So I've got the ND in the shop and they gave me a new cx9 for a loaner and I noticed it had window shades built into the rear door panels.
And the next day I was checking out my buddies sweet ass new beater he just bought and we discovered a picnic table. Apparently all 97-06 Honda crvs have picnic tables on top of the spare.
What are some other cool or weird features people might not know about
I would love SAAB’s Night Panel in every vehicle I own. As silly as it sounds, it is awesome.
mtn said:I would love SAAB’s Night Panel in every vehicle I own. As silly as it sounds, it is awesome.
I miss the nightpanel, it's a nice little feature
My dad owned a ‘58 Oldsmobile 88 that had a moveable taillight for the gas cap.
BMW has had those rear door pull-up shades for years, as I recall.
I appreciate in my GTI that there are little dim white LEDs under the inner door handles and door pull. You don't even notice them there, but in a dark car they give a dim backlight so you can see the handles and pull. It's a nice little thought that some designer didn't have to add, but realized would be a nice feature that almost nobody would actually notice, but would subconsciously find useful.
I also appreciate the GTI has a second smaller glovebox on the driver's side over to the left of the steering wheel. Good for hiding wallet, cell phone, etc.
The door latches on the jeep wrangler are sized to be perfect bottle openers.... I don’t have one anymore.
Opti said:So I've got the ND in the shop and they gave me a new cx9 for a loaner and I noticed it had window shades built into the rear door panels.
e28 5 series BMWs had built in side window shades in the rear door panls as an available option in the 1980s, although it wasn't available on cars for the North America market - I've only seen one grey market car in person that had them.
A friend has 2(!) 64 Caddy limos, they have a (vacuum actuated) feature that pops the parking brake off when you move the gear selector to drive.
This feature is not on any new cars that I know of. I can’t think of a safety reason not to have it, but I suspect it’s not allowed.
One of them of course has the headlight sentinel that flips the headlight to low when it sees other headlights. I imagine this feature might not behave as expected in the modern world.
The dual action tailgate on my Caprice wagon.
Use the outer handle it opens like this.
Roll the window down and use the inside handle and it opens like this.
(2nd picture not my car because I didn't put a battery in mine yet)
In reply to Daylan C :
I just bought my first pick.up and I already wish the tailgate could be swung to the side.
In reply to DeadSkunk (Warren) :
I seem to remember atleast one obscure probably car based mini truck that had a sideways hinged tailgate. I might be making that up though.
Alfa Romeos come with extra lights on the dashboard...they're always on. 
irish44j said:BMW has had those rear door pull-up shades for years, as I recall.
I appreciate in my GTI that there are little dim white LEDs under the inner door handles and door pull. You don't even notice them there, but in a dark car they give a dim backlight so you can see the handles and pull.
Yes. And the shades in the OP look 99% identical (as far as the pull tab, hooks, etc.) to the ones in my E38. The E38 also has dim white lights on the exterior door handles so they're visible in the dark after unlocking the car.
On the 85-88 toyota cressidas, there is a little green light that glows on the passenger side key hole if you pull on the outside passenger door handle. This is because to disable the alarm you need to unlock the passenger door, and the light keeps you from scratching the door at night with the key.
I always liked the cupholders in Saabs.
My Austin Princess Vanden Plas had 4 hydraulic jacks, one at each wheel. What looked like a second Lucas starter motor pumped fluid to all 4 at once. Electric switch was below the driver's knees. This feature may have only been on the limo models.
In reply to aircooled :
Our Chrysler Pacifica has a push button parking brake below the shift knob. When you turn the knob from Park to Drive, it automatically removes the e-brake.
The divider between the front cup holders in the Mercedes R class has two bottle openers under it. One for plastic bottles and one for glass bottles.
Indecisiverock said:On the 85-88 toyota cressidas, there is a little green light that glows on the passenger side key hole if you pull on the outside passenger door handle. This is because to disable the alarm you need to unlock the passenger door, and the light keeps you from scratching the door at night with the key.
On a related note, my '89 Ford Probe had a little green light that lit up the ignition key slot once you opened the driver's door. I thought this was quite convenient - not lighting up the whole car, just showing you where you needed to put the key.
I had a 87 Town car. As a smoker, the power vent window was the bomb.
On the first-gen Chevy Volt there is a little button on the end of the left stalk that, when pressed, honks the horn at something like half volume in three super quick bursts. I believe it's a "hey don't freak out I'm behind you" button for pedestrians but it also worked awesome as an aggression-free alert for distracted drivers at intersections or for that little goodbye honk when departing from a friend/family's home.
All 3 of my Lexus LS had this feature, that I love.
As you sit in the driver side, you can reach over to the LEFT side bolster of the passenger seat, which has a switch there that can make it forward and back.
So as a driver, it really helps setting the passenger seat perfect, for a tall/short passenger, or giving more room to rear seat passengers if needed. You can do that all without leaving the drivers seat, comes in VERY handy
mr2s2000elise said:All 3 of my Lexus LS had this feature, that I love.
As you sit in the driver side, you can reach over to the LEFT side bolster of the passenger seat, which has a switch there that can make it forward and back.
So as a driver, it really helps setting the passenger seat perfect, for a tall/short passenger, or giving more room to rear seat passengers if needed. You can do that all without leaving the drivers seat, comes in VERY handy
Ohh, Kia Sedona has that too. Excellent feature, but one that is easy to overlook.
On the topic of seat adjustment, the seats in my E38 have the best adjustable lumbar support I've seen. It's not just adjustable in quanitity like most, but you can adjust the height of the lumber support within the seat back. And the top half of the seat back can be tilted relative to the bottom half.
aircooled said:One of them of course has the headlight sentinel that flips the headlight to low when it sees other headlights. I imagine this feature might not behave as expected in the modern world.
Our '07 Escalade ESV (and some other higher end GMs) will do this as well. GM calls it Intellibeam.
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