What vehicle do you drive?

Don’t rent a car who’s claim to fame is… the wheels fall off

Tholan said:

I rented an electric car in Norway last week, a Toyota BZ4X. Probably one of the worst car i've driven.
- a gazillion buttons everywhere. the layout made no sense
- The head up display was 50% covered by the wheel.
- I'm not big at all, nor tall, but the wheel was also touching my legs. I could lower the seat, but then that would block all information from the HUD.
- The HUD was horrible also. They decided that creating new pictograms is smart - but they gave it to someone retarded obviously.

And of course, that gaze tracking system shouting at you everytime you look to your left to pass someone. The car gave some many beeps and buzzs that 5 minutes in and your brain ignores every warning.
Great car.
Edit : here is a picture I took at my eyes level :
View attachment 607377

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It's amazing how ugly some new interiors are getting; that dash is atrocious, in multiple ways. Not sure how I feel about the center console, as it looks like most of the buttons at least have some tactile feel to them?




Small aside (since I really like HUDs in vehicles): that's just an ugly/poorly designed dash display/instrument cluster, not a HUD. A HUD is when the information is reflected on the windshield or canopy (first made famous for it's use in aircraft). Although it wouldn't surprise me if vehicle manufacturers/sales have started purposely conflating the two if customers keep requesting HUDs on vehicles without them.

In your case a HUD would have worked a lot better, since at it's lowest point the bottom line of the windshield is still above the steering wheel.

There is even a thread on BZ4X sub-reddit with people complaining about the dash and others saying it's fine for them: LINK.

Here is Mercs (newest?) HUD as an example:


Panasonic is supposedly developing this HUD with AI integration to identify hazards in view (like the bike):

Panasonic debuted it in 2021, so may already be outdated AutoBuzz Link.

Burns said:

It's amazing how ugly some new interiors are getting; that dash is atrocious, in multiple ways. Not sure how I feel about the center console, as it looks like most of the buttons at least have some tactile feel to them?

View attachment 607462


Small aside (since I really like HUDs in vehicles): that's just an ugly/poorly designed dash display/instrument cluster, not a HUD. A HUD is when the information is reflected on the windshield or canopy (first made famous for it's use in aircraft). Although it wouldn't surprise me if vehicle manufacturers/sales have started purposely conflating the two if customers keep requesting HUDs on vehicles without them.

In your case a HUD would have worked a lot better, since at it's lowest point the bottom line of the windshield is still above the steering wheel.

There is even a thread on BZ4X sub-reddit with people complaining about the dash and others saying it's fine for them: LINK.

Here is Mercs (newest?) HUD as an example:
View attachment 607460

Panasonic is supposedly developing this HUD with AI integration to identify hazards in view (like the bike):
View attachment 607461
Panasonic debuted it in 2021, so may already be outdated AutoBuzz Link.

Click to expand...

You're right about the HUD, I called this abomination a hud cause it stands higher than the dashboard.
I'm not sure I like overlays, but the gps info looks neat, especially in cities.

Siliconemelons said:

Don’t rent a car who’s claim to fame is… the wheels fall off

Click to expand...

I wasn't aware of that, I usually randomly pick a car I never drove before when renting one, just for the fun and see how they like to overengineer everything.
Last time was a toyota cross and it was not better than this one. And thank God they have apple car otherwise I would be forced to use their software.
One car was clearly dangerous — I think it was a Volvo hybrid (probably an XC40). The regenerative braking would randomly switch on and off, so you never knew whether the car would actually slow down when you lifted your foot off the pedal. I tried to turn it off, but after drowning in a toxic sea of sub-menus in their software, I gave up and just played braking roulette.

Burns said:

It's amazing how ugly some new interiors are getting; that dash is atrocious, in multiple ways. Not sure how I feel about the center console, as it looks like most of the buttons at least have some tactile feel to them?

View attachment 607462


Small aside (since I really like HUDs in vehicles): that's just an ugly/poorly designed dash display/instrument cluster, not a HUD. A HUD is when the information is reflected on the windshield or canopy (first made famous for it's use in aircraft). Although it wouldn't surprise me if vehicle manufacturers/sales have started purposely conflating the two if customers keep requesting HUDs on vehicles without them.

In your case a HUD would have worked a lot better, since at it's lowest point the bottom line of the windshield is still above the steering wheel.

There is even a thread on BZ4X sub-reddit with people complaining about the dash and others saying it's fine for them: LINK.

