Current trends you don't like?

[vr4]

[quote=""Chris GTO TT""]Generally speaking I'm a fan of those, except FWD which is fine.[/quote]

Honestly out of that list only not a fan of airbags. TPMS could go either way but I still haven't owned anything with it. The ex's escape she just bought does though.

Realistically...CVT is probably the biggest one I don't like.

[ChargerX3]

TPMS is overrated. They fail or die and it throws your dash into a frenzy until corrected. Also if you plan to swap tires they have to go with and not all tires require the same air pressure.

[Chris GTO TT]

The only things I'm not a huge fan of with tpms is when they use just an idiot light version. At this point all systems should tell you actual air pressure on the dash. Otherwise by in large its helpful for most people. No one checks their tire pressure and even worse most people can't tell the difference between 10-15psi low and the correct psi from a visual inspection.

[vr4]

[quote=""Chris GTO TT""]The only things I'm not a huge fan of with tpms is when they use just an idiot light version. At this point all systems should tell you actual air pressure on the dash. Otherwise by in large its helpful for most people. No one checks their tire pressure and even worse most people can't tell the difference between 10-15psi low and the correct psi from a visual inspection.[/quote]

This is why I'm on the fence about it. Really should display actual pressures but most don't

[alienviking]

[quote=""ChargerX3""]The Jeep...
[/quote]

As if it would be running

I like my TPMS but it displays actual pressure. I think my biggest gripe is the design as mentioned and small engines.. no more fun engine noise

[Duck Vader]

FWD - depends on the car. Personally for me RWD > FWD > AWD

CVT - again this depends on the car. On things like my Volt it is perfectly fine. It is a quiet car with no engine noise and doesn't feel like a normal car when driving it. So I don't even notice it has a CVT since there is no engine to listen to as it goes through the gears. In regular cars though that actually have a normal I much prefer a standard transmission to allow for proper gear selection based on the current want/need.

TPMS - Like it in my volt as it gives actual pressure, but just the dummy light ones are stupid. However, you have to think about the fact that the vast majority of people never look at their tires or do any kind of their own maintenance. So giving them a warning is better than nothing.

Small engines don't really bother me too much since they are making more power, but what really bothers me is that a lot of companies pump fake exhaust noise into the cabin.

[alienviking]

Oh and here is another one - the disappearance of wagons! Actually the direction of huge vehicles in general. Stupid.

[aaronatstate]

I wish my RS showed actual tire pressures too. My wife's Explorer Sport show the actual tire pressures, which is nice.

[quote=""ChargerX3""]Also if you plan to swap tires they have to go with and not all tires require the same air pressure.[/quote]

I thought you're supposed to inflate to what the sticker says on the door sill, regardless of which tire you put on.

[Chris GTO TT]

Assuming you stay with the same series of tires, for the most part yes that's true. But if you swap an LT tire to a P tire or vica versa you have to account for the difference between how the two carry weight. A P series tire almost always carries its max load at 35psi, but a LT tire carries its max weight at an indicated pressure. For example a E load rated LT tire will typically carry its maximum load at 80 psi, so if you only put 35 psi in it and load up you are woefully under inflating the tire.

[aaronatstate]

[quote=""Chris GTO TT""]Assuming you stay with the same series of tires, for the most part yes that's true. But if you swap an LT tire to a P tire or vica versa you have to account for the difference between how the two carry weight. A P series tire almost always carries its max load at 35psi, but a LT tire carries its max weight at an indicated pressure. For example a E load rated LT tire will typically carry its maximum load at 80 psi, so if you only put 35 psi in it and load up you are woefully under inflating the tire.[/quote]

That really only applies to trucks when you want to put say BFG All Terrains on. For the majority of people, they will be replacing their tires with something equivalent to OE :d ontknow:

[aaronatstate]

Also for passenger tires, you should always inflate to what the door sill plate says. Agree most are 35psi, but the RS for example is 46

[Duck Vader]

I think mine are 38 recommend but usually sit between 38-41 depending on temp and all that.

[Chris GTO TT]

Trucks and SUV's... I can get LT E load rated tires for the Outback and my Sequoia. Also you may want to adjust tire pressure for performance reasons.

[alienviking]

[quote=""aaronatstate""]Also for passenger tires, you should always inflate to what the door sill plate says. Agree most are 35psi, but the RS for example is 46 [/quote]

46?!? Holy crap.

[ChargerX3]

That’s the problem. Your door says one thing but your tire might say another. We switch out tires all the time for our work trucks. Throw an E tire on there for all the rough mine roads and now you got a problem.

Or say it’s cold out and the pressure dips. Ding ding ding! And it lights up your center cluster until you air it up. But what if you’re running nitrogen. Not like those places are everywhere. I wish you could disable that feature.

[aaronatstate]

[quote=""alienviking""]46?!? Holy crap.[/quote]

Yeah 19s, tiny sidewall.

[Chris GTO TT]

[quote=""aaronatstate""]Yeah 19s, tiny sidewall.[/quote]

It probably has more to do with Ford trying to push CAFE as far as possible. I'd suspect track day people run lower cold pressure.

[MumRa]

Wamen drivers. am I right guise? Saudi Arabia is going to regret letting them drive.

[happygeek]

[quote=""stealthee""]Yeah, blind spots are terrible in newer cars.[/quote]

[quote=""alienviking""]Oh and here is another one - the disappearance of wagons! Actually the direction of huge vehicles in general. Stupid.[/quote]



I had better visibility with a 99 VW Jetta or a 2003 GMC Envoy than our 2015 Mazda CX9. They took a wagon, lifted it, shrank the windows, unnecessarily sloped the back so it lost cargo space, ruined the visibility ... and called it a "crossover"

I think they just want an excuse to charge extra for backup cameras, blind spot detection, etc.

[aaronatstate]

[quote=""happygeek""]

I had better visibility with a 99 VW Jetta or a 2003 GMC Envoy than our 2015 Mazda CX9. They took a wagon, lifted it, shrank the windows, unnecessarily sloped the back so it lost cargo space, ruined the visibility ... and called it a "crossover"

I think they just want an excuse to charge extra for backup cameras, blind spot detection, etc.[/quote]

I think the reason the windows are smaller, belt line is higher, a/b/c pillars are bigger, is because of the increased safety standards. With crossovers it is even worse, since they want to have a good rollover rating, but they are built on a passenger car platform. Sure they are doing some of the stuff for design purposes, but I think the main driver has been passing the safety requirements, not just for looks.

I don't think vehicles from the late 90s/early 2000s would come close to passing today's safety standards.