Awful car trends that arent going away....

[Sasquach]

What kind of car trends can you list? Some fine ones, and some awful ones?

Current car trends:

-Full length tail light bars. This isnt an awful trend, but i seem to notice it being utilized a helluva lot more lately. Seems to be synonymous with "upscale" for some reason.
-Gigantic grilles. This has been going on for awhile as manufacturers try to create visual identities. Theres only so much you can do.... But they just seem to get bigger and bigger.......On trucks especially...they are approaching full fascia grille.
-Tablet-stuck-to-the-dash interior look. These gave off a seemingly lazy design element. But it seems to be going away.....only to be replaced by.......

Awful trends:
-The floating widescreen tablet that spans the dash and center stack. Next level tablet designs for car interiors! I have noticed that each manufacturer that utilizes this design, all the interiors look like cut/paste jobs of each other.......its worse than the same sausage/different size philosophy as those were manufacturer specific. Check out Hyundai's Ioniq cars, the Cadillac Escalade or Lyriq...BMW's refreshed X1.....etc.

This is only made worse with:
-EVERYTHING is controlled by the touchscreen. Just as it says....all your **** is centralized on the center screen...infotainment....HVAC....seat options...etc. I already hate using the touchscreen head unit in my car for various things (Its somewhat easy to navigate....but its got some annoying quirks.....when im searching for songs to play it wont allow me to scroll when then car is moving so im stuck on whatever part of the screen its at until i stop (EX. out of 10 songs, theres only enough space to show 4 songs...i cannot scroll beyond those 4 songs until i stop moving), and the letter select is a fixed slider that is annoying to try to pinpoint a specific letter) I already have to focus too much attention to the head unit...i cant imagine trying to do something like seat heaters without hard buttons......

-Non-standard shift levers. started with mechanical shift levers, then became electronic shift levers....now there are push buttons, rotary knobs.....and even the freaking touchscreen.....

-SUV everything.........everything has to be an SUV/CUV now.....

Any other current car trends that suck or dont suck?

 

[acroig]

Like pricing trends?

 

[Sasquach]

Like pricing trends?

i'd leave pricing out of it...thats a separate things.
Im more thinking stuff related to modern car design and technology.

 

[Clockwork]

I was concerned about no physical buttons when I got the M3P. I do feel that certain actions are indeed distracting and take your eye off the road (which wouldn't be the case if I had buttons/tactile feedback), but I also quickly learned how great voice commands/recognition are in this car. I only have to use the steering wheel buttons and my own voice. Problem solved.

The only trend I hate:

Cheap plasticky piano black interior/trim pieces. Dusty, fingerprinty, gets full of micro-scratches. I am so glad they did away with that in the refresh of my car.

EDIT: I also have no complaints about electric shifters or rotary dials in my vehicles. Worked great in the Giulia, Stinger, and Supra. In all honesty, I actually loved iDrive.

 

[Elysian]

Touch interfaces.


edit: Subscription services for your car

 

[huskylord]

Trends I hate:
Other people farting in my car

Trends I like:
Me farting in my car with trapped passengers

 

[Silent-Runner]

fake exhausts...

those laughable big grills lately

too damn many touch interfaces

just to name a few

 

[Lazy8s]

The massive grills, and the piped in sounds. I haven’t been in a vehicle personally that had that, but guys here, and locally since have brought it up.

Other than that - plastic. Shiny, glaring, ugly plastic.

 

[Destroy]

Yeah top one is hating touch screens and lack of buttons/knobs.

Squat short windows, can't see crap in any direction but forward.

Lack of HUD in cars, it should be standard in all cars by now.

Sparce trunk space. Older cars had more trunk space than modern SUVs.

 

[KAC]

Electric cars having more tech than normal cars.

 

[bill dennison]

What kind of car trends can you list? Some fine ones, and some awful ones?

