"Always on" or "Always off" button?

[mik]

Got a button that you always press for every phase of every drive?

1. E-Tron. Lane assist off. Reminded by Harry M's latest vid - is there a single vehicle on sale today that does this well? Absolutely hateful system. It's "on" by default of course and thankfully requires just a prod on the end of the left stalk to disable it. I've had a couple of hire cars recently however where I just didn't have the time to figure out how to disable stoopid system - most annoying.

2. Evora. Sport button. It starts up in non-sport (unsporty?) mode, and once running the Sport button is always thumbed. Exhaust valve is then open rather than closed at idle for some burble. Once on the move the same valve opens at 2400rpm instead of 4000rpm. Throttle map is slightly sharper, and you have a 7.2krpm limit rather than 6.8krpm. There is no downside to any of this other than idle speed in Sport is lifted marginally to 850rpm vs 650rpm, so if I know I'll be still for a while and don't want to switch the engine off - I might switch Sport off to save a smidge of fuel and keep temperatures down.

Disco3 & Disco4 both kinda had one - but only 'cos we always selected "access mode" when parking - which drops the car 50mm. This was primarily to keep the potentially temperamental air suspension well exercised, but also made it easier for dogs to jump in/out of the boot. This meant of course that you had to flick the suspension back to "normal" whenever you started up. (The car(s) would automatically revert to this once you reached 12mph (from memory) if you drove off in Access mode, but you'd be sproinging along pretty uncomfortably upto that point).

[Jobbo]

Since I took a year to realise that you can turn off the lane assist by holding the end of the stalk in my Audi, for ages I didn't automatically turn it off and didn't find it terrible. But now I do that before I leave the drive. The other thing I do is put my destination into the nav on Carplay so I get immediate warning of any traffic jams.

On the MX5, I haven't yet had it long enough to do this until it first bongs at me but at that point the speed limit warning is switched straight off - a single button press, but slightly out of view down and to the right of the steering wheel. The lane assist isn't at all obtrusive and I think leaves a warning light in the dash when off, so I don't bother with that.

Jimny I have to remember to pull up the radio aerial; being a trad Japanese vehicle with it in the A-pillar you can just wind down the window and do it from the driver's seat

[Beany]

Have you not considered getting the ultimate 80s accessory, a motorised aerial kit?

You can be the coolest kid on the green lane as you click your ignition on, and the aerial extends by itself

[DeskJockey]

On the Galaxy I switch the lights on, that's about it. No other button is mandatory (apart from the start button).

[Swervin_Mervin]

Nothing gets switched on or off in the E91 - it's old enough to be a get in and go car.

Superb - stop/start gets switched off immediately, and the seat dropped a half inch (the memory seats don't ever fully return the seat to it's absolute lowest setting which is very annoying).

[V8Granite]

The TT had no presses, just get in and drive.

The ML I switch through the menu to see coolant on the dash.

The Defender I turned on the centre console fridge to keep my drink cold.

500e I just turned the headlights on.

Dave!

[Jobbo]

Have you not considered getting the ultimate 80s accessory, a motorised aerial kit?

You can be the coolest kid on the green lane as you click your ignition on, and the aerial extends by itself

You've never had a Japanese car with the aerial in the A-pillar, have you? It's brilliant; I don't think I've seen a motorised one but you can reach it without leaving your seat.

[Jimmy Choo]

The E60 is get in and go. I think it's all the way back in 2008 that I had a mandatory button press which was in the 166. The "Sports throttle response" was always turned on and once I'd put the LSD in the nose, the Traction control was always turned off as it got very confused by the traction available.

[Brannen]

I normally just turn off the stop start in my car. I do on possibly 50% of my drives put it into sport mode, but that really depends on where I'm going / what type of driving I'll be doing. As it's a 2016 car, I don't think it has anything outside of stop start that's annoying in the car.

[Ascender]

I've started turning off the stop/start now. It's quicker than the BMW one to kick back-in at junctions, but annoying all the same.

I'll also lower the car back down as its always up if I'm starting from the house.

No lane assist or anything else thankfully.

[Beany]

Have you not considered getting the ultimate 80s accessory, a motorised aerial kit?

You can be the coolest kid on the green lane as you click your ignition on, and the aerial extends by itself

You've never had a Japanese car with the aerial in the A-pillar, have you? It's brilliant; I don't think I've seen a motorised one but you can reach it without leaving your seat.

Always on the front wing, or rear wing, sadly

Damn you, Euro-centric design sensibilities!

[Matty]

I've got 4 buttons in the Giulia, it's like flight control checks.
Stop start, AC, Dynamic, parking sensor.

One thing that does bother me is the handbrake button is up for on, down for off.....but it's binary...Just have it as a press down! If I press down, just change the current state. At what time would I need it to be 'on', and press 'on' again??

[integrale_evo]

Always have to put the Mito in dynamic as soon as it’s started.

Gives you a funky digital boost gauge, makes the throttle response not feel like there’s a sponge between your foot and the pedal, and removes the really annoying change up / down arrows.

Everything else is old enough not to have that sort of annoying bullshit.

[Beany]

Thinking about it, I don't really have a 'pre-flight list' of buttons to press in the M135 - I leave the traction control alone as 300 boosty BHP is enough to justify leaving it in place for me (particularly this time of year) the throttle and gearbox mapping are generally fine in Comfort mode, etc and it doesn't have any fancy lane keep or automatic speed stuff.

[Holley]

Sequence in Mrs' H EX30 is home button, turn off 'speed limiter', turn off 'lane assist', click yes to 'do I really want it off', turn off 'driver alert', click yes to 'do I really want it off'.

As an experiment, I left everything on to see how often it all goes off. It bonged at me 8 times before I even left the village . One bong I wasn't sure what for, so looked at the message on the screen only for the car to bong at me again for not looking at the road .

Their's no way we're ready for fully autonomous cars, most of the time it misreads what the speed limits are.

[DeskJockey]

I've got 4 buttons in the Giulia, it's like flight control checks.
Stop start, AC, Dynamic, parking sensor.

One thing that does bother me is the handbrake button is up for on, down for off.....but it's binary...Just have it as a press down! If I press down, just change the current state. At what time would I need it to be 'on', and press 'on' again??

AC isn't in whatever state you left it when you turn it on again? Seems daft.

[DeskJockey]

What's the aversion to stop/start? Galaxy has it and it works well. Requires about two seconds of anticipation to dip the clutch ahead of the lights changing, but I always use it. Cuts noise and unnecessary pollution.

[scotta]

"sport" mode on the Elise - without fail every drive.

[Jobbo]

Whoa, I had no idea later Elises had a choice of mode!

Also, like Alex I don't understand the aversion to stop/start. It works.

[MikeHunt]

Ive reprogrammed the bmw with a bluetooth dongle, so it's now exactly as I want it. My wife has her own key, do the seat and mirror move into my setting. It usually suggests a destination, eg it knows when I go to the gym and asks if the nav wants to be set.


I remember the Yaris was a real pain in the arse. Every start you had to hold for 3 seconds to turn off lane assist, then dismiss the avoid excessive acceleration message that needed to be cancelled, then switch on int, change the 4wd mode,