What is is the most useless gadget in your car?

I think the compass in/on the rear-view mirror. I think drivers who need a compass to drive, have no business driving.

Slowing down and/or stopping betray an inability to commit that I just can't respect.

:hide:

My back seat is not spacious enough to transport adults comfortably and the kiddies shouldn't be smoking. There's no ashtray in the front seat area.

The only thing I can conclude is that GM's designers have kids who smoke.

;-)

Wagons are useful. :evilgrin:

you ever tried to light a bong with a cars cigarette lighter? what a bummer.

manufacturers have finally included cupholders as standard equipment. I remember the old days of buying the plastic holder that fit into the door window slot, to hold a can of soda.

The cupholder is the greatest in-car thing ever thought of!

So I've never needed cup holders.

I can't imagine getting in my car in July in Mesa without a bottle of ice water or a lidded cup of iced tea.

That was just a recipe for heat stroke and dehydration.

We don't eat in the car often - usually only on very long trips - but even here in Colorado, liquid is necessary most of the time.

I don't drive long distances. And I can do without water for a minutes while I get to the grocery store or wherever I'm going. If I drank all the time I'd need to stop to pee a lot. I just never felt the need to have water everywhere I go. Besides if I'm really thirsty and need something to drink there are plenty of places to get a drink.

I worked at Elliot and Price and lived at McClintock and Price for a couple of years. That's like four miles, and I remember being in the urgent care center at least three times for heat related illness thanks to those daily commutes. (When traffic was bad, it was worse, obviously.) I never drove long distances during daylight hours in the Valley because I could not handle the heat. (There's a reason I don't live there anymore and am not looking forward to the necessary trip down there come May...)

I guess AC in the car would have made a difference, too....

It can get tough in the summer with 100+ temps but I try to stay out of the car in the afternoon. May won't be too bad yet. And AC isn't a luxury here, it's a necessity!!
The first year I lived in AZ, I had a car without AC and it was a summer of record heat. I couldn't go anywhere in the summer after about 10am. It would feel like my shins were cooking from the heat in the car. I got a car with AC real fast after that! LOL

And had no help from anyone. I was working for Maricopa CommCare and making a whole 14K a year. I was lucky to be able to afford a car that was older than me and the gas to keep it getting me back and forth.

When we come down, we're renting something with AC.

for any drive more than an hour. I could never do multi-hour rides without my coffee in the winter, or the coffee and also some water or iced tea in the summer (especially when I have the top down, I need the water...).

But I hear you about the food - it not only stands a good chance of turning the car into a shithole, anything bigger than finger food is a fucking danger to everyone. I love watching the people trying to eat hamburgers or chicken or what-have-you, weaving all over the road, thinking all the time how perfectly safe they are... answering their cell phones... putting on makeup... getting french fry grease and salt and sauce and other crap on the seats and floors and steering wheel...

Eating anything bigger than a mini-swedish fish while driving should be forbidden.

I don't have small children and hardly ever ride anyone in my back seat. But I bought a demo and it came with a DVD player.

Center of the car. Only people riding in the rear can see it. I guess it makes sense not to make it viewable from the front seats. And it's not like I have particularly comfy rear seats--it's just a teeny sedan.

:wtf:

Reducing the light level to minimum visible at night greatly increases your outside night vision.

I have never been dazzled by my speedometer. :crazy:

...when 2 watt illumination is just TOO bright. :hi:

it was the speedometer.

Or maybe the rearview mirror....as the late, great Raul Julia said in the classic The Gumball Rally, "what's-a behind you is not-a important."

:)

I mean how hard would it be to include a damn inverter and provide a normal AC outlet standard....

I have to do everything manually--turn the lights on and off, lock the door with a key, get out and open the trunk rather than punch a button...but hey, I get great gas mileage.

The compass can be very handy when you are driving in an unfamiliar place at night and have nothing else to guide your sense of direction.

But then maybe I have no business driving.

:shrug:

Nobody to play with, just me and my rubber duckie...:(

you look good in that truck! :silly:













Even though your user profile states that your a male.

Peace

Proud Members of Melonhawg Society

we haven't had a rain worthy of the name in N.O. in so long...

There is a slot in the console to the left of the steering wheel that is supposed to hold a ticket (I assume a toll ticket). I tried it out when I drove the car home to CA from Vermont - it has a gadget inside to hold the ticket tightly but it does not work well when the window is open. :o

Luckily, I'd gotten on the toll road at the beginning anyway so I didn't mind paying the full amount - i would have anyway even if the ticket HADN'T flown out the window. ~sigh~

I always used a compass in the airplane.
Handy gadget.

A few years ago I thought "Why not put one in the car?"
I mounted it in the center of the dash.
It was/is indeed handy.

A couple of weeks later I read "One thing geezers do is mount a compass in the car."
Busted.
;-)

there are no obvious landmarks like coastline etc. to delineate N/S/E/W then I think a compass would be pretty handy. I've often lamented the lack of one when driving in a strange town trying to not miss exits, and find my way...

But I was a commercial pilot, and am familiar with navigation by compass directions.
If you have never used one, and don't think of directions as "north, east" etc. it would probably not help you much.

If you are a pilot, its a must to have one...you wouldn't fly withou one.

Most folks usually wear a watch, I think. In any case, most stereos have clocks.

Plus, the clock is typically the first thing in a car to stop working.

I ripped that sucker out a long time ago and put a tach in its place. :thumbsup:

:evilgrin:

I have an automatic. Why would I need a tachometer?

In fact you don't even need them in manuals, as evidenced by the fact that not all cars have them (especially in days of yore).

I find it just encourages me to take it to the red line. I used to be more careful in my last car which had no rev counter, when I didn't know where the red line was

I've never used it. Don't even know if it works.

In newer cars you can have it engaged and drive away and not even notice except for a slight dragging sensation.

Older cars no way no hell were you going anywhere.

Fortunately they have AAR to negate the other noise.

and get the Hell out of town!

mikey_the_rat

I don't need four settings for a ventilated seat- Just one will do.


I like the compass, but it isn't necessary - unless you're in Boston I suppose...

Why oh why did I spend an extra 4500 for an electric dog polisher for the car? I don't let my dog in the car!

WTF????

What, I'm supposed to go to museum to get some cassettes or something?

No passengers.

The factory one displayed the time unless you were changing channels.

The new one says "JVC" most of the time with a swirly sort of graphic that I can see out of the corner of my eye and is very distracting. There's no way to shut it off. I didn't buy the radio or install it (dealer did) so I can't do anything about it.

service

Have it but never use it

I don't have any gadgets in the car, really, but I do have one useless item: my windows have a manual handle, but there are power window controls as well, and evidently the motors are also installed, so it has wondered me since I got the car why the windows aren't actually powered, and why there are handles instead.

I've never used it.

The windshield defroster is pretty useless too, I've never used it either.