[purohitanuj]

Originally Posted by ChiragM

Stop light becomes the indicator

Thanks to BHPians blackwasp and CrAzY dRiVeR for bringing this up. Whenever there is an issue with the rear indicators (e.g. a blown bulb) in the Fiat Punto, the tail lights automatically act as indicators. This works on the Abarth Punto as well. Damn impressive touch. A video by CrAzY dRiVeR:

It is valid other way around as well in Punto i.e. in case of faulty stop lamp, the indicator lights up on brake!
Love the Punto for small details..

[sukrit7]

The punto I owned from 2009 to 2016 was truly ahead of its time. As some people have noted here, it came with a whopping set of thoroughly well thought out features!

That apart, my Cedia bought in 2008 keeps the power window switches active for about 30 seconds after the car is switched off. I don't know why many newer cars skip this feature. The car also comes with a knob allowing you to set the illumination level for dashboard lights.

[rahul_kej]

This is an old feature which was available in few cars but currently it has been outdated and not available in any of the cars since a decade or more but i simply love it in my lancer when it automatically extends in Radio mode and retracts in other modes.

It's motorised power antennae and trust me this feature looks cool even now and attracts attention of people. Even the FM reception is much better than today's cars.

[AAD]

In my Ecosport Automatic 2013 model there are two features that can be termed clever and driver friendly.

First is when the rear wiper is set to intermittent wipe, if the front wiper is used at max wiping speed (2nd speed), the rear wiper switches from intermittent to continuous.

Secondly, I always drive in Sport mode on Highways because it gives me deceleration control when I am braking or even if I lift my foot of the accelerator by down shifting thereby providing engine breaking and greater control.

Just returned from a 300 km round trip Mum-Nashik-Mum where I appreciated both the above features and used them to the hilt.

[CountMe91]

Adaptive Cruise Control is one of the best features in today's market. Just last month I drove a Polo 2018 model maybe and used this feature at length on motorways and its a very cool feature as opposed to vanilla cruise control.

Suppose you set your crusing speed as 70mph and then suddenly a car comes in front of you. Adaptive cruise control will detect the car and reduce the speed. Similarly once the car moves way and the road in front of you is clear, it will increase the speed to 70mph. Pretty cool and useful feature but very less room for errors.

[Akshitsi]

Great thread indeed. It is great to see how far the cars have grown over the years. There are a few features that I can think of in mass market cars:
1. Skoda Superb: Umbrellas in door pockets along with a water passage. It is indeed a "superb" feature, pun intended.
2. Skoda Laura: Infinite storage spaces bit the one that I really love is the one under the passenger seat. It is really nifty if you need to store some precious stuff. No one in the world can imagine it.

3. Chevrolet Cruze: Cruze was pretty feature loaded ever since it was launched but the one that i appreciate the most is that the car gives you two loud beeps if you turn off the ignition and forget the key in the car. Can't recall how many times this has happened with me because of keyless ignition.

4. Skoda Kodiaq: Third Skoda on my list but cannot help it, am a big fanboy. I deeply love the door edge protectors which automatically retract when you close the door. Simply clever!
5. Toyota Prius: Prius is probably the most underrated car in India, mainly because of it's price. It has a huge storage area under the boot floor and above the spare wheel. Quite handy.

[saket77]

Honda Civic: An audible chime if you ever start moving with the parking brakes on; apart from the usual dash warning light. I think many other cars must be having this feature but people probably missed posting about this useful feature.

Plus the cabin light comes on as soon as you remove the key from the key cylinder. Very useful at night. And the internal controls like power widows remain active for about 10 minutes on the car if the driver's door has not been opened.
I like the 'mist' wiper setting which gives that quick single wipe. Very useful in extremely light rains where even intermittent setting is an overkill. Just a slight push to the lever and you're done for some time. No need to put in the intermittent mode and then cancel it.

And I tried this on a 2014 Honda City: You simply cannot lock the car keys inside the boot. Throw the key inside the boot and try shutting the boot lid. It simply would not lock. This cool feature saves the day if you ever run into such a situation accidentally.

There are a lot many which others have covered better like auto cut-off of the defogger as it consumes a lot of power, auto locking of doors if unlocked and door not opened by the user, etc.

Regards,
Saket.

[dinu2506]

Lot of the high end German cars have this useful feature of the passenger side ORVM tilting downwards when Reverse gear is engaged. Very nifty and useful feature enabling you to see the kerb during parallel parking. Auto Dimming ORVMs another useful feature

[swiftdiesel]

I really appreciate some cool features in my 2017 i20 diesel and here they are:

Cornering lamps: It's a simple feature but trust me, it's really really effective, especially on B roads on a dark night. Recently, I lost my way in a village and was treading my down a mud path. This path suddenly ended and I couldn't suss out which way it went as it was pitch dark. I turned the steering towards the right, had the right corner lamp light up and viola, there it was; turned right and went on.

Another nifty feature with cornering lamps is when you reverse; the opposite corner is lit up and rightly so as that's the direction that will need illumination.

Climate Control: If the outside temperature is too low (like 10 degrees) and you set the inside temperature to 23 degrees, the system directs the air to both the upper body and feet to reduce the cold draft on your face. Once the desired temperature is reached, it switches back to the default upper body direction. In my case, I've seen this happen only in high altitudes where the temperature drops rapidly.

