We love our cars but--what drives you nuts about yours?

[MinisterofDOOM]

We're car people. We love our cars. Especially OUR cars, in most cases anyway. But no car is perfect. And as much as I love my LS8, there's some stuff that drives me friggin' batty about it. Same for all my previous cars. What are the things that you DON'T love about your beloved automobiles?

For the LS8:
1: It makes the same stupid 1980s electronic beep for every conceivable thing under the sun. Engine overheating? Beep. Door ajar? Same beep? Just turned off AdvanceTrac? Same beep. Low washer fluid? Same beep. Just reset your fuel economy metrics? SAME BEEP. EVERYTHING. The same beep. And, just to keep things interesting, every once in a while (only maybe 1-2 times a year) it will beep without any corresponding notification on the info display. What was the beep for? WHO KNOWS? Maybe nothing, maybe the car is about to implode in 3 seconds! IT'S A MYSTERY!

2: That info display? Yeah, it's about as good at multitasking as iOS 1.0. It has two lines of text. Maybe...something like 12 characters per line. It tells you when stuff is broken, or not broken, or just when it feels like telling you stuff, whether you like it or not. EVERYTHING goes through that screen. So it ends up with a stack of non-prioritized notifications of wildly varying importance that sit and cycle one-by-one. You can press the "Reset" fisher-price button on the dash to clear one and move on to the next. It's like a really, really bad videogame.
But the best part? THE VERY BEST DESIGN FEATURE OF ALL? You cannot manually cycle through OR clear any notifications while the car is in park or while the park brake is engaged. THE CAR MUST BE IN GEAR TO USE THE DISPLAY.

Someone actually designed a car with an interactive screen that can only be utilized while in gear.

FORD IS AMAZING. It's no wonder they thought partnering with Microsoft for their software needs was a good idea. They had nowhere to go but up, so why not start at the bottom!

I have to put my car in gear to tell it to stop reminding me that my washer fluid is low.

I can't do it in park.

My head. Asplode.

3: It has a very early electronic throttle (1st gens were still cable operated). You cannot rev past 3000rpm in park or Neutral. WONDERFUL feature for diagnostic purposes. If you want to rev the engine without moving, you get to put it in third gear and plant a foot firmly on the brake and hope the front end has enough traction to fight the gear-reduced torque the rear end is trying to put to use.
I know this is a safety feature. I know Toyota and electronic throttles and whatever. I know that I think electronic drive-by-wire is stupid. I still don't see why not letting me rev past 3000 is helping. The car makes almost 290 ft-lbs at 3000rpm. You're not going to reduce the horribleness of whatever is going wrong by only letting me rev to 3000 instead of 6500. Whatever just went wrong is just as wrong no matter where that tach needle is pointing. Plus: if the electronics operating the throttle fail, what makes you think the electronics telling it to stop at 3000 will work?! It's so dumb.
The upside: I can manually open the throttle as far as I want by removing the intake plumbing and pushing the butterfly valve. Brains: 1, Techology: -12

[PapaSmurf2k3]

Good thread idea. I'll go down the list. Most of these things I've fixed by modifying the vehicle in some way.
Miata - you have to bend space time in order to get to the damn oil filter. This is AFTER you remove the giant under-engine splash guard thingy. This is remedied by permanently removing the under-engine splash guard thingy, as well as the intake manifold support bracket, but its still sort of a pain to get to. I also don't like how you can't turn the fog lights on independently of everything else.

Prelude- it tachs SUPER high going down the highway. It needs a 6th gear. That's it. Other than that, the car is perfect. It goes through a little oil now, but s***, it has over 300k on it so it gets a pass.

240 - The speaker size selection is god-awful. 4x6s? Come on. The clutch damper, AIV system, and upper timing chain guide are also "wtf were they thinking" items.

Vette - Electric f*** parking brake. I will always hate these. There's also no little pockets or places to put your phone or media device for ease of checking. So far those are the only things I've noticed.

[AZhitman]

When I owned my C5, I spent a month or two updating, modding, and re-engineering a lot of things to eliminate Chevy's failures... to the point that the car was essentially perfect. Then I sold it.

