Automotive turkeys 2008

The word “turkey” means different things to different people. Thanksgiving, for many, is a great time for turkey…unless you’re a turkey. For those of us who drive different cars every day, we sometimes come across features that rank as turkeys – perhaps the designers/engineers created them with the best of intentions, but in the real world, they prove frustrating. We’ve already written enough about BMW’s iDrive, perhaps the biggest automotive turkey of all time. Some turkeys are nice ideas that simply fall short.

In an informal poll in and around the Consumer Reports Auto Test Center, I’ve come up with some other turkeys that particularly rankle our feathers:

•    Sirius radio reception in wooded, tree shade areas is awful. Also, some car audio systems have a long delay, making you wait to see the title of the satellite radio station identification.

•    Automatic door locks that don’t unlock when you park or allow a choice to set the locks to unlock when the car is turned off. This maybe a good feature for those who want the security in a tough neighborhood, but consumers should at least be given the choice. (This turkey was mentioned more than once.)

•    The government giving a tax credit if you buy a 19-mpg Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid but nothing if you buy a 32-mpg Toyota Corolla or 29 mpg Ford Focus.

·    Outside mirrors that automatically turn and give you a view of the ground below when shifting to reverse. While this offers a good view of the curb, it makes using the mirrors to back out of a long driveway useless. Convex or larger mirrors do it all.

•    Chrysler announcing its hybrid Aspen and Dodge Durango SUVs and then unceremoniously killing them four weeks later.

·    Mini Cooper’s radio controls (see photo above), which are scattered all around the center stack. The radio’s volume knob, for example, is mounted separate from the radio head unit, lower on the dashboard. It’s easy to grab the radio’s other knob by mistake; even though that’s a multi-function knob, it only serves as a tuning knob if you push the “m” button first. (Of course!) It also takes several button presses to change radio modes.

·    Re-inventing a wheel that wasn’t broken in the first place. For example: Some keyless ignitions work OK, but some “Start” buttons are hard to find and require a push-and-hold process to start the car. The worst are those on BMWs and Mini Coopers that require using a fob placed in a slot and then pressing a start button. What was wrong with a key?

·    Big key fobs are maybe OK if you use a purse, but they’re bulky in a pant’s pocket. Kneel down at just the wrong angle, and the panic button can be activated, resulting in the car’s horn going off and waking up the neighborhood.

•    Acura’s styling department is a whole, gobbling turkey within itself. Have you seen the beaks on the TL, TSX and RL? I can’t tell them apart. They all look like grinning teenagers with mouths full of braces.

•    The headlights in the Toyota Prius Touring. On a scale of 1-5 (with 5 being the tops), these lights got a 1. Even with Xenon bulbs, low-beam light doesn’t provide enough illumination forward to allow the driver time to see and react to objects in the road. The lights also have a distinct ramp-shaped cutoff between light and darkness at the top of the low-beam pattern. These lights leave us in the dark.

•    Paying a premium to buy a Smart (ours was just under $16,000) to get 39 mpg overall but putting up with the limitations of being able to seat only two people, limited cargo room, and maybe the worst transmission ever, when--for about the same a price--you could get a Honda Fit or Toyota Yaris, which seat five, and are infinitely more comfortable and (in the Fit’s case) fun to drive.

Anyway, that’s our short list. I’m sure we could go on, but you get the point. What particular car controls, models, or manufacturers drive you bonkers? Pass the gravy, and share your automotive turkeys in the Comments below.

--Mike Quincy

Comments

[Cale]

The grand turkey of them all. Whatever caused the price of gas to jump up to over $4/gallon and then drop to below $2/gallon in less than a year. Can't say there's someone (or something) to blame but it made all consumers feel like absolute fools. A turkey? You betcha!

[Erik]

BMW Idrive and the new Acura models are the most frustrating to me. BMW simply misses the point - for a car that is built to be enjoyable and engaging to drive, making certain vital control systems significantly less enjoyable and engaging is silly, (but if somebody wanted to give me a new M3 I would stop complaining - the coupe in black please.) Acura makes wonderful cars - some of which have been beautiful - Integras, the first couple Legends, the previous model TSX, the previous model TL were all beautiful machines. On paper the new TL should be knock your socks off hot - then I have to open my eyes... I still remember the first time I drove my then girlfriend's Legend 15 years ago - fast, solid, tight, roomy, hot - all for what was then the price of a loaded Taurus.

[Paul Eng]

My favorite turkey... Car audio systems that "require" a dealer-installed (usually for hundreds of dollars) interface for your iPod.

Much better to have an audio system with a simple 3.5-mm stereo mini-jack. All you have to do is get a simple cable that goes from the iPod's headphone out jack (or the stereo jack from anything else, like a PC.) right into the head unit.

[Jason]

I detest the use of touchscreen menus, especially when they replace buttons, knobs and switches that worked perfectly well for decades! This is especially common with in-dash navigation systems. The display screen occupies a significant portion of the center stack and displaces controls that previously occupied the space. As navigation becomes available on more models and more customers expect it, I'm afraid that these touchscreens will become commonplace even without navigation...ugh!

The auto-lock feature is another frustration. My parents have an '07 Explorer and it would automatically lock when shifted out of PARK. But it didn't unlock automatically, which was even more frustrating. After quite a bit of time reading their owner's manual, I finally learned how to turn the auto-lock/unlock ON/OFF...and other features, too. I managed to deactivate the automatic locking, extend the time that the courtesy lamps remain lit after exiting the car....and accidentally de-activate the Park-Assist feature (beeps when it senses and object within a few feet of the rear bumper). After a bit more time (and cursing Ford electronics), I got the Park Assist working again. These are all handy features, but they're buried so deeply in menus that they'll never be used by the average owner!

[Mike Dever]

Bashing the SMART is the turkey comment in this little article. Any car that get's 39 mpg should be on the 10 best list this year. You don't have to kiss up to Honda, Fit sales are doing quite well.

Here's the turkey of the year. Cars that currently get 50 mpg in Europe, the Auto Industry refuses to Import into the USA.

[Mike Dever]

Here's another turkey of the year. EV1 still not being built on a real production line. The US government should at least get the CAD-CAM files of the EV1 before they give GM another penny. This car should be built.

[onhighbeam]

this car should be built. i think the car itself is grand...

[tjl]

How about Toyota's regional option availability? For example, in some parts of the US, you can only get the Prius Touring with package 6, the most expensive one with the leather seats and navigation system. In other parts, you can get it with the much less expensive package 2.

Others would include bundling desirable options with expensive things that not everyone wants. E.g. electronic stability control in a Honda Fit requires getting navigation, while it requires getting either the Si or EX-L(eather) trims on the Honda Civic.

A turkey of omission would be the lack of availability of an easy-clean interior (like that of a Honda Element) in vehicles used by families with small children and/or dogs or outdoorsy people (think vans, station wagons, and SUVs).

[Gent]

So Mike,

How'd the smart do in your CR Owner Satisfaction survey? Hmmmm?

[Motorhomes for sale]

The good folks at Honda who seemed surprised when people noticed that the new Insight is a Prius with lipstick. Duh.
And then trying to defend the design rip-off by claiming that it’s all aerodynamics. Surely they could come up with something just a touch more unique.