The "Things I Dislike About My Car" Thread

[cawimmer430]

On mine I hate the fact that the status button for the wiper-speed-sensitivity is hidden behind the wheel. It's not visible from my seating position and I always have to lean forwards to see if it's activated.

It's not such a big deal since it is easy to remember whether or not I turned it on/off, but still - Wimmer loves to bitch about things.   


Can't see it...




Ah, now I can...








Post your issues!

[Cookie Monster]

My dash rattles a lot. Must be my ricer exhaust rattling everything apart.

[GoCougs]

Road noise, but I think pretty much most all cars are too loud.

[Eye of the Tiger]

Nothing wrong here.

But everything is wrong according to all of you who haver never driven my car.

[CALL_911]

My car hesitates when it's freezing outside and the engine is ice cold. I also hate the fact that the HIDs are the DRLs. I also hate the fact that I can't reset the fucking TPMS. I do not like the navigation radio unit.

That's it, really. I like it.

[Eye of the Tiger]

My dash rattles a lot. Must be my ricer exhaust rattling everything apart.

You ruined your car. My hacked up idiot exhaust is rattle free and doesn't produce any unwanted vibrations.

[Speed_Racer]

The stock tires fitted on my car are awful. 13k miles and I am almost at the wear bars. I won't be replacing with the same brand (obviously).

[hotrodalex]

Idle rpm is screwed up when the car is warming up. It's like it's trying to vary the fuel/air mixture and messes up, since if I let it go too long without pushing the gas pedal myself it'll kill itself. Once it warms up, it's fine.

Dash board beeps when it's 37 or colder. Yes, I know it's cold.

[JWC]

Mine are age related....the car's. 

The radio's ASC is screwed up.  It constantly changes while driving at a steady speed.  The vinyl is pulling loose from all the door panels.  Other than that, this has been one of the best cars I've ever owned.

[Rupert]

944 throttle response is slooow and wind noise is pretty loud.

Explorer is a plastic shitbox inside. It could also be a bit more off-roady.

[CALL_911]

Mine are age related....the car's. 

The radio's ASC is screwed up.  It constantly changes while driving at a steady speed.  The vinyl is pulling loose from all the door panels.  Other than that, this has been one of the best cars I've ever owned.

You drive a V70, right?

[JWC]

You drive a V70, right?

Yep.

[MexicoCityM3]

I've got the same issue as you Wimmer on both my cars. Its a bit annoying. Other things:

The M3 will grind easily if you hurry it on the 1st to 2nd shift. The 1M is fine.
Rattles.
I'm a bit bothered by the running costs (tires, special oil, etc) but not  really the cars fault, I knew that going in.

I guess that's it.

[MexicoCityM3]

The stock tires fitted on my car are awful. 13k miles and I am almost at the wear bars. I won't be replacing with the same brand (obviously).

Drift much?

[MrH]

Things being fixed at the dealership this week (hopefully):

- Whistling window seal on the passenger side
- GPS only locks onto a satellite about 1/3 of the time
- Still getting that weird burning smell sometimes. Going to have them try and hunt it down.
- Possible moisture in the taillights.

Things that I still don't like:
- Wind and road noise.  It's just kind of a loud car.
- The trim around the door speakers rattle a little when the music is turned up.

Thinking about adding some sound deadening mat to the doors.  That should help solve those two problems.

Also don't like:
- the clutch take up.  It sucks.
- Altezza taillights. I've got vinyl cut outs to cover them with though.
- The exhaust.  Too quiet and doesn't fill out the cutouts in the bumper very well at all.  The induction noise they pipe into the cabin is nice (you can even get different noises with TRD replacement tubes), but the exhaust is just too quiet and doesn't have any character.
- The torque dip.  I understand what they were shooting for.  There's enough torque down low to pass on the highway and stay in 6th.  All the power is up top, so it's fine up there too.  But in the middle, there's a big dip down where it's kind of dead.

Unequal length headers, an AVO turbo kit, and Nameless performance exhaust would solve those last two nicely

[JWC]

Most common "weird burning smell" when I worked at dealerships was plastic shopping bags melted onto the exhaust, primarily the catalytic converter.   You can't those things off either.  You can only leave it and about two months later, the odor goes away.

[AutobahnSHO]

1- Automatic transmission
2- no convertible (sunroof would be awesome!)
3- boring color  (silver)
4- needs moahr powher

I plan on fixing all of this next car- maybe in 2 years.... 

[Gotta-Qik-C7]

The chattering/steaking wipers!

[Laconian]

Fuel economy in the city.

[GoCougs]

The chattering/steaking wipers!

FWIW, I learned a while back that for this is caused by dirt/grime/grease/etc., on the windshield, and in particular, it being trapped/embedded in pits and scratches of the glass. This doesn't come off with just glass cleaner but needs special attention like a light cutting compound like that found at a jewelry/craft shop or a major scrubbing (I use the local car wash place with high pressure hose and foaming brush and have to do 5 passes). I have to clean about once a week or my windshield streaks bad.

[Madman]

1997 Honda Odyssey LX:

1.  None of the buttons on the factory stereo head unit in the Odyssey are backlit.  This means if you're on a dark road at night, changing station is literally a stab in the dark experience.

2.  The rear window defroster switch is positioned up high on the dash and to the right, all the way next to the upper glovebox door.  I have pretty long arms but this button is still a real stretch to reach.  A short person would undoubtedly have to unbuckle their belt and lean over just to reach it.

