What do you think is the WORST car trend in 2022?

I completly agree with all of those . I would like to add that huge screen to command all functions of the car including the air conditioning. That should in my opinion be controlled by buttons and knobs. Beacase it’s just safer than tapping on screen and not focusing on the road. Great video as always

I think we’ll come full circle and eventually car makers will offer an ‘all analogue dashboard’ as a selling point !

Another thing with the mirror /camera thing. When you look in a mirror, you can move your eyes / head / body around when looking in the mirror and you see different things and things just out of sight. You don't get taht with a fixed camera. Sure you may be able to get a wider field of view, but then that would have to utilise a wide angle lens which would in turn just distort everything.

WORST : putting all control to one 54" display. Not safe to use while driving.

Touch sensitive buttons are my worst nightmare. Electric mirrors and pop up door handles are also step back for usability

I totally agree with most of these. I do take issue with the Plug in Hybrid as I think you are right but only because the car manufactures are doing what they did with E85 and going half baked on the idea. If they truly put in a solid effort into the design I think it would be the best idea out there. A sixth reason you didnt touch on the side mirror cameras is it only takes one drop of water on the lens to totally distort your side view where as a mirror you got to get quite a bit of water on it before it impairs the visibility. Lets be honest the modern infotainment and touch screen craze is by people who absolutely hate the driver and just want to make the time behind the wheel as miserable as possible or simply cause accidents.

One thing that I really hate is how GM wants to keep on the reverse lights after you've put it in park, turned off the ignition, and stepped out of the vehicle. So when I follow another car through a parking lot and come to some parked car thinking it's trying to reverse, I have to wait for this car to figure out that the car isn't going anywhere.

The other morning I set off in my 2002 Golf. In span of 30 sec and 100 meters, without taking my eyes off the road, I managed to: turn the radio on, turn the volume down, turn the wipers on intermittent, reduce the timing on the intermittent wipers, turn the HVAC to defog the windshield and turned the seat heater on. I wanna see a Tesla driver achieve that.

I agree. To me touch sensitive buttons are the worst, because they work only 3 times out of 10 unlike real buttons 10 out of 10!

What also annoys me is that the big german brands lost their consistency in naming their models. For example Mercedes always had the A B C ... S class, the SUV version added "GL" to the name, like GLA GLB ... GLS. But now with their new electric models its a big mess. For example EQS is a sedan and the SUV counterpart is called "EQS SUV" but then the EQC is an SUV and the upcoming sedan version will be called the "EQC SEDAN" witch doesn't make much sense. Same for BMW, the i4 is the electric version of the 4series gran coup. But is the i3 the electric version of the 3series?... No it isn't

All the while analogue cars are on sale, I stick with those. I love a manual gear lever, a proper handbrake, proper dials to look at, proper controls for air con and other essential features at the touch of a button or switch. I hate switch handbrakes, auto boxes or semi auto boxes, or menus upon menus on a screen before you get to an essential control. Drives me nuts! Basically a car with as few distractions as possible from the job of driving: an activity I enjoy

What I noticed recently was that many cars have a raising beltline and a falling roofline (the highest point is usually above the driver's head). I guess that's fine for aerodynamics and gives a "coupé line", but it also means restricted headroom for those in the rear and the side windows become smaller and smaller towards the rear. And it's not just one manufacturer, pretty much everyone does it nowadays; I wonder whether it's aerodynamic requirement or just a trend?

Agree with all of these. Pop-out door handles are like hidden headlights or hidden wipers. Stylists love them, but when you can't get into your car on a Winter day because they're iced over, than you'll be less enthusiastic.

I wish the Lane departure could be set for motorways only (using the onboard gps perhaps) where it’s actually useful. On a twist B road where you are constantly crossing the lane lines it’s positively dangerous.

200% agree with Matt except the PHEV. My X5 PHEV gets a decent 40 miles and have no worries if I have to do a long trip. The electronic side rear view mirrors are the stupidest, though I like an electronic rear view mirror inside in place of traditional one.

