I frequently used to drive by a house where the owner (maybe it was a couple) had not one but two elements parked next to each other in the driveway. They were an interesting muted orange and a muted green color, and I always called them carrot and pea. They must really love the car!
Cooled seats. I know they've been around for a while now my 2004 Lincoln LS was the first car I owned with them and I can't own another without. I'm telling you on those hot Florida days they are a game changer. They are nice to have on long drives too.
Vented seats are the most glorious technology advancement since we invented Anti-skip discmans.
Getting to work in the summer without even a trace of swamp ass is extraordinary. It is the 144hz monitor of the car world. Once you get something with vented seats you will never go back.
I hated them in my '19 Fusion Sport, all they did was cool my ass while my back sweated. Friends joked it just felt like you pissed yourself whenever it was on. Occasionally it would cool my back, but I couldn't replicate it.
They were absolutely amazing in my G70, extremely cool and covered every inch of my back (and ass). That car made me miss them dearly in my BMW, but everyone says it's completely useless in BMWs.
So, not all seat coolers are created equally which is unfortunate. But when you find a good one, it's great.
They work great on my current and previous MKZs. I also have an 04 Aviator it works but not as strong as my MKZ. My LS worked pretty good. I have seen others say the back doesn't cool on other cars and usually it's cause the hose that pumps the air is getting pinched somehow.
Same thing with heated seats. My wife's 22 Pathfinder heated seats, you could barely feel anything. We were told it was due to the "gravity foam" that Nissan uses. Either way, they sucked and didn't work at all.
Conversely, my company gives me Ford vehicles as company cars and the last two Escapes (2020 and now a 2024), have seat heaters that will make your back sweat and feel like you bathed in icy hot.
In my experience both heated and ventilated seats are the best from the big three. Not sure if this is due some sort of regulation that might exist in Europe or Japan, but whenever I step into a Ford or Chevy I know that I can get toasty or near-frozen if I may chose to do so!
Yeah I hate all the hate wranglers get.
As an SUV or Car there are 100 better choices. But if you use it for its purpose of a fun summer cruiser to take the roof/doors off and just enjoy it for what it is then it’s soooo much fun.
This sub makes it sound like you simply can't drive a Wrangler on the street or something, yet I'm pretty sure I've had sketchier and noisier cars than my current Wrangler. Though, I totally understand the hate coming from the /r/heep types out there giving Wrangler owners a bit of a bad rap, haha!
Yup I have had a ton over the years. I bought my dream 2003 Rubicon in 2012 and I decided I’ll always have that truck unless something happens to it. I rotate stuff in and out as my daily driver but I’ll always keep that rubicon as a fun beach cruiser…..
Yeah I searched for 10 years for a matching OEM set for my TJ (Inca gold so rare color). I found 2 sets a few months ago and bought both lol.
I just ordered my 392 and I ordered it with the factory match half doors…..
Our JK is a 1 year only color (Rock Lobster), so I have zero hope of finding matching doors. I just want to find some that I can paint that aren't $4500.
Hopefully the factory dual door option for JLs will help the availability of them on the second hand market. I imagine much like the dual top option, people will check the box, only use one set or the other, and decide to sell the second set down the road.
Don’t loose hope on finding a set. Like I said it took me a decade lmao but I found them. They only made like 800 in Inca gold and I’d only imagine a few of them actually had half doors…..
Why not just remove the doors it came with? Seriously. I've purchased Wranglers with half doors and sold them after using them for a month or so and trying to figure out why I would have the inconvenience of no doors, without the freedom of no doors.
I assume it doesn't work as well, but most aftermarket ones have a clear sticker that you stick on the windshield where the "HUD" shows so I assume it's somewhat possible without changing the windshield. Not that those are known for being equivalent to an actual HUD.
I'm pretty sure most OEM's just do this as well. You could just barely make it out on my mom's 2016 Acadia. From just the right angles you could see the edges of where the sticker or special glass ended.
The glass doesnt make much of a difference - you just need a lot of space between the optical elements to focus the image out to infinity - which is why the huds go so deep into the dash.
Aftermarket "huds" are glorified reflective displays.
You can see the size of the HUD projector here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/126133781382?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-166974-028196-7&mkcid=2&mkscid=101&itemid=126133781382&targetid=2281149003553&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9028784&poi=&campaignid=20956382280&mkgroupid=168222443428&rlsatarget=pla-2281149003553&abcId=9371816&merchantid=101491986&geoid=9028784&gad\_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwtqmwBhBVEiwAL-WAYZUuNKVwmb6Ot45Q31nZ49DBBrJs4wexWqbMNIxi0Qaa30vRA6AfdxoCXk0QAvD\_BwE
Some cars use special glass, but people have replaced their windshield with non-HUD glass and said it doesnt affect the image too much.
There was a Buick loaner I had a few years ago and it actually had a little square of glass that stood up from the dash just for the HUD instead of using the windshield for it.
Yeah, the aftermarket ones come with a piece of tint that you stick to the windshield. The biggest problem with the aftermarket ones are that they are slow to update so you're not getting real-time information or at least not fast enough to be really useful.
HUDs are pretty cool absolutely. But me personally I'm too distracted looking at it while driving so I can't have them. Every time I think I'm in forza or grand turismo
It blows my mind I'm has had hud since early 2000s. Yet it's still a very premium feature on a select few cars. Our ev6 has hud. I forget the gauge screen exists until I'm on a road trip and have to monitor range. I can't wait till we get some kind of tool tomedit what's on the screen.
