Makers of wheeled conveyances have been steadily ramping up interior features ever since the first sore-bottomed cart driver realized some padding for the wooden bench would be nice. When wheeled travel went horseless and mass-production took full hold, interior innovation truly went into high gear. And why not—the inside of the car is where you touch everything and everything touches you, so all the better to make it comfortable, easy, and convenient. Window cranks? Bah. Let’s have a motor do the glass raising and lowering, please. Levers gave way to buttons, and now screens. Seats got softer and velour-ier or firmer and bucket-ier, depending on your sporting or luxury pretensions. Dual-zone climate control. Massagers. Cup holders. Cubbies. So much stuff, year after year, automakers keep giving—and occasionally taking away, see GM and Carplay. Why? But we digress …
OK, to the question: What Are The Car-Interior Features You Can’t Live Without? Seat-memory sure is nice if you’re sharing. Maybe you’re a big map-light geek. Gotta have substantial storage between the seats, perhaps? You tell us!
Oh, and attention wise guys who can’t wait to tell us you can’t live without a steering wheel: in 1958, GM said you can. So there.
Image: GM Heritage Archive
Top image: The Autopian
Buttons and knobs.
With perhaps a slider or fader here and there.
WINTER WEATHER PACKAGE. Everyone has already said it, but seat and wheel warmer are both lifesaving in the winter out here in Denver.
Plus the studded tyres. My brother installed them on his wife’s 1993 Toyota Corolla every winter. I got to drive them on snow and ice: really amazing and useful!
…have you seen my cars? Particularly anything I’ve called a “parsh” that I currently own?! If I can take it out, I will. Add lightness and send it. I added a cupholder back in, though. That was important.
I do get cranky if there isn’t both a volume and a back-AND-forward switch for the radio on the steering wheel in a fancy-schmancy daily, though.
{ side-eyes third-gen Cayenne } NO, ONE PROGRAMMABLE DIAMOND BUTTON THAT HAS TO BE EITHER BACKWARDS OR FORWARDS DOES NOT COUNT.
I guess aircon and heating are nice in a daily, too. That’s kind of it beyond a stereo. Oh, and the seat and wheel (or pedals in some cases) need to be able to adjust to where I’m comfortable. #shortpersonproblems
Comfortable seats.
A thousand times yes!
Telescoping steering wheel. When you have long legs it’s a godsend to pull the wheel back to a comfortable reach. I love the radio controls on the back of the steering wheel spokes. I actually prefer manual seats IF there’s a height adjuster.
Can’t live without? Hot jams. Would prefer not to live without? Hot steering wheel.
I daily drive a Kei truck, and it came without any interior features. To make it a useable car to commute with, I added cupholders and a Bluetooth speaker, that was all I really needed inside.
I also added a bed tool box for lockable and waterproof storage, making it possible to get groceries and still carry two people.
A good radio – Doesn’t need to be super high end, just a good old AM-FM stereo – WITH REAL KNOBS!
Seats? I mean maybe David can live without them, but I very much do need seats in my cars.
I’m a huge cruise control junkie. I’ll use it in all kinds of situations, even on back roads. It’s hard to explain why I do this but there are times when I will put it on for literally like ten seconds, just to like maintain speed going up a hill. I know my subconscious is prone to making me do pointless efficiency-sapping things with the gas pedal (like speed up past where I want to be and then slow down) and I use cruise as a tool to help overcome that.
Naturally, I also make heavy use of it on long highway drives. Even when there’s some traffic, as long as we’re basically moving at full speed I’ll use cruise a lot. My foot will be hovering, ready to take over, but cruise control will be keeping my speed locked exactly where I want it to be. I don’t use it as a way to save effort, so much as another tool with which to control the car.
My current daily has *adaptive* cruise control, which is a first for me. I always thought I’d like that, and god damn do I ever. I’m not saying ACC is a dealbreaker feature, but wow. That’s the kind of automation I can get behind. Again, I am still very much actively driving—including shifting gears, as my ACC is compatible with a manual transmission. It’s just the best.
I’m just the opposite… Cruise control drives me nuts and makes me feel like I’m not in control. I used to regularly drive between San Antonio and Seattle, and never once used cruise control. With that said, active cruise in city traffic sounds wonderful.That is more waiting in line than driving anyway!
It’s just another way to control your speed. Sometimes the gas pedal works best, sometimes the buttons on the steering wheel work best. Just depends what I’m doing.
CC keeps me from speeding. I can’t drive in a 35MPH zone without setting it to 40. Otherwise I’m going at least 50 everywhere I go.
Ha, same. I can’t stay awake with it on.
Same here. I’m a big fan of using the features of my cars, but I’ve never used this one. Not even driving cross county.
I have to test it for vehicle reviews, and it’s more a check of welp, this functions as intended. Then it goes back off.
Your first two paragraphs are exactly me, all the way down to the hovering. LOL.