I would also add the worst thing about frontal charge port is living in a country with winter for five months of the year and the chargeport beeing impossible to open due to snow and ice. My Kia has it, and it has driven me insane sometimes. I have to use warm water to melt snow and ice, before i can charge it. Its probably one of the biggest reasons i am trading it in for another make.

Good video, but I disagree with you on plug in hybrids. Yes, you’re right if the majority of your driving is long trips. But if most of your travel is to work and back, and you can make that entire drive on the EV, then a PHEV is ideal. My wife drives the Kia Sorento PHEV, and in 3,000 miles, we’ve only had to fill up with gas twice because she uses EV only going to and coming back from work. For our use case, getting the slightly worse mileage on longer trips (even though 36mpg is still very good for a large SUV and that’s what we get on long trips), is well worth it, because the rest of the time we rarely ever need to fill up.

This has such a ‘old man yells, shakes fist at sky’ vibe and I’m here for it😂😂 (he’s mostly not wrong as well)

Instead of using camera mirrors, the periscope mirror as used in Lamborghini Countach is a much better solution to avoid wing mirrors. It will be interesting if periscope can be used for left and right side rear view. This may eliminate mirror stalks (which even the camera requires) and furhther aid aerodynamics. Adjusting the mirrors can require different mechanism.

Hey mate, I mean, Matt, you are so funny! And assertive! I loved this video. I have to agree with you in almost all these points, even if just because your enthusiasm, although some of these issues have been only in my peripheral view. I really hope you will start some better trend in the auto industry and journalism... something connected with integrity, transparency, sincerity, not just following trends because they are... well, trendy.

You are spot on with every point, I really don't understand the soft limiters on performance cars. They are already quite as a bug fart in Europe, at least we still have some real tail pipe noise here in the states. 😊

Also, the door handle can be frozen to the door in cold weather.

The biggest issue I find with digital mirrors (I have a digital rearview mirror in my Lotus because the view out the rear is so limited) is the focal distance. If you have 20/20 vision without needing glasses, you'd be fine. If not, then you might have some difficulty focusing on what's in the "mirror." With a real mirror, your eyes focus at the actual distance to the object (the light travels that whole distance to your eyes), but with a digital, you're focusing at the distance between your eyes and the screen. That can be an issue. With my glasses on, which help me focus on distant objects, I have trouble focusing on what's on the screeen.

I Thank you for this video 🙏, and I would like to add the huge infotainment screen! It's keep on getting bigger and bigger, which I think in a couple of years they would put a 55 inch screen in a car 🤷🏻‍♂️. Great video again as always

The lane assistance is rage inducing ! I was in my jeep, only car on the road, driving the limit but in the rain. I got on a bendy bridge and forgot the damn thing was on. Being by myself on a very wide bridge with perfect visibility I got slightly to my left in the right bend to adjust for the speed and heavy tall vehicle offroady suspension ready for the apex and the damn thin steered me to the side of the bridge on the dip. My brain told me I aquaplaned, my rear end slid out and I'm going to flip my car on a fricking bridge going 100 kph. I am not afraid to admit I almost made my underwear brown and saw my life before my eyes ... and the damn thing just leveled out and kept on jeeping. If I wasn't on the damn bridge I would have pulled over then and there and took a screwdriver to the fricking lane button and a hammer to the bloody camera !!! That was the most useless near death experience I ever had. On another occasion the thing was trying to steer me into a bridge head because of a poorly painted solid line and I had to muscle it away from certain death. It's not annoying ... it's dangerous ☠️

Turn signals low on rear bumpers are my huge pet peeve. I can’t bloody see them!!! Not used to looking down there. Same for red turn signals - how do I know if you’re signalling a turn or breaking in stop and go traffic

The door mirror aspect form the perspective of cyclists and motorcyclists (I'm both and as much a car petrol head as a die hard biker) and it's a completely true observation. If I'm behind I look in their mirrors all the time for indications of whether the driver is looking or has seen me, or a clue as to what they might do next. Great little video Matt. Some fun stuff but also some very accurate stuff too! Also, please get Northover back for some more car v bike stuff, he's brilliant and a great fit for your channel. Keep doing the awesome stuff you do! 👊😎