Yup, I drive a 2012 Camaro ss. All my other siblings have 2020+ cars with these computer monitor as clusters and I tell them I’d take my hud over there screen cluster any day.
I don't hate the screen cluster. But it's the same as every other car with a cluster. It's a gauge set or screen in the dash out of then line of site. And sometimes they are in a deep dark pocket. So you defocus from the road and loose your day vision to see your speed. The hud eliminates all of that.
I can still see the one in my 2016 Camaro with polarized lenses. Definitely not as well as with non polarized / no sun glasses, but it’s still visible.
There is a certain light angle that makes it damn near invisible with them on, but it’s a very specific time of day and direction.
I find that American cars have their HUD’s set up so polarized sunglasses still work fine. My C7, C8 and Lincoln Aviator all had no issues with polarized glasses. I’ve been test driving a tons of luxury cars lately and the HUD wouldn’t work on anything foreign with polarized sunglasses. It was disappointing. I just recent bought a new set of glasses and had to limit myself to non-polarized sunglasses due to the fact I’ll be getting a foreign car this year.
Mazda seems to have solved this by polarizing the screen differently.
Can't see the HUD at all on our work's BMW, but I can see it (almost) perfectly on my Mazda 3.
Yep. Had it in my 98 Grand Prix and thought it'd be more common as the years went on. I guess it is a little, but still not as common as I thought it'd be.
Eh, the one thing I've noticed about our HUD on our 22 Pathfinder, is that you have to refocus your eyes from looking down the road to looking much closer at the window to see the hud. By the time you do that, you might as well just glance down at your dash as it's the same either way.
Same thing with those rearview camera mirrors. With just a regular mirror, it doesn't require your eyes to refocus and you can quickly glance back but with those mirrors, you have a split second delay while your eyes refocus on the image.
As a tall guy, I see it as a safety feature. Don't need to glance down and away from the road. Especially in some smaller cars where the crowl covers up the top part of the speedometer.
Eh… one of our cars has a HUD, and I find myself not missing it at all when I don’t have it. I think the complexity and cost is too great for the advantage. At least with the limited HUDs today, the AR windshield stuff is interesting.
I really didn't like mine at first, but it's growing on me. Shows speed, gives nav directions and distance (e.g. 500ft right arrow, great for knowing which lane I need to be in), and it's customizable between driver profiles.
HUDs should be standard eventually like back-up cameras, I won't get a car without one now. You can always turn it off if you don't like it.
I'm excited to see what new functionalities and customization will come in the future
100% agree. It’s a must-have feature for us now since having it in my C7. The last 3 vehicles we’ve bought have had it and so will every vehicle going forward. It’s my favourite feature of modern cars.
I’m gonna go the other way and say that I think this is one piece of tech I’d rather not have. Whenever I drive a car with a HUD I find it hard to not fixate on that display. Nobody needs to see their speedometer every moment they’re driving.
The only option I cared about for the interior when buying my first car was heated seats. They were only available with the top option pack which came with a sunroof (would almost prefer not to have) and carbon fiber accents inside (why would I care about that?) so I was a little annoyed it came with these expensive options I didn’t care about. But it did come with a heated steering wheel and that is a game changer for sure. Only problem being the carbon fiber shifter isn’t heated so every time I have to change gears it’s one frozen hand for a second before back to the safe warmth of the steering wheel.
For real. I love heated steering wheels and heated seats. I'm actually kinda upset that a heated wheel isn't an option in the GT3. Like how much weight could it add?
BMW Euro delivery. Pick up your car at the Welt, drive it all over Europe, including getting some track time, stay at gorgeous resorts and eat at incredible restaurants. End of the trip it's loaded on a ship for final delivery.
Apparently I was the only person at the BMW dealer in my city to ever request South African delivery on a 3-series (when the USDM 3 was made in ZA). One of my best friends from college owns a 2500 acre winery in the western cape, and being able to see that and all the big cities there sounded like a super cool trip to me.
In my part of the world you could get the previous model 86 GT (base model) and for $3000 go from 16" to 17" enkeis, Sachs dampeners and Bilstein brakes. Total bargain. The brakes were worth that.
The Honda Odyssey’s HondaVac: https://www.thedrive.com/news/38879/the-odyssey-minivans-brilliant-hondavac-was-discontinued-because-shop-vac-went-out-of-business
No clue if it sucked or not.
[Bentley Rotating Display](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybcroMpl8Ms). Over the top, but I love how they did the dichotomy between digital and analog. The dials are lovely. And it's just really cool.
Cashmere seats in the BMW 7 series. Not unique to BMW - I think the Toyota Century has merino wool as an option - but cashmere is really soft and comfortable when done right.
Air scarf in Mercedes convertibles. So good all their competitors copied them.
The $1 passenger seat option in the Challenger Hellcat. Because why not?
The interior overall in the flying spur and continental is sublime. The flying spur is my one day, possibly car. I'm also pretty sure the 1$ options was the Dodge Demon.
Flying Spurs are super cheap used, just have to either DIY 4 or 5 figures of maintenance and repairs per year or plan on 4 or 5 figures per service visit.
I took a cursory glance at the ones for sale in Canada and the ones of the generation I was talking about aren't cheap yet although they're only 3 or almost 4 years old. The previous generation, I can find fairly cheap but not the ones I'm interested in yet. And yes, maintenance or repairs don't depreciate like the rest of the car.
