The (absolute) idiot’s guide to safer driving

Every year, thousands of lives could be easily spared were people to follow a few very simple rules of the road.

These rules are as obvious to some as the need to brush their teeth twice per day. Sadly, some people are plagued by cavities as deep as the Grand Canyon and incisors that could double as the colour of the contents in a bottle of Coleman’s Mustard.

Hence the need for the idiot’s guide to safer driving:

1. Wear your seatbelt

The seatbelt is the vinyl, black band that hangs alongside the seat in any car. It was designed in the late 1800s by a chap named George Cayley and is designed to hold you in place and prevent you from involuntarily flying out of your car in the event of a serious collision (a “collision” is when your car makes impromptu contact with another car or object and is also known as an “accident”).

Seatbelts can be identified by a shimmering silver buckle attached to it. Note that this buckle is not an aesthetic enhancement to your vehicle but is to be looped over your body and plugged into a socket next to the seat,. The socket itself is identifiable by a strip of red-hued plastic.

2. Lock your doors

Yes, car doors can be locked from the inside of your car too. Now, you may wonder why you’d want to lock your door if you’re already inside the car?

Well, a phenomenon called hijacking has proven as popular as passive smoking in the day and age we find ourselves inhabiting. The offenders – called “hijackers” or “thieves” - force you out of your car and steal it. The trendy “smash ‘n grab” is yet another recreational activity enjoyed by these bandits; here, your belongings are snatched off your seat through the window that has just been smashed.

Unlocked doors further provoke both activities as, believe it or not, unlocked doors can be opened. The doors can be locked by depressing mini levers on each door – to open again, pinch the lever and pull upwards.


3. Use indicators (ideally when turning)

Indicators are the flashing orange lights on cars (i.e. not the white or red ones). Indicators were named after the word “indicate”, which the English Oxford Dictionary defines as to point out, make known or show.
In the same light (excuse the pun), car indicators were designed to point out, make known and show your intention to turn.

Crucially, indicators are to be used before actually turning (just as you would point to a black Porsche 911 Turbo Tiptronic before you expect your disinterested girlfriend to turn her head and look at it).
Left indicators can be activated by depressing the indicator stalk, and the rights by doing the opposite (this varies from car to car).

4. Check blindspots

Blindspots are not actual spots (like those on a Dalmation) with the word “blind” inscribed on it. They are areas of your rearward vision which your rear-view side mirrors are not able to capture.

Blindspots can be found by turning your body in the direction you wish to turn, checking for cars, horse carts or Golden Arrow busses barrelling down at 50km/h faster than you, and then executing the manoeuvre you had planned.

Checking blindspots is an act which can be likened in significance to using your headlights at 11pm while traversing Chapman’s Peak. In other words, it’s fairly extremely vital.

5. Don’t drive drunk

Again, let’s refer to the English Oxford Dictionary to lend us a hand here. It defines “drunk” as someone who is intoxicated or inebriated. This means you’re unable to function as your normal, temperate self and that your senses are severely compromised. Essentially, you may convince yourself that you know what’s going on, but you actually really don’t.

Intoxicated individuals will likely not remember to wear their seatbelt, lock their doors, use the right indicator at the right time or locate their mirrors, let alone investigate the whereabouts of their blindspots.

Sadly, all this means that we’re all essentially surrounded by hoards of drunk drivers from twilight to dawn to noon and back again.

A decade of daring to be different

It’s been said that a great design is one that polarises opinion, dividing onlookers into two distinct camps; those who love it and those who absolutely loathe it.
As another decade draws to a close, I took a look at some of the most controversial, mass-produced car designs to hit our pothole-afflicted roads over the last 10 years.

This list is in no particular order.

E65 BMW 7 SERIES (Launch year: 2001)

BMW has always been an exciting brand that often gets people talking animatedly, but this model of their luxury 7 Series absolutely shocked the world with its radical design.

Chris Bangle, BMW’s chief designer at the time, kicked off BMWs new design direction with this 7 Series and if his only goal was to cause one heck of a stir, then he hit the bull’s eye.

