Here at The Autopian, we like weird. From Jason’s Changli to Mercedes’ flock of smarts, we take the peculiar under our wing, and are proud to do so. However, a car doesn’t have to be innately strange to have weird things about it. Today we’re asking you about the weirdness within your car, whether overt or covert.
If you’ve been following along for a while, you’ll know that I have two cars. One is the stereotypical chariot of entry-level city professionals circa 2006, and one is the stereotypical chariot of thin Bay Street-based squash players circa 1999. We certainly aren’t talking Citroen SM levels of weird here, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t strange features on them. Unusually, both of my cars speak German through their climate control panels.
On my 325i, there’s a button marked “REST” for restwärme inside the right HVAC temperature knob. Press it, and hot coolant will be circulated through the heater core while the vehicle is parked. I’ve actually written a whole article on how this system works, so if you’re looking for some longer reading during your lunch break, I highly suggest checking it out.
On my Boxster, if for some reason I ever decide the set-and-forget approach of automatic climate control isn’t right for the situation, I can take over manual control of the HVAC system. If I do that, the word manuell lights up in the climate control display, indicating manual climate control operation in an exceptionally German manner. Of course, the photo above isn’t of my Boxster since it’s in storage, but you get the idea.
So, what’s the weirdest thing about your car? It could be an unusual feature, strange labeling, or perhaps you drive a Matra Murena, in which case, can we be friends? Celebrate your car’s weirdness in the comments below, and we’ll be sure to celebrate along with you.
(Photo credits: Thomas Hundal, Cars & Bids/YouTube)
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Hidden down on the lower dash to the right of the steering column, my 2013 4Runner has a button marked “Party Mode”.
This is for the stereo and diverts most of the sound to the hatch speakers. Oddly enough, this mode sounds better on than off even while driving. I’m not sure exactly when this went away, but later years do not have it.
I’m shocked it was a Toyota that had this, and not any of my F-Bodies.
2nd generation Citroën C5 — have to go four sub menus down to change the time every time summer time starts / ends…Took me half an hour first time I did it.
My 2016 Mazda6: Two buttons that do the same thing, climate control-wise. Right next to each other. One has arrows and controls where the air comes out (floor, dash, blend). The other has a person icon and an arrow and does…the same thing.
My 1990 Pontiac Sunbird: The fact that it still exists?
My BMW’s turn signals work.
One I had forgotten: the family 1982 Rabbit LS had only shoulder belts secured at the top rear of the front doors. Sort of a faux automatic belt. No lap belts in front. This became an issue when I took it to get inspected at my usual garage. Ended up with it on a lift looking for attachment points—and even a call to the State Police regarding OE supplied vs current requirements.
—the fact that I had a pair of (wrong color, but whatever) lap belts laying on the rear seats which I planned to swap out for the blue ones to put up front finally carried the day resulting in a sticker
BMW i3 exterior door handles… they are a pull style, but they hinge in the opposite direction that the door itself opens, why?! It feels so awkward and i’ve never found another car that does this.
My ’13 Benz E350 has a very nice adjustable HVAC vent. In the glovebox.
I suppose it’s there to keep your chocolate from melting in the summer, or maybe to keep your schnitzel sizzling in the winter. Anyone who wants chocolate in winter or hot schnitzel in the summer better remember to close the vent, though.
Runner-up: the same car has the Benz analog clock in the dash, but you set it digitally in the infotainment system. The analog clock only moves forward, though. Going off daylight savings in the fall makes for a cute clock dance while the analog clock spins through 11 hours forward to go back by 1.
Saab used to advertise this feature for that exact reason: Chocolate.
My VW Polo beeps when I put it in reverse. Only the first time on each trip, but there’s a long beeeeeeeep as soon as I put the gearstick in reverse gear. It’s done it ever since I bought the car (2nd had).
I ignore it, but it was annoying a friend who was sharing my car, so I decided to have a look online to see if there was a fix.
I found someone complaining online that their reverse sensors had stopped working and the car just did a continuous beep, and that was the point when I realised that my car had reversing sensors, and that they were broken.
I decided one long beep is less annoying than lots of short beeps, so I’ve not bothered finding out which sensor is bust.
The driver’s seat is wider than the front passenger seat. This has the disadvantage that I cannot find a replacement for the rather sunken in seat base; OEM parts are all gone and all the used parts are likely just as tired as mine. 1993 Honda Today Associe.
My Chevy Blazer and a lot of GM products with analog clusters will move the dial when switching from MPH to KM/H. If you were doing 60 mph and you switch, now you are at 100 on the cluster lol I just found it funny how the dial bounces. That’s how you reach the end of the speedometer legally talking.
My somewhat decrepit 1985 Mercedes 300D has many interesting quirks. Some are acquired and some came from the factory.
