We, naturally, are a discerning bunch with our personal cars. We’d have to be, right?
After all, we review cars for a living, so we’re not exactly the type of people who would buy a car without putting some thought into the purchase.
With our personal cars, we knew what we wanted and we went out and bought them. But that doesn’t mean we’ve all purchased cars that were utterly perfect.
Here, the CarExpert team shares what bugs us about the cars we own, and what we wish we could change – or what we are planning to fix.
Alborz Fallah
This may be the definition of a first world problem, but I wish my 458 Speciale had a stereo. I know it’s not much to ask but believe it or not, not only does it not have a stereo, it doesn’t even have cruise control!
It was a no-cost option but the original owner had a plan to make it the lightest Speciale in Australia – which he seemingly succeeded in doing because it has every bit of carbon and not even a low quality two-speaker stereo borrowed from a Fiat 500. To save what? 8-9kg? Not worth it.
I know what you’re thinking (world’s smallest violin), but look, when I am stuck in traffic and all I have to listen to is the Novitec exhaust burbling away (it does sound fantastic) through a spartan interior that has as much noise insulation as Anthony’s motorcycle, it gets tiresome. I expect your sympathies in the comments below.
MORE: Why I bought a Ferrari 458 Speciale
Anthony Crawford
After ditching my 911 CS and Mustang Bullitt – all that remains in our garage is the XC40 (Polestar tuned, too) and BMW R NineT motorcycle.
Five years on and the Volvo still looks utterly contemporary, only, right now, I wish we had the new EX30 Ultra 315kW twin motor parked in its spot. It’ll do 0-100km/h in just 3.6 secs. [Ed: So your answer is you want to change the whole thing?]
Yep, I’m into that and the design – Volvo continues to design and build exciting and innovative cars.
I wish my BMW had a digital rider’s display instead of the useless analogue gauges which are difficult to read on the hop.
Paul Maric
One thing desperately missing from our Tesla is a head-up display or screen ahead of the driver. It makes things like blind spot and speed monitoring harder than it needs to be.
With the Model Y not having blind-spot monitoring within the wing mirror, they’ve imitated the Hyundai and Kia system of a live display, but instead of it being on a screen ahead of the driver it’s on the main screen.
Where Kia and Hyundai nailed the blind-spot camera, Tesla’s use of it in the main screen is good, but it’s more of a distraction than it needs to be.
They also need Apple CarPlay. The inbuilt voice recognition system is very average and makes simple things like replying to messages hard to do.
MORE: Why I bought a Tesla Model Y
Scott Collie
I wish my Pajero had a telescoping steering wheel.
For the most part it’s a very comfortable cruiser, with plush velour seats and a relaxed ride, but it’s impossible to get the wheel into the right spot for my gangly legs. Of course, I’m willing to give it a pass on that front given it’s approaching 20 years old.
While I’m complaining, the aftermarket head unit and parking sensors are average at best. Maybe it’s time to install an Apple CarPlay head unit?
Jade Credentino
This is so hard because my car to me is perfect just the way it is. It was the first car I fully paid off, it made the trip from Sydney-Melbourne with me, it has been there while i’ve travelled some epic places around New South Wales.
However, if I was to get a brand new i30, I would definitely love the option of a wireless charging pad and wireless Apple CarPlay. Now living in Melbourne, I have developed a dependancy on heated seats and a heated steering wheel which means I would need to move up from the base model Active, which is a whole new kettle of fish.
I think if I was to buy a brand new car today I wouldn’t opt for a base model either, because I am used to all the technology and mod cons that are available in other cars today. I would have instant FOMO if I spent a lump sum of my savings and missed out on features i’d genuinely use everyday.
I must admit though there is something so humbling about jumping back into my 2018 i30 Active and fiddling with the wired Apple CarPlay and my single-zone air conditioning haha. When I bought the car it was such a drawcard to have Apple CarPlay in a car under $50K, now look at where cars have advanced to today!