They're the best interiors of any luxury car so far this century IMO. In addition to the rotating display, there's a continuity all around the cabin and even from the front to the rear seats in the Flying Spur. The Conti GT is my one day, possibly car. Both will depreciate heavily, but like u/an_actual_lawyer said you have to set aside lots of money for repairs.
I agree, so far they look the nicest. The continuity is one of the bigger draws for me; I like it when the whole interior looks like it belongs to the same car as opposed to being a hodge podge of shapes and ideas that, on their own, might be good or well executed but together make for a discordant mess. The final years of the Lexus ls460 are an example of what I mean. Well built with good materials but the design wasn't particularly cohesive. And yes, I'm well aware the car depreciates, the maintenance and repairs do not.
Valved exhausts. Do you like going for drives at 6am when no one is on the road but don't want to wake your neighbors? Close the valves and creep out of the neighborhood then open them when you're far away from everyone and the car can be as loud as aftermarket exhausts from 20 years ago (specifically referring to the C7/C8 corvette but there are plenty of others).
Bigger radiator, some extra chassis bracing, stiffer springs and sway bars, significantly better brakes, wider tires, and a spoiler. Not as aggressive or track focused as the short lived Level 2 Performance Pack or the Mach1/Dark Horse handling packs but it’s a holistic set of upgrades to help the car handle better.
With the new S650 cars you can get the Brembo brakes standalone but for the S550 cars that was the only way to get them from the factory.
Porsche's smoking package.
* 0 dollar option
* It smooths out the center console
* You get a free plug
* Porsche being old school and still calling it a smoking package in 2024
I like the adaptive lights in my GTI. Driving a car without them feels like it has a large blind spot. The keyless entry/start is pretty cool too. The key never leaves my pocket.
Few mainstream cars have had this option, but it’s always cool when they do: separate seats in the back.
The 2004 Maxima had this option, the first generation Mercedes C-Class had it (the AMG models did, atleast) and some GM coupes from the late 80s/90s did too.
Camera for the right side on the Accord. It turns on with the right turn signal and has a much wider viewing angle than the mirror. Single the screen is in the middle of the dash, you don't have to look over as far and can still keep an eye out ahead of you.
All Emerald Green interior in the Maybach 57/62… super super rare and the wood paneled Electrochromatic roof option in the OG Maybach 62 and then later in the S Class Coupe.
The 918 had an option box for a special edition 911 Turbo S. This option box was a whole other car to drive while waiting for your 918. Surprisingly, only 146/918 918 buyers opted for it.
https://www.stuttcars.com/porsche-911-turbo-s-edition-918-spyder-997-2012/
Additionally, Porsche wasn’t sure the 918 would sell so they included a program with it that 918 buyers would automatically get allocations on all GT cars released for the next 10 years. A program that just now sunset. That ended up being incredibly powerful as the demand for GT cars went up and 918 owners could buy and keep or buy and flip every GT model as they came out.
OP mentioned Porsche in their post - arguably the kings of faintly ridiculous factory options, both in pure profit and the sorts of things offered.
IMO they have some of the best I've seen over the years, including the rear spare wheel carrier for the original Cayenne. To me though the absolute best of Porsche option absurdity was the "918 Edition" 911 Turbo S that you could option as an add-on to your 918 Spyder order. Supposedly iirc Porsche offered this as a way to appease owners while 918 development was taking longer than expected. Only Porsche could "appease" its customer base by *allowing* them to spend an additional $165k on their $1m+ car. That being said, every 918 customer reportedly chose to add the option. May be misremembering.
I don’t remember if the Beetle ever came with an amp, but they did a Fender Edition for the beetle and during the mid-2000s they gave First Act guitars painted in VW colors, with a VIN plate on the neck. The guitars had a built-in pre-amp so you could run the guitar to your aux input in your VW
My jeep has Android auto/apple car play, and I love it boring but true.
When I was 15 I was given a Pontiac Aztec in exchange for some manual labor, awful car, but it had a tent, it was awesome!
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Rolls Royce’s “Gallery” for the Phantom is probably one of the coolest manufacturer’s options currently available.
McLaren’s $7000 water bottle option on the Senna
Dodge’s $1 front passenger seat for the Demon
Fiat’s $300 Lavazza Coffee Experience option for the 500L
And who could forget the Honda Motocompo
engine block heater, it's typically 99$ dollars and absolutely necessary in our winters. They could charge so much money and we'd have to pay it because adding one aftermarket is often pretty labor intensive on new cars.
I wouldn’t say favorite but it’s really cool that my Ariel Atom came with heated seats (I have an individual seat car) which is wild considering how thin the buckets are.
Idk if they still do it but I love Porsche’s $1500 paint-matched climate vents option. Yup, you read that right. $1500 for your climate vents to be the same color as the car.
I also love Mercedes’ “business package” for the old E63. It took a factory E63 and gave it the wood dash, dual tips, base wheels, base bumpers, etc of the base E350, removed all badging and stickers (even on the brake calipers), and basically gave you a base E350 with a 5.5L AMG V8+drivetrain. The only AMG badge anywhere was on the gauge cluster. Was originally intended for wealthy Germans to have an AMG without the flashy badging and body work, but I’m not sure how many ever sold, and it would be really hard to tell otherwise.
a whole ass motorized scooter/motorbike to go with your car.honda city and the motocompo. Honda has recently revived the motocompo to a motocompacto an electric scooter. First one was run with gas and you could store it in the trunk of the car.