I have grown to using it as a throttle on the highway as well. I also view it as a tool. I get wicked frustrated with those that don’t, and are all over the place in speed.
This was going to be my answer as well, cruise control.
I love technology when it presents a slick solution to an actual problem. My biggest problem with automotive technology for the last decade or longer is that so much of it seems to be a solution in search of a problem. No, I don’t need my HVAC controls to be hidden in a pull-down menu on a touch screen just so I can feel fancy. I’m not trying to feel fancy, I’m trying not to sweat my nuts off in the Florida humidity. Can you please make that as immediately achievable as possible, please?
Speaking of sweating your nuts off, it’s current year and they still haven’t brought back the crotch vent.
Currently I have a 42 year old car with bad speakers, no AC, broken heater core and ripped seats. I can live without a lot of things. Well I guess I still need a window that rolls up and down.
steering wheel, 3 pedals and gear lever are the things I can’t live without while in a motorized vehicle. The rest is optional.
It always feel weird for me when I’m in an EV or an Hybrid ( I won’t talk about Automatic, they are rare beasts in Europe ), and I always ends up with the right hand on the D/R/N/P lever trying to move it as if I had a gearbox.
Now I’m biased I drove stuff like an Estafette where windows were sliding ( manually obviously ), with no radio, heating coming from the engine tucked between the driver and the front passenger seat ( engine cover/bonnet/hood being a thing that could be lifted between the seats ) and when you eventually managed to reach 110Km/h ( a bit over 60Mph ) you thought you broke the sound barrier. ( other driving achievement are : early Ford Transit, Renault Express [ yes the one with the R4/R5 light panels, that’s why I know them ], and so many rented cars that I forgot about them. )
Edit : more details on the Estafette
It would have to be aux/bluetooth for me. I can make do without sound at all in a little old sports car with a good engine note, but I’m never messing around with a sleeve of CD’s or listening to ads in my own car ever again. Those bluetooth to radio cigarette lighter things are fine but given the choice I’ll always spring for a high quality bluetooth head unit with buttons.
My worst nightmare are cars of the late noughties/early tens with nonstandard integrated head units that have bluetooth for calls but not for music. Absolutely horrendous. These abominations truly exemplify the hubris of man to think that technology can’t possibly continue to advance in a time of unprecedented technological advancement.
My 2005 Accord has a 12 volt bluetooth device in what used to be called the cigarette lighter. My wife’s 2008 Infiniti QX56 has factory Bluetooth phone connectivity, that does not work for anything but making phone calls. In my car, I can play music from my phone through the air. In my wife’s truck, I have to plug in an actual cable.
Place for my right knee to rest. I can’t drive around holding my leg up the entire time. Also, sorry car manufacturers, but a pointed piece of plastic that digs in to my leg isn’t going to work no matter how much cooler it looks.
Arm rest/center console. Toyota FJs don’t come with a center console and literally everyone puts the Tuffy console in. I admire the spirit of the FJ design but the lack of a center console was just a miss.
Air conditioning.
BUTTONS. Touchscreens are an objectively bad design choice for cars. I have an aftermarket HU in my C6 that is touchscreen because I don’t have a choice, but my wife’s CX5 with the little wheel is far superior for ease of use. Buttons for climate control are non negotiable. Any critical function of the car must be on a physical switch.
Power windows.
CUP HOLDERS. Sorry germany but, regrettably, I am an American and I do want to drive around with a drink. Sometimes even an enormous drink. A piece of plastic that’s hidden in the dash and will only hold a dixie cup isn’t going to work.
Intuitive controls. I ‘upgraded’ to an X3 rental recently and the gear changing mechanism was…insane. BMW changed it just for the sake of changing it. It was not better in any way.
I’m surprised but power seats are not critical for me. I definitely prefer them, but I can’t say I miss them at all in my FJ.
Any ability whatsoever to see outside the car also seems to be negotiable since it is clearly not a feature of the FJ.
Air conditioning — not just for cooling the car, but for keeping it dry. I live on Vancouver Island and while our winters aren’t cold, they are drizzly. I keep the AC on low year around to keep the car dry and windows clear.
Yeah this is a thing. I’m in New England and there are a lot of situations where I need AC to help keep the windshield clear. I also use a lot of AC + heat in the winter, to counteract some of the slush I inevitably track into the car. Even my Miata has working AC—I thought about taking it out for weight savings, but I decided to give it a season first and see if I actually used it, and even in a tiny, convertible roadster I use it *all the time*.
Agreed. It’s so necessary I didn’t even think to include it in my post. I live in the Tampa Bay area, so not having it would likely be fatal.
Greetings from sunny, swampy Pensacola, where the same is true. Even when the temperature is not above 60° outside, I still have to run my car’s AC about 300 days out of the year.
