What I want in a car

[chenoameg]

I drove eowyn's (very nice) new to her car, and that reminded me of things I hate in cars. I know that I don't spend enough money on cars to make the manufacturers care, but it's still cathartic to write out the list.

1. Colors. If I'm going to spend all this money for something I'm going to have for a dozen years, I want it to come in colors I like.

Comments

[merastra]

Saturns used to have most of those (3-9) and did not-terribly on 10. The standards for "decent" on 10 have raised a fair bit. Driving over a curb was not recommended but doable.

There's some newer cars that definitely offer solutions to 1, because I see those colors sometimes and think, "Yummy! Looks just like shiny caramel! Or sea foam or blue sky". However, they are not the norm.

#3 is definitely an issue for me. izmirian says it's because newer cars are safer so the extra sturdy verticals to the roof mean they have to be wider and obscure the sight lines.

[desireearmfeldt]

Also, when the car is jointly owned and driven by two people of very different heights, it's hard to find a car whose sightlines are okay for both.

[fredrickegerman]

My first reaction to this post was "#3! Huge!"

But then we still have a 15-year-old Saturn. Every time I rent a car I wonder how people see out that tiny slit in the back.

[chanaleh]

I adored my first (and so far only, though that may change soonish) car, a green Toyota Echo, but it definitely gave me some ideas about features I would want in my next car. Like cruise control. (I liked the manual windows, though.)

And yeah, our Focus doesn't have a keyhole on the passenger side either (where I almost always am). WTF? I do have my own clicker, so I can still unlock it with that, but that's NOT REALLY THE POINT.

Since I have started thinking in a might-want-to-buy-a-car-soonish way, I've been looking more closely at other cars on the street. The #1 observation I have made is that the more closely it resembles a Fisher-Price car, the more I want it. This predilection for tiny bright-colored cars should help with gas mileage, at least!

[dcltdw]

FYI, on our new Prius C:

1. Red! I win. :) Maybe not for you.
2. Digital readout.
3. Good for Alyse, bad for me. See Andrea's point.
4. I rather adore the keyless entry, which works on either of the main doors or on the rear hatch.
5. Yup.
6. Yup.
7. Hahahaha nope.
8. Never driven over a curb, and typically never do. Did drive it on what I'd call excellent camp roads with no problem.
9. No idea.
10. We routinely get 50+ mpg.

[kelkyag]

#2 would be lovely. As a relative novice who is still not as good as would be nice about maintaining an even speed without someone to match speed to, I found myself wishing for a speedometer that would give me some sort of audio feedback on my speed, so that I didn't have to look at the dashboard all the time (which takes me too long to parse) to find out if I had drifted up or down 5mph.

#1: At some point I saw a lovely Bug that was soap-bubble iridescent with base color somewhere around ivory. Want! But of existing standard colors, I'd probably pick a blue or green.

Your color descriptions sound like you don't want a solid color, which IME is rare in cars other than racing stripes and such.

[merastra]

Oh yeah, for colors, I've been considering getting some of those large temporary wall-stickers and seeing how well that sticks on my car. I'll have to (*shock*) clean it first so the decal has a chance of sticking, but there are some fun things you get with those.

I bet you could get anything you want printed, if you're willing to pay a little.

[coraline]

they works awesomely well, actually :)

i have friends who have been using them for years.