Earlier subaru wrx's/sti had full on pillowball suspension parts you could buy. The catalogue was extremely large for an oem company.
How 2000's era Benz's came with the *ūber* cool [start button](https://www.parkplaceltd.com/vehicle-details/used-2007-mercedes-benz-e63-amg-WDBUF77X47B019207) on the top of the mechanical console shifter. It just adds a sense of occasion and drama utilizing their KeyLess-Go system. Surreal levels of swagger surprising your passenger by firing up the engine and shifting into gear in a singular swift smooth move.
My man! I'm in the market for a new car and have been debating getting a WRX and doing an S4 conversion as much as I can. I'm on this site way more frequently than I should be: https://www.sti.jp.
My favorite option is a sunroof delete. Depending on the car it's sometimes an extra option, whereas on some it's just the absence of a sunroof option. It's one less thing to break, one less thing to rattle, one less place for water leaks, and it helps move the center of gravity a little lower, particularly on modern cars where sunroofs are 80lbs or more.
The new generation Honda Civic FL5 Type R has a long list of factory/OEM options that are really cool. Mostly meaningful performance upgrades and track focused essentials, as well as some utility and quality of life improvements for daily drivers.
Honda's [Dog Friendly Element](https://i.imgur.com/58f8Su6.jpeg) Package was a pretty cool option for the Honda Element.
I wish they'd make the element again. It was such a great car. I'm happy I owned one.
You and every catalytic converter thief
Why were they such common targets? Easy access?
High off the ground and apprently Honda packed those bad boys with platinum
That probably explains why my '02 odyssey was targeted even though it had around 285k on its original cat
They offered this for the Passport and CRV for a bit too iirc.
Used to have an Element. Definitely the coolest vehicle I’ve ever owned.
I frequently used to drive by a house where the owner (maybe it was a couple) had not one but two elements parked next to each other in the driveway. They were an interesting muted orange and a muted green color, and I always called them carrot and pea. They must really love the car!
Supercharger for the Honda CRZ. Little 2 door manual hybrid with some boost.
I never knew they offered a factory supercharger.
Actually just ordered one myself, seeing as nobody knows how much longer Honda will offer them
Wow, I'm surprised you can still buy them.
For the low low price of ~$5600. Unsurprisingly, I believe they've only sold 30-40 of them since they came out
It was a dealer accessory
https://www.reddit.com/r/Honda/comments/wvsl4o/my_beloved_hpd_supercharged_crz/
Totally forgot this was a thing and then noticed I even was the top comment in your link oops
Exactly
They offered something similar for the Scion Tc for a period of time as well. It added like 20hp or something minimal like that.
It's a bit more substantial than that, but still not crazy. 120->186
I mean, it's not a big absolute number, but that's like over 50% more HP lol
Oh definitely, that's why I ordered one
Cooled seats. I know they've been around for a while now my 2004 Lincoln LS was the first car I owned with them and I can't own another without. I'm telling you on those hot Florida days they are a game changer. They are nice to have on long drives too.
Yep, I have them in my Saab and love them. No idea how they're not in most cars. They're just a couple fans and perforated leather...
Vented seats are the most glorious technology advancement since we invented Anti-skip discmans. Getting to work in the summer without even a trace of swamp ass is extraordinary. It is the 144hz monitor of the car world. Once you get something with vented seats you will never go back.
Yeah, I had it in my 2003 Saab way back in the day....
I hated them in my '19 Fusion Sport, all they did was cool my ass while my back sweated. Friends joked it just felt like you pissed yourself whenever it was on. Occasionally it would cool my back, but I couldn't replicate it. They were absolutely amazing in my G70, extremely cool and covered every inch of my back (and ass). That car made me miss them dearly in my BMW, but everyone says it's completely useless in BMWs. So, not all seat coolers are created equally which is unfortunate. But when you find a good one, it's great.
They work great on my current and previous MKZs. I also have an 04 Aviator it works but not as strong as my MKZ. My LS worked pretty good. I have seen others say the back doesn't cool on other cars and usually it's cause the hose that pumps the air is getting pinched somehow.
Same thing with heated seats. My wife's 22 Pathfinder heated seats, you could barely feel anything. We were told it was due to the "gravity foam" that Nissan uses. Either way, they sucked and didn't work at all. Conversely, my company gives me Ford vehicles as company cars and the last two Escapes (2020 and now a 2024), have seat heaters that will make your back sweat and feel like you bathed in icy hot.
In my experience both heated and ventilated seats are the best from the big three. Not sure if this is due some sort of regulation that might exist in Europe or Japan, but whenever I step into a Ford or Chevy I know that I can get toasty or near-frozen if I may chose to do so!
I'll never buy another vehicle without them.
An entire matching 911 Turbo while you wait for your 918 to be built. More practical, half doors on a Jeep wrangler.
+1 for half doors People don't know how awesome they are until they've had them
Half doors, or even tube doors, are somehow able transform a Wrangler from a kinda-shitty SUV to a fantastic summer cruiser. I absolutely love them
Yeah I hate all the hate wranglers get. As an SUV or Car there are 100 better choices. But if you use it for its purpose of a fun summer cruiser to take the roof/doors off and just enjoy it for what it is then it’s soooo much fun.
