>> And another thing. Does anybody remember when if you wanted to fit
>> seatbelts, you just went to B&Q, bought some seatbelts, and bolted them
>> to the car? 
> 
> OTOH you now have officially room for 5 passengers (really for 4) and
> also seatbelts for 5 passengers. Why would you fit more of them?

Once upon a time, some cars actually didn't *have* seatbelts, and so 
you'd have to go fit them. But yeah, today that doesn't happen much. My 
point is really that you now cannot modify almost any aspect of the car 
because there's so much high-tech stuff in there.

> Isn't it actually a *good* thing that it's a lot safer than your old car?

Sure is! I guess it got five stars from NCAP for a reason. (That would 
also explain the huge door pillars that obscure the view of the road...)

It just means that if you want to make any modifications at all, you 
have to go through Renault, which limits choice and increases the price. 
(Not to mention that we don't *have* Renault dealers in England...)

>> Now manufacturers *always* want you to use their own parts. They make
>> way more money that way. And I'm pretty sure that no matter what the
>> manual says, putting non-approved engine oil into my engine isn't going
>> to destroy it (provided that it's of the correct type). 
> 
> Yep. It just can void the warranty.

My car doesn't *have* a warranty anyway. ;-)

>> You're supposed to get the crash sensors and air bag pyrotechnics
>> checked annually - which can only be done by specially-trained Renault
>> technitions with specialist equipment.
> 
> That's probably in the service program, right?

Probably. If I had one.

>> Mine evidently has the automatic option, since it wipes every 20
>> seconds, but now and then it suddenly starts frantically trying to file
>> through the glass! o_O
> 
> If you have a properly working automatic wiper option, you simply don't
> need to touch the lever yourself except for some rare wipe-once
> -situations - just keep it in the automatic position.

Doesn't work like that. Like I say, automatic seems to just mean "random 
speed". Doesn't appear to be related to the road conditions in any way. 
(Although I presume if it were to rain really hard, the wipers would 
speed up.) The long and short of it is that if I find that I can't see, 
I need the wipers to wipe NOW, not in 20 seconds' time.

>> This is probably THE single most annoying feature. It's raining, you
>> stop at some traffic lights, and suddenly you can't see ANYTHING.
> 
> Yes, that sounds stupid.

It is.

>> And the middle part of the back seat folds out into a table with cup
>> holders. WTF?
> 
> If you'll take some nice girl to a car-picnic and it starts to rain, you
> can benefit from that table ;-).

If I *ever* get a nice girl to sit in my car, I'm not sure they'll be 
any picnic stuff happening. 0;-)

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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