It’s been almost a week now since I took delivery of my new motor, and in that time I have done a couple of long runs to assess it’s performance and ease of use.
I’ve been reprimanded quite a few times by the onboard computer telling me that I’m far too close to objects while backing down my drive and into the garage…So the allround proximity sensors have been disabled!
After turning off the engine while waiting at traffic lights and annoying the hell out of me, I’ve disabled the stop/start feature that all new vehicles seem to have these days…
Being startled by a wailing alarm at 70 mph when I cross a white line to overtake slow moving traffic…Disabled!
Being told that I’m too close to the vehicle in front, and even active braking occurring while hurtling down a slip road on to the motorway…Disabled!
And trying to figure out what on earth I’m looking at on the massive screen in the centre of the dashboard, and a Mrs Fox exclaiming…“I didn’t touch nothing!”
What’s worse…All the things I’ve disabled, default back on when the engine is turned off…
It strikes me that car makers have lost the plot… 
What should be a simple means of transport to keep the rain off your head while going to work or the Tesco, they have succeeded in adding more computing power than was used in the space shuttle!
And…Why is it illegal to use your smartphone while driving, but it’s not illegal to have a screen the size of Vue cinema sitting on yer dashboard…???
WOW! Thanks for all that feedback Foxy and now I’ll be passing on all those comments to my grandson who is in charge of the family’s use car sales. Most of those are only just about ulez compliant at around 10yrs old or older, so will be free of all those annoying foibles. That info will make another good sales pitch👍
Mrs LD’s Suzuki is 9yrs old from new and that too doesn’t have any of those annoying foibles and nor does my Pathfinder 
All good reasons to keep to our present vehicles 
What make and model is your new wheels Foxy?
Mine has all those features too foxy, except stop start, as it’s a hybrid and runs on electric around 50% of the time, it can even park itself, ( I’ve used it once but I can do it quicker) I love all those features and don’t disable anything, it’s just a matter of getting used to them, I would give mrs fox the manual to read, after all, men don’t read manuals 
I was waiting for this post. 
We purchased a Toyota Highlander a couple of years ago and traded it in a year later because it left me in a constant state of exasperation, shouting, “Stop bossing me around!” or, "I want the government overlords out of my vehicle! 
"
I went back to a Honda Oddity (Odyssey) and am once again in a state of transportational bliss.
And it has crossbar surfboard racks.
Cheers and happy motoring!
Thanks LongDriver, I bought a 2020 Citroen C5 Aircross with a 1.5 Diesel engine last October but it was a very heavy car and too chuggy? with such a small engine. It also had an electric handbrake that I never warmed to, and the drivers seat was adjusted electrically. A right pain when you are relaxing outside Greggs with a Tuna Crunch in your hand, and afterwards trying to return the seat to it’s previous settings…And finally…It was a struggle to fit it in my garage.
So I took it back last week, got a good price for it and took out a two year old Citroen C3 Aircross with the same diesel engine as the C5…A lot more lively being a lighter vehicle. It’s got a proper handbrake and the seat is adjusted manually… 
you can actually walk all around it while in the garage…
As a courier I had two Citroen Berlingo vans and they were brilliant…never had anything to do on them except change the oil and filters…I sold the last one with 300,000 miles on the clock. That’s why I like citroen…
I would never buy an electric vehicle Primus, really poor idea, especially the hybrids.
Nobody I know who knows anything about electrics/electronics would ever purchase an electric vehicle. But I have several friends who have electric vehicles and love all the extras and gadgets, so fair play to you Primus, if it’s what you like I hope you have many years of happy trouble free motoring…
Spot on Surfer… I just think it’s got more to do with control than anything to do about pollution and saving the planet. The spy in your cab… 
We have a serious problem here (probably the same where you are) with so many vehicles on the road now, especially during rush hour…So what can the government do to make driving your own car less attractive and more difficult in the future…Make it so expensive to own and drive your own, and place obstacles in your way. It’s no surprise that they want everyone to have a smart meter installed, and then make sure that everyone has to rely on a supply in order to drive. Some people haven’t joined the dots up yet…But they will in time, hopefully long after my demise…
If this latest motor doesn’t satisfy me I will end up buying an old restored classic vehicle…
My Honda moment Surfer…
That’s why I went for a hybrid, it’s self charging so no plug in, and it’s a Toyota so it should be reliable, it has a three year warranty extended to ten years if you have it serviced at a Toyota dealership ( which I will) Toyota are so far ahead in hybrid technology as they have been doing it for years, hope your Citroen serves you well…the reason for all this technology in cars is to trial and refine these systems for when driverless cars are the norm,cars will even be able to talk to each other to give information on traffic, fuel prices and location ect, if it ever works…shame your c5 didn’t have memory seats as you could just push a button to restore your seat position…
Yes, there are some very good used vehicles out there if you know what various models pitfalls are. As for high milage longevity, most of that is down to modern oil technology and better filters. Mrs LD’s Suzuki has 0W-20, A/B5 synthetic oil which seems as thin as water, but being that the servicing is done via the family business, the extra cost of such oil is absorbed and not charged at the retail price of £4.15 per litre from the bulk .