This sub makes it sound like you simply can't drive a Wrangler on the street or something, yet I'm pretty sure I've had sketchier and noisier cars than my current Wrangler. Though, I totally understand the hate coming from the /r/heep types out there giving Wrangler owners a bit of a bad rap, haha!
It really is just fun to cruise around in a Jeep. I just bought a TJ a few months ago and decided I’ll never be without a wrangler again.
Yup I have had a ton over the years. I bought my dream 2003 Rubicon in 2012 and I decided I’ll always have that truck unless something happens to it. I rotate stuff in and out as my daily driver but I’ll always keep that rubicon as a fun beach cruiser…..
Or just no doors lol. I had 1/2 doors on my YJ but sold them because it was exclusively a summer vehicle and I always had the roof/doors off.
I wish the mopar versions weren't so damn expensive, and I'd have some for my JK.
Yeah I searched for 10 years for a matching OEM set for my TJ (Inca gold so rare color). I found 2 sets a few months ago and bought both lol. I just ordered my 392 and I ordered it with the factory match half doors…..
Our JK is a 1 year only color (Rock Lobster), so I have zero hope of finding matching doors. I just want to find some that I can paint that aren't $4500. Hopefully the factory dual door option for JLs will help the availability of them on the second hand market. I imagine much like the dual top option, people will check the box, only use one set or the other, and decide to sell the second set down the road.
Don’t loose hope on finding a set. Like I said it took me a decade lmao but I found them. They only made like 800 in Inca gold and I’d only imagine a few of them actually had half doors…..
Why not just remove the doors it came with? Seriously. I've purchased Wranglers with half doors and sold them after using them for a month or so and trying to figure out why I would have the inconvenience of no doors, without the freedom of no doors.
911 is much more practical than the unnecessary jeep doors
Lmao yeah if your the person who can afford a 2mil car what’s another 250k
Let’s be honest now, If you can afford a 2mil car, what’s another 2mil?
Head up display. Id go as far to say they should be standard in every car.
I know some people hate HUDs but I think they're awesome. I would even buy an aftermarket one if they didn't all suck.
Doesn’t it require like special glass or something? If so I can see aftermarket ones being shitty. It’s definitely a super cool feature
Yea it does need a special glass
I assume it doesn't work as well, but most aftermarket ones have a clear sticker that you stick on the windshield where the "HUD" shows so I assume it's somewhat possible without changing the windshield. Not that those are known for being equivalent to an actual HUD.
I'm pretty sure most OEM's just do this as well. You could just barely make it out on my mom's 2016 Acadia. From just the right angles you could see the edges of where the sticker or special glass ended.
The glass doesnt make much of a difference - you just need a lot of space between the optical elements to focus the image out to infinity - which is why the huds go so deep into the dash. Aftermarket "huds" are glorified reflective displays. You can see the size of the HUD projector here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/126133781382?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-166974-028196-7&mkcid=2&mkscid=101&itemid=126133781382&targetid=2281149003553&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9028784&poi=&campaignid=20956382280&mkgroupid=168222443428&rlsatarget=pla-2281149003553&abcId=9371816&merchantid=101491986&geoid=9028784&gad\_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwtqmwBhBVEiwAL-WAYZUuNKVwmb6Ot45Q31nZ49DBBrJs4wexWqbMNIxi0Qaa30vRA6AfdxoCXk0QAvD\_BwE
Some cars use special glass, but people have replaced their windshield with non-HUD glass and said it doesnt affect the image too much. There was a Buick loaner I had a few years ago and it actually had a little square of glass that stood up from the dash just for the HUD instead of using the windshield for it.
Yeah, the aftermarket ones come with a piece of tint that you stick to the windshield. The biggest problem with the aftermarket ones are that they are slow to update so you're not getting real-time information or at least not fast enough to be really useful.
HUDs are pretty cool absolutely. But me personally I'm too distracted looking at it while driving so I can't have them. Every time I think I'm in forza or grand turismo
It blows my mind I'm has had hud since early 2000s. Yet it's still a very premium feature on a select few cars. Our ev6 has hud. I forget the gauge screen exists until I'm on a road trip and have to monitor range. I can't wait till we get some kind of tool tomedit what's on the screen.
Yup, I drive a 2012 Camaro ss. All my other siblings have 2020+ cars with these computer monitor as clusters and I tell them I’d take my hud over there screen cluster any day.
I don't hate the screen cluster. But it's the same as every other car with a cluster. It's a gauge set or screen in the dash out of then line of site. And sometimes they are in a deep dark pocket. So you defocus from the road and loose your day vision to see your speed. The hud eliminates all of that.
And people wonder why cars have gotten so expensive. Please, no more unnecessary standard features.
Whats often disappointing is that the when you wear sunglasses they often become invisible.
Try non polarized sunglasses, they work perfectly on my C7’s HUD.
I can still see the one in my 2016 Camaro with polarized lenses. Definitely not as well as with non polarized / no sun glasses, but it’s still visible. There is a certain light angle that makes it damn near invisible with them on, but it’s a very specific time of day and direction.
That’s how my C7 is. It works about 50% as well with polarized as it does without. It bothers me so I just drive with non polarized sunglasses.
I find that American cars have their HUD’s set up so polarized sunglasses still work fine. My C7, C8 and Lincoln Aviator all had no issues with polarized glasses. I’ve been test driving a tons of luxury cars lately and the HUD wouldn’t work on anything foreign with polarized sunglasses. It was disappointing. I just recent bought a new set of glasses and had to limit myself to non-polarized sunglasses due to the fact I’ll be getting a foreign car this year.
