Car functionality.
 

What happened to buying and car and all that had to be done was enjoy driving it?:laughing-smiley-018

Many of the answers to many queries have been found (although not always easily) in the manual. Some are not apparently readily available.

On 3 occasions I have had a largish square appear in the HUD with a red car (viewed from from front or rear) and the brakes being momentarily applied. I have concluded the car has detected an oncoming vehicle and determined it to be a threat.

Does the red car indicate a Bliss Oncoming Mitigation, or City Safety collision avoidance? Maybe they both give the same warning?

Is the sensitivity adjustable?

Regarding the tailgate sensor; we have had the car 3 weeks now and from the beginning was surprised at the usefulness of this function. Unfortunately it now opens to about 1 in 15 waves of the leg. Dropping in at a dealer whilst away proved the service employee to have similar trouble. Unfortunately he was unable to advise how to make it more reliable, claiming they were all temperamental.

Any tips, please?

Buy an old car that doesn’t have tons of technical gumph on it and enjoy it for what it is.... a car ;) :D

+1 on that

too many gizmos and youre just a lump of meat being transferred (by the car) from one place to another..

regain some control over your toy! ;)

Plus another one on that.

Far too many designs on cars these days rely on what Yorkshire people call "do-nowts" The designers are all thinking about what other 'goodies' they can add without thinking about whether they're actually useful! It all adds to their image and not the car's!

I just don't know how you manage in your peasantwagons having to do 'things'
:tongwink::bricks:

Define "things", please :)

Is it phone calls? Internet access? I got it all.

I love my car, I get in, radio off, media off, phone off, hit the highway and listen to the tyres rumble, the wind as I move through it, and let my brain relax. Perfect. Drove to Wales n back yesterday, why? Because I could. Better than a spar day n my opinion (other opinions may vary).

The only car I did that with was a 1750cc escorts Mexico mk1fitted with twin 40 DCOE webber carbs. That WAARRPP WAARRPP was music indeed.

Paul.

A hoover-like whistle of turbo in my first "pocket rocket" pug306hdi...

I am wrestling with this at the minute, been without a personal car for several months and constantly looking for another but just can't make mind up. I like basic, fun cars...but I do a lot of miles. Currently using my dads nearly new Kia c'eed estate, 1.6tdi with autobox, cruise etc.. Lovely, no input car. I think cruise is a must for long trips. And yet. His car does not drive as well as my old e39 525i auto, doesn't ride as well, doesn't cosset...i likes a barge me.


So why am I looking at basic mini ones, fiat 500s and smart cars...? Confused, moi?


Off to see a 14 plate mini one 1.5 tdi triple tomorrow, bottom of the mini range and all the better for it. No gizmos, no stripes, no big wheels, just basic a to b transport and reviews as the sweet spot in that range because if what it's missing!!

Tis all very interesting fellas, however it doesn't help me understand my issues…and you'll likely put those in the know off admitting they have modern cars.:shocked::laughing-smiley-003

I'll confess to being somewhat won over by technology over the years. Most, but certainly not all, technology enhancements I dismissed have pleasantly surprised me over the years.

An example on my last car being the bendy xenon headlights. It was new, but sitting in the showroom with the dealer desperate to shift it, so xenon I had an open mind on, the bendy bit I simply thought was a gimmick…no longer, so much so I wanted them on my Volvo…and of course along with that comes the shadow technology…not perfect, but a fantastic function.

In addition the new to me in the Volvo which, having previously seen as a gimmick, I rate;

The HUD
Auto speed limiter
The tailgate sensor opening (if I could get it to work properly)

I had a V60 D4 Inscription as a courtesy car recently and I have to agree with you there. The HUD is a nice feature once you get over staring at it rather than where you’re driving and where has the active limiter been all my life? Ok, it’s got a flaw in it which is a little annoying but maaaaan I like it. Motorised tailgate? I can live without that, it’s a potential fail that could be a pain in the chuff. I have bendy lights on my V60 and they’re ok but I can live without em TBH. I have to admit though, I’m quite taken with the glass roof with retracting headliner. Modern cars are great until they go wrong then it’s off to the dealers rather than patching em up on the side of the road enough to get you home.

I have established the red car warning was City Safety detecting an obstacle.

It has 3 settings with mine being on normal. Reluctant to reduce its sensitivity for now so will monitor it.

A bit concerning that it activated without me considering there to have been any risk.

Surprised no one else has experienced it, you can’t all be running around in Classic Volvos?:teeth_smile:

(Stating personal and biased view)

Why not?

Most of volvos that I see nowadays are either "classics" (that is over 10 years in this example), and drivers seem mostly aware of what's going on around them. I can quite easily expect good percentage of those to at least visit this forum.

