One feature that I like on a car is the ability to spray washer fluid on the windscreen without the windscreen wipers automatically coming on. This feature enabled one to soak some of the muck on the screen for a few seconds and thus soften it up before wiping it away. If the wipers go on immediately, the cleaning process is less effective.
This nifty feature was available as standard on Mk 3 Fiestas, but it is years since I last drove a car equipped with it.
Do any current or recent vehicles have it?
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Well the wash/wipe on the C5 is determined by the computer that's in charge of all things. The order/duration isn't affected by the time you pull the stalk for. However the jets have a superb fan shaped delivery and the water sprays for a short while before the wipers start so the screen is pre-wetted all over.
I guess other new cars will be like this but it's the first time on a car I've owned.
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>>>I guess other new cars will be like this but it's the first time on a car I've owned.<<<
Was a standard feature in the 1960s - a separate hand operated (or foot) operated mechanical pump.
What price progress?
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>>>What price progress?
Yes and in the old days you could dip the rear view mirror... but you actually had to lift your hand to the mirror to do so. Same with headlamps... you had to turn a knob to put them on... very tiresome :-)
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These features are easy to implement for manufacturers. They just decide not be give the options to drivers.
There should a be a calculator like console in dashboard. A manual should be provided which will have some code numbers against list of features. Drivers should be able to key in the numers to customize/activate features.
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Some people cant even read the manual for the features they have, let alone program the main car CPU!
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>> Some people cant even read the manual for the features they have, let alone program
>> the main car CPU!
>>
I'd say most People.
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>> Drivers should be able to
>> key in the numers to customize/activate features.
You can do that with VAG cars, although the calculator is a bit of software & connection lead to your laptop (Vcds / Vagcom).
Besides turning on cornering fog lights and changing the way coming / leaving home lights work, one of the things you can do on a stock car is change the way the washers work.
For example I've changed the headlight washers so they only come on the first time if I hold the skoosh for 3 seconds, and every 10 skooshes thereafter. It was using up too much washer fluid for no reason in that weather otherwise.
You could change the time between between pulling the stalk and the wipers activating if you preferred too.
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>> >> one of the things you can do on a stock car is change the
>> way the washers work.
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>>
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Another is to try and shunt other cars off the track in order to get in the lead.
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>> Another is to try and shunt other cars off the track in order to get
>> in the lead.
Sounds like the M25
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>> Was a standard feature in the 1960s - a separate hand operated (or foot) operated mechanical pump.
>>
>> What price progress?
>>
Indeed. I might claim to have had the most comprehensive system on an ordinary car.
My 1600E came with a standard manual push for wash button on the wiper switch.
This did at least give wash then wipe once pressure had been pumped up :-)
I added a separate bottle and electric pump thus having two systems.
To control the electric side of things I bought a then available little switch unit to screw on / under the dashboard. This had a a switch for wipers/ washer / both, together with a litle knob to vary the timing of what ever had been selected on the switch.
So the combinations of settings were quite large, to include delay wipe, intermittent squirt with continuous wipe etc etc.
Progress ?
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The first car I drove with one of these wash wipe whatsit was a MK1 Cavalier. Even the well thought out BMW wash/wipe systems (e.g. positive switch on after start up for the auto-wipe to prevent frost/ice damage) lack a free wash without the wipe. Another irritant is HRWs on timers.
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>> The first car I drove with one of these wash wipe whatsit was a MK1
>> Cavalier.
I had several Cavalier company cars and I used to modify the wash/wipe relay to separate the two functions as nothing seemed to stop the washers freezing so on the motorway the screen would become opaque if the wipers were used. But every time it went for service they'd fit a new relay, even if I told them not to!
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>>What price progress?>>
We had a 1947 Austin 8 that had air conditioning (the windscreen could be fully opened, being hinged at the top edge), whilst a cord pull on the driver's side could be used to drop a rear window blind to avoid being dazzled at night(!!)
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>> We had a 1947 Austin 8 that had air conditioning (the windscreen could be fully
>> opened, being hinged at the top edge), whilst a cord pull on the driver's side
>> could be used to drop a rear window blind to avoid being dazzled at night(!!)