100% agree with you Mat but here are a few more: 1. No central dash so you have to look on the tablet to monitor your speed, yes, I'm looking at you Model 3. 2. Digital dash: whilst they look so cool and 22nd century, Mercedes for example, likes to display a silly warning on the screen which you have to X out all the time. I can't remember what the warning reads, but this is how not bothered I am with reading it. 3. Voice activated controlled AI, they are as pointless as the invention of 3D TV.

Dislike climate controls, wing mirror adjustments and seat adjustments being embedded into a touchscreen

Wow, you are absolutely right! I hate all the electronics, doing away with the mirrors, stupid door handles and all the rest of it. Keep it simple. Thank you.

Excellent video! I agree that too many things are electric in cars today. I live in a cold climate, and sometimes screens and touch pads don’t work, and a charging port on the front bumper can get iced shut! Then you have to clean off the icy sludge to charge it. The side view cameras are also a distraction. If you need a different angle, then you have to change the camera angle instead of just moving your head over a bit.

I agree with all of these except the plug in hybrids. For the majority of the public, day to day commuting can be dealt with battery range which is cheaper than fuel and when you want to go on a long journey you aren’t restricted to a developing EV network. This is coming from an ev owner.

I agree, the Honda E is so close to being awesome but the lack of wing mirrors make it look daft

You're absolutely right on each point, really hope that car manufacturers learn from this along with customers that ask for all these gadgets. Thanks.

you just absolutely read my mind with this video ! i applaude for putting this to the carmakers contience!

I disagree with the plug in hybrid part. I would love to have the ability to run on battery in city driving for lower pollution/better stop and go efficiency, then switch over to the combustion engine when cruising on the highway. The Sorrento PHEV has an electric range of 32 miles/51km which would be perfect for my mixed highway/city commute.

With the GR Yaris, hold down the button for 5 seconds and it turns lane departure completely off. And if you want to switch collision assist off you have to switch the car to "Expert Mode". :)

Absolutely agree with all of these except for the electric tailgate. Absolutely love the fact that it is electric, saves your hands from getting dirty if theres muck all over the top of the boot (which is often the case in the uk) 😂

Great much needed video about what isn't needed. My truck has the least amount of electronics even roll up windows that never break !

Hi Matt. Exellnt overview. Lane departure is probably the least refined mod

The more I watch videos like this, the more I'm convinced to never give up my 1974 GTV, which I've had from new and still drive daily. The most advanced electronics in it, in fact the ONLY electronics in it, is the radio!

You named a lot of the problems I have with working so much technology into road going vehicles. I understand a lot of it is for "convenience and practicality" but there's both a point of diminishing returns and a point of regression, not to mention the difficulties of doing your own repairs and modifications... This is why I prefer cars from the mid 1990's to mid 2000's. Just enough, but not too much.

I read the title and immediately thought, I probably won’t agree with a few of these, but you NAILED it. I’m with ya on all of them.

Agree with all except PHEVs. I am very pleased with mine. Driving only on electric in city and also high range with the hybrid mode when leaving on vacations. I cannot afford 2 cars.

Matt needs to have some tee shirts printed and wear them whenever reviewing a new car that only has touch buttons. The shirts should say "All I want is a knob", "Give me knobs", "I need a knob to twiddle" etc... The manufacturers will surely capitulate after being humiliated.

is there a separate video about the touch sensitive thingies? I loved the background footage :D

Loved all your points especially lane assist. Can I add a few please. Adaptive cruise control (knocked off 40 kph off my speed once just because it read a speed sign on another road - I haven't used it since. Bring back mirrors with flick buttons and large rear windows that you can see out of. I'm not a fan of infotainment screens either - too distracting.