Steering Adjust: The steering reach and rake feature is fast disappearing due to cost cutting but it's immensely useful to get a good driving position. I face this only when I service my car and the guy changes my seat position. It takes awhile to get back that perfect position but thanks to steering reach and rake, I get it right. Still better would be memory seat function.

DRL: They dim slightly when the headlamps are turned ON but also when the car is switched OFF to conserve battery.

Audio Speaker Adjust: This is another nifty feature that I really use during long drives. I can adjust the sound output of every speaker and if people at the back are sleeping, I can almost mute their speakers while only my speaker outputs sound. Thus, I can listen to my music through only my speaker without disturbing other passengers in the car.

Bluetooth Connection: The AVN unit pairs with my phone as soon as the car is unlocked. So even before I get into the car and the AVN is turned ON, my phone is already paired and ready to make and receive calls. Saves a lot of time for me.

Backlit USB & Audio Jack: These ports are backlit in the night and very very useful to plug into, in the dark. Also, not to mention, they look cool!

Park Lights: All the lights switch off when the car is switched off which is a great feature for someone who is forgetful. If you still want them turned ON with the car switched OFF, you can turn them ON after opening the driver door making sure it's a conscious action on the driver's part.

Power Steering: The power steering stays active for ~5 seconds after the car is switched OFF. Useful, if you forgot to straighten the wheel.

Front Map Lamps: I'm sure many cars have this feature. When the map lamp is turned ON, it lights up only a specific area on the seat without lighting up the whole cabin. Really useful when I'm driving at night and my co-passenger can use it without hindering my vision.

Driver Door Lock: The driver's door doesn't have a separate lock switch inside although the door locks. When I pull the lever to open, it unlocks automatically. Makes 2 stage action into 1 making me more lazy. All other doors have the standard separate lock with the 2 stage action to unlock.

Backlit Instrument Cluster with Digital Speedo: Personally, I love this always backlit instrument cluster. Really helps my peripheral vision with information. Also, love the digital speedo which I use all the time to know my speed.

[jayakumarkp]

I love how Ford has placed the boot release button near the key area in their cars. Its superbly convenient not having to bend, search for the boot release button and instead you end up popping the fuel filler cap open! :-)
I also love how VW/Skodas allow for the windows to be controlled from the remote key itself.

[nerd1200]

On VAG cars, there's just too many of them that are available from the factory or can be enabled through VCDS. But there's one feature that I'm simply loving. My Top-two would be:

Auto-wipers
All along I felt that Auto-wipers are a gimmick - mean, how hard can it be to flick the stalk. However, after getting used to this feature on my Laura, I am pro auto-wipers now. It's just too convenient while you're driving along. Also, it closes the windows too when it's starts to drizzle. Nifty

Window open/close from the key-fob.
Super convenient, especially during summers when you can let the interiors cool down a bit before you get in.

Another feature I'd like to have is a water-proof key band (similar to what is available for the LR Discovery 5 or our the home-grown Nexon). I miss this every-time I go to a beach.

[baskar]

There are several features in my car - 2012 VW Passat. Some that I find very useful and often experience it.

1. Seat Massager for driver - In addition seat cooling & Electric lumbar Support (& seat heating which has no use in Chennai), I love the Seat Massager. It gives a pulsating movement around the lower back.
2. Passenger side ORVM tilt down to give kerb view when reverse gear is engaged
3. Music Volume low in reverse gear
4. adjustable Cup holders in the front - by pressing a switch in the cup holder, additional support comes out and grips the cup. Useful for carrying cups of different sizes.
5. Passenger airbag off - When not carrying any passenger, the airbag for the passenger side can be switched off using the key by turning a switch in the glove compartment.

6. I would even call the "Auto-hold" feature a great feature. Most German high end cars have this. We can take our leg off from A pedal when we stop. The car will apply brakes on its own. Super convenient in stop & go traffic. The best part is , this feature is auto enabled only when the driver wears his/her seat belt. As if the the car is saying " wear your seat belts and I will make it convenient for you". The driver can manually enable Auto-hold by pressing a button though.
7. Front head restraints with fore-aft adjustment feature - Can be useful for different drivers or simply when when you want drive in a laid-back manner.

[pradeepnair]

Originally Posted by ChiragM

Smart Trunk
Available on the Hyundai Verna and the Elantra. Walk up to the boot of the locked car with the key inside your pocket. If you stand at a distance of less than 1 metre for over 3 seconds, the boot automatically opens. No more searching for the keys with bags in both hands:

Very good thread - Thanks Chirag

I have a doubt. Does the boot open if only the key is with you. Will the boot open automatically if you stand near without the key. If it opens without the key with you, then it is dangerous. Kindly enlighten.

[Viraj_Guru]

Thanks ChiragM, Very good thread, how life can be easy because of all these clever features mentioned across the thread.

• Maruti Suzuki S-Cross - Variable intermittent wipers.

[Anirudh_sai]

Originally Posted by pradeepnair

Very good thread - Thanks Chirag

I have a doubt. Does the boot open if only the key is with you. Will the boot open automatically if you stand near without the key. If it opens without the key with you, then it is dangerous. Kindly enlighten.

It only opens if you have the key with you. Also it can easily be disabled through the MID