things i hate about my new Corolla.

[TonyHSD]

Wouldn’t be a problem then, I am a night driver and don’t look much at the wheel 😂👍

[Yugguy1970]

21 hours ago, jcr71 said:

i guess, but its just my initial opinion. like i said, im old and used to basic cars. i moan about most modern technology  

Tbh looking at your list I'm not sure you're going to like any car made in this century?  I'm as grumpy as the next man but damn 🤣

That said don't get me started about !Removed! Alexa. 😁

[Yugguy1970]

Also to be honest most of us would say the same about all the different settings and options, you have a play with them for 5 minutes, then you pick a set and never change them again.

[AndrueC]

Yeah does seem like 'grumpy old man' syndrome or else 'I hate what my company makes me drive'.

"It's too blinkin' complicated" is just another way of saying "I'm too lazy or stupid to adapt". I don't mean to be rude but really that's a poor excuse. Life is all about adaptation. Most of us will be sentient beings for at least 70 years and we shouldn't expect to get by purely on what we learnt as children or young adults. Evolve and adapt or become extinct.

Cars built in the 1970s were ****. The paint didn't last more than a couple of years and you were lucky if they started first time (or even at all) after the first six months. Their safety features were non-existent. I understand nostalgia (and personally I'd like to have a Jet Black Austin Metro in a second garage for occasional use in the summer) but as a daily driver I wouldn't want to have anything to do with a car that was more than ten years old.

[Cyker]

Well that's a bit harsh; Not everyone is as smart as you.

I do like my tech in cars, but can appreciate not everyone does. My dad, for sure, likes his old analogue speedos and handbrakes and thinks my Mk4 is like a spaceship   

One reason I'd never buy a Tesla is because I consider their control system unusable and unsafe, not because i'm 'too stupid or lazy' to adapt to it.

The fact is very few of these things aid with the driving of the car - They are just distractions, and I think they've stopped drivers concentrating 100% on driving.

I will say a lot of these things could be made more intuitive and ergonomic, esp for use by feel, but we're mostly at the mercy of The Designers, who just want to make things pretty rather than useable.

 

[AndrueC]

39 minutes ago, Cyker said:

I will say a lot of these things could be made more intuitive and ergonomic, esp for use by feel, but we're mostly at the mercy of The Designers, who just want to make things pretty rather than useable.

I'd agree with that in a lot of cases. And it seems like the auto main beam feature was poorly implemented so perhaps added on to pad out the feature list rather than because they felt it was useful.

But I'm old enough to have seen how cars evolved - at least since the 1980s - and all I've seen is vehicles improving. Most of what's installed is setup-once-and-forget (and most of it worked just fine as supplied) so any complexity in operation is short lived. I never even got a handbook and haven't ever needed it.

I switch the car on and drive away the same as I've been doing for over 30 years. The only thing I have to remember to do (which is mildly annoying) is engage the brake hold. It'd also be nice if the cruise control didn't need switching on each time.

I agree on the USB ports. That is rather short sighted. I get two on the Excel but one is power only. I certainly don't want to go back to having to select gears. I consider that to be a menial task (much like a manual choke) that should be consigned to motoring history.

The human should be left to concentrate on those things that they do best and let the machines take over the menial stuff where they can.

[Niky]

3 hours ago, AndrueC said:

as a daily driver I wouldn't want to have anything to do with a car that was more than ten years old.

One of the most reliable, fuel efficient and comfortable car I ever had was 1998 WV passat 1.9 PD tdi. It had everything a daily driver would need - only thing I would miss in this car would be bluetooth connection for my phone.

Had wooden bits in the interior, heated seats, cruise control, aircon, etc...... and everything was working and was just right(if you know what I mean)

The modern cars are great, with lots of safety features, which I believe make us lazy behind the wheel. Definitely the case with me at least - this can be dangerous in some cases

 

 

[Cyker]

Agreed to both of you! I don't mind them putting one-use set-and-forget stuff e.g. on the touchscreen menus, but I think dedicated buttons for often used stuff, esp. stuff that you need to use while driving, are essential for safe driving!

(It still boggles my mind that Teslas don't have dedicated wiper controls, and they're forced to rely on the Auto system or dig through touchscreen menus to change them! I sometimes wonder how many accidents their collision avoidance systems have prevented due to the driver frantically trying to figure out how to turn their wipers on the touch screen because the auto system didn't think it was raining hard enough to warrant them!)