I’ve got a Peugeot, and I love the electric handbrake, and the high centre console that wouldn’t be possible with an old-fashioned handbrake. When I stop and turn off engine the brake comes on automatically (and lights up so I know it’s on). And when moving off the handbrake goes off automatically. The only time I need to touch it is when in a really tight parallel parking space and I need to stunt back & forth a little before moving off. And on a 1:1 hill start.
Toyota is the best , in my opinion unbeatable.
I was more than upset March 23 after ordering a RAV4 12mths+ earlier I gave up and bought a Lexus …
Next time a RAV4 .
Just looked at the manual, and there’s a thing called:
Hill start assist
This system keeps the vehicle briefly stationary
(for approximately 2 seconds) when making a hill
start, while you transfer your foot from the brake
pedal to the accelerator pedal.
The system is only active when:
– The vehicle is completely stationary, with your
foot on the brake pedal.
– Certain slope conditions are met.
– The driver’s door is closed.
I agree about Toyota’s Primus, very good and well built motors. I used to like the RAV 4 and took one out on a test drive back in 2010 just before I bough the Qashqai, one of the reasons I didn’t buy it, was too much interference from the electronics, especially the electrically adjusting seat… It just seems that car companies are competing for the most electrically and computer operated driving aids instead of concentrating on the real reason for the existence of a motor vehicle…The Engine.
I’m probably just an old ‘stick in the mud’ who likes driving, and like a ships captain…In charge of his ship, and not the other way round…I don’t think driverless cars will take to the roads before I’ve no need of a car, so I’d just like to preserve the freedom one finds on the open roads for a while longer yet.
As you will be aware of…It takes the same energy to move a weight one mile regardless of the fuel used…And the extra weight of electric drive components, plus a large battery and petrol engine, extra energy will be required than using a stand alone petrol or diesel engine.
@LongDriver yes due to the latest fashion of moving away from using proper oil for lubrication to save the planet, it makes we wonder what else we are damaging to produce alternatives. There are always costs to the resources of the planet even by using electrical energy to power our vehicles. Perhaps we should return to using Whale oil for lubrication from specially farmed Whales…At least it would be sustainable…
@d00d One of the reasons I disliked the C5 was the bulky centre console, it made me feel more like a pilot wedged into a small cockpit. The electric handbrake is adjusted electrically and made the brakes very keen and it was hard to ‘feather’ the brakes at road ends.
Doing hill starts and reverse parking should all be well within the drivers capability when passing a test and being allowed out on the roads. The C5 was equipped with hill start facility and reverse parking, both were disabled. Practice makes perfect, and by having these things taken away produces a lazy driver.
Furthermore, listening to bells and whistles, and paying attention to screens, takes the drivers concentration away from the road ahead, It only takes a second and a careless pedestrian…
Mine used the petrol motor and electric to move the car in some cases, either petrol, electric or both are used , as for all the gizmos, most are just driver aids, not substitutes , we had a situation last year, a learner driver decided to stop on a slip road to a dual carriageway, mrs,p was driving and, though she braked, the car’s computer decided it wasn’t hard enough so took over and stopped safely…
I looked into EV’s but concluded there were too many potential downsides not least of which was depreciation. I went for a hybrid which for me has been very reliable. I also have a pickup truck because it’s useful in winter round here and I’m a DIY type of guy so it’s very handy
Well, my Toyota hybrid has got all those features that bother you plus a few others. I admit that some features tend to be nerve-racking and annoy me as well. One of my pet peeves is: Why do I have to fasten the seat belt before I can start the engine when I just want to change a parking space on a supermarket car park which is just a few meters away? I found a workaround. With some exceptions, I do like those advanced driver assistance systems and wouldn’t want to do without them, e.g. rear cross traffic alert, blind spot sensor, collision avoidance; lane departure warning, adaptive cruise control. I don’t need automatic parking and have never used it. The average driver will presumably not understand why some of these ADAS were introduced. One thing which I disabled immediately is automatic door lock and would only have a faint idea of what this feature is good for. It took me a long time to find out how this can be done and then it wasn’t easy to do it. In any case, it shouldn’t be a default.
Spot on, OGF, and that is because jamming them into cars is technically feasible while a real breakthrough in designing a sustainable engine as part of a mobility concept is not in sight. Plus, like it or not, there are quite a lot of drivers who want those bells ‘n’ whistles if you like just as they do when it comes to other gadgets. Here car makers and customers meet. It’s not the government who is in the driver’s seat but those millions of customers.
Because it’s not the same.
Why get a car with sat nav you don’t need it, your wife will tell you if your going too fast or slow, if your too close to the car Infront, if the traffic lights are red or changing to green, or if you have made wrong turn or missed it. She can even direct you to the correct shop and where to park. She can even fell you when the car needs a clean inside and out, a sat nav can’t do that. She can even tell you how and when she wants to go to the hairdresser’s , Also why have car with a horn? She will scream loud enough if your about to hit anything, just think how much cheaper a car would be to buy without these gadgets.