I agree with everything except the plug-in hybrids comment. Plug-in hybrids have greater battery range than regular hybrids and the hybrid setup offers you the best of both worlds (greater mpg and range to go further than an EV and usability during blackouts).

And you forgot about the biggest nowadays. Offering expensive BEVs that cost almost the same as a house, full of tech gimmicks as an iPad on wheels, and branding it as "zero emissions", "Eco friendly", "reliable" or "maintenance free".

I removed the soft limiter on my GTI when I went stage 2. At stand still it has a soft limiter but when rolling while on neutral it revs all the way to 7k rpm.

Beavertooth Grille....LMFAO.. Now I can never unsee that... and it still cracks me up. Well played!! Also... for Decades, here in North Am., your gas filler opening was hidden behind your license plate in the rear panel of the car...why NOT put the charger back there... or , put one Front AND Back...

0:30 soft limiters 1:46 Lane departure warning 2:34 grille on EV 3:33 pop out door handles 4:00 charge ports 4:43 touch sensitive buttons 5:14 EVs with no frunk 6:05 electronics 6:41 PHEV 7:34 camera door mirrors

I have to agree with all of these aside from the PHEV. That just depends one who buys it. Toyota RAV4 for instance, for someone who drives only 50 miles to work or so and back, will never have to use gas when going to work. But the option of having an engine with a hybrid system then comes in handy for longer road trips.

All excellent points. Although cars without side mirrors will remind anyone over 60 of the cars around when they were children. Another annoying feature is the collision assist. Try overtaking in the last second and you get the brakes slammed on, almost to end up with smashing into both the car car in front and the one you want to get in front of coming up from the right (or left for most of the world).

100% with you on the lane departure warning. I drive on country lanes a lot and, if I forget to turn it off, it's constantly beeping at me.

Agreed! One more issue with camera mirrors is the focus of your eye on things close by and further away. Your vision of these screens is constantly blurred, because your cornea has to adjust between far sight through the windshield and near sight on the tiny screen. That doesn't happen with regular mirros, because you're still focusing on things far away, even though the mirror glass is right in front of you. I drove an Audi e-Tron a while back and did not like that feature at all.

Your comparison btw mirrors and ears was hilarious!!

Porsche actually made a way around the soft limiter where you hold both shifter paddles while it’s in gear and you can rev freely

Yeah the mirror thing was spot on! I MTB a lot and never really thought much about looking at the mirror to see if Mr Wally is gonna open his door on me.. but its true! I do that omg, I find myself checking the door mirror reflections all the time if Im cycling up. Never thought of that as I just did it. Great point!

Never thought about the reverse use of the wing mirror until now. I realise how often, even as a car driver you can quickly check to see if the driver is actually looking at the mirror and therefore has actually seen you. The problem is that mirrors are responsible for a ton of drag….

Completely agree with these Matt. But the automotive industry will tell you "their research has suggested these are features customers want". Who these customers actually are, nobody knows.

Dude I need to have a pint with you :), love the vid and have so much to add like Audi's headlights that can project games on walls n much more.

Great video and I completely agree with all of the points you made

I use car wing mirrors when I'm filtering on my motorbike, to tell when when the driver is on their phone - _VERY OFTEN_ - you can see them looking in their laps and the glow on their faces using the mirror.

"Every generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it.” - George Orwell

About the digital door mirrors. I totally agree with the statements made here. But what did you say about these same camera mirrors again on your review of the Lotus Evija feb 2020?

7:33 #10 I have a solution for you. Add mirrors with cameras built-in. 2014 Honda civic had a camera installed underneath the mirror. You could enable it by turning on your blinker or have it on all the time. That's what I did. The camera feed appeared on your center console screen and gave you about 1.5 mirrors worth of fov, entirely eliminating the blind spot. I LOVED that feature and got so used to it that it felt awkward driving other cars afterwards. Personally I would love to have cameras but not with dedicated screens where the mirrors would be normally. I want it in front of me so I can see the road ahead and what's going on to the left/right of my car.