Unfortunately for BMW, this 7 Series will probably forever hold the title of its most widely criticised model. Motoring journalists and car testers everywhere generally hated the “eyebrow” lookalike headlamps, clamshell boot lid and new-age technological features found inside the car.

What do I think? While it certainly wasn’t a classically beautiful design, I found it immensely cool and with an unmatched presence on the road. Its extremely advanced control interface has mostly been copied by other brands and BMW has gradually simplified the controls to the point where current Beemers are drastically ergonomically improved.


HONDA CIVIC HATCHBACK (Launch year: 2006)

The current Civic is a dramatic change from the model that preceded it. Seemingly inspired by the art of origami, the Civic is all about sharp lines and angles.



The front end has a somewhat bizarre strip of plastic that gives the illusion that you’re looking at one large headlight that stretches across the entire front-end of the car. The rear mimics this and includes a sporty fin integrated into the back window.

The interior is no less controversial, with a very space age feel to the controls.

The Civic has been generally accepted as a brave move by Honda and a thoroughly unique hatchback that hasn’t really had its practicality affected by the design.
In fact, it’s one of the most spacious vehicles in its class.

I think it’s truly stunning and makes the Golf look truly dull.


MERCEDES-BENZ CLS (Launch year: 2004)

Mercedes-Benz has generally reserved its design flair for its more niche sports models such as the SLK.

Then, they designed the CLS.

A car with all the performance, luxury and most of the practicality of a regular Merc but one that Batman wouldn’t mind using as a courtesy car while his Batmobile went in for a service.



I’m not a huge fan of Mercedes design, but I think this car is gorgeous and slightly scary. In black and with tinted windows, it must make for the ultimate getaway machine.



FIAT MULTIPLA (Launch year: 1998)

Yes, the Mulipla first went for sale in 1998, but I simply couldn’t exclude it from this list.
Fiats emanate from the same passionate country that produces Ferraris, so a bit of design flair here and there was always part and parcel of Fiat’s range of cars.




The Multipla was launched not too long after the Renault Scenic as a rival MPV (multi-purpose vehicle).

It was said to be designed around the 6 passengers it could accommodate, and this is clear upon entering the expansive interior. In those terms, Fiat produced a winner.

But the exterior was another story. Some found it endearing (judging by its impressive sales figures, or perhaps they just felt sorry for the poor thing…) but most agreed that the combination of 6 circular lights stacked in pairs at the front, oddly proportioned and oversized windows and a dumpy rear-end made for one of the ugliest vehicles ever seen.


BMW X6 (Launch year: 2008)

Still relatively new, the X6 takes 4X4 and sports car and moulds them together into one extreme package.




It looks spectacular from every angle and is absolutely huge, but can’t accommodate any more people and their stuff than a Toyota Corolla can.

Still, it is a beautiful beast in my eyes and has proven to be a positive image-builder for BMW.


CHRYSLER PT CRUISER (Launch year: 2000)

For most of its life, the Chrysler PT has been burdened with a lacklustre engine that did absolutely nothing to match the vehicle’s personality.
That said, its appearance had many doing double-takes when it was released.


It looks like its come straight out of the 20s and had been modified to fit in with 21st century design cues.
Much of its novelty has by now worn off, but I think it looks awesome and would make any kid proud if they’re dropped off at school in it.


RENAULT MEGANE II (Launch year: 2002)

The Megane had to fend off the class-leading Golf and therefore had to be something special (and to be honest, the same holds true to this day).



Renault probably realised it couldn’t match the Golf based purely on how good the car was, so they drew upon their charismatic French roots and came up with what was a mould-breaking design at the time.

Everybody was talking about the tiny but incredibly eye-catching rear window and the Megane’s shapely butt. I thought it was incredible in 2003 and now, well, it’s merely quite nice. Amazing how one’s perspective changes in a few short years.


BMW 1 SERIES (Launch year: 2004)

Yes, I know. I’m making mention of yet another BMW. But the truth is that this decade saw a raft of radically different BMWs finding their way onto our roads.






