Modern day car features enthusiasts would pay not to have!

It's not about just "un-necessary" or "doesn't matter" kind of feature, but the ones that you actually find worse than their downgraded version and often found speaking to yourself "why do companies even spend money to provide this??!!"

BHPian Bit recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Consider this thread as a collection of thoughts that exists as fragments in various car review threads here, in the hopes that someday manufacturers might visit this thread to gain awareness about collective consciousness of Indian petrol heads.

So, what are some features in recent cars that are so uncool (and can not be disabled), while also costing the car company a healthy amount of money but you would take a variant WITHOUT that any day?

To make it a li'l more dramatic: If there are two exact variants of a model with the difference of just that one feature - where the variant without it costs some extra (even if a namesake amount, say 1000 rs): You will pick the higher priced variant by paying additional moolah.

It's not about just "un-necessary" or "doesn't matter" kind of feature, but the ones that you actually find worse than their downgraded version and often found speaking to yourself "why do companies even spend money to provide this??!!"

Here's what BHPian ashkamath had to say on the matter:

Personally, the unnecessary and overdone chrome garnishing on the car. I am not a chrome person and never liked those shiny titbits here, there, everywhere on the car. It appears for auto manufacturers, elegance and opulence means slap some chrome here & there on the car.

I would buy a lower trim car just to avoid those chromes and if it's inevitable, then would get them replaced with body colour paint or wraps.

Here's what BHPian DivyanshuDiv had to say on the matter:

It’s not a feature but piano black glossy material which is getting extensively used these days in car interiors.

Simply hate this trend, and I’m ready to pay to get rid of it.

Here's what BHPian AMG_Power had to say on the matter:

1. Digital Dashboard

2. Beige / White interiors

3. Start Stop that keeps resetting itself

4. Sunroof

5. Huge screens on the dashboard

6. Ugly Alloys

7. Lack of safety standards

8. RFT’s

9. Space Saver tyres

10. Motion Sensor controls

11. Voice recognition

12. Lack of buttons

13. DSG’s that continue to break down (so often its become a common feature)

14. Engine and power downsizing with newer models quite contrary to earlier practice (again done so often, it’s almost become a feature)

Here's what BHPian sajands had to say on the matter:

Unnecessary, forced me to buy without option was,

Sunroof (What is its purpose? Stand and act like baboons?)

Addition to this is the unwanted gimmick, something all manufacture call WOW factor started by MG

Voice recognition: to open sunroof, windows..... A simple flick of button or switch is too much of hard work I guess.

Here's what BHPian Silverfire had to say on the matter:

1. Huge screens. Massive distraction, waste of space. All you need from the infotainment system is usually 1) the ability to select music 2) maps. Do we need 15 or 21 inch screens for this?

2. Touch controls: Which idiot decided that the user interface of a phone, which is a device you are staring at while using, should be ported to car controls, which should work without anyone looking at them. Worse is these cars with large touchscreens, where you have to go through a few taps before you can even change commonly used controls like AC fan speed.

3. White Interiors: Have the designers been to their own showroom and seen how gunky the test drive cars start looking in a few weeks. Another example of form over function. Designing the interior to look good in a brochure not in real life. Give me tan or black interiors any day.

4. Speed Alerts: I know this is regulatory driven but one of the big reasons which stops me from upgrading to a new car, is getting one with loud annoying chimes at 80 and then 120 kmph.

5. Backseat Seatbelt reminders: Another regulation driven, poorly executed feature where the seatbelt warning comes on even if no one is sitting in the backseat.

6. Large low profile tyres on top variants: Looks good, feels bad, punctures easier. For the condition of our roads why force top variant buyers to go for 18-19 inch tyres, when the better choices are higher profile 16 inchers?

Here's what BHPian akhil007 had to say on the matter:

1. Sunroof and the wafer thin cloth that covers the Sunroof

2. Piano Black Finish

3. Useless Start-Stop System

4. Voice Recognition- half of the time, I need to change my accent for it to work

5. Lower Bhp and Lower Torque

6. Paid/Subscription based Connected Car Tech- I pay you once for everything. Don't charge me every year for the stupid subscriptions

7. Same front face for all the cars from same manufacturer.

Here's what BHPian TorquePull had to say on the matter:

Automatic Climate Control: I don’t like it because it defaults to fresh air mode, which I don’t like to use due to bad odour from outside. And I haven’t seen a single person who use it right, they just make adjustments like they do in manual ACs by changing blower speeds which essentially makes it a manual AC.

Powered seats without Memory: For a big family, it is painfully slow and annoying to change seat settings using button, I would rather have manual seats.

Touch controls: I prefer physical buttons for everything and hate touch sensitive controls, as it’s less distracting and can be operated without taking eyes off the road.

Beige/light interior: They are not practical in our country. Requires regular maintenance and even then you can see stains. This is also the reason I’m not considering EVs, as all of them come with beige or white interiors.

Auto Start/Stop: I don’t like them and I find it annoying to turn it off every single time. XUV500 had a memory function and was very convenient but even modern Mahindras default to ON.

Read BHPian comments for more insights and information.