Weird/Cool car features

My 88 Silverado came loaded with some amazing modern features. Cruise control, AC, intermittent wipers, a cassette deck, power windows, and even power door locks! 

Not really a “hidden” feature, I’ve always liked how the ls430 would remember the seat and wheel position based on which key was used. My wife and I have very different driving positions. 

My 1986 Mazda 626's oscillating center vent. That was so rad... 1980's FTW

_ said:

Not really a “hidden” feature, I’ve always liked how the ls430 would remember the seat and wheel position based on which key was used. My wife and I have very different driving positions. 

The Crosstour I murdered did that too. It also did the thing where the power mirror on whichever you had the power mirror adjustment switch to would go down when you put the car in reverse to let you see where the curb/line was when parking. I only used it once by accident and thought the car was broken when I did but still mildly neat.

BMW e28s (and likely other BMW's of that vintage) have heaters built into the door locks that are activated by pulling up on the outside drivers door handle, the ETM lists that they are active for 35 seconds at -15C, 17 seconds at 0C and 5.5 seconds at 7C. The windshield washer outlets are also heated and appear to be on anytime the car is on.

Adam

aircooled said:

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.

I removed the thing from my 79 T-bird because racecar, but yeah, pretty nifty.

_ said:

Not really a “hidden” feature, I’ve always liked how the ls430 would remember the seat and wheel position based on which key was used. My wife and I have very different driving positions. 

Yup, our LS and our Acura TSX both have these feature

Daylan C said:

_ said:

Not really a “hidden” feature, I’ve always liked how the ls430 would remember the seat and wheel position based on which key was used. My wife and I have very different driving positions. 

The Crosstour I murdered did that too. It also did the thing where the power mirror on whichever you had the power mirror adjustment switch to would go down when you put the car in reverse to let you see where the curb/line was when parking. I only used it once by accident and thought the car was broken when I did but still mildly neat.

Yeah our tsx wagon has that. If you put the mirror awitxh to right, when in reverse, right mirror goes down 

One feature i love on our tsx wagon, i forgot to mention:

1) if front wiper is on, you put car in reverse, car automatically turns on rear wiper it and wipes rear window

2) if your wiper is on intermittent setting, and its between wipes, and your foot is on the brake at stop light, the minute you let your foot off the brake, front wipers will wipe, even if its not time for the “intermittent wipe”

since it doesnt rain here, never knew about this, but we went to montana and found these cool features

In reply to Opti :

I like the little wooden picnic tables built into the seat back on Some Jaguar sedans. 

Old_Town said:

My 1986 Mazda 626's oscillating center vent. That was so rad... 1980's FTW

I came here to mention that, my 2000 626 had that also and a button that said "swing!"

Clutch override button on a first gen 4Runner with a stick. You could start the truck like an automatic. You had to be careful. It would do it in neutral...or in gear. It didn't care.  You would, when it tried to run you over. 

In reply to mr2s2000elise :

Even Fiestas have those features.

 In Appleseed said:

Clutch override button on a first gen 4Runner with a stick. You could start the truck like an automatic. You had to be careful. It would do it in neutral...or in gear. It didn't care.  You would, when it tried to run you over. 

They describe this feature’s intended use in owners manual as something to the effect of.... In the event that you are backed up against a tree or object that you dont want to roll back into while starting out, put it in 4wd low and 1st gear and start out on the starter so you dont have to use the clutch and roll backwards into that object. Weird but kinda awesome. Speaks to how rugged the starters are in them lol. 

The hood above the instrument panel in my Transit Connect. Yeah, so what?

It has a hidden cubby with a 12v power point and slots for wires in the corners.

The latch release is hidden under the lip of the hood.

Confession time: The cubby is from a European market Tourneo Connect (same thing as the TC in the US). I bought if off of eBay for $40. It fits exactly the same as the US part. I still gotta wire up the power point. I think I'm going to swap the outlet out for a USB outlet.

I have a rental Impala at the moment. This is the second time I've had one, and I'm more in love each time, I hate to admit. 

The LCD in the center of the dash slides up at the push of a button. There's a USB port there that charges and interfaces with Android Auto and Carplay. You can set a combination lock that has to be typed into the touch screen to open it. At the bottom of the center console is a flip up panel with a Qi charging pad, and I'm pretty sure I could feel a little A/C passing through the compartment.