Did it have a flintstone hatch too? :-P
Some 70's, 80's cars can be nice to look at but if i ever get my pristine ford capri it'll have modern oversized disc brakes and modern suspension, probably also have modern steering and maybe even a non OEM engine (carbs, points and dizzy sounds ace but i bet the reality would put my off when stuck at the side of the road on a cold windy wet night!)
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>
>> ace but i bet the reality would put my off when stuck at the side
>> of the road on a cold windy wet night!)
not a problem, you wont be driving it on a cold wet windy night.
None of my Capris ever let me down despite the old tech nature of them. The only brake problem I had was with the RS 3100 on the track.
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Skoda,
The "interesting" Capris would have fuel injection !
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ALL Capris are interesting in the wet.
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There was photograph on a website linked from a thread on here of a GPO Morris 1000 van. Whilst I believe these were fitted with rubber wings (to reduce minor bump damage) and er...wing mirrors, the Series 2 Moggie shown had a split screen and the driver's side clearly opened. What a good idea. The ex postie who worked for me used to bemoan later vans that they used with cloth seats - horrible in the rain, some vans were specc'd with otherwise unobtainable vinyl seats especially for the RM.
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A friend owned a 56 split-screen Moggy. He used to boast that the wipers had 3 speeds: off, on, and on but broken.
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I had one of them.
A favourite trick was to use the front wings to 'nudge' a mate's car. The state of the rubber meant it left a filthy black mark. You had to be careful not to go too far as the headlights were mounted on a metal tube under the rubber. I don't recall it having wing mirrors.
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I had a 1960 Morris 1000 - it had a 1,098cc A-series engine and a full windscreen. The split screen models had a smaller engine (848cc?)
Bought secondhand in 1964, it was almost two years before I discovered by chance that the rear seat could be dropped down by unclipping a tab hidden under the rear screen....
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My Moggie had that feature and it wasn't in the manual. The wipers on my first on (1960 series 2) met in the middle despite it being a full screen version. They used to jam in the "open" position occasionally, worn toothed drive "rack" - a known feature !
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My Moggy Minor had a foot operated dip-switch - thats the only thing I miss on a modern car.
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>>The split screen models had a smaller engine (848cc?) <<
803cc for the early A series engine followed by 948cc
The early models known as series MM from 1948? had a 918cc sidevalve engine.
I think that this sidevalve engine was carried on until about 1952 into the series II before being replaced by the 803cc.
The GPO special spec models had 803cc engines even when the standard van had the 948cc engine, (it was also fitted with a restrictor plate on the inlet manifold).
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>>..early A series engine followed by 948cc>>
Two out of three's not bad from memory...:-)
I remember the headlights dip switch as well. In fact the 1000 was the first car owned when first married and still conjures up some great memories - its handling was also excellent thanks to the "wheel firmly at each corner" logic.
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>>it was also fitted with a restrictor plate on the inlet manifold
Not for very long they weren't. ;>)
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My old Moggie had a rear wash wipe
It also deposited dead birds on the doorstep
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one thing i would like is a inbuilt graphical fault finder, even telling you where it is and how to dismantle it by use of the built in nav screen, i guess this will save both manufacturers and motorist time and money.
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Thats installed in your local VAG or MB dealer.
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>> Thats installed in your local VAG or MB dealer.
And has replaced traditional fault finding and diagnostic skills for too many technicians.
The Peugeot and Ford dealers I used to use could not find faults if the computer didn't tell them exactly where it was, and what needed to be replaced.
There are some good ones still. The Renault dealer found a split wastegate pipe on our Scenic using the CLIP system to find the general area of the problem, then methodical hands on checks and experimentation to pinpoint the exact fault.
In my experience, these skills are disappearing.
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Having read this thread I checked to see of my cheap and not very cheerful KA has a wash and not wipe facility and it does. A very short pull on the stalk gives a spray of water with no wipe - one then flick the stalk up and get a single to and fro wiper sweep.
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Sounds more like the contacts are wearing out PP :-)
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No, Kas were like that when new - we had two in a row. I think Fords of the 1990s just didn't have the washer and wipers connected: you had to turn them on separately.
I much prefer them coming on together, but clearly others disagree. We must soon be due another thread bemoaning the move in the 1980s of indicators to the left stalk rather than the right (except I believe on Hyundais).
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>>the move in the 1980s of indicators to the left stalk rather than the right (except I believe on Hyundais).
And KIA. ;>)
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A nifty feature that's not easy to find these days - Fenlander