Other places I have lived, I kept an ice scraper in the car, because some days I needed one to clear the windshield. In Florida, I keep a squeegee in the car, to clear the condensation off the glass in the morning so I can see to drive away while the defroster works on the windshield – the outside of it as much as he inside. There are even mornings in the summertime where I have to run the defroster with the heat on full blast until the temperature of my front windshield gets above whatever the condensation point is that day.
An armrest. I had a ‘94 Saab 900 (my worst purchase ever), and it didn’t have an armrest between the front seats. Having my right arm dangle was so uncomfortable I bought a pillow.
I’ve done without AC. No thank you. I’ve had crank windows. I didn’t like having to lean across then, much less contort to grab the one behind me and cars have gotten wider while I have become older and less flexible.
I had manual locks. If I were in a two-door again, that might be fine, but I really like both remote unlock and unlocking/locking everything at once. I have had everything from an AM radio to (basically) current infotainment. I could do without Android Auto, but not on these new infotainment systems. Maybe one could be good enough to convert me, but I have yet to see one. I really like up-to-date nav and the ability to use the music app I want and still control it via the car. I have had leather and vinyl seats without ventilation. No thank you. But I’m okay with cloth seats.
I’ve done without cruise, and I would probably do just fine without it now. It mostly just keeps me from getting into trouble with the law when I stop looking at my speed. I can absolutely go without heated seats. My body produces heat. The seat will warm up or I’m driving a short enough distance it doesn’t matter much. Mostly the same with a heated steering wheel. I have had sunroofs. Even with the cover closed, most seem to warm the car up too much in the summer. They’re nice when you open them, but not generally worth the heat, losing the headroom, or the extra cost.
A lot of good answers so far, so I want to offer something a bit different:
After regularly hauling kids to and fro in a minivan, I think It would really take an adjustment to not having the powered sliding doors…being able to open/close them from the driver’s seat and also with the keyless entry fob is a game-changer.
I was just arguing with family that they should put sliding doors on SUVs. I don’t understand why they aren’t on more vehicles.
I’ve wondered the exact same thing. Esp. in more urban areas where parking can be tight, it would be such a advantage for so many people. Also would nicely match the futuristic styling of many SUV/CUVs these days.
power windows, locks, auto headlights. Just makes life easier.
I’m a young’n compared to most of you, probably, so I probably take most things (A/C, power steering, power windows, etc.) for granted.
But probably the biggest “never go back” thing for me has been cruise control (not even adaptive or something–never had the experience). I’m in PA and do a lot of highway driving, so cruise control has been essential, and one of the cars I learned in didn’t have it.
I remember being absolutely shocked when I rented a little Pontiac that didn’t have cruise control. Driving across New Mexico was tedious without it.
I used junkyard parts to install cruise on my Eagle Summit in college. i can do without AC, steering wheel controls, whatever, but cruise is needed.
A/C is a matter of life or death in Houston
As I posted upthread, also in the Tampa Bay area.
I’m spoiled. I have ventilated seats. Could I do without? Probably. But I don’t think I would ever have leather without ventilation again. Cloth or ventilated.
I have ridden in a car with ventilated seats precisely once in my life, and even that was over a decade ago. Being on the Gulf Coast, I must have this in my life.
a sunroof/funroof 😛
I’ve never been a fan, but I’ll tell you, I love that some people actually are. B/c I know a ton of people (family even) who have them AND NEVER OPEN THEM. Have never understood this…they’re not some cheap thing so why not get your money’s worth?
I rarely open the glass, but the blind is always open. I love the light coming in.
Air conditioning, heat, and seat belts are absolutes for any not hobby vehicle. I like having a rear vide mirror. Gas gage and speedometers are nice. (I have owned too many old pos cars and old jeeps)
I spend a lot of my workday in my daily, I would not want to go back to a vehicle that doesn’t have CarPlay.
It appears that I’m in minority but I would love to not have a huge ass shift lever on my center console. It’s all electronic shifting anyway, no reason to not have a simple rotary knob that’s not in the way when I need to use the laptop. Before anyone comments, car is always safely parked when using computer.
the lack of a physical connection is actually the biggest issue I have with current automotive controls. Steering, gas pedal and trans connections, all should be analog.
I mean, I’ve heard that electronic gas pedals can have a better feel than analog sometimes? And why is it important for the transmission?
On the other hand, I’m a Prius driver so I may also be an uninformed, well, you know.
To me, brakes and steering are the only two that should be analog.
I’m with you on this. If you aren’t driving a manual, the shifter should be unobtrusive. Column shift and rotary are both great for me. Buttons feel a little weird to me, but can be good if done well (if drive, reverse, and park are all the same size and hard to tell by feel, please no). Since some people do not like the rotary, I do feel like a little stubby shifter is a reasonable compromise.
I’m on an eternal quest to rid the world of console shift levers for automatic transmission cars. I can’t stand them, they serve NO PURPOSE and just get in the way. Arghhhh
And I love mine. I hate the button/knob shift thingies.