No love for auto start/stop
While we are discussing things we have and don’t want, let me suggest a few things that should be in every vehicle built. And with today’s coding, should not even add to any production costs.
• When activating the wipers, headlights and taillights should automatically come on. Even though it is simple common sense, (in short supply these days), and the law in most states as far as I know, there is nothing more dangerous, or annoying than drivers operating their vehicles in conditions where you can barely see the car in front of you and they fail to turn on their lights. Driving the other day in a torrential downpour with extremely limited visibility, I couldn’t count the number of clueless drivers without lights on. If the lights came on with the wipers, it would go a long way toward making the roads safer by thinking for those incapable of remembering to turn on their lights.
• Related to the above wish, DRL’s, or daytime running lights, are basically useless, since they only show from the front. Meaning the rear of the car is nearly invisible. So, those who put on their DRL’s in the rain are only being halfway safe. You still can’t see them from the rear.
• And on that note, when drivers are driving with DRL’s and it becomes dusk into dark, they are fooled into thinking their headlights and taillights are on because they see their lights on the rear/bumper of the car in front of them, and the dash/instrument lights are on, fooling them into not realizing that there are no taillights illuminated, making them nearly invisible until you are on top of them.
These shortcomings could easily be remedied by the NHTSB and other regulatory agencies forcing automakers to implement these changes going forward. The costs should be minimal if not zero, since instead of adding physical relays and contactors, it should be able to be accomplished through simply coding the ECU’s and control systems. If baffles me every time I see these simple changes not being standard since there are all these engineers, designers, and safety experts in the automotive field and yet no one has thought of this?
• When activating the wipers, headlights and taillights should automatically come on. Even though it is simple common sense, (in short supply these days), and the law in most states as far as I know, there is nothing more dangerous, or annoying than drivers operating their vehicles in conditions where you can barely see the car in front of you and they fail to turn on their lights. Driving the other day in a torrential downpour with extremely limited visibility, I couldn’t count the number of clueless drivers without lights on. If the lights came on with the wipers, it would go a long way toward making the roads safer by thinking for those incapable of remembering to turn on their lights.
• Related to the above wish, DRL’s, or daytime running lights, are basically useless, since they only show from the front. Meaning the rear of the car is nearly invisible. So, those who put on their DRL’s in the rain are only being halfway safe. You still can’t see them from the rear.
• And on that note, when drivers are driving with DRL’s and it becomes dusk into dark, they are fooled into thinking their headlights and taillights are on because they see their lights on the rear/bumper of the car in front of them, and the dash/instrument lights are on, fooling them into not realizing that there are no taillights illuminated, making them nearly invisible until you are on top of them.
These shortcomings could easily be remedied by the NHTSB and other regulatory agencies forcing automakers to implement these changes going forward. The costs should be minimal if not zero, since instead of adding physical relays and contactors, it should be able to be accomplished through simply coding the ECU’s and control systems. If baffles me every time I see these simple changes not being standard since there are all these engineers, designers, and safety experts in the automotive field and yet no one has thought of this?
Last setting was the only way it ever should've been implemented imo. The regulators way overstepped their boundaries when they required it to be on at every startup. There's nothing wrong with the feature if it can be allowed to remain at its last setting and there's nothing wrong IMO with allowing the MPGs to reflect it as being enabled all the time. Forcing it to be on every time was idiocy, too intrusive and never should have been allowed to happen.
Hate how many automakers are burying it in menus instead of being a physical button. All of the Jaguars as well as every Range Rover variant and Discovery Sport all have it in the settings menu, but at least it is inly one tap away at all times. I'm glad I have my auto stop/start memory enables, and I'm glad my Macan has auto stop/start memory from the factory.
How has yours been so far? Mine arrived in the US last Friday, and should be at the dealer any day now.
I'm royally pissed that they removed the data transfer from the USB ports for the 2025MY. They only charge your phone and nothing else, which is a big deal for me as I don't like the diminished sound quality from Bluetooth. You can retrofit the USB ports, but its is a big hassle even though its plug & play. Luckily its a family member's car, so I won't be driving it all the time.