Here is Mercs (newest?) HUD as an example:
View attachment 607460

Panasonic is supposedly developing this HUD with AI integration to identify hazards in view (like the bike):
View attachment 607461
Panasonic debuted it in 2021, so may already be outdated AutoBuzz Link.

Click to expand...

That's a car designed for the Chinese market and sold to the rest of us.

Burns said:

It's amazing how ugly some new interiors are getting; that dash is atrocious, in multiple ways. Not sure how I feel about the center console, as it looks like most of the buttons at least have some tactile feel to them?

View attachment 607462


Small aside (since I really like HUDs in vehicles): that's just an ugly/poorly designed dash display/instrument cluster, not a HUD. A HUD is when the information is reflected on the windshield or canopy (first made famous for it's use in aircraft). Although it wouldn't surprise me if vehicle manufacturers/sales have started purposely conflating the two if customers keep requesting HUDs on vehicles without them.

In your case a HUD would have worked a lot better, since at it's lowest point the bottom line of the windshield is still above the steering wheel.

There is even a thread on BZ4X sub-reddit with people complaining about the dash and others saying it's fine for them: LINK.

Here is Mercs (newest?) HUD as an example:
View attachment 607460

Panasonic is supposedly developing this HUD with AI integration to identify hazards in view (like the bike):
View attachment 607461
Panasonic debuted it in 2021, so may already be outdated AutoBuzz Link.

Click to expand...

If I could Thanos snap any group of people off this planet, it would be the fucksticks who keep pushing for piano black trim and glossy screens in automotive interiors. I swear they won't stop until the entire interior is a surface to reflect glare and collect fingerprints. On one vehicle I was driving for a bit, I literally brought a roll of painter's tape and covered up some stupid chrome accent on the shifter that somehow was designed to reflect the sun into the corner of my eye from any possible angle. I'm getting close to doing the same on my wife's car, the only thing stopping me is the rarity in which I drive it.

Real leather and wood, its not that hard folks

Kobayashi said:

If I could Thanos snap any group of people off this planet, it would be the fucksticks who keep pushing for piano black trim and glossy screens in automotive interiors. I swear they won't stop until the entire interior is a surface to reflect glare and collect fingerprints. On one vehicle I was driving for a bit, I literally brought a roll of painter's tape and covered up some stupid chrome accent on the shifter that somehow was designed to reflect the sun into the corner of my eye from any possible angle. I'm getting close to doing the same on my wife's car, the only thing stopping me is the rarity in which I drive it.

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Yeah, I don't understand how on earth they think glossy interiors are a good idea. I've considered hosing down my interior with some matte finish spray.

Kobayashi said:

On one vehicle I was driving for a bit, I literally brought a roll of painter's tape and covered up some stupid chrome accent on the shifter that somehow was designed to reflect the sun into the corner of my eye from any possible angle. I'm getting close to doing the same on my wife's car, the only thing stopping me is the rarity in which I drive it.

Click to expand...

If you want something that looks a bit better than masking tape, I might recommend buying a roll of gaffers tape. It's a matte low residue cloth-like tape.

If I'm remembering right, it was developed to be a low residue replacement for duct tape being used in TV & movie stage/audio productions where the gaffers need to tape down wires often without them getting all fucked up with tape glue. My main reservation would be how it holds up to direct sunlight and heat in a vehicle, at least here in Texas.

Burns said:

If you want something that looks a bit better than masking tape, I might recommend buying a roll of gaffers tape. It's a matte low residue cloth-like tape.

If I'm remembering right, it was developed to be a low residue replacement for duct tape being used in TV & movie stage/audio productions where the gaffers need to tape down wires often without them getting all fucked up with tape glue. My main reservation would be how it holds up to direct sunlight and heat in a vehicle, at least here in Texas.

Click to expand...

Yeah, that's a good call. I actually use a ton of gaffers tape, but I only have it in obnoxious colors. I use it to mark missed connections and other wiring fuck ups. It's pretty durable and has a little better adhesion than painters tape while still not leaving much residue.

For that vehicle, it thankfully didn't matter. I'm not sure what I'd do for a vehicle I was keeping long-term, but gaffers tape is probably a strong contender.

May want to look at getting the shiny bits wrapped. That stuff has gotten a lot better in the last few years. It's got some surface texture to it so it feels somewhat like the wood it's supposed to look like. Had some desks redone with this stuff and it came out a lot better than I thought it would.

Like window tint, skillful application is the difference between something that looks great and something that looks like utter shit so it might be worth paying someone to do it. You can can get carbon fiber or alcantara looks too.