My DD (04 MSM, heavily-modded) has a few, but they're minimal. Of course, the oil filter issue. I tried to resolve that with a remote mount, but getting the remote mount installed has proven to be as hard as changing the oil filter - but with two stiff AN lines attached. I'll wait until I need to pull the motor (at which point I'll probably swap in a LS or a 1UZ or a J35 something equally ludicrous).

Bex's '13 Speed3 - A couple gripes: There are two screens on the dash. OK, no problem. Shouldn't they match? They don't. Makes me nuts.



They also used brushed aluminum brightwork to accent certain parts of the dash - Bad idea in AZ. The glare is nasty - She's getting dry carbon fiber wrap for those bits.

'05 Frontier - The passenger seatback folds forward (flat) to make a desk, or a footrest for a lazy rear passenger. So, the pass seat articulates in two locations (the other is the regular fore/aft recline function). It rattles, and has for years. OK, OK, I need to take it out and tighten it up. The rear edge of the hood has a bevel that reflects sunlight directly into the driver's eyes at certain times of the day - I'll rememdy that with a strip of flat black vinyl wrap. Beyond that? Perfect vehicle.

[themadscientist]

Keyless ignition.

I was already over the whole starter button BS, but it's locked in with the trim package I have on my Scooby.

If I push the button too long when shutting the car down it goes into ACC mode and keeps beeping when I try to leave. I have to futz with it for a few seconds pushing the button for various lengths of time until I finally get pissed and restart the car just so I can shut it down again.

I'm already uncool. I don't need my car making me look dumber at the gas station as the attendant watches me try to start the thing.

[Jesda]

Cadillac is notorious for the annoying beep/bong sound. Goes back to the 1980s.

My Miata's left seat bottom bolster eats into my left leg. Mazda fixed it in 2009. I need to get seat covers and a thicker cushion to elevate my butt over the bolster.

[Jesda]

Bex's '13 Speed3 - A couple gripes: There are two screens on the dash. OK, no problem. Shouldn't they match? They don't. Makes me nuts.

That baffled me on my Mazda 3 rental. It's as if separate groups designed the interior. Other Mazdas aren't like this!

[Bubba1]

There's really nothing that drives me nuts about any of my cars. Perhaps I'm a "glass is half full" kinda person, but that probably helps explain why I keep my vehicles for so long. That said, there are always things I'd like improved. For example, in my Z, the lack of luggage room can be inconvenient at times. And my son's corolla, the lack of torque, but then again when I fill that gas tank for under $20, well, that lack of torque is not so awful. Overall, 2 big general pet peeves of mine include 1) "nannies". No, not Inga the hot Swedish au pair, but all of these computerized yaw/traction controls in newer cars that attempt to further idiot proof the driving experience. Unless I can turn them off, I inevitably find myself fighting them at some point. And 2) Flappy paddle shifters. I find they remove much of the personal connection one gets with driving that comes with a man pedal. I couldn't care less that they shift gears in milliseconds, I'm just thankful I don't own one, especially when (not if) they break after the warranty expires. I'm amazed how enthralled people are with them... well until the day they learn how stupidly expensive they are to fix.

[MinisterofDOOM]

I completely agree about flappy paddles. Yes, they make F1 cars more competitive. No, I don't care about lap times on my street car. VERY different applications.

[frapjap]

I've had a few cars, but I'll focus on the ones in the family that I drive (even occasionally) as of today.

Trans Am- Love this car, enjoy the comfortable suspension, it doesn't wear you out on a long drive. The stock 245/50/16 tire selection size drives me crazy. I know, I could just pay up and get some wheels, but I don't care enough about what the wheels look like as much as I care about the rubber. I just want some goddamned RE11's.

2010 Legacy- proximity of the ground effects and front bumper to the ground. Quickly turns a winter capable car into a snow plow when lots of the white stuff is on the ground. Also has no true 'scan' button for the radio. Other than that, its a solid full size car.