The 1 Series would have been controversial no matter what it looked like. 10 years ago, the mere concept of BMW producing a hatchback to compete with the Golf would have been as shocking as Porsche building a 4X4 and yet, both ideas have seen fruition today.

The 1 Series was BMWs first dedicated hatchback (the 3 Series Compact was the closest the company had previously gotten).
The brand new model was widely criticised for its strange looks and lack of interior space, but was widely praised for its strange looks and riveting dynamics.

I think it’s overpriced and that the cheaper models are underpowered but that it’s a sporty, funky car and a worthy first attempt from BMW in this segment of the market.


PORSCHE CAYENNE (Launch year: 2002)

Porsche has staked its claim as the maker of the perfect sports car in the shape of the technically, aesthetically and passionately perfect 911. For them to risk producing a 4X4 was an idea that many found difficult to stomach.



However, Porsche is also known for hardly ever putting a foot wrong, and the Cayenne has become a success for the brand. In fact, it has become Porsche’s best-selling model.

That doesn’t mean it isn’t ugly and bloated in appearance. The post- face lifted models are a lot better, but the original design lacked the cohesion of Porsche’s other models. Apparently, buyers didn’t care at all.


Despite all these vehicles not being universally acclaimed, all can claim to be a success to some degree.
Proof that bucking the trend and creating one of your own is sometimes a really smart idea.

No weight to this concept

To celebrate 20 years of sales success with its funky MX-5 sports car, Mazda has come up with the most useless concept car in the world – the MX-5 Superlight.

The MX-5 (or Miata, as it is known in some other markets), thoroughly deserves the success and loyal following it has gained thanks to being a simple, fun, relatively affordable no-frills sports car.

Surely Mazda could somehow have conjured up a better way of celebrating the model than this “Superlight” version of the MX-5?

The car is brashly claimed by Mazda to offer a mass of below 1000 kilograms, thus providing a true, “purist” driving experience.

Mazda MX-5 Superlight

You may be thinking that’s absolutely incredible. How did Mazda manage to get the weight down to little more than a Smart car (and its clueless driver)? Did they make use of some new, space-age material similar to that used on F1 machines?

Hardly.

Mazda simply removed “extravagant” features like a roof, carpets and even the windshield.

No windshield... no clever point, either

GROUNDBREAKING STUFF!

Removing large chunks of an object actually decreases its weight!

Come to think of it, my friend’s cell phone is rather heavy and annoying. Perhaps she could use Mazda’s methodology and remove her keypad, screen and battery, thereby solving her handset’s obesity problem and creating the cell phone version of an Apple Air?

If only Mazda had made this sensational breakthrough public even earlier!

But seriously now, the point of any concept car is to showcase fresh ideas and technology for future mass-produced vehicles. Forgive me, but removing a car’s windshield and using it to make dramatic, impressive-sounding claims about weight saving is just daft.

Even more pointless is Mazda’s claim that the engine has been tuned to deliver a “racy” sound. With no plans by the manufacturer to actually produce and sell the thing, we’ll never really know, or care.

The Superlight proves nothing and is like the pair of socks each of us will receive at least twice a lifetime – a seriously dire birthday gift. Only in this case, the genuinely capable MX-5 is the disappointed recipient.

The real MX-5 deserves a greater symbol of recognition than the silly Superlight

Over-inspired design: when women become dashboards

Modern car designers are also keen, devoted poets. Well, only that would explain their increasingly profound sources of inspiration for the work they do.
I can understand design cues which hark back to older models in order to create hype around classic forms and pull at the target market’s nostalgic heartstrings. That’s why a Porsche 911 today looks the same as the one made in the 70s.

However, things have become a lot more complicated. That which motivated your design is now thrust into the limelight with the same oomph as the design itself.
Nadya Arnaout, the lady responsible for the design of the new BMW Z4’s dashboard, claims that she was inspired by the “female figure.”
She went on to say that “It was to me a similar thing of how the body flows. Especially the female figure… It makes it very emotional and sexy.”