Current car trends:

-Full length tail light bars. This isnt an awful trend, but i seem to notice it being utilized a helluva lot more lately. Seems to be synonymous with "upscale" for some reason.
-Gigantic grilles. This has been going on for awhile as manufacturers try to create visual identities. Theres only so much you can do.... But they just seem to get bigger and bigger.......On trucks especially...they are approaching full fascia grille.
-Tablet-stuck-to-the-dash interior look. These gave off a seemingly lazy design element. But it seems to be going away.....only to be replaced by.......

Awful trends:
-The floating widescreen tablet that spans the dash and center stack. Next level tablet designs for car interiors! I have noticed that each manufacturer that utilizes this design, all the interiors look like cut/paste jobs of each other.......its worse than the same sausage/different size philosophy as those were manufacturer specific. Check out Hyundai's Ioniq cars, the Cadillac Escalade or Lyriq...BMW's refreshed X1.....etc.

This is only made worse with:
-EVERYTHING is controlled by the touchscreen. Just as it says....all your **** is centralized on the center screen...infotainment....HVAC....seat options...etc. I already hate using the touchscreen head unit in my car for various things (Its somewhat easy to navigate....but its got some annoying quirks.....when im searching for songs to play it wont allow me to scroll when then car is moving so im stuck on whatever part of the screen its at until i stop (EX. out of 10 songs, theres only enough space to show 4 songs...i cannot scroll beyond those 4 songs until i stop moving), and the letter select is a fixed slider that is annoying to try to pinpoint a specific letter) I already have to focus too much attention to the head unit...i cant imagine trying to do something like seat heaters without hard buttons......

-Non-standard shift levers. started with mechanical shift levers, then became electronic shift levers....now there are push buttons, rotary knobs.....and even the freaking touchscreen.....

-SUV everything.........everything has to be an SUV/CUV now.....

Any other current car trends that suck or dont suck?

i'm looking at the ford lightning for a work truck but that tablet dash

but how do you add a aftermarket stereo upgrade without lobotomizing the whole vehicle

they are going to put Kenwood, JVC ….. out of business

 

[Sasquach]

The massive grills, and the piped in sounds. I haven’t been in a vehicle personally that had that, but guys here, and locally since have brought it up.

Other than that - plastic. Shiny, glaring, ugly plastic.

I think the augmented sound is worse than the piped in noise. At least with the piped in noise its actual engine noise, but whether it sounds good really depends on if the engine sounds good or not. But the fake engine noise...ugh.....

Another one is no spare tire. SUPPOSED to increase trunk space...except the manufacturers seem to just fill the tire hole with a foam filler.......so theres really no additional space, a tire just gets replaced by foam. What's funny is you still get a jack in addition to the fix a flat kit they toss in there....whats the point of having a jack without a spare tire?

 

[Lazy8s]

I think the augmented sound is worse than the piped in noise. At least with the piped in noise its actual engine noise, but whether it sounds good really depends on if the engine sounds good or not. But the fake engine noise...ugh.....

Another one is no spare tire. SUPPOSED to increase trunk space...except the manufacturers seem to just fill the tire hole with a foam filler.......so theres really no additional space, a tire just gets replaced by foam. What's funny is you still get a jack in addition to the fix a flat kit they toss in there....whats the point of having a jack without a spare tire?

It’s the augmented sound I’m thinking of. TB completely honest I didn’t realize there were 2 different types of ‘added’ sound. I just think it’s ridiculous.

 

[Nunz]

Foam filler should be sound/vibration proofing.

 

[huskylord]

i'm looking at the ford lightning for a work truck but that tablet dash

but how do you add a aftermarket stereo upgrade without lobotomizing the whole vehicle

they are going to put Kenwood, JVC ….. out of business

I had no idea people still did stereo upgrades.

Next thing you'll tell me my 6 disc CD changer in the trunk is no longer cool.

 

[Silent-Runner]

you mean i have to get rid of this beauty?

 

[Nunz]

I had no idea people still did stereo upgrades.

Next thing you'll tell me my 6 disc CD changer in the trunk is no longer cool.