2015 Impreza- Its a car, but the thing I hate most is that if a phone is connected via bluetooth and is streaming music through it and I go to switch to the radio station because of an ad or a song I don't like on my phone, it disconnects the bluetooth connection. I end up using the aux cord so that the variety can be retained. Ground clearance on this car also sucks.

2014 Buick Encore- Like the truck, but the ride is horrendous for something that costs this much. The interior lighting is a little tacky, but its other wise a pleasant place to be.

2015 Subaru Outback H6- Its quick, the adaptive cruise is awesome and be outsmarted to use in stop and go traffic. For as much as the car costs, the sound system isn't very impressive. Hell, the wrx and sti have atrocious & pitiful sound systems for their money. I'd just wish Subaru would put better speakers in their mid tier and high end models.

Lexus RX350. Honestly, the only thing I hate about this one is the looks. Its an otherwise pretty awesome car.

[MinisterofDOOM]

I drove a Legacy with adaptive cruise a few weeks ago for a long highway stretch. It struck me as a really neat solution to a problem that isn't really much of a problem. More than that, I feel like the behavior adaptive cruise creates is more of a nuisance than the problem it's trying to solve. For instance, not being in California or New York where someone will just fill the gap anyway, I like to follow at a pretty reasonable distance. But when I pass, I like to pass fairly smoothly (but still change lanes pretty far back). Adaptive Cruise on the Legacy had a hard time reconciling my follow distance (3 indicators' worth on the dash screen, whatever that means) and my desire to pass a car that's sort of somewhat in the same lane as me but a little closer than I had been following. I kept causing the car to drop throttle or even brake when swinging left around the car I was passing. I ran into the same problem when in the right lane behind someone who was slowing to exit the highway. I'd sort of clip a little off the corner of the follow distance, and the car would lose its mind and slow aggressively.

Basically, as with all nannies: the car has no idea what I'm trying to do, all it knows is that something's going on. It has no capacity to use that data intelligently. And, honestly, I don't want it to. I'd rather just be an ACTIVE driver and tweak my cruise speed a bit.

I can see adaptive cruise being a lot more helpful in heavy traffic. But then at that point I'd probably ditch Cruise completely anyway because it ends up being more effective.

Oh, and the huge forward sensor array housing taking up the entire front headliner is ridiculous.

Since we're talking about other cars we drive regularly:

My brother's C230K. My dislike for that car is well known, but as for particular peeves:
The steering wheel is not centered relative to the curved instrument cluster hood. It's OFF CENTER. It makes me completely insane. The cluster hood and wheel have basically the same arc diameter, too, so it just kind of screams at you the whole time you're behind the wheel.
The car has 23 acres of featureless, flat bodywork above the rear wheel arches, but the tiny triangular quarter windows still don't roll down or even vent. There's plenty of space for the glass to drop all the way (especially if it pivoted at the rear corner) but it's totally static.
The rear lower hatch "glass" is cheap molded curved composite, and visibility through it is like a funhouse mirror. What's the point?
The seat adjustments are backward, functionally. The lower cushion is controlled by quick-to-use levers, but the seatback recline is controlled by an awkward, slow knob on the INSIDE side of the seatback. There's a quick-release for allowing rear passengers to exit, but getting comfortable requires parking and contorting yourself into some creative positions, and you're not able to sit comfortably WHILE adjusting the seat, so you have to endlessly fiddle until you get it right.
The side view mirrors are mounted directly against the doors. No mirror post for kind of extension. The glass begins centimeters from the body, and it's tiny and wrong-shaped and tilted up at a goofy angle. All of it adds up to a great view of the car's oversized a**, but not much of the road.

[txchamps]

I have nobody to blame but my cheap self, but there is no keyhole on the passenger side of my Versa sedan -- I knew that going in, but it's still annoying. Maybe I'll shell out some bucks and install electric door locks later.

Also, there is no temp gage, which I didn't know going in. Cheap is one thing, but that's inexcusable. So I bought a Kiwi 2 BT and use the Torque app to keep an eye on that, and some other things. Problem solved for $65. Very nice device and app, BTW. I used it a week after I got it to pull the codes on my friend's 1999 Lexus ES 300.