Then there's new ones. Unfortunately, what I see (and it may be different elsewhere) mostly big, driven by someone whose head barely clears dashboard, self centered and apparently requiring at least 30 metres clearance on both sides of car to pass safely.

Now, I wouldn't expect such a person to even know of this sites existence..


All that is actually a half-joke.

I may be only having a little of a banter session here, but yes, unfortunately I can see something I call for myself "a BMW behaviour" with more and more Volvo drivers. Interestingly- new models.

Thomas, it's when they start displaying Audi syndrome, then you have real problems. :hidesbehindsofa:

Let's hope it'll never get to that ;)

Okay, how about a simple question for you simple folks?:teeth_smile:

Do any of you have the sensor (under the bumper) operated tailgate, and if you do does it work flawlessly, ie every time?:teeth_smile:

I'm guessing you mean the tailgate opening/proximity sensor? you waggle your foot around in the vein attempt to look organised but hopelessly missing the target? :)

If so is it not just a case of cleaning the sensor 'eye' (if it has one) I'd imagine it'll be caked in shyte at this time of year.

:p :p "simple folks" :p :p

Not me, no.
Neither bendy lights, reversing sensors, etc...

I just press a button, works every time. :teeth_smile: Can't be doing with a aerobics workout each time I want to put something in the boot. :bricks:

Do you by any chance live in a cave Thomas. :laughing-smiley-018

Don’t worry about Thomas, Mike, he can only run old cars for so long and with an 03 he may be closer to the technology than he thinks.:tongwink:

Opening the tailgate with a leg is a bit of a faff, no doubt. :teeth_smile: Thing is fiddling for a key with both hands full, which I discovered the whereabouts is less likely to be known due to keyless operation, is much more of a faff. Didn’t take me long to get used to not needing a hand to access the boot.:teeth_smile:

Worse than that :)

Its a place full of African and Indian tribes, where at least pedestrian priority of way is often executed with elbows, quite a lot of houses still stands only because of 48 layers of paint that holds them up.. Walls are that rotten..

In short: London :p

I do just fine without bendy lights, automatic tailgate, parking sensors, lane assist, automatic speed limiter and other things that cumulatively- take away joy of driving.

But I do (in collaboration with Philbc) have automated tablet connecting to car, basic live data off OBD (Vida doesn't accompany me on trips), internet radio, and I am actually thinking about moving that tablet into HUD position.

I'm actually thinking of MY09-MY11 XC70 with 3.2 petrol powerplant.

Without 4C
Older to avoid that Sensus thing.
Without bendy lights.

And without many other things that break, are expensive to replace, and most of time I wouldnt need them anyway.

I may agree on parking sensors, but that's for wife, not me.
And maybe, just maybe, rear audio panel for daughter.

And leather/interior is to be black.

There is one, (albeit with 4C) near me for mere £12k.

Bit too much.

Thanks for the laugh Thomas, in denial of the technology whilst welcoming it.:teeth_smile:

Let’s be honest now, is that not how we all felt about electric windows and central locking and whatever happened to hand signals?:regular_smile:

Very good.:teeth_smile:

In all seriousness though, some of the stuff is good. As I said I dismissed bendy lights but they came on a car I bought and heh ho they work...now it’s the shadow technology, I’d never heard of it before looking at changing car a couple of months back...I now have to say...it works. To be fair if you drive mostly in the south east I doubt you would get the benefit of the lights I do.

Sure it is more to go wrong, but then so was electronic ignition over points and a distributor in the day, as was an electric fan over belt driven.

And as for selling cars without a spare.:rolleyes:

I've no experience of the Volvo system, but the newer Merc trucks we have at work have a similar adaptive cruise control/braking system, most of us that have used it found it to be too sensitive at the default setting (which it returns to every time the ignition is switched on/off), the truck has the facility to lessen the effective distances which allows one to get back to normal driving. Before anyone gets aerated about 'overriding a safety system', the system is still active and within the parameters designed into it, it just means one can observe the '2 second rule'on the motorway rather than being slowed a quarter of a mile behind the next vehicle.

Well..OK.

You do have a pont there that I just can't argue with.

But then, I class these things into few categories:

Gizmos that are a "must":

Abs, airbags, ability to level lights by hand (as opposed to automatic)

Things that I class as gizmos that aren't needed and often do more harm than good

Automatically levelling lights
Lane assist
Antisocial media access from car
Keyless entry

Gizmos that I might find use for, but I don't feel the need of them:

Parking sensors
Bendy lights (as long as levelled by hand- does such a thing exist?)
Blis

And things that maybe someone will find useful, but I just don't.

Automatic tailgate.