3.  The column-mounted gear selector is directly in the way of the emergency flasher button when in "Park" and I always find myself having to reach around it whenever I park up and need to use the flashers.


2001 Cadillac Catera.

1.  There is no trunk release button on the trunk itself.  If the car is unlocked and I happen not to have the key/remote in my pocket, I have to open one of the front doors to press the trunk release button on the dash.  This is sometimes a minor inconvenience when loading and unloading the car.

2.  Doors lock automatically when you put the car in gear.  I've always hated cars that do this.  If I want my doors locked, I'll lock them myself, dammit!  I've become accustomed to it but I still don't like it.

[Speed_Racer]

Drift much?

FWD dorifto.

2.  Doors lock automatically when you put the car in gear.  I've always hated cars that do this.  If I want my doors locked, I'll lock them myself, dammit!  I've become accustomed to it but I still don't like it.

Is that re-programmable? Other GM cars you can changes this w/ a weird set of instructions (turn key on 4x, lift e-brake handle 3x, do the chicken dance, etc)

[Rupert]

Cadillac requires a much more skilled set of swing dance moves.

[Raza]

Ha, I was going to say that my car doesn't automatically lock once you get on the move.  I think I can have it programmed to do that, I just haven't gotten around to it. 

Also, the glovebox doesn't have a lock on it.  And the light stays on all the time, which I think might be because the previous owner broke the switch.  Not sure though. 

[Rupert]

Also, the 944 AC is pretty crappy.

[hotrodalex]

Oil light comes on after I start the car, but it has plenty. Common problem, I've heard.

Passenger seat belt knocks around when all the windows are down and it's windy outside.

Need moar powar.

Takes me longer to clean the wheels than to wash the rest of the car.

[Vinsanity]

Fuel economy in the city.

For me, fuel economy pretty much anywhere...

[MX793]

Mustang

-OEM tires - at least 10 mm too narrow, the profile is too tall, and they have a 600+ treadwear rating, so they offer only slightly better grip than those hard plastic wheels on a big wheel trike.  They will probably last a long time, though.

-Steering ratio is a little slow.  Lots of hand-over-hand when weaving up and down aisles in a tight parking lot

-Auto-dimming interior features - I hate that the gauges decide when they should be at daytime brightness and when they should be dimmed to night mode.  On dim, overcast/rainy days I usually keep the gauges at full brightness but the car will sometimes decide they should be dim.  Sometimes it will be borderline and the car will cycle between.  The auto-dimming mirror is a little less annoying, but there are times when I don't want it dimmed at night.

-Engine RPMs don't fall as fast as I'd like when you let off the throttle, especially at higher RPMs.  Not sure if it's ECU programming or the flywheel, but the engine will shed the first ~600 RPM fairly quickly (perfect if I was shifting at ~2500 RPM) and then the fall rate cuts in half.  Makes you compromise shift speed for smoothness.

-1-2 upshift can be clunky or grind slightly if the car is cold and temperatures are under 50F

-Steering wheel audio controls should be on the left, not the right.

Mazda -
-RUST
-Like many cars its age, it doesn't have MP3 capability or an aux input.
-No remote trunk release on the key fob.
-No auto up on the driver's window, just auto down.
-AC compressor is mounted on the bottom of the engine where the clutch gets blasted with road spray.  The clutch has rusted shut (locking the AC compressor on) a couple of times now due to road salt.
-low beams are pitifully weak.

[MX793]

Most common "weird burning smell" when I worked at dealerships was plastic shopping bags melted onto the exhaust, primarily the catalytic converter.   You can't those things off either.  You can only leave it and about two months later, the odor goes away.

New exhaust pipes can sometimes smell for a while when they get hot.  Has kind of a burned metallic smell.  That typically goes away after the first thousand miles, though.

[Onslaught]

RX-8

Wind noise around driver and passenger side glass when going over 60 in the summer or slower in the winter if it's really cold outside and the window rubbers are cold and hard.

Because of the thick pillars where the front and rear suicide door close together it make for some very loud wind noise when you're driving with the windows down. The RX-8 with it's windows down is louder then the Miata with the top down going over 60 on a interstate.

My car had the Sirius radio put in it at the dealer and the person who did it sucked. He didn't put all the clips and snap all the interior panels back correct from the dash all the way back to the trunk lid. I've fixed all of them but one, behind the rear seat it rattles on days it's below freezing out.
Other then that this is the most rattle free RX-8 I've ever seen. The changes in 09's must have helped because RX-8's rattle bad over time.

I love the Recaro seats and I'm not sure I could go back to regular car seats now. But the leather on these isn't the best in the world an no matter how much I condition them the driver seat bottom is wearing down much too fast. In 5 years it will look like shit and it cost $5K for new Mazda seat covers. That's
because you can't just get the leather covers but you must get the foam and air bags with them. So it cost an arm and a leg.

I have a love hate relationship with the electronic key. And at work I hate all cars what come with those fucking things. The battery dies in it too fast too.

The piano black interior parts look good when clean but are impossible to keep clean.

Floor mats are cheap and wearing out on driver side after 3 years.

As with all Mazda cars I've owned the paint chips too easy.



Miata


It's over 23 years old so it's got lots of little things. But I can't fault them for it. All of them are what a car of that age would probably have if not more.