Nadya's "female-inspired" Z4 interior




One wonders if she sprawled herself down in front of a mirror, drew a self-portrait and suddenly, right there on her piece of grained arty paper, appeared the new Z4’s dashboard.
True, the new Z4’s interior is a sumptuous place in which to watch the world go by at warp-speed, and perhaps some men enjoy the site of a woman laying an arm’s length away, provided they look closely enough.

The Volvo S40’s cockpit was another result of a “dramatic” light-bulb moment. Its designers crafted the controls to mimic those of a household remote control.

Volvo's "remote-control" console

Why? So that the driver can fight over what temperature the air-conditioner is set at with his noisy brood? How about designing the dashboard around the needs of, I don’t know, the driver?
Similarly, the new Ford Fiesta’s dashboard layout is said to be inspired by mobile phone interfaces.

One day, your cell phone might be inspired by car dashboards...

Then again, designing a car around the most important thing – its occupants – can result in a dicey (not in the Cape-coloured colloquial sense!) finished product.
The first Fiat Multipla was said to be designed purely around the needs of the six passengers it could accommodate. But just look at it!

Those six passengers may have plenty of room in which to stretch out, but all you actually want to do when travelling in the Multipla is to curl up into a ball and hide from the people driving around you in normal cars, many of whom will be pointing, laughing and/or gagging.

Another “comically inspired design offender” is the aircraft-style handbrake found in Renault’s Megane II. As you will have surmised, it was inspired by aeroplanes.
While this may make for an interesting conversation piece, the lingering question will still be why it was necessary. A simpler way to funk up a handbrake would be to slap a piece of leather or chrome on it.

Renault's "aeroplane-inspired" handbrake

Of course, that means Renault wouldn't have been able to mention the aeroplane reference in the media press-kit, thereby enabling them to give the false impression that the Megane actually flies.

More bizarre still are the explanations provided for concept car innovations where designers have the freedom to really push the boundaries in every sphere, their ostentatious imaginations included.
The aggressive Lamborghini Insecta concept car’s exterior was enthused by the exoskeletons of insects.

Lamborghini Insecta

Let’s say the Insecta made it to production and Christiano Ronaldo bought himself one with some spare change. I somehow don’t see him bragging about the bone-inspired design to his mates in the locker room.

More hilarious than all of these is the headlight design of the Volvo S60 concept car. An official article explaining the detail of the lighting elements that made up the headlight proclaimed the following.
I suggest referring to the picture as you read this.

Volvo S60 "ship-inspired" headlights

“In each of the headlamps, the lights create a silhouette of two miniature Viking longboats sailing side by side, one for the main beam and one for the dipped beam. When driving in the dark, the light is reflected from the concealed, upward-facing High Performance LED bulbs, projected by the ships’ filled sails.”

That one makes me giggle every time and after hearing about all of these, I can only wonder what we’ll hear about next. Perhaps a speedometer inspired by a bathroom scale? Or maybe a group of buttons inspired by the control panel in an elevator?

I’m no designer myself and can well imagine the task of creating something new and fresh in a constantly changing industry to be incredibly arduous.
In that regard, I commend these professionals on their creativity.

Sometimes, however, a brilliant design is best left to speak for itself.

Road safety: the modern visibility hazard

Have any of you noticed how enormous the dashboards fitted to modern cars have become? Where 10 years ago you could sit in the driver’s seat of your car and easily reach out and touch the windscreen, this simple manoeuvre is now impossible in plenty of new cars.

This unusual characteristic of modern vehicle design has become popular for what I believe to be the following reasons:

Renault Scenic interior

- - Acres of elongated dashboard together with larger windscreens and thicker A-pillars are simply a contemporary design feature and perceived as very “now” and stylish.

< - Far more extensive and complicated safety features and especially the adoption of airbags are better integrated into a large dashboard design. Also, drivers are now positioned a lot further from the windscreen than before and this makes sense from an increased safety perspective.

All of which is wonderful in theory. A swoopy dashboard with curves in all the right places, a multitude of airbags and plenty of buttons to touch makes the modern car interior a treat for both the family man and the self-confessed technocrat.