The most entertaining area is the gauge cluster.
First up, the fuel gauge. Mercedes decided, for maximum clarity to label it on a scale from ‘R’ to ‘1/1.’ The unreduced fraction bothers me a lot, especially when the middle is marked a more reasonable ‘1/2.’
When driving, the speedometer is incredibly optimistic only at certain speeds. If it indicated 25, I might be driving 20 mph or I might be going 15 mph. It’s very inconsistent, though the degree of bounciness of the needle does provide a clue.
I also love how there place where you’d expect a tachometer to be is actually a gigantic clock that you can hear loudly ticking away when you get in the car.
And the gauge cluster is illuminated not from behind but from the front. . . . . by a light behind the gauges. They expect the light to travel through a plastic tube and navigate two 90° bends somehow. If your incandescent lights haven’t melted the plastic, at least like what happened with mine.
https://opposite-lock.com/topic/84224/dieselification-light
I love this car but there’s just too many quirks to list. Like the pinstripe only being on one side or how a previous owner managed to get concrete on it or how the rear floor is MIA. The quirks just don’t end.
I’ve never run into this before, but then I’ve only driven around 50 different models of car, if I had to guess. And this may be more ‘unusual’ than ‘weird’ (to each his own): the way the locks work on my ’13 Smart.
First, if any of the 3 doors – two sides and hatch – are not fully latched when I hit Lock on the fob the doors attempt to lock, then immediately do an unlock cycle. I know something isn’t shut just by the sound of the double operation the locks make when I hit the Lock button. The other thing is that the gas door locks when the doors lock, unlocks when the doors unlock. I can’t lock or unlock it independently.
I actually kind of like both of these things, but I don’t think I’ve ever had a car do these before. Not that none do, but I’ve not run into it yet, e.g.weird.
My boring car isn’t weird at all, just a flat-four powered Toyota built by Subaru.
My not boring car is a Lotus badged version of a Proton that was never built, which underneath is mostly a Vauxhall. There was a Dodge badged version too.
You turn the headlights on with a single button, but have to press two separate buttons to turn them off.
The central locking only works on the internal door locks, the key only works on the external locks, and there is no link between these two separate locking mechanisms.
The rear lights are pink, from the factory.
The rear window, but only the rear window, is tinted as standard.
The HVAC controls are illuminated at night, but not in a way that shows the position of any of the three round knobs.
The engine is cooled in part by a scoop mounted on the back of the roof.
The front tyres are a no-longer-available 175/55R17.
The rear tyres are two inches wider.
When the roof lining falls off and you put the dome light in the luggage net behind the seats it sends out a beam of light which, if the hood is open, projects a bat-signal in front of the car.
So far about 60% of my passengers have been unable to work out how to open the doors to get in.
The passenger seat has no adjustment at all, it’s bolted directly to the floor at a slight angle from straight ahead.
The sun visors stick straight down from the top of the screen, but can only move forwards to touch the screen, they can’t be folded back to get out of the way.
The windscreen washer bottle is in the back of the car, it only has washer jets at the front.
The rear window demists by using engine heat, which means the top right of the rear window demists first because that’s where the turbo is.
The gas tank is filled through a hole cut in through the middle of the rear side window glass.
I don’t know if this is weird or just me being unaware because I’ve mostly driven cars with gas tank flaps that open from the inside.
My older MB’s tank flap opens from the outside (that’s pretty normal) but only if the doors are unlocked. In other words the central door lock also locks the gas tank flap.
Guess how I found out.
It also has heated rear seats, and a manual rheostat knob in the dash to adjust the backlight brightness for the gauges. Remarkably useless, and a giant pita when it doesn’t entirely work right, because you have to take the cluster out to diagnose a fkn resistor.
The other MB has a heating element under each windshield cleaner nozzle, presumably in case the fluid freezes? Why not have a small heater for the windshield cleaner tank?
Also: the passenger side mirror has an electric control on the console, but the driver side mirror can only be adjusted manually. I sort of get it, your hand is right there, there’s less to break and less weight if you don’t have a motor there, but COME ON this was a 6-figure car in today’s money and you couldn’t be arsed to include $50 worth of parts?
The power antenna has two settings (mid and high).
That’s some 80s GM right there on the mirror control, a lot of their smaller cars were that way including S-Series Saturns.
Interesting. This is a car that retailed for $125k in today’s dollars, so it’s baffling. The power antenna motor is grossly overbuilt, but no driver side mirror motor? Oh well. It’s fine.
My doors slide.
BMW Z1, Kaiser-Darrin, or minivan?
None of the above 🙂 Mazda 5 microvan
(“micro” by American standards anyway…)
I guess that makes it weird too.