 

[mjjferreira]

Welcome to the XXI century. 🙂

 

[AndrueC]

25 minutes ago, mjjferreira said:

Welcome to the XXI century. 🙂

Yup. And I'm sorry for my post that came across as a bit harsh. Maybe it's because as a soon-to-retire person I'm doing my damndest to stop becoming a stick-in-the-mud. All my life I've enjoyed and appreciated technology and the thought of becoming the kind of person who would say or post 'It was so much better in my day...' is horrifying 🙂

[Eddie G]

3 hours ago, Cyker said:

Agreed to both of you! I don't mind them putting one-use set-and-forget stuff e.g. on the touchscreen menus, but I think dedicated buttons for often used stuff, esp. stuff that you need to use while driving, are essential for safe driving!

(It still boggles my mind that Teslas don't have dedicated wiper controls, and they're forced to rely on the Auto system or dig through touchscreen menus to change them! I sometimes wonder how many accidents their collision avoidance systems have prevented due to the driver frantically trying to figure out how to turn their wipers on the touch screen because the auto system didn't think it was raining hard enough to warrant them!)

 

Tesla's don't have dedicated wiper controls! bonkers idea that! having heating controls on a touch screen is bad enough, if the MK 4 Yaris was the same there is a good chance i won't have gone for it, a minimalist kitchen is one thing but a car!!! beggers belief it does.

[Cyker]

Haha I know that is an easy trap to fall in! I try to be a bit more pragmatic, as while there is stuff that was better 'in my day', there are also a lot of things that are much better now!

 

[Roy124]

My favourite car was a Triumph 1300, it had a multi warning light cluster, a novelty for the time, a massive 11.8 gallon tank, an incredibly tight turning circle and fantastic tyre life, front crossply 5,500 miles. It had real wood trim and plush carpets. 

It did not have a radio, hazard warning, seat belts, reclining seats, arm rests, head rests, reversing lights, fog lights, two speed or intermittent wipers.  No underseal and it rusted on less than 2 years. No auto door locking, electric windows, remote mirrors or dipping rearview mirror.  No heated rear window or rear wipers, no aircon and no cruise control. 

[Jimota]

It was much better in my day when I owned the following vehicles in the 70s.

Morris Marina 1.8 TC with go faster stripes, VW Beetle with no petrol gauge, Lada Riva with nothing that worked, Moskovitch 412 that came with a starting handle and the ultimate in car ownership - the Austin Maxi.  Happy days!

If anyone is interested, I can also give you a run down of the wonderfully technically advanced cars I owned in the  early 80s. 

 

[Jimota]

18 minutes ago, Roy124 said:

My favourite car was a Triumph 1300, it had a multi warning light cluster, a novelty for the time, a massive 11.8 gallon tank, an incredibly tight turning circle and fantastic tyre life, front crossply 5,500 miles. It had real wood trim and plush carpets. 

It did not have a radio, hazard warning, seat belts, reclining seats, arm rests, head rests, reversing lights, fog lights, two speed or intermittent wipers.  No underseal and it rusted on less than 2 years. No auto door locking, electric windows, remote mirrors or dipping rearview mirror.  No heated rear window or rear wipers, no aircon and no cruise control. 

Roy, you are correct, the Triumph 1300 and the Triumph Vitesse had incredible turning circles which could rival a hackney taxi cab.

[Jimota]

On 12/17/2022 at 12:56 PM, FROSTYBALLS said:

Here you are then - the 1966 Toyota Corolla:

Great photo Mike.  It looks very similar to a Ford Cortina MK2.

[Rhymes with Paris]

Ah , the old days.🤔

We had blue heads from head lice treatment to coordinate nicely with our blue bodies from outdoor forced swimming in outdoor swimming pools.

I can remember well shivering in April, while the sadistic gym teacher shouted instructions, such as "get yer 'ead under lad, you'll soon warm up".

Not really true at 1 or 2° while nearly naked, and submerged in water with ice crystals forming on the surface.

We had the cosy power cuts from the three day week in the 70s,the light from the candles shimmering on the inside ice on the windows, while huddling together in the hope of preserving a little body warmth.

This of course, was a good training ground for driving 70s cars, for instance the glorious hour spent laying in driving rain and running water on the road under a TR7 .

Would I swap all this for auto wipers that started up in bright sunshine and scratched the screen,or a touch screen with 3 sub menus to turn the heating up 1°.

Nah , I like it tough, well did when I had no choice.🥶

 

[Jimota]

Final words on this subject.  Apart from the Morris Marina, I only owned the other cars for a few short weeks at a time.  In relation to the Lada Riva and the Moskovitch 412, I was so embarrassed driving these cars that I hid them from view when I turned up for work.  However, at that time my workmate became the laughing stock of his peers when he purchased a brand new Skoda Estelle.  He had the last laugh as he kept it for over 10 years without fault.  As some of you will know, I was a loyal customer for over 30 years to the Audi, VW and Skoda marques.  It may surprise you that my favourite all time car was the Skoda Yeti.  I’m hoping that my new Toyota Yaris Cross will steal it’s crown.