However, UK-based WhatCar magazine ran what I believe to be an extremely underrated car safety study in 2003. They termed it the “visibility test” and they tested all the most popular cars from all segments of the market to determine how easy they are to see out of from the driver’s seat.

The results were quite shocking. MPVs like those from VW and Opel faired especially poorly, and these “mom’s taxis” are known for their large dashboard / thick A-pillar design.

Take a look at the picture of this recently-replaced Honda Jazz and one can see just how expansive the dash is. It had the second worst score in the survey and obstructed a significant portion of the driver’s sight on each side with those obtrusive A-pillars.

Honda Jazz interior

Even the tiny “quarterlights” (those miniscule non-opening windows fitted to the Jazz and lodged between the rear-view mirrors and windscreen) could do little to alleviate the lack of forward-vision.

I’ve driven a Jazz and I currently drive a previous-generation Ford Fiesta and can vouch for the inconvenience of having to stretch forward when going around certain corners to see clearly. It’s a problem that simply didn’t exist in the huge ’91 Toyota Cressida I used to drive!

It's a phenomenon worthy of consideration; has safety technology and subsequent changes to design become too smart for its own good?

Well, consider the Mini Cooper. WhatCar tests confirmed that Mr. Bean’s version offers an extra 10m² of exterior visibility compared with the 6-speed, supercharged, two-tone beast I would love to drive. Admittedly, WhatCar ran these tests based on the 2003 Cooper but with the 2009’s design having hardly changed, one can expect much of the same. This is despite the modern Mini's fairly shallow dashboard which indicates that visibility is badly affected by those thick A-pillars.

New Mini interior

What all this means is that the 2009 Mini Cooper looks and protects you a million times better than the one that became an icon in the ‘60s, but the old one gave you a far better chance of spotting a potential hazard and avoiding an accident in the first place!

Old Mini interior

eCCCentric C3

Many of us know of the Citroёn C3. A trendy, clever and comfy “boutique” hatch sold in the lively supermini segment of the market.
What many are largely unaware of is the closely-related Citroёn C3 Pluriel. About as common as Paris Hilton winning an Oscar, this exceptionally unique vehicle was launched on the South African market back in 2004.
I can’t recall ever spotting one of them on the road, though, and it’s not difficult to figure out why.

The C3 Pluriel (good gracious, even the name is ridiculous) was conceptualised and designed as a single vehicle to cater for a mind-boggling array of needs.
So, provided you misplaced your mind and good sense of judgement and purchased a Pluriel, you could theoretically configure your new pride and “toy” as a hatchback, pillarless coupe, cabriolet or even a good old fashioned bakkie / pick-up.

The brutally burning question is why you’d want to do all this. The answer is simply that you would not.

To be fair, Citroёn has always been about forward-thinking and the showcasing of design trends which rival manufacturers would only pick up on years later. Think Citroёn DS or the legendary 2CV to get an idea of what I’m getting at.
The C3 Pluriel, however, is complete and utter overkill.


The intricate roof structure consists primarily of two, 1,85m, 12kg arches. They are as easy to remove as a loose-fitting jacket, but not remotely near as easy to store.
Let’s get real. You’re looking fabulous cruising along the Camps Bay beachfront and decide to go topless – with your Pluriel, that is…

What on earth are you then expected to do with 24kg and almost 4 metres of the stuff?
You could of course leave them at home and take comfort in the fact that should you get caught
in an unexpected thunderstorm, Citroёn has thoughtfully equipped the Pluriel with mildly
water-repellent seat fabric. Just be sure not to rub your skin over the coarse material too
enthusiastically.

My advice is simple. Don’t buy a Citroёn C3 Pluriel.

The Mini Clubman, Ford Ka, Citroёn’s very own C4 and plenty of other oddballs out there represent far more practical ways to stand out in a crowd.

When Run-Flat means run home

I admire BMWs and always have for their immense innovation and willingness to push the boundaries of design and technology.
I even went against all the backlash that the company faced and has faced since 2004 when they began fitting their vehicles with Run-Flat tyres.

