are fooled only when companies charge a premium over some features which cost much..much less. Say for example the vanity mirror. I remember that some years before, this was on the check list of features to differentiate between variants. Now, seriously how much would it cost?. 50 bucks?

Actually both the Tachometer and the rear wiper are on my "must have" list. On my Alto K10, I find no unwanted accessories, but as others have commented here are accessories/equipment I do not want in a Scorpio
. Voice Assist
. Tyre Tronics
. Rain sensor, Intelligent Wipers
. Intelligent Light
. Micro Hybrid
. ICE - I prefer to install my own

On the other hand I would like the following, at least as options on all trims of SUV
. ABS
. Air Bags
. 4x4
. Tachometer
. All 4 Power windows
. Ammeter
. Temperature meter
. Rear Demister & Washer

I feel "unwanted" accessories are provided, the same at a premium, mostly for the premium cars. You'll have features like rain sensing wipers, headlight washers, light sensing HLs; THAT is something I'd rather not have if it could bring down the cost.

You don't find even a 10 lakh (well, now 8 lakh) Honda City with such "unwanted" frills. This phenomenon starts for the premium ~15 lakhs cars.

I greatly appreciate the tacho and rear wipers of course. After driving the Corsa and City, I find the instrument cluster empty in my Zen. The tacho is like your connection with the engine.

You'll be surprised - the base variant of the Alto doesn't get a vanity mirror! Even "Maruti Suzuki" and "Alto" are through stickers and not chrome plates.

Nice thread, here's the exact opposite discussion.

Personally, I don't care about:

- Parking sensors. Never used them even in the 7 series long-wheel-base version (the longest sedan I've driven). I park the old fashioned way :)

- 60:40 splitting rear seat : I know people who use this feature, but honestly, I've never - till date in 15+ years of driving - needed to split only part of the rear seat.

- Auto headlamp & wipers : Sorry, but I do know when I want to switch them on.

A tachometer is an extremely important tool to:

- Extract the best performance out of your engine
- Get the maximum fuel efficiency
- Especially useful in a turbo-charged car

My Linea has the following OE thingy, which have been never used till today even after 2 years of ownership. :Frustrati

* ash-tray

* cigarette-lighter

* illuminated vanity mirrors on both the sides

The only useless extra in my Punto Emotion was the music system, removing that would have reduced the cost of the car and given a wide choice of aftermarket options. Who wants a CD player that refuses to read CDs burned using Windows:eek:?

The tacho is undoubtly the most useful thing in modern day diesels (turbocharged, like GTO mentioned), helps in gearshifts and maintaining good fuel economy. I rarely look at the speedometer in town, tacho is the best indicator.
I doubt people who pay for a top end version actually complain about extras they get, if they did we wont have the expression "Boys Toys ".I recently drove an Laura L&K in the hills and I found the cornering headlamps quite useful. Rear wash/wipe and ABS in all hatches, that is the feature I hope will be standard down the line, I would go with the base version and have a good chunk of change left over for mods.

Scroll up, right to the top of the page. Can you see the Team-BHP Mast-Head? It says Team-BHP (redlining the Indian Automotive Scene) with a Tachometer. I'm afraid you're in the wrong forum, my friend! :D

The Tacho has several uses. It's not an 'accessory'. It's just that some manufacturers try and keep costs of some cars down by omitting them. However, some very important features are left out, like Airbags and ABS. I always fail to understand the Indian Market, because of this.

OEM parts cruise-control is a feature you can't use on a daily basis, or for that matter, on most roads in India. So why have it at all? But then again, there are CEOs who drive their Accords on expressways from Delhi to Gurgaon and Delhi to Noida, and would probably find this feature useful!

I guess one man's garbage, is another's gold ;)

Nice topic,
What i don't like :

Rain Sensing Wipers,
Armrest at Rear seat
ICE
Sun glass holder

As for Tacho, rightly as pointed by GTO, one can extract the best performance from your vehicle. Gods know what would i have done with my VRs without a tacho :D

Most useless feature, IMHO, are the cup holders in India. They are used to store all sorts of things except cups. While it is a must have feature in western countries where one can buy a hot steaming cup of coffee to sip along while driving, such habit and lifestyle is almost non existent here.

Second one, I will agree with GTO, are the rear parking sensors. I remember some funny incidents in Noops' Fraulein where they generated comedy elements than being useful.
I did find the rear view camera to be interesting though.

I prefer not to have these-

• Sunroof
• Fake leather seats
• TPMS
• GPS
• Keyless Ignition
• Reversing camera(except for SUVs like Endeavour/Safari)
• Screens
• Factory Audio(If it sounds bad)

I never loved the sensors before i bought Laura. But with a car with Poor visibility like the Laura, they are must haves. I do not trust the sensors on Scorpio and Fortuner, they don't have adequate detection range.

Auto wipers work great for Intermittent rain by varying the speed automatically, apart from this i am not a fan either. Auto Headlamps are useless for me.


+1 The reason why i always recommend SLE over VLX.

Anyone a fan of the Start/Stop button here?

I don't understand the novelty in it! How difficult is turning a key?!

That's a very good listing. :thumbs up

Would have to conditionally disagree on the parking sensors part. Some of the cars and especially tall SUVs are seriously challenged in the rearward visibility part. A good jugdement about the car's dimensions would get you out of most of the situations, except possibly a child or a fire hydrant that is not visible in any of the mirrors.

Bang on! Either you fold the seats completely or you don't.

And do the manufacturers really believe that their target customers are so idiotic that they can't even figure out when to start their wipers and headlights? :uncontrol

On a lighter note, the most unnecessary "accessory" for a car is a paid driver. I mean, why buy a beautiful machine and let someone else have all the fun? ;-)

@Aroy, actually the Micro-Hybrid is a very convinient feature. Something that gets used at every other signal. I have used this feature, and I will vouch for the usefulness of this.

*
The stuff that I would not want are the fancy stuff, Including TPMS, head-light wipers, voice-assits (like in the Scorp's) etc.

Some good points there by Dhanush & GTO, too.

I never used the headlight leveling switch. It's best set at 0.

Other includes sunroof, navigation equipments, reversing cameras etc,