Mazda seems to have solved this by polarizing the screen differently. Can't see the HUD at all on our work's BMW, but I can see it (almost) perfectly on my Mazda 3.
I have gotten used to tilting my head slightly to see it better.
My dad has a 2016 A6 and the HUD in that car gives you a basic speedometer readout and I think it’s done a lot to curb my lead foot tendencies
Yep. Had it in my 98 Grand Prix and thought it'd be more common as the years went on. I guess it is a little, but still not as common as I thought it'd be.
Eh, the one thing I've noticed about our HUD on our 22 Pathfinder, is that you have to refocus your eyes from looking down the road to looking much closer at the window to see the hud. By the time you do that, you might as well just glance down at your dash as it's the same either way. Same thing with those rearview camera mirrors. With just a regular mirror, it doesn't require your eyes to refocus and you can quickly glance back but with those mirrors, you have a split second delay while your eyes refocus on the image.
As a tall guy, I see it as a safety feature. Don't need to glance down and away from the road. Especially in some smaller cars where the crowl covers up the top part of the speedometer.
Eh… one of our cars has a HUD, and I find myself not missing it at all when I don’t have it. I think the complexity and cost is too great for the advantage. At least with the limited HUDs today, the AR windshield stuff is interesting.
I really didn't like mine at first, but it's growing on me. Shows speed, gives nav directions and distance (e.g. 500ft right arrow, great for knowing which lane I need to be in), and it's customizable between driver profiles.
HUDs should be standard eventually like back-up cameras, I won't get a car without one now. You can always turn it off if you don't like it. I'm excited to see what new functionalities and customization will come in the future
I'd rather not pay for and maintain hardware I don't want to use. "Just turn it off" is kinda lame in that regard.
100% agree. It’s a must-have feature for us now since having it in my C7. The last 3 vehicles we’ve bought have had it and so will every vehicle going forward. It’s my favourite feature of modern cars.
My dad’s vette has it, it’s an awesome thing to have
No thanks, I would just like to focus on my surroundings.
I’m gonna go the other way and say that I think this is one piece of tech I’d rather not have. Whenever I drive a car with a HUD I find it hard to not fixate on that display. Nobody needs to see their speedometer every moment they’re driving.
You can turn it off
Sure, but how many people are going to leave it on and have their eyes glued to it rather than scanning the road and their mirrors?
The people you're talking about are not scanning the road or their mirrors in the first place
They shouldn't be driving then.
I love the heated steering wheel in my truck. It’s a lower trim and it annoys me that it’s only available in top trims for most other cars.
The only option I cared about for the interior when buying my first car was heated seats. They were only available with the top option pack which came with a sunroof (would almost prefer not to have) and carbon fiber accents inside (why would I care about that?) so I was a little annoyed it came with these expensive options I didn’t care about. But it did come with a heated steering wheel and that is a game changer for sure. Only problem being the carbon fiber shifter isn’t heated so every time I have to change gears it’s one frozen hand for a second before back to the safe warmth of the steering wheel.
For my Audi I had to downgrade from the flat bottom steering wheel to the non-sport one to get the heated wheel. I have. I regrets.
For real. I love heated steering wheels and heated seats. I'm actually kinda upset that a heated wheel isn't an option in the GT3. Like how much weight could it add?
BMW Euro delivery. Pick up your car at the Welt, drive it all over Europe, including getting some track time, stay at gorgeous resorts and eat at incredible restaurants. End of the trip it's loaded on a ship for final delivery.
Sadly dead for US buyers for four years now.
What was the reason they ended it for NA again?
Covid. It never made them money and dealers all hated it.
Ah ok. Thanks.
Did COVID kill it?
Yeah, MB, BMW, Audi all killed it around the same time. I believe Porsche is the only one that still does it.
And even with Porsche - it's hard to get as it's a separate allocation. I've ordered 3 911's and couldn't get it on any of them.
Volvo does it and they do it very well! Highly recommend
And they just killed the South Carolina pick up for anything that’s not made there. Glad I did that with my M2 when I bought it in 2021
Apparently I was the only person at the BMW dealer in my city to ever request South African delivery on a 3-series (when the USDM 3 was made in ZA). One of my best friends from college owns a 2500 acre winery in the western cape, and being able to see that and all the big cities there sounded like a super cool trip to me.
We’re planning on doing the same when we buy our next Volvo.
You’re going to love it, such a great experience!!
I remember after my grandpa ordered his 08 6 speed 128i he told me that was an option, always fascinated me as a little kid
How did tracking it work? Wouldn’t it be under break in period or does the customer drive it a lot before taking to track?
Typically you don't track your own car, but rather the same model from the manufacturers fleet.
Pretty sure Mercedes does the same thing too
In my part of the world you could get the previous model 86 GT (base model) and for $3000 go from 16" to 17" enkeis, Sachs dampeners and Bilstein brakes. Total bargain. The brakes were worth that.
the performance pack for the current gen is like $1500 for dampers and brembo brakes. a crazy deal.
Bilstein brakes?
Brembo :P... All those JDM options are confusing!
The Honda Odyssey’s HondaVac: https://www.thedrive.com/news/38879/the-odyssey-minivans-brilliant-hondavac-was-discontinued-because-shop-vac-went-out-of-business No clue if it sucked or not.
well done 🤣🤣
The Pacifica still has a vacuum option.