Essentially, Run-Flats are fitted with far thicker sidewalls than conventional tyres. This allows – by BMWs claims – a car with a flat tyre to be driven up to 80km/h and for a distance of 150km while the driver remains in complete control.
The advantages are clear; no need to stop on the N2 at 3am in the morning and climb beneath your car in an ungainly fashion to locate the spare. Safety is a major concern for many and Run-Flats, in principle, eliminate this worry.

I would be willing to drive a car with a slightly harsher ride quality (due to the stiffer rubber) and to pay more for repairs to enjoy the luxury and sheer convenience of this technology.

However, the owner of a BMW X5 recently wrote into CAR magazine. He was on the long road, got a flat tyre and, unfortunately, ran into disaster.
The tyre deteriorated until it no longer existed. The desperate owner still pushed on to reach some help, but was eventually left stranded 150km away from anything with an immobile vehicle and a ruined alloy wheel (which will probably end up costing close to 10k, if not more, to replace).

So, in conclusion, and I absolutely loathe to admit this, but BMW has gotten ahead of itself here. Perhaps Run-Flats will work in other parts of the world where shorter distances are covered. In South Africa, however, BMW (or any other manufacturer) simply doesn’t have the coverage or infrastructure to send a 24 hour emergency support team out everytime someone gets stuck in the Karoo after having passed their 150km limit.

Never overtake on a blind rise (or in the face of a new Audi)

Audi produces fantastic machines, but even a prestigious brand such as this one can take things a tad too far sometimes.

The new, dramatic and cornea-shattering LED daytime driving lights fitted to many new Audi’s are certainly worthy of a second glance, but they seem like a desperate cry for attention.

Let’s get real. If it is illegal to fit two (admittedly ridiculous) small luminescent little lights mounted to the water “squirters” placed on your bonnet - or to operate your fog lights in conditions that are not, well, foggy - then why is Audi allowed to fit dozens of dazzling, merely aesthetic lights to its cars?
And then to call them “daytime driving lights”; it’s as if the sun could suddenly no longer break through the swathes of pollution in our atmosphere and these Light Emitting Diodes were all that motorists could rely on to see each other.

That being said, many other manufacturers have also caught onto the LED lighting craze and when well-incorporated into the design of the car, it does make for a striking visual spectacle, especially at night.

Don’t be surprised to see this fad catch on as quickly as the clear plastic covers on headlights did in the nineties.
Before long, in the unfortunate case that Fiat continues producing the Uno, it too will be sporting LED’s more powerful than the engine fitted to this tin box.

Why Daihatsu Can't Keep A Straight Face

With the corniest of mutterings now being splattered across personalised number plates everywhere, it seems a more curious characteristic has emerged when it comes to these vehicle identification appendages.

Well, that is if you drive a certain Daihatsu.

A few days ago, I was sitting in my car when I spotted the oddest thing on the front-end of a Daihatsu Charade parked opposite me.

The Charade’s number plate was positioned about 20 to 30cm off centre.


Daihatsu Charade

The only other car I could think of with this feature was a few Alfas. Of course, the Alfas all had the off centre number plate purposefully integrated into its overall design and it looks quite neat.

Alfa 147

Number plates, while primarily a means of vehicle identification, are also integral to providing the front and rear of any car with a balanced, harmonious aesthetic.

On this poor Daihatsu, however, the number plate resulted in an already oddly proportioned car looking even more like it was about to tip over.
Imagine, just for a second, if Mercedes-Benz decided to place their bonnet-mounted 3-pointed star a ruler’s length to the left and you’ll get an idea of just how bizarre the Daihatsu appeared.
I felt ridiculous staring at a silly number plate and eventually left it down to someone, somewhere, in some workshop, who had simply re-attached the number plate incorrectly.

You can well imagine my shock when, over the next day or two, I spotted several other Charade’s (new and old) and previous generation Sirion’s nonchalantly sporting the same misplaced number plate!

The Copen micro sports car as well as the older Cuore prove that this oddity is common to almost all the brand's humiliated models.