The voice recognition on the bluetooth is a bit sucky, but I hear complaints from a lot of Nissan owners regarding that. First world problems.

In my 2001 Kia Rio, I had to jack up the car and remove the left front wheel to change the oil filter. There was literally no other way to get at it. Turned out ok one time, because I had noticed the sway bar links were bad. Easy and cheap fix, and that's about as much wrenching as you'll ever see me do. I'm kind of a klutz. Two weeks later the transmission blew up. That's why I have the Versas.

[BusyBadger]

The mediocre interior detailing on my 350Z has always annoyed me. Most people have already seen or heard of the rubberized coating on the interior that easily rubs off but the coating on the aluminium panels on the steering wheel also peel.

I'm considering removing the panels and taking some fine grade steel wool to them but then I have to find a place to re-letter them. Later model 350Zs have labeled the buttons, mine has labeled the surround.

[Buzzman]

Good subject matter for a thread.
I don't have much to complain about on my 2 daily drivers. They've been good to me.
However, my 2002 Pathfinder does not have any indicator on the dash to tell me what gear I'm in.
I have to look down at the centre console to see if I'm in drive, or neutral or whatever. They fixed that problem in 2003, but it's still annoying.
My 2006 Altima SL is fairly nicely appointed, but it has this dinky yellowy/orangy colour single line display on the radio. That is my infotainment display....lol.
It has the clock on it as well. It might as well not be there, as it is almost unreadable, no matter what the lighting conditions are.
It's no better at night when it's supposedly illuminated. Stupid design. At least make it black and white so that I can see the clock now and then.
Also, as someone mentioned above, I wish I could turn on the fog lights independently. They only work when low beams are on (both vehicles).
Lastly, not that it affects me on a day to day basis, but both vehicles could use a fifth gear. (At least they're not a CVT.)

[MinisterofDOOM]

Another one for the LS8:
There is only one clock, and it's on the stock headunit. No other clock anywhere. No dedicated clock of any kind. The clock is also exactly the same appearance and size on the same display as the track timer for the CD player, which means a quick glance is sometimes confusing.
It was even worse with the THX system, because the clock is relegated to a tiny spot at the top of the multimedia screen.
When I replaced the stock (non-THX) headunit in my LS8, I lost my clock. Especially coming from the Q45 and Maxima, which both had dedicated clocks at the top of the center stack, it's still really weird to not just have a clock on hand at a glance. I wish there was some way to install a white-on-black G50 clock, but there's absolutely space to mod it in anywhere near eye level. It's really ridiculous to me that any luxury or even maybe-slightly-near-luxury car would not have an analog clock or, if absolutely necessary, a stupid digital one. Even effing base model Camrys have recycled timex digital watches being reused in their upper dash housing.

Later model 350Zs have labeled the buttons, mine has labeled the surround.

I hate this. My dad's 6th gen Maxima is the same way. A particularly irritating side-effect of the labelling being printed on the wheel is that it doesn't illuminate with the rest of the instrumentation at night. If you're used to the car, that's one thing. But because of the goofy layout (very similar square and rectangular buttons) it's still not exactly intuitive in the dark. The Max has a mirrored set of media controls on the left, too, and I can never remember which is power and which is "mode". A few times, when I've had to drive that car at night for whatever reason, I've had to turn on the dome light to figure out how to set cruise control. Great job, Nissan!

I hate that whole steering wheel, anyway, though. Big, square, uncomfortable spokes that get in the way of natural hand placement and look stupid to boot.

[nissangirl74]

Speed 3: I wish it had an oil pressure gauge and a coolant gauge instead of a dummy light. The aux cord connection is in the bottom of the center console. VERY inconvenient to access. As Greg said earlier, the glare from the shiny stuff is awful in the summertime. Other than that, I have no complaints. It's the best CAR I've ever had.
The Frontier is still my favorite vehicle. The only thing that I dislike is the horrible gas mileage. Even with the manual trans, it's too expensive to drive as a daily with my commute. She's comfortable, roomy, has plenty of power, and tows very well.