I'm royally pissed that they removed the data transfer from the USB ports for the 2025MY. They only charge your phone and nothing else, which is a big deal for me as I don't like the diminished sound quality from Bluetooth. You can retrofit the USB ports, but its is a big hassle even though its plug & play. Luckily its a family member's car, so I won't be driving it all the time.
How has yours been so far? Mine arrived in the US last Friday, and should be at the dealer any day now.
I'm royally pissed that they removed the data transfer from the USB ports for the 2025MY. They only charge your phone and nothing else, which is a big deal for me as I don't like the diminished sound quality from Bluetooth. You can retrofit the USB ports, but its is a big hassle even though its plug & play. Luckily its a family member's car, so I won't be driving it all the time.
I'm royally pissed that they removed the data transfer from the USB ports for the 2025MY. They only charge your phone and nothing else, which is a big deal for me as I don't like the diminished sound quality from Bluetooth. You can retrofit the USB ports, but its is a big hassle even though its plug & play. Luckily its a family member's car, so I won't be driving it all the time.
Overall she is very happy with the X1. She has had previous versions and loved them. The newer model is quirky but it includes newer tech and that happens. For instance the radio keeps playing after she parks the car in the garage and closes the door. It's just odd. Strangely she isn't really bothered by the start/stop. She is a fan of the BMW dealer as we get the full service package she never has to worry about if something needs done she just takes it to the dealer and they take care of it and are very professional and courteous.
Count me in as a hater as well. My Auto Start/Stop was disabled in October and hasn't been turned back on since. If I could only have one feature to add or remove using the GAP Tool or services performed by Garrett with JLR Active or someone similar, disabling Auto Start/Stop would be my #1 feature.
How has yours been so far? Mine arrived in the US last Friday, and should be at the dealer any day now.
I'm royally pissed that they removed the data transfer from the USB ports for the 2025MY. They only charge your phone and nothing else, which is a big deal for me as I don't like the diminished sound quality from Bluetooth. You can retrofit the USB ports, but its is a big hassle even though its plug & play. Luckily its a family member's car, so I won't be driving it all the time.
I'm royally pissed that they removed the data transfer from the USB ports for the 2025MY. They only charge your phone and nothing else, which is a big deal for me as I don't like the diminished sound quality from Bluetooth. You can retrofit the USB ports, but its is a big hassle even though its plug & play. Luckily its a family member's car, so I won't be driving it all the time.
I wish start-stop was sticky by default too.
My presumption is that the reason that start-stop is required to revert to ON is that the car went through fuel consumption and emissions tests, etc., with it ON. Therefore, if it's trivial to permanently turn it off, and pretty much everyone does, the fuel consumption and emissions tests would not be valid. In other words, it would be, in practice, a "defeat device."
On the other hand, there are cases where stop-start must be able to be turned OFF for safety or performance reasons, for example when you are inching up an off-road obstacle.
In Europe, I've heard that there's a new-ish requirement that at least 3 (?) buttons, i.e. menu selections, must be pushed before it can be turned off, in order to discourage people from doing that. That is awful!
I'm super glad that JLR made it a simple, direct, physical button, and even an alternate means via the "favorite" button, instead of it being buried in a menu! Good on them, and good for us!
My presumption is that the reason that start-stop is required to revert to ON is that the car went through fuel consumption and emissions tests, etc., with it ON. Therefore, if it's trivial to permanently turn it off, and pretty much everyone does, the fuel consumption and emissions tests would not be valid. In other words, it would be, in practice, a "defeat device."
On the other hand, there are cases where stop-start must be able to be turned OFF for safety or performance reasons, for example when you are inching up an off-road obstacle.
In Europe, I've heard that there's a new-ish requirement that at least 3 (?) buttons, i.e. menu selections, must be pushed before it can be turned off, in order to discourage people from doing that. That is awful!
I'm super glad that JLR made it a simple, direct, physical button, and even an alternate means via the "favorite" button, instead of it being buried in a menu! Good on them, and good for us!