Daihatsu Copen

Daihatsu Cuore

Perhaps this is Daihatsu’s cost-effective means of keeping a family resemblance between all their models instead of resorting to, say, the humongous grill now found on all Audi’s?

At least there are a few Japs out there with a greater sense of humour than the ones that designed the dull Corolla.

Tricky Trends

In the great world of cars, trends good and bad are followed relentlessly. Manufacturers get so caught up in “the moment” of what’s perceived as trendsetting that they often design features or sometimes entire cars that actually go against the very essence of what their brand stands for.

Somehow, the Toyota Yaris doesn’t come standard with an air conditioner or alloy wheels and yet it is fitted with an extravagant centrally mounted digital (on the hatchback, analogue on the sedan) instrument display. The Renault Scenic is another example of this instrument display.
Do these manufacturers not know that if something is not directly in your line of view, your significantly inferior peripheral vision takes over? Hardly conducive towards safe family motoring, something both Renault and Toyota strive to provide.

Then we have the first generation Polo Classic (at least, the first generation launched in South Africa).
While it was seriously unpretty / boring and therefore couldn’t have had ambitions of setting any trend, it nevertheless was fitted with a design feature that (and I stand to be corrected here) I had never before seen on a car and which spread rapidly to other vehicles – namely, a single rear reverse light.
There can be no logical explanation for this besides cost-cutting. What it does is to provide the rear of your car with an unbalanced appearance and permanently make it appear as though one reverse light is broken. It is also less safe – if anything happens to be obscuring the side of the vehicle without that reverse light, those viewing it from behind won’t always know it’s moving backwards.
Seems a petty concern, but it’s simply unnecessary.

It is my next “trend” that really gets me hot under the collar (and depending on which car I happen to drive, her too!).
Apparently, modern vehicles have become so impeccably well engineered that some of them no longer require the once obligatory temperature gauge. All that is now needed is a single and often miniscule red lamp in the instrument panel that illuminates once your engine is probably on the verge of exploding while you’re traversing De Waal Drive at 20km/h on a Friday afternoon.
The very point of a gauge is to be able to constantly be aware of how warm the engine is. This way, you’ll be alerted instantly when it starts to heat up and long before steam starts spewing from underneath the bonnet of your Chevrolet Spark (which, you guessed it, is one of the offenders).
As advanced as they have become, modern vehicles’ engines still run on petrol, they still rely upon a cooling system and they can still overheat.

Car names are another moot point. It seems as though designing a car from scratch takes so much effort that there is insufficient brainpower left for the team to think up a reasonable model name.
Volkswagen has loads of fun revising its dated CitiGolf every 5 days or so, complete with new individual designations for each model in the line-up that range from an eerie canine to a synonym for doggedness; I doubt anyone will feel very good telling their mother-in-law that they drive a Citi Wolf or a TenaCiti. A sharply raised eyebrow is sure to follow.
Manufacturers of 4X4s are perhaps even worse. They can’t resist the tendency to drown their gas-guzzling beasts in an hilarious assortment of masculine words like Defender, Discovery, Commander or Outback. Or, if you often indulge in the odd trip around your backyard, you could get yourself a VW Touran Track and Field. Not many could have predicted that cars would one day be named according to the surface they’re adept at driving on.
Let’s all hold thumbs for a BMW X5 Road and Driveway.

But perhaps more bizarre than all of these is a car that tries extremely hard to be trendy when it is actually quite terrible.
The range-topping Tata Indigo GLX comes standard with awful interior plastics, a breathless engine, refinement notable only by its absence and… a dual rear DVD entertainment system. Hell, they’ve even thrown in leather upholstery. Whether it’s real leather or not is highly
debatable.


Tata Indigo

What it all boils down to is that far too often, being perceived as cool, funky or trendy takes preference over reliability, practicality and good old common sense.
Then again, who would say no to the ridiculously overindulgent fingerprint recognition system on the Audi A8 that adjusts seats and the like to your preferences at the touch of a little electronic pad…? Not me.