I would have to say better seats. I think the 1st really good seats were in our 2006 TSX. Now the Model 3 seats and bolstered RX F Sport seats are so good. We take a 2 hour each way ride about once a week. The seats make a huge difference.
Best ergonomic invention for motor vehicles?
- Thread starter sloinker
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electric starter. hand cranking on cold mornings is a bugger.
Cruise control was my first thought. Cruise is useless for a lot of driving on the East Coast, but it can really make a difference on long trips with less congestion.
Air conditioning might be #1. In my twenties, I drove all over the U.S. in a Slant-Six Duster with three on the floor and power nothing. On a trip from Mississippi to Lake Tahoe, I rolled through Memphis on a morning so humid I could stare right at the sun rising red over the city. It was about 100 by Little Rock. I opened the under-dash vents and the windows, took my shirt off and draped it over my shoulder to block the sun, and sipped on Gatorade all day. I think Jigg's Smokehouse in Western Oklahoma was closed by the time I got there, but the thermometer on their porch was still reading in the 90s in the late evening. The West and Southwest were a little more forgiving. There, I'd be wiping away salt instead of sweat.
I miss that car--still dream about it now and then. But when I finally got rid of it for an 11-year-old Caprice with A/C and cruise, it was like a revelation. I could drive 8 or 12 hours and not feel like I had been stacking hay bales all that time.
Air conditioning might be #1. In my twenties, I drove all over the U.S. in a Slant-Six Duster with three on the floor and power nothing. On a trip from Mississippi to Lake Tahoe, I rolled through Memphis on a morning so humid I could stare right at the sun rising red over the city. It was about 100 by Little Rock. I opened the under-dash vents and the windows, took my shirt off and draped it over my shoulder to block the sun, and sipped on Gatorade all day. I think Jigg's Smokehouse in Western Oklahoma was closed by the time I got there, but the thermometer on their porch was still reading in the 90s in the late evening. The West and Southwest were a little more forgiving. There, I'd be wiping away salt instead of sweat.
I miss that car--still dream about it now and then. But when I finally got rid of it for an 11-year-old Caprice with A/C and cruise, it was like a revelation. I could drive 8 or 12 hours and not feel like I had been stacking hay bales all that time.
The all time best ones would have to be the steering wheel and brake and throttle pedals. The electric starter is pretty good too.
As for recent innovations I'd name the lever for high beam/low beam. And I'm a big fan of cruise control; it's hard to maintain a constant speed for hours on end (been there, done that).
As for recent innovations I'd name the lever for high beam/low beam. And I'm a big fan of cruise control; it's hard to maintain a constant speed for hours on end (been there, done that).
Automatic dimming mirrors, thought it was stupid until I owned a car with them. My back would argue the best thing is adjustable electric eats.
I'm another that loves cruise control, it has to be one of the best automotive inventions of the past 100 years. Personally, I'd prefer c/c over a radio. As for dimmer switches I wish they'd go back to putting them in the floor. For the past 40+ years every time I dim the lights my feet want to get tangled up in the steering wheel.
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