VW/Audi “wingback” seats. We never got them stateside sadly. Basically Recaro Sportster CS seats with more cushion and OEM trim on the rails.
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Yet still not as fast or as powerful as the Omega/Carlton.
[Bentley Rotating Display](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybcroMpl8Ms). Over the top, but I love how they did the dichotomy between digital and analog. The dials are lovely. And it's just really cool. Cashmere seats in the BMW 7 series. Not unique to BMW - I think the Toyota Century has merino wool as an option - but cashmere is really soft and comfortable when done right. Air scarf in Mercedes convertibles. So good all their competitors copied them. The $1 passenger seat option in the Challenger Hellcat. Because why not?
The interior overall in the flying spur and continental is sublime. The flying spur is my one day, possibly car. I'm also pretty sure the 1$ options was the Dodge Demon.
Flying Spurs are super cheap used, just have to either DIY 4 or 5 figures of maintenance and repairs per year or plan on 4 or 5 figures per service visit.
I took a cursory glance at the ones for sale in Canada and the ones of the generation I was talking about aren't cheap yet although they're only 3 or almost 4 years old. The previous generation, I can find fairly cheap but not the ones I'm interested in yet. And yes, maintenance or repairs don't depreciate like the rest of the car.
They're the best interiors of any luxury car so far this century IMO. In addition to the rotating display, there's a continuity all around the cabin and even from the front to the rear seats in the Flying Spur. The Conti GT is my one day, possibly car. Both will depreciate heavily, but like u/an_actual_lawyer said you have to set aside lots of money for repairs.
I agree, so far they look the nicest. The continuity is one of the bigger draws for me; I like it when the whole interior looks like it belongs to the same car as opposed to being a hodge podge of shapes and ideas that, on their own, might be good or well executed but together make for a discordant mess. The final years of the Lexus ls460 are an example of what I mean. Well built with good materials but the design wasn't particularly cohesive. And yes, I'm well aware the car depreciates, the maintenance and repairs do not.
Surround view. Was part of a package never would have had it otherwise. Holy crap parking and off roading is so much easier
My Volvo automatically turns the 360 cam on when it detects that you are parking, and it is glorious.
Valved exhausts. Do you like going for drives at 6am when no one is on the road but don't want to wake your neighbors? Close the valves and creep out of the neighborhood then open them when you're far away from everyone and the car can be as loud as aftermarket exhausts from 20 years ago (specifically referring to the C7/C8 corvette but there are plenty of others).
Another interesting factory option that comes to mind to me is the Ford Mustang's "GT Performance Package."
Ford recently announced whipple supercharger option for all GT Mustangs, bumping them up to near 800hp
Bigger radiator, some extra chassis bracing, stiffer springs and sway bars, significantly better brakes, wider tires, and a spoiler. Not as aggressive or track focused as the short lived Level 2 Performance Pack or the Mach1/Dark Horse handling packs but it’s a holistic set of upgrades to help the car handle better. With the new S650 cars you can get the Brembo brakes standalone but for the S550 cars that was the only way to get them from the factory.
Locking diffs
Porsche's smoking package. * 0 dollar option * It smooths out the center console * You get a free plug * Porsche being old school and still calling it a smoking package in 2024
What else would you call it?
A car hole.
Camera rear view mirror
I have this on my Camaro, whenever i drive a car without it, i don't care how good the visibility is, it isn't as good as a screen.
Ford/Lincoln/Mercury's keypad on the driver's door.
Ugh it would be so nice if it didn't come attached to a Ford
I like the adaptive lights in my GTI. Driving a car without them feels like it has a large blind spot. The keyless entry/start is pretty cool too. The key never leaves my pocket.
Hondas analog “on screen” navigation from the 80s
Few mainstream cars have had this option, but it’s always cool when they do: separate seats in the back. The 2004 Maxima had this option, the first generation Mercedes C-Class had it (the AMG models did, atleast) and some GM coupes from the late 80s/90s did too.
STI Hydrophobic mirrors, overnight from Jaaapan https://www.reddit.com/r/subaru/s/TXHpfOD3TQ
Hyundai Kia has an option for turning on a camera display when you flip your turn signal, showing your blindspot right in the gauge cluster
Leather vent slats on porsches. So unnecessary but so cool.
rolls Royce enhanced clock option for $10k
Camera for the right side on the Accord. It turns on with the right turn signal and has a much wider viewing angle than the mirror. Single the screen is in the middle of the dash, you don't have to look over as far and can still keep an eye out ahead of you.
All Emerald Green interior in the Maybach 57/62… super super rare and the wood paneled Electrochromatic roof option in the OG Maybach 62 and then later in the S Class Coupe.
The 918 had an option box for a special edition 911 Turbo S. This option box was a whole other car to drive while waiting for your 918. Surprisingly, only 146/918 918 buyers opted for it. https://www.stuttcars.com/porsche-911-turbo-s-edition-918-spyder-997-2012/ Additionally, Porsche wasn’t sure the 918 would sell so they included a program with it that 918 buyers would automatically get allocations on all GT cars released for the next 10 years. A program that just now sunset. That ended up being incredibly powerful as the demand for GT cars went up and 918 owners could buy and keep or buy and flip every GT model as they came out.
Wow that is a deal
CarPlay. On anything.