In the same time I rarely, if ever, see things that I would actually like fitted to my car:

Automatically closing windows and sunroof (yes, I know they exist, but how often do you see that?)
Audio unit that has access to internet radio, local files (in .flac format!) with ability to create custom playlist, not only by genre/artist/album
Daylights (automatic running lights) coming up together with taillights!!!

But instead there's a push for " google drive" on audio units.
Ever brighter and maladjusted headlights.
Car ability to take over the wheel if it doesn't "like" what you're doing..

Can't get my breath. Trying to have my dinner but can't stop laughing. Quality.

Thats easily sorted.

Attachment 117912

Thomas, am I not explaining myself very well, or are you not listening?:regular_smile:
In plain English...:tongwink:that’s a dynamic. Auto tailgate, bendy lights, become a must with use. I identify with your sentiments entirely, however I have had to concede that my damning automation based on my belief of how I would use it was rather premature. The first auto tailgate I thought would be useless, not so, have you seen how dirty tailgates get vs saloons? Never had dirty hands opensing a tailgate since.:teeth_smile: Similarly with other automation, but granted not all, the lane deviation thingy is switched off, for example.

I used to hate auto boxes, I am quite capable of changing gear myself, till the other half insisted on them...so I didn’t tell her she was in the wrong gear.:shocked:

Now I see manual cars as workaholics cars.:teeth_smile:

I’m sure you’ve heard the old adage; don’t knock it till you’ve e tried it?

Years ago when I had a young family I always fancied a Volvo estate. One day while out and about I came across a 265 GLE Estate and p/x my current car. This was my first Volvo and afterwards I thought what have I done, swapped a 60,000 mile car for one with 118.000. Doubts started to creep in but how wrong would I prove to be in the intervening years. Had this car 7 years and toured all over the UK without problems, 3 kids in the back, luggage compartment full and the dog still had plenty of room.

I used to belong to a fishing club and everybody used to make a beeline for my car if we had to go any distance. On one occasion it was loaded up with five of us and all the fishing gear without having to drop the rear seats. On the return trip it even had a Ford Orion on a towrope (broken down), with another 3 onboard and their gear. Never missed a beat.

If ever there was a functional car this was it. Maybe didn't have all the frippery's of todays cars though I guess it was well spec'd for the day, even had a button on the dash to pump up the rear suspension for heavy loads.

Loved that car, V6 PRV 2.8 interestingly the same engine that DeLorean fitted to there Back to the Future car.

Registration SBL???Y, we used to call her Sybil.

My very understanding of funcionality.

Now.. can you imagine new V90 doing the same job?

Err, no. They require too much pampering these days. Bit like society in general.

Get away, ya pair of old romantics yeh.

An old 265 just in case you come across a stricken Ford vs the utility of a V90 and you’re suggesting the 265 is in the running?:teeth_smile:

Yup, with more comfort, less fuel and not having to haul that boat anchor Renault v6 about....tappetytappettytappety.....

Hard to believe, but true. Typing away on this thread and other half appeared, having been looking out the window, saying the outside lights are on. Wee while later she was back saying , ‘just checked they’re switched off’. Went out to investigate and discovered car lights were on. Quick investigation failed to find an obvious reason.

Bloody technology, well either that or Mike and Thomas have the voodoo dolls out!:laughing-smiley-018:

Probably be checking every hour through the night for the next month.:sad-smiley-047:

HaHa it worked then. :tounge_smile:'OOOOOO'

It’s bloody true, thought it too unbelievable to post, then thought why not. Spent a while wondering if I had told other half I was discussing the frailties of technology and I was being set up. I hadn’t. Weird !

Ah! had a BDG in a group 4 escort , I know the joy & fuel poverty well

zero frills & underpant wrecking performance for the time

I can't either.

In my V70 I carry all sorts of tools, offer some ladders or timbers on the roof(daily basis), then when I go "out" its loaded up to the roof- tent, equipment, sometimes bikes on the roof, sometimes roofbox..

I can't imagine new Volvo in this role.

Being afraid to scuff interior, being afraid that self levellers for lights won't perform as they should, etc.

Is it only me or do cars nowadays turn into less "usable" toys full of gizmos?

Sure- you can tell me "if you want to carry loads- buy a van"

But anyone who drove "older" Volvo estate will (I believe) just laugh at that.

That "V" used to mean something.
It stood for "versality".
And oh, versatile these cars were (are).

Tear seats down- full flat surface in the rear.
In addition drop down passenger seat- whoa! Sooo much loading space!

Put them up again- one of most comfortable long range cruisers.

A van?

No.

New Volvo?

Em... I think I may need to pair it up with something for carrying loads.

But why would I want 2 cars if I can do all that with one?

In my personal opinion:

As the years go by, cars functionality level drops, being replaced by all sorts of commercially propelled gizmos.

Give me old style estate , even with some gizmos, the less dangerous ones, but still " old" style estate, any day.