Oh, and it has sound deadening and a suspension that filters out road imperfections. When I had to drive on rumble strips in a construction zone, the actual rumble was barely perceptable through SiriusXM Rock The Bells radio.

RacetruckRon said:

I always liked the cupholders in Saabs.

My buddy Tom designed those back when he was a young engineer in the early 90s.

Carbon said:

 In Appleseed said:

Clutch override button on a first gen 4Runner with a stick. You could start the truck like an automatic. You had to be careful. It would do it in neutral...or in gear. It didn't care.  You would, when it tried to run you over. 

They describe this feature’s intended use in owners manual as something to the effect of.... In the event that you are backed up against a tree or object that you dont want to roll back into while starting out, put it in 4wd low and 1st gear and start out on the starter so you dont have to use the clutch and roll backwards into that object. Weird but kinda awesome. Speaks to how rugged the starters are in them lol. 

There's another, even more important purpose for the override (and a reason some Wranglers have a fuse you can pull that will disable the clutch switch).  If you stall it and you're in water / mud up to the bellhousing, you absolutely cannot put the clutch in as you'll get water / mud all over the disc and most likely destroy it.  So you're stuck in whatever gear you're in (can't shift in that situation) and if you stall it, you have to be able to restart without the clutch.  

Certain Toyotas (including my GS) have the crotch-vent. Air vent under the steering column. Wonderful addition. 

In reply to mtn :

My Caprice has that on both sides of the dash.

My B6 Passat has a nifty feature that actually saves money.  In my experience wipers last until they get "chattery" on the upstroke because they have gotten stiff from being in the same position at the end of their downstroke approximately 99.9% of their lives.  The Passat "flips" the wipers over every time you shut off the car so they don't take that set.

My old Allroad had a solar panel sunroof that ran the HVAC blower on warm and sunny days so the interior of the car never got "hot".  I think Prius's have a similar feature now.

rslifkin said:

Carbon said:

 In Appleseed said:

Clutch override button on a first gen 4Runner with a stick. You could start the truck like an automatic. You had to be careful. It would do it in neutral...or in gear. It didn't care.  You would, when it tried to run you over. 

They describe this feature’s intended use in owners manual as something to the effect of.... In the event that you are backed up against a tree or object that you dont want to roll back into while starting out, put it in 4wd low and 1st gear and start out on the starter so you dont have to use the clutch and roll backwards into that object. Weird but kinda awesome. Speaks to how rugged the starters are in them lol. 

There's another, even more important purpose for the override (and a reason some Wranglers have a fuse you can pull that will disable the clutch switch).  If you stall it and you're in water / mud up to the bellhousing, you absolutely cannot put the clutch in as you'll get water / mud all over the disc and most likely destroy it.  So you're stuck in whatever gear you're in (can't shift in that situation) and if you stall it, you have to be able to restart without the clutch.  

The Toyota Pickup I've been fixing up has it too, I thought it was cool but I didn't know why it had it.

dclafleur said:

rslifkin said:

Carbon said:

 In Appleseed said:

Clutch override button on a first gen 4Runner with a stick. You could start the truck like an automatic. You had to be careful. It would do it in neutral...or in gear. It didn't care.  You would, when it tried to run you over. 

They describe this feature’s intended use in owners manual as something to the effect of.... In the event that you are backed up against a tree or object that you dont want to roll back into while starting out, put it in 4wd low and 1st gear and start out on the starter so you dont have to use the clutch and roll backwards into that object. Weird but kinda awesome. Speaks to how rugged the starters are in them lol. 

There's another, even more important purpose for the override (and a reason some Wranglers have a fuse you can pull that will disable the clutch switch).  If you stall it and you're in water / mud up to the bellhousing, you absolutely cannot put the clutch in as you'll get water / mud all over the disc and most likely destroy it.  So you're stuck in whatever gear you're in (can't shift in that situation) and if you stall it, you have to be able to restart without the clutch.  

The Toyota Pickup I've been fixing up has it too, I thought it was cool but I didn't know why it had it.

It's also nice when you stall it rock crawling. Just make you give it gas once you start rolling. 

On both of the SAAB 9-5's I have had there is a switch in the glove box that in one position will let AC in.  

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