[Mojo1010]

Lads, count yourself lucky, in the days before you.....there were horses! Don't think they have windscreen wipers or heater, certainly no rubbers on their shoes. 

Evolution of motor vehicles are fantastic, it's made so much safer and luxurious now. Yes there will be the odd thing here or there as individual we may not like. On the whole, it's come a long way. 

[jcr71]

10 hours ago, AndrueC said:

Yeah does seem like 'grumpy old man' syndrome or else 'I hate what my company makes me drive'.

"It's too blinkin' complicated" is just another way of saying "I'm too lazy or stupid to adapt". I don't mean to be rude but really that's a poor excuse. Life is all about adaptation. Most of us will be sentient beings for at least 70 years and we shouldn't expect to get by purely on what we learnt as children or young adults. Evolve and adapt or become extinct.

Cars built in the 1970s were ****. The paint didn't last more than a couple of years and you were lucky if they started first time (or even at all) after the first six months. Their safety features were non-existent. I understand nostalgia (and personally I'd like to have a Jet Black Austin Metro in a second garage for occasional use in the summer) but as a daily driver I wouldn't want to have anything to do with a car that was more than ten years old.

no idea what cars from the 70's have to do anything?

maybe you like driving around in a four wheeled computer that does everything short of wiping your backside for you. personally i like to be in as full control of the experience as possible.

i get my enjoyment from being in control of the vehicle, not the vehicle being in control of my journey.

[Yugguy1970]

There's a an axiom in engineering that's as true now as it always has been.

Keep It Simple Stupid.

A lot of modern tech no longer seems to follow this rule.

 

[TonyHSD]

17 hours ago, Cyker said:

Well that's a bit harsh; Not everyone is as smart as you.

I do like my tech in cars, but can appreciate not everyone does. My dad, for sure, likes his old analogue speedos and handbrakes and thinks my Mk4 is like a spaceship   

One reason I'd never buy a Tesla is because I consider their control system unusable and unsafe, not because i'm 'too stupid or lazy' to adapt to it.

The fact is very few of these things aid with the driving of the car - They are just distractions, and I think they've stopped drivers concentrating 100% on driving.

I will say a lot of these things could be made more intuitive and ergonomic, esp for use by feel, but we're mostly at the mercy of The Designers, who just want to make things pretty rather than useable.

 

Couldn’t agreed more on that one 👍

Tesla probably the best evs except the stupid yokes and all controls moved to the screen. And I don’t like the new Toyota that has this horrible dashboard behind the steering wheel. The authorities should make it clear and ban all that nonsense. 

[JayCee88]

Ok I think I’ve finally found one thing I don’t quit like - the led headlights. Mine is the base spec reflector led and whilst they look the light output could be better. 
 

I am not looking for blindingly bright lights, but something more capable of lighting up dark unlit roads. 

[Cyker]

Yeah that's a funny one; I felt like my Mk4 doesn't illuminate the roads that well, but having stood in front of it, that shouldn't be physically possible as the LEDs are *far* brighter than the lights of any previous car I've had. I literally couldn't see anything in the dark properly for a few minutes after looking at them!

I've realized it's a combination of a couple things - 1) LEDs are much bluer than Halogens and that actually makes the contrast at night worse - I plan to get some yellow-tinted glasses at my next visit to the opticians as I feel that may help, 2) Everyone and their mother now has super-bright LEDs so we're in a 'brightness war', with each car being brighter than the next, so we're all being blinded by everyone else's lights and unable to see our own.

It's only going to get worse as people complain their lights aren't bright enough so manufacturers make their lights brighter which makes everyone else complain their lights aren't bright enough etc.

I find them more than adequate on un-lit roads; I find the side of the road is less well lit when the beams are dipped due to the flatter light pattern, but if it's a country road and I have my high-beams everything is super-lit (Esp. retro-reflective signs, which are very hard to see because they're so blindingly bright!)

 

[Talking Hoarse]

What do I hate about my new Corolla TS 2.0 Design? Very little indeed. 

I think the worst thing is the user manual - I find it bewildering and full of unidentified TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms).  The Infotainment system seems to be completely alien to the the manual - I suspect that I have the manual for pre 2022 facelift model. 

Notwithstanding the manual, most of the car is pretty well self explanatory, so long as you can read the labels on the buttons (a challenge for those of us who need reading glasses, not worn for driving!).

An irritant is the auto lock and unlock - this works well for us excepting when I clean the car (does anyone has a work around to prevent the car auto locking and unlocking?)

But I think there is very much more to love or like about the car than to hate.  I think it will be with me for many years to come.