I agree wholeheartedly with the complaint about touch sensitive buttons. They are difficult to use while driving and if they aren’t illuminated (hello VW!) they’re useless at night.

One other issue with the replacement of mirrors with screens fed by digital cameras is how much your eyes have to change focus every time you look in them. When you use a mirror, your eyes don't focus on the mirror, but on the object reflected in it, which is much further away. You are effectively focussing at a similar distance as when you're looking straight ahead. When you use a screen, your eyes have to focus on the surface of that screen to see the image clearly, then readjust focus once you look back to the road. Not only is there a slight delay as your eyes adjust, anyone who wears glasses to drive may find that the screen appears blurred, because their glasses are set up to correct their eyes only when focussing at distance.

All totally valid points. I especially like that one about the mirrors. Geezus man, totally right about the peripheral vision. And the touch buttons on th steerign wheel would drive me batty!

ahahaha the "beaver tooth" grille! thx, now i cannot unsee it..

PHEV is great for people who only have 1 car and commute 30kms to their work but have long weekend trips

i need more of matt shitting on car related stuff 🙏🗿

U right! As a coach driver I watch people who stops next to the curb in the mirror and I can see they're checking it or not. Saved their front doors few times

Also I tend to move my head to get more out of my mirror sometimes, you wanna see the curb when parking or a rock you’re trying to avoid while reversing! not possible with a camera! It still shows you the same angle. I can see how that would get annoying really quickly!

One more trend which I am extremely frustrated about is elimination of that projection on top of the dashboard (which shades the tachometer, speedometer gauge cluster etc). Now its only a stupid screen behind steering wheel, which doesn't give that cockpit feel to the driver. The worst offender is the S class.

Imagine the problems these will have with electricals in like 30-40 yrs time in collections 😬

Its like the bad stability control in the 2013 Jetta TDI i had till recently. I forced the dealer to disconnect it after YET AGAIN almost being T-boned trying to turn to get on the highway. The car lost traction doing anything and every time it dropped the engine to idle, sometime slamming the front end into the ground and taking so long to give back power that other drivers had to slam on the brakes and pray. Also: wiring systems together that should be seperate.

Ref camera mirror replacement cost: I had one e-tron virtual mirror smashed by another car in a parking lot (who then had to cover the damages). The replacement cost was actually less than a regular mirror due to just being simple electronics, no pan/tilt motors, no body colored cap needing painting etc. I would argue that a traditional mirror (in the incarnation they have evolved into) are far more complex than a camera. Anecdotally, the camera was still fully functional, although it needed a bit of duct tape to keep it in place until replaced.

9:04 oh you're dead wrong there. Most new mirrors already have cameras inside for 360 view and are expensive as hell. Mirror for my CX-5 was around 2.000usd (yes, it has a camera inside)

"Beaver tooth grills" are long way up to the top of this rank, even at non electrical cars. LOL 😆

I feel the glove box having to be opened on the screen is a safety feature in a tesla. That is where your usb drive for sentry mode is. So having to hit a button on the screen means it is harder for someone to break in and steal the thumb drive that would have the video of the break in on it.

Good discussion. Thanks for all that work.

Touch sensitive buttons and climate controls being buried within the ICE menu / screen can both go the Betamax route as far as I'm concerned.

As far as the lane departure on the GR Yaris, I have one, if you HOLD down the lane departure button on the steering wheel for 5 seconds it will entirely disable it! :)

Has any Porsche ever had a front grill? Ever? Excellent observations all around. I did recently purchase a '22 Subaru Outback which has a couple of your "negatives" -- lane departure warning/"magnet" and touchscreen controls for A/C and the 11" "infotainment" center. But on the whole, I have gotten used to them and don't mind them all that much. The Subaru "Eyesight" system is actually rather impressive.

Great list. I would add: mission-critcal function buried in a touch screen. Here in Canada, in the winter I may need to operate or change defroster settings instantly. I can find a knob, slider, or button from memory, without taking my eyes off the road. Not true with a blasted touch screen.

