A Lesser-Used Vehicle Feature or Option You Most Cannot Live Without?

[Scott5114]

Nah.  I don't like looking down away from the road.

That's going to happen regardless of whether you use a mounted phone or CarPlay. Unless maybe you have one of those fancy head-up projector displays, but that's still a relatively rare feature in cars today.

This is AARoads, so "just memorize your itinerary, you dingaling" is considered a valid option.

[kkt]

Nah.  I don't like looking down away from the road.

That's going to happen regardless of whether you use a mounted phone or CarPlay. Unless maybe you have one of those fancy head-up projector displays, but that's still a relatively rare feature in cars today.

This is AARoads, so "just memorize your itinerary, you dingaling" is considered a valid option.

Sigh.  I love driving (under good conditions) but any attempt to memorize a complicated itinerary on my part is going to be doomed to failure.  I sketch my own map to take with me, but more than 3 or 4 turns and I have to pull over and refresh my memory.

[JayhawkCO]

How about one that hasn't been mentioned: the USB ports or at minimum cigarette lighter stay functional without the car running. Cars where you can't charge a phone with the car not running just infuriate me.

[kphoger]

Nah.  I don't like looking down away from the road.

That's going to happen regardless of whether you use a mounted phone or CarPlay. Unless maybe you have one of those fancy head-up projector displays, but that's still a relatively rare feature in cars today.

This is AARoads, so "just memorize your itinerary, you dingaling" is considered a valid option.

If it's just me and the boys on a camping trip, then I do indeed memorize the route.  But, if my wife is with me, I just tell her to whip out her smartphone and give me directions if I've forgotten.

[kphoger]

When my pastor and I flew into Monterrey two weeks ago, we were picked up at the airport by my best friend and his pastor.  None of us had ever driven in Monterrey proper before, and I had planned lunch at a restaurant in Barrio Antiguo (Monterrey's Old Town).  My friend had his GPS device mounted to the windshield, but I just gave him turn-by-turn directions along the way instead.  Sometimes my directions contradicted what GPS wanted him to do.  At one point, he turned to his pastor and said Confío en él más que en el Garmin.   

[Scott5114]

Nah.  I don't like looking down away from the road.

That's going to happen regardless of whether you use a mounted phone or CarPlay. Unless maybe you have one of those fancy head-up projector displays, but that's still a relatively rare feature in cars today.

This is AARoads, so "just memorize your itinerary, you dingaling" is considered a valid option.

Sigh.  I love driving (under good conditions) but any attempt to memorize a complicated itinerary on my part is going to be doomed to failure.  I sketch my own map to take with me, but more than 3 or 4 turns and I have to pull over and refresh my memory.

With me, it really depends on where it is. I know the highway system of Oklahoma well enough I can remember a route across the state, even with a lot of turns, because I already know where most of the numbers are. When I go out of state, though, I will usually jot down the itinerary on a piece of paper. For example, my itinerary for my trip to the Natchez meet said something like "1. Go to Louisiana. 2. I-49 south to I-220..." If anyone else had to follow it, they'd feel like they were doing a technical in Great British Bakeoff.

[thenetwork]

How about one that hasn't been mentioned: the USB ports or at minimum cigarette lighter stay functional without the car running. Cars where you can't charge a phone with the car not running just infuriate me.

I have seen some vehicles that can be either/or as far as charging while the ignition is off.  All you do (per the manual) is to add or switch a fuse in the fuse box. 

I thought I remember having a vehicle having an either/or daytime running light option using the fuse box method as well.

[1995hoo]

With me, it really depends on where it is. I know the highway system of Oklahoma well enough I can remember a route across the state, even with a lot of turns, because I already know where most of the numbers are. When I go out of state, though, I will usually jot down the itinerary on a piece of paper. For example, my itinerary for my trip to the Natchez meet said something like "1. Go to Louisiana. 2. I-49 south to I-220..." If anyone else had to follow it, they'd feel like they were doing a technical in Great British Bakeoff.

Heh, during my second or third year at UVA, long prior to the sat-nav or online mapping era, I gave someone directions to my apartment from Northern Virginia by saying, "Take Route 29 south to Charlottesville, bear left at the triangular intersection, and take the first right after the big parking lot, then it's the last building on the right." He had no problem finding it.

[Bruce]

USB port and on-board software that can read the thing properly. Quite a few late 2010s cars I've tried have had trouble with music nested into folders three levels deep while my 2011 SUV can do it just fine.

[Rothman]

Nah.  I don't like looking down away from the road.

That's going to happen regardless of whether you use a mounted phone or CarPlay. Unless maybe you have one of those fancy head-up projector displays, but that's still a relatively rare feature in cars today.

Not with the dash mount I use.  Keeps my phone's screen up and the screen is small enough not to block my view yet large enough to be legible.