Gun rack and storage compartment for my Zombie defense munitions
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Override switch to disable all flashers and buzzers and bells.
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No bloatware, like GPS and Satellite radio.
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A real spare tire on a real wheel.
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Spark plug, battery, etc. that can be reached and changed with ordinary tools.
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Flat key that turns when inserted to engage ignition, door locks, etc, costing less than $1.98 to copy.
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Flat top of dash or commodious space between seats to place useful things that are not in drink containers.
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Hand cranks to open/close windows when power drives crap out, but power windows are OK when they still work.
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R&D done by people who live in Michigan, who know what winter is like.
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An owner’s manual with an index alphabetized by the words you would use to look them up.
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Lights with lenses that are replaceable when they get broken.
Automatic zombie thread detection.
I miss the old triangular vent windows. I know they’re not really doable now on most cars, especially the compact cars I prefer, but hey, I can dream.
A deicer/defogger for the windshield that works as quickly as the imbedded filaments used in rear windows. Preferably a system that doesn’t make me choose between being overly hot in the cabin or having the windshield fog up periodically. Oh, and some sort of anti-glare coating that also selectively blocks the sun… I hate driving in the morning when the sun is rising and perfectly situated in my field of vision.
Mirrors that reflect overly bright/misaimed headlights behind me back into the eyes of the drivers responsible.
Some kind of system to drive over potholes safely. I wrecked two tires and rims this winter thanks to really bad potholes; spent more on those (and realignment) than I did on car maintenance all of last year. Guess I want a hovercar. Oh, and though I know some cars have them, I really miss full-size spares.
A back seat I can stretch out and sleep on. (Or for other back seat activities, I guess.) My work/school schedule was insane enough that many semesters, I could only nap at home, and had to get the rest of my sleep in my compact car between classes. I was pretty achy and crabby most days.
360 degree night vision assistance.
A big automatic cannon that will blow anything I’m about to crash into out of my path.
Connect the cannon to a sensitive microphone so as I approach a car with a huge blaring stereo, it will be removed before my ears can be offended.
Zombie or not, I wish I could order and option out a car the way one could back in the '60s. Now you’re forced to just get stupid packages.
Also, every car should have, as an option, comfy luxury seats. '82 Cadillac Coupe De ville style, completely electrically adjustable, comfort my butt and back in glorious cushiony opulence seats.
Manual steering. I abhor power steering; even the best systems (Mazda RX8, Toyota Celica) can’t get close to the precision and feedback of any manual steering rack.
Tiny radar signature - if they can make an airplane look smaller than an index card, it shouldn’t be difficult to make a car hard to pick up.
Integrated always-on LIDAR/laser jamming - unlimited interference is legal anyway.
Good visibility, especially out the front.
Window and door seals that stay tight and quiet up to the top speed of the car.
Strong acceleration. It should do a quarter mile from a standing start in under 13.5 seconds at over 100 mph.
High energy efficiency via low weight and good aerodynamics, so a modest engine will produce startling acceleration.
Seats that adjust forward and backward, and have adjustable side bolsters to go wider and narrower.
Seats designed by someone who’s seen a human spine and rear end. If Volvo and Lotus can do it, why can’t everyone else?
Wheels and tires that don’t weigh 40 lbs each, don’t take up half the garage for snow-tire storage, and don’t cost $1000 a set.
An ipod jack.
Instant heating. An electric seat, wheel, and gearlever do enough in an electric car
to avoid having to have a cockpit heater. IC engines have heat available at the intercooler the first time the turbocharger spins up.
Cool-fresh-air ventilation. When it’s 85 degrees out, the ventilation air does not need to pass through the 190 degree engine bay and past the heater core. A decent location in a high-pressure area below the car will get cool air on all but the hottest days.
A move-anywhere-slide-anywhere sun visor.
Decent service accessibility for frequently-replaced components. Bulbs, filters, spark plugs, drain plugs, belts shouldn’t require more than the mildest expletives.
(I.C. engined cars only) A “quick disconnect” for the engine’s whole wiring harness, an easy-to-remove end on each hose leading out from the engine, a pair of unboltable flanges on each driveaxle and the shift rods, and a pair of lifting eyes on the engine. Why not make all major service engine-out, and make it easy to pull the engine/gearbox unit in an hour?
Citroen Hydractive suspension would be immensely cool - no need for a jack, $20 spheres instead of $300 shocks, active ride height control to put the car body right near the ground on smooth roads and right up in the air on bad ones. It also makes active aerodynamic surfaces a lot easier to have and control, so you can have lots of downforce when it’s useful and low drag when it’s not.