A couple more things wrong with electrifying everything: * Electric mirrors for example use screens and cameras which both use electricity to function which eats into your battery life/range. So it is with every other electronic thing. Now, sure, the amount it wastes on a pointless thing is very small compared to anything actually driving the car BUT it still does eat into it which defeats the purpose. *Electric mirrors use screens which burn out in time. Being used in the sun, actually being in a car on a hot summer day and being constantly used- it will happen. And the replacement will be oh so expensive because it will probably mean the replacement of the whole dash at the dealership. Which in turn means A WHOLE LOT of screens on something like a honda E or MB eqs. *Electric mirrors use SCREENS (i really hate these) Which, if not bright enough, are unusable in direct sunlight just like your phone is on a bright sunny day. *Swiping on buttons and touching them without real feedback (like a phones vibration for example) takes your eyes off the road to look at what you're doing even on a steering wheel. Which does more harm than good. Basically we are told to not use our phones while driving and it is legally prohibited in some countries but: "I am sorry officer, my whole car is basically a phone, i cannot drive it without looking at a screen." Good Lord bring back the good old simple old great old cars.

One of the things I love most about my 2011 550iM sport is the LACK of all these features 😂 she fast, revs, loud, gets horrible mileage, functional and has less than 50k miles. Great car.

I agree with these things. Finally someone said it ! I buy and drive older cars from the early 2000's to avoid these annoying, modern features. At work I have to drive modern cars, including fully electric and PHEV's. I can't WAIT to get out of them, even when I turn the features off. Give me back simplicity, and "real" cars, where I drive them, not them driving me.

Speaking of electronic everything: I’m currently driving a 2020 MB C220D that I collected from Bedford on Thursday. It has a electric sensor to tell you if the bonnet is closed or not. But the situation I have is the bonnet is as closed as I can close it, but the sensor thinks it isn’t closed properly. So I had to spend the entire trip from Bedford to South Wales with the dash constantly bonging to tell me the bonnet isn’t closed, when it is closed.

I'd really love to see Mat do more of these videos in which he just talks about stuff. Could listen to him all day. Maybe like his take on design, or car evolution or what the future holds for cars in his opinion, etc. Good video Mat!

Agree with all of this. Something to add is that the new safety regulations, like how the Duster got a low score. Not all of us want lane assist, and braking assist. I would rather have a new car (for warranty) that is cost effective, than all this new tech, and I don't need my boot to close for me. All these new electronic gadgets are just going to make us lazy and worse drivers

With the camera side mirrors my biggest concern is what happens if the system freezes and you stop getting a picture. I had this happen it me with a reverse camera, which was bad enough but at least thats only used when reversing. Granted my camera and HU are after market so I hope another R&D has gone into these systems so they last! Oh one trends you didn't include, fake exhaust tips, hate them, especially when they have no exhaust behind them!

You know that scene in Demolition man, where Stallone sees the 1970 OLDSMOBILE 442. Thats the feeling of excitement in 40 years time we will have when we see a Vauxhall Vectra… 1.8!

Plug-in hybrids are a cheaper alternative to having an electric car with a huge battery. Their batteries are still enough for daily use, which makes up most of the mileage most people do, but they are not range-limited like an urban electric car of equivalent price. Heck, even the most expensive electric cars can feel somewhat limited in range in comparison with a combustion engine car. So they do offer the advantages of both systems. Of course, they are also a compromise but everything is a compromise, isn't it?

Automatic breaking has nearly caused me to have a crash twice. Car pulling left slowed down but was going to be outnof the way well in time. The radar sensor dosent know tbat so slams on and nearly makea a pile up

One of my biggest peeves are rear windows on cars. They are all now horizontal (!!), and look like hatchbacks. I miss the 'notchback' look

Your GR Yarris can turn off departure warning!!!! Just hold the button on the steering wheel for a few seconds till the little icon turns off and your set!!! I do it all the time in my gr yarris traction control button is the same!!! If you just press once it removes traction control but keeps yaw control on...if you hold it a few seconds it turns it off correctly!!