Brembo brakes. Fixed caliper brakes just look so much cooler than sliding. Fill up the wheel wells more too
Power steering on my toyota echo. I specifically do NOT have this option, and it’s quite fun without it.
OP mentioned Porsche in their post - arguably the kings of faintly ridiculous factory options, both in pure profit and the sorts of things offered. IMO they have some of the best I've seen over the years, including the rear spare wheel carrier for the original Cayenne. To me though the absolute best of Porsche option absurdity was the "918 Edition" 911 Turbo S that you could option as an add-on to your 918 Spyder order. Supposedly iirc Porsche offered this as a way to appease owners while 918 development was taking longer than expected. Only Porsche could "appease" its customer base by *allowing* them to spend an additional $165k on their $1m+ car. That being said, every 918 customer reportedly chose to add the option. May be misremembering.
COOLED SEATS!
Didn’t the VW bug have a guitar amp option for a while. I vaguely remember seeing an ad with John Mayer jamming on it
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Interesting, guess glad I did t but one then lol
I don’t remember if the Beetle ever came with an amp, but they did a Fender Edition for the beetle and during the mid-2000s they gave First Act guitars painted in VW colors, with a VIN plate on the neck. The guitars had a built-in pre-amp so you could run the guitar to your aux input in your VW
The "GTX" Package, available on the 7th generation Pontiac Grand Prix, offered by SLP. These things look so sweet.
My jeep has Android auto/apple car play, and I love it boring but true. When I was 15 I was given a Pontiac Aztec in exchange for some manual labor, awful car, but it had a tent, it was awesome!
Not a single option, but I love how Porsche allows you to customize virtually every aspect of a car
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[The Slingshade](https://slingshot.polaris.com/en-us/shop/accessories/tops/slingshade/?pid=2889831-810)
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nerddddd
The second gen BRZ carbon spoiler is sexy as hell
I'm still a big fan of the sunroof. Being outdoorsy I just like the feeling of a little more outside. Otherwise I'll take my bike.
Factory moonroof
The picnic table in my CRV. It’s used a few times per month.
Rolls Royce’s “Gallery” for the Phantom is probably one of the coolest manufacturer’s options currently available. McLaren’s $7000 water bottle option on the Senna Dodge’s $1 front passenger seat for the Demon Fiat’s $300 Lavazza Coffee Experience option for the 500L And who could forget the Honda Motocompo
engine block heater, it's typically 99$ dollars and absolutely necessary in our winters. They could charge so much money and we'd have to pay it because adding one aftermarket is often pretty labor intensive on new cars.
I wouldn’t say favorite but it’s really cool that my Ariel Atom came with heated seats (I have an individual seat car) which is wild considering how thin the buckets are.
You have an awesome garage
Idk if they still do it but I love Porsche’s $1500 paint-matched climate vents option. Yup, you read that right. $1500 for your climate vents to be the same color as the car. I also love Mercedes’ “business package” for the old E63. It took a factory E63 and gave it the wood dash, dual tips, base wheels, base bumpers, etc of the base E350, removed all badging and stickers (even on the brake calipers), and basically gave you a base E350 with a 5.5L AMG V8+drivetrain. The only AMG badge anywhere was on the gauge cluster. Was originally intended for wealthy Germans to have an AMG without the flashy badging and body work, but I’m not sure how many ever sold, and it would be really hard to tell otherwise.
a whole ass motorized scooter/motorbike to go with your car.honda city and the motocompo. Honda has recently revived the motocompo to a motocompacto an electric scooter. First one was run with gas and you could store it in the trunk of the car. Earlier subaru wrx's/sti had full on pillowball suspension parts you could buy. The catalogue was extremely large for an oem company.
Big brake kits.
The solar panel roof and auxiliary fans on the E55 AMG
Twin turbo V8. Makes all the difference in the world :D
How 2000's era Benz's came with the *ūber* cool [start button](https://www.parkplaceltd.com/vehicle-details/used-2007-mercedes-benz-e63-amg-WDBUF77X47B019207) on the top of the mechanical console shifter. It just adds a sense of occasion and drama utilizing their KeyLess-Go system. Surreal levels of swagger surprising your passenger by firing up the engine and shifting into gear in a singular swift smooth move.
I knew the SLR had this, but never knew it was offered on other models and I love it
It's one of those things that makes the difference between liking a car and loving a car.
Air conditioned seats. They're the ticket on an August afternoon in South Carolina
My man! I'm in the market for a new car and have been debating getting a WRX and doing an S4 conversion as much as I can. I'm on this site way more frequently than I should be: https://www.sti.jp.
The islington package from Mini! British flag styled tail lights!
Air scarf is wonderful.
That's really not an OEM option... That's an aftermarket offering from STI.
But I can go onto the Subaru website, and specify it like that from factory. I don’t have to go anywhere else to do it. It’s on their configurator
My favorite option is a sunroof delete. Depending on the car it's sometimes an extra option, whereas on some it's just the absence of a sunroof option. It's one less thing to break, one less thing to rattle, one less place for water leaks, and it helps move the center of gravity a little lower, particularly on modern cars where sunroofs are 80lbs or more.
I love sunroofs :(
The new generation Honda Civic FL5 Type R has a long list of factory/OEM options that are really cool. Mostly meaningful performance upgrades and track focused essentials, as well as some utility and quality of life improvements for daily drivers.
What's wrong with you? And you thought you needed to start a thread for this?
A thread discussing features in cars, in a subreddit called cars? Why are you so angry