Derek Fung
Ever since we bought our secondhand 2014 Ford C-Max I’ve flirted with the idea of upgrading the standard Sync 2 infotainment system for a newer Sync 3 unit.
Not only is the interface miles ahead in terms of on-road usability (thank you larger buttons, better layout, and capacitive touchscreen), but it supports Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, both of which would be my key reason for going down this route.
After watching (seemingly) hours of how-to videos on how to do a swap, I found a cheap Sync 3 screen, control unit and USB ports from a wrecked Escape. I backed out from hitting the Checkout button because I know in my heart of hearts what takes an hour in a YouTube video, would likely take me weeks.
Given that it took a few hours to change the front indicator (I blame the unnecessarily tight design of the headlight bracket and plug), and an entire day to replace the faulty reversing camera, the thought of living without parts of my dashboard for an extended period mean that my Sync 3 dream will remain just that. For now.
I also dream of replacing the wheels with ST-style alloys stolen from another member of the Ford family. And if I had boundless bags of cash, I’d also find a way to replace the hideous front end with the marginally better Euro version. Then again, if I had boundless supplies of dollarbucks, would I still be driving a Ford?
William Stopford
There are a few minor things that have bothered me about my 2015 Hyundai Genesis since I bought it, and they revolve around missing features that were available in other markets.
I can deal without the rotary control knob for the infotainment system that’s found in left-hand drive vehicles, but as nice as the fake wood looks – something that’s not always the case for plastic trees – I’d love to have the gorgeous open-pore wood trim that was available elsewhere.
Then there’s the missing turn-by-turn navigation feature. On the instrument cluster screen, one of the headings is for this but when you select that screen, you simply see a power off icon. Turn-by-turn directions don’t appear on this screen, nor do they appear in the head-up display.
Then there’s the lack of USB ports, and stability control that can be a bit intrusive at times. I also have the radio set to classical because the car doesn’t default to Bluetooth Audio on startup, and for some reason the radio is louder than audio streaming. I was sick of Triple J or Nova blasting loudly when I started the car, and the system can be slow to boot up at times, too.
But what bothers me the most is the lack of Android Auto, even though this was rolled out to owners of some vehicles overseas. It seems to be off the table for Australian owners, and the more I drive new cars with Android Auto – which is almost every new car on sale today – the more I wish my car had it.
MORE: Why I bought a Hyundai Genesis
Jack Quick
There are a fair few things I’d like to change about my 2020 Suzuki Jimny, but a lot of them are unavoidable given it’s literally a box on wheels.
My main gripe with the Jimny is that it feels constantly out of puff. I have to absolutely wring its neck if I want to take off at the lights with the traffic. 75kW and 130Nm is not quite enough.
I’ve also had instances where I’m travelling up a hill at highway speeds and my speed absolutely plummets. It’s not like I can really change down a gear because at 110km/h in fifth gear the Jimny is revving at 3500rpm.
I’d love another gear because at highway cruising speeds the racket the engine makes is hard to ignore. I try my best to drown out the noise with some music but there’s only so much I can do.
One last thing that I’d love to change about my Jimny is how much it gets blown around on the road. I remember one time driving past Ballarat on the highway in heavy rain and wind and almost getting blown from one side of the road to the other. This was actually quite a frightening experience.
James Wong
In case no one knew, I drive a Mk7.5 Golf – a GTI, no less.
While I’ll die on a hill saying it’s my pinnacle of compact cars in recent times, there are some features that have come out since its release that would make it that little bit better.
Wireless Apple CarPlay and wireless phone charging would alleviate the need to fumble around with a cable every time I get in the car, as well as having a specially designed place for the phone to sit.
It’s also so much more convenient to just get in and have my phone connect to CarPlay the same way it connects to Bluetooth on startup.
My other gripe is that my 12.3-inch Active Info Display – which would these days be referred to as Digital Cockpit Pro – blanks out the mapping view when I’m using Apple Maps or Google Maps for navigation.
In the new models, the map display will stay on and small turn-by-turn prompts will flash up for Apple Maps. It’s just better integrated these days.