I’d also like a broad variety of paint colors - or just white and a factory tape-n-stripe job to create a broad variety of color schemes.
Buick LaCrosse in dash navigation gps have live weather color radar. This is worth gold for someone like me who drives 60k miles per year. If you see a severe snow storm or tornado warning 300 miles ahead, you can plot an alternate route. Some of the after market gps have this now as well. Most also have live traffic jams and road construction that are very accurate and updated, then they show a last minute alternate route. They also have a real time icon of the current speed limit, which turns red when you exceed it.
Back up cameras will be required in all new cars in 2 yrs.
I want a Chip Foose designed super muscle car. Would love to see my 2007 Ford Mustang Overhauled in silver, gray and black with a huge high performance engine, race tuned suspension, hood scoop and some nice fat tires and custom rims. I know the car would be a master piece, and something I could and would drive for the rest of my life.
I want a return to multiple interior color options, including white, like we had in the late 50s thru 70s.
If I buy a green car, I want a green dash, inside doors, carpet, and seats. Remember the 1978 pontiacs and olds? Remember the 1973 red caddy with red carpet, red dash, red leather doors, and white seats with red seat belts? Sharp.
Seriously, I have long theorized that depression is so rampant because we are spending more time in cars with bland grey or black or puke brown interiors. Gag .
Google image a 1957 Chevy with its vibrant inner colors. No way anyone could be depressed in one
I want all horns to also blow inside the car. This way, people are less inclined to use them to punish, and instead, only when they have to.
I removed the power steering from my FD, and while it certainly wasn’t a bad system to begin with, it only felt marginally better at speeds. In low-speed situations, it’s not so fun and requires more effort than should be necessary, IMO.
This. God, this.
What, no one wants the 1.21 jigowatt power unit and the time circuits accessory?
Nah. Ever had a flux capcitor go out on you in a small town? By the time you get one your whole family could be dead! :eek:
I think these have partially been covered, but I’ll include them:
- Heated glass all the way around, that can quickly melt ice/snow.
- Heated and cooled cup holders that can preserve your drink’s temp.
- A single button who’s function is max cooling by any means. This means on a hot day it will lower every window, and start the A/C as you drive away. When it calculates the car’s inside air temp matches outside, it will raise windows and resume cooling by A/C.
- Adjustable ride, so that I can select comfort over handling (imo, there are NO modern cars that ride comfortably. My 1973 Buick Electra 225 set the standard for smooth and quiet ride. Comfort has gone downhill ever since.)
Daily driver:
Noise cancelling speakers pointed at every other seat but mine, that I control.
If sunglasses can darken in the direct sun…why not my windshield?
An audio player that I can plug an external hard drive in via USB and have it recognize and play my music. Not my tiny mp3 player…my 2 TB hard drive.
Fishing or camping rig:
Something like a 90’s Cherokee. Smallish, lightweight, rugged and easy to repair. All seats should fold down to a flat surface. Portal axels! Light powerful reciever ounted winch that could be oved to the front or rear hitches. Axels placed to give the best entry/exit angles.
And portal axels!
An incinerator for all the trash that accumulates in the car. It shoudl be in easy reach of the driver, and automatically sense when the ash is cool and release it by the side of the road.
Pullin,
You can get a soft ride in a modern car.
There are two keys to this: low unsprung weight and adequate damping.
- Narrow your car search to cars with a low center of gravity and a low seat height.
- Examine the brake system to find ones where you can put small wheels on - 14" wheels on a 2500# car, 15" wheels on a 3000#, 16" on a 3500# - or find a car with that size standard already.
- Find the very lightest wheels you can in that smaller diameter, same bolt pattern and width at wheelweights.net, then buy a set.
- Find the very lightest tires you can in that wheel size, outer tire diameter, and width on tirerack.com, then buy a set.
- Call a Koni or Bilstein dealer and ask for some shocks that’ll provide a steady ride - it’ll make it easier for them if you give them the weight of the car and the spring rates - or just tell them that the car’s got light wheels but is otherwise stock. They may charge you an hour’s worth of work to perform calculations and might tell you that you’ll have to change springs at one end to get a “flat ride” (Chapter 22, Race Car Vehicle Dynamics, Milliken). If you have to, do it.
This’ll get you a flat ride, somewhat more damping in rebound than bump, and tires that are soft and light to conform to and go over bumps.
I wonder if you could just use the ashtray and cigarette lighter for that purpose without setting the car on fire.
Clearly you have never raised a six-year-old. I could set the Titanic on fire with the amount of trash that accumulates in my car. I wouldn’t even have to raise it first.