I mean he's not wrong though. They purposely tie 8million systems into the head-unit and make them impossible to replace. It's a shitty practice. Why not do stereo upgrades? The sound in my stock Subaru was ****ing atrocious .. I put Focal's with some custom fabbed mounts with a new HU and amp; the difference was incredible and I think all said and done it cost me $600-700? Way less than some overpriced upgrade from a dealer package, while also sounding far better and more balanced.

 

[Sasquach]

It’s the augmented sound I’m thinking of. TB completely honest I didn’t realize there were 2 different types of ‘added’ sound. I just think it’s ridiculous.

Prior to the synthesized sound, some car manufacturers had a tube from the engine bay into the cabin in some manner (in my 86 theres a tube that splits off from the air intake and directs "sound" into the cabin down by the passenger footwell somewhere)

Gives off a louder sound in the cabin for "sportiness". My car's engine honestly isnt the best sounding (took me awhile to like it...i hated the sound when i first heard the noise of the engine) so I thought the sound pipe is kind of stupid to have. The Lexus LFA for another example has a glorious F1 style V10 sound and whatever sound wizardry they did (Yamaha had a hand in its acoustics) they piped in some of that noise into the cabin, and that V10 is something i'll never get tired of hearing.

Because its piped in with a tube in some manner, i think it could easily be removed or just plug the hole.

Nowadays manufacturers for whatever reason wants to "enhance" the sound using the car's speakers and to try to get rid of some of the "unwanted" noise.....(i guess like noise cancelling headphones). In the process the sound comes off fake and video gamey. i think it can be turned off in some cars thankfully, and you get the authentic sounding engine noise but its quieter than the augmented sound (probably due to lots of sound deadening)

 

[Lazy8s]

Prior to the synthesized sound, some car manufacturers had a tube from the engine bay into the cabin in some manner (in my 86 theres a tube that splits off from the air intake and directs "sound" into the cabin down by the passenger footwell somewhere)

Gives off a louder sound in the cabin for "sportiness". My car's engine honestly isnt the best sounding (took me awhile to like it...i hated the sound when i first heard the noise of the engine) so I thought the sound pipe is kind of stupid to have. The Lexus LFA for another example has a glorious F1 style V10 sound and whatever sound wizardry they did (Yamaha had a hand in its acoustics) they piped in some of that noise into the cabin, and that V10 is something i'll never get tired of hearing.

Because its piped in with a tube in some manner, i think it could easily be removed or just plug the hole.

Nowadays manufacturers for whatever reason wants to "enhance" the sound using the car's speakers and to try to get rid of some of the "unwanted" noise.....(i guess like noise cancelling headphones). In the process the sound comes off fake and video gamey. i think it can be turned off in some cars thankfully, and you get the authentic sounding engine noise but its quieter than the augmented sound (probably due to lots of sound deadening)

Thanks for the explanation - iirc it was Elysian who talked about removing the tube from his Miata that piped in sound? He’ll correct me if that’s not accurate, but me…I just like the sound where it belongs > outside the vehicle, and a nice, quite ride inside. Craziness lol.

 

[dodger]

I had no idea people still did stereo upgrades.

Next thing you'll tell me my 6 disc CD changer in the trunk is no longer cool.

The very few people that I knew that upgraded were more to get new tech into their old car rather than to get better sound. Then you have the whole issue of sealing off the cabin from "outside" noise to get that better sound vs engine noise thing going on. Bose is already working on noise cancellation for cars to reduce road noise and I wouldn't be surprised other manufacturers take them on since road noise is bad right?

https://www.theverge.com/2019/1/9/18175748/bose-noise-canceling-system-car-ces-2019

I dunno, with ICE cars being able to hear the engine might give you advance notice something is going wrong. If electric cars are the future and electric motors are it either works or it doesn't then noise cancelling of everything outside the car is the future (though they'd have to program it not to cancel out firetruck/ambulance/police sirens).