I’ve mentioned this before and it’s maybe less weird, more annoying – my Mk7.5 GTI has a little light behind the interior front door pulls. Why? When would I not be able to see the door pull if it’s open? The window controls and the release handle have lights, so it’s not for that. The few cents used for that light would have been better spent putting lights behind the overhead interior light controls, so you don’t have to feel around and hope you hit the right switch for the map light and don’t accidentally turn on the rear seat lights or disable the door-open lighting.
GM kept a lot of the Euro/German features that year they brought the Opel Astra over to Saturn showrooms, like the ability to turn on the parking lights on just one side by hitting the turn signal stalk in either direction with the ignition off. That’s not that weird, but what was is that the info display clock had only 24 hour format and could not be changed to 12 hour format.
My Mini has this as part of the color changing ambient lighting.
That would make sense here too, but the light in question is just a white light, in contrast to the red accent lighting strip that runs along the top of the door card near the door handle that you can adjust the brightness on. And on that an ambient light from the overhead shining on the center console or some other accent there would have been nice, because otherwise that’s completely dark too.
My 2012 Honda (Euro-)Civic had a start-stop system. It will only engage when the engine is warm enough and the battery has enough charge. However, sometimes it decides after stopping the engine the battery hasn’t got enough charge and it starts the engine immediately as if it otherwise would not be able to. Why does it stop the engine, if it will start it 3 seconds later?
My Olds Ciera wagon (and other badge engineered cars I’ve had) have a button for power hatch release. 1 it’s in the glove box. 2 it only works with the key in “run” position. One would think it would work with the key off, but nope.
Same cars have an ashtray at the 3rd seat area. You know, since the 3rd seat is primarily designed for kids. Not a single cupholder to be found though.
It took a bit of thinking, my 1984 VW Jetta had two glove compartments. One in the normal Rabbit/Golf/Jetta location and in GL trim a second smaller one under the dash above the knee bar used with the optional passive seat belts. It happened to be the perfect size for cassette tapes.
A few other odd cubbies in cars we’ve had is the little coin box next the binnacle in first generation Honda Accords, the second spare tire well in Volvo 140/240 sedans, which had a wood cover under the trunk mat but Volvo sold a fitted gas can as an accessory. Our Mazda5 had tons of cubbies, there was a drawer under the front passenger seat and the second row had compartments under the cushions with a console that folded out, or in some markets a 7th seat.
My first gen touareg is full of ’em.
AC vent in the glovebox to keep your beers cold.
Climate control that recirculates the air when you reverse so you don’t have to smell your own ass (well, exhaust, but still).
Air suspension that lowers the front of the car when you open the hood.
the climate control reversing is very nice for the diesel I would imagine. almost bought one, full featured vehicles
Fellow Touareg owner here! The air suspension trick is pretty neat and this is also the first car I’ve ever seen, which has power adjusted front seatbelts. Mine also has optional locking read diff, which is odd, considering this is luxury vehicle. X5 etc owners are blown away, when I demonstrate the off-road features of the Touareg.
I forgot about the seat belts!
Mine has the rear locker too, I call it ‘tractor mode’. Every time I take it out on the dirt trails people are blown away by how well it does. I just need to remember to air down, I keep puncturing the sidewall of my tires
1988 Toyota Corolla Alltrac 4wd Wagon has a pod above the rear wagon space with speakers and a reasonable sized overhead locker that you can open from the backseat or with the rear hatch open. magnificent.
It’s long gone, but the 1972 Cutlass I had in college had factory air shocks on the back wheels with a Schrader valve mounted in the back bumper to pump them up or deflate them. They even still worked when I got the car. They had a pretty interesting name too. Delco Pleasur-Lift or Pleasurizer Shocks. Pump it up for Pleasure!
The invisible brake pedal located on the passengers side.
My wife would hit that damn thing so hard that my floor had heel dents on that side.
My 88 Regal had a ridiculously large button to switch the digital speedo from mph to kph, and it was the only digital gauge on the dash. No tach, analog odo and gas gauge (neither worked) just some green numbers in the middle, and you might have bumped that button, so double check.
’89 audi 200 let you turn the anti lock brakes off with a button on the dash, lock em up? don’t mind if I do…
’03 Lexus LS430 moves the steering wheel all the way up and retracts all the way, as well as folding in the sideviews each time the car turns off, they return to saved setting when car is started. Guess how much those motors cost? (some are cheap, some are not, they’re all a pita)
The ABS off button is for when the differentials get manually locked with their own lock button.
The Audi 90 had the ABS automatically turned off when the diffs were locked.
I had 2 90’s and the 200, yes they had low gear push button ‘Quattro’ but I do not believe that engaging that turned the abs off, it has been over a quarter century so I could be misremembering.
My touareg can do the mirror, steering wheel and seat adjustments when you start the car. Luckily it can be turned off because it feels like an eternity for all of it to get back in fo place.