[BusyBadger]

Speed 3: I wish it had an oil pressure gauge and a coolant gauge instead of a dummy light.

Unfortunately cars aren't made for the likes of us, they're made for the masses. I think it boils down to most drivers wanting to know when something is wrong rather than having to learn number ranges and understand when something is going south.

If/when I pick up a 370Z one of the first orders of business is to refit the gauges in the triple pod. It's got an oil temp gauge (good), volt meter (why), and a digital clock (more why). I'd "keep" the oil temp (but swap it with a matching a gauge), and add oil pressure and (hopefully) a boost gauge.

[Desert Rat]

'85 300ZX - cannot get the idle to smooth out. Runs great, full tuneup with all new parts, timing belt, etc but just idles a little rough.

'07 Ram 2500 4x4 diesel - Honestly, I love this truck. It could use more highway gear though. After 72-73mph, it starts getting loud (0ver 2000 rpm). Could use a second overdrive gear

'98 Frontier. Goes anywhere with SAS, lockers, crawler gears, cage, and hundreds of other mods. Biggest issue - it's SO SLOW. The KA24DE and 35" rubber are not a good mix on the highway. I celebrate when I can hit the speed limit.

[rgregoryb]

93 300zx 2+2 na, it can tell how much money I have in my pocket and then somehow get it.

12 Honda Crv EXL, boringly reliable.

[MinisterofDOOM]

Could use a second overdrive gear.

Yeah, that's how I feel about the LS8, too. It's not a huge shortage by any means, but I have usable passing power at 65 in 5th, and 80mph in 5th runs closer to 3k rpm than I would like. A 2nd overdrive would be really nice for highway cruise. The car NEVER drops out of 5th on the highway, regardless of terrain, which is nice, but ~750-1000 fewer RPMs would be a fair trade for very occasional downshifts for passing. 2k-2250 would be a nice place to cruise at 80.

[OriginalWheelman]

93 300zx 2+2 na, it can tell how much money I have in my pocket and then somehow get it.

12 Honda Crv EXL, boringly reliable.

A friend of mine used to offer drunks a rides home in his Z just so he could clean up after them. Always made good money.

[Jesda]

If it makes you feel any better, the dashboard coating on the Lexus LS430 flakes off too. It's even worse because that car cost so much when it was new and carried with it the reputation built by the LS400.

[szh]

I hate auto-dimming rear-view mirrors. I would much rather leave it in one position and deal with the brights from the back as needed, since the "dim" position tends to be dark for my eyes at night.

On my 1991 Infiniti Q45, the auto-dimmer selector dimmer was a two-position rocker switch - in one position, the auto-dimming was disabled and I used it that way all the time - just set and forget!

On my 1995 Infiniti Q45, the auto-dim selector switch became an "electronic" push button - and it would reset itself to the auto-dim setting whenever the car was turned off. Annoying as hell!

I got into the habit of instinctively reaching up and turning it off every time I got into the car ... even stopped cursing after the first few months after I forgot I was doing it.

What the hell were the engineers thinking when they changed that from a simple rocker switch and gizmo'ed it to make it completely annoying?

Z

[Dattebayo]

My truck body keeps rusting in new places.

Also, little things tend to break and fall off all at the same time. Last week, I lost my e-brake cable tensioner, driver's side wheel cylinder, and the driver's door lock actuator arm... All within 3 hours of each other!!! But it really is a super old pile that I drive.

I just managed to get the lock fixed today after the dig-out. A plastic nut stripped out and fell off. The brake issues remain unexplained.

[krash]

I've mostly fixed everything about my 240 that annoys me, but there are still a few things:

1) Panel Gaps: Terrible. My 240 has been bashed a few times so that has a lot to do with it, but its rare that I see a 240 with the proper panel gaps.
2) Reverse gear: KrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrKLUNK.
3) 6th gear?: Highway driving at 70mph @ 3.something thousand rpm is annoying.
4) The squeaks. All the squeaks. Squeaks for everything.