15 hours Ago By Driving Team
Article content For the past few years, we’ve polled Driving.ca ‘s editors and top contributors on the best and worst new cars they’d driven over the prior 12 months, and more than a few times, their preferences came down to the presence of one particular feature in said new car. Sometimes it’s a fantastic infotainment system that was so intuitive, it moved that vehicle to the top of their list of best driving experiences; other times, it’s a knob or button in the worst place that was just so frustrating to deal with that our writer just, well, wrote the car off.
So this year we thought we’d skip the middle man and do a compilation of the specific new-car features the Driving staff liked least and most from their 2024 test drives. Most of them have to do with ergonomics, controls, and user interfaces—but there’s a handful of plaudits and complaints a little more esoteric in nature, too. Is there a new-car feature you came across this past year you absolutely adored or abhorred? Let us know in the comments! Stephanie Wallcraft’s Fave and Least Fave: Apple CarPlay and wireless charging; and hands-free driving systems My favourite vehicle feature these days is actually a combination of features: wireless Apple CarPlay (or Android Auto for the iPhone-averse) and a wireless charging pad.
I love the convenience of having my phone connect to the car automatically, no dangling cables required, and then throwing it into the tray to charge as I drive without a second thought. Fortunately, this combination is becoming widespread. I wouldn’t buy a new car in 2025 without it.
And my least favourite feature is also becoming more common: I strongly dislike any semi-autonomous highway driving system that gives drivers the impression they don’t need to pay attention while behind the wheel. There’s not a single highway driving system on the market that can operate safely without the driver’s full attention — no, not even Tesla’s Autopilot, which the brand states is “intended for use with a fully attentive driver, who has their hands on the wheel and is prepared to take over” — and yet it’s not unusual to see people cruising along Highway 401 watching movies on smartphones while in the driver’s seat . There’s an epidemic of driver inattention in North America, and these systems are part of the problem.
Renita Naraine’s Fave and Least Fave: Volume knobs; and heads-up displays My favourite feature is a volume knob (duh) — unless it’s the one in the Chrysler Pacifica that sits way close to the gear selector knob, and can easily be mistaken for that control. Though I must say, I don’t mind one on the steering wheel if it’s a spinny wheel like the one in the 2024 Hyundai Santa Fe . Honourable mention to memory-seat buttons; however, I can, have, and do live without them, so they’re not my all-time favourite.
My least favourite feature is today’s head-up displays; I just think most are redundant in showing the same things you can see a couple centimetres below. That said, if you drive something like a Tesla that has only one massive centre screen, then I guess it’s appreciated a bit more. Matthew Guy’s Fave and Least Fave: Ford Active Valve Performance Exhaust; and Toyota driver-attention alerts If you only have $1,575 to spend on car options this year, put your bucks toward the Active Valve Performance Exhaust on the Ford Mustang GT .
Sounding like Chewbacca on a bad fur day even in its most docile setting, this feature turns an already raucous pony car into a loudmouthed anti-social truant. It is tremendous. Helpfully, there is a so-called Quiet Mode – which is actually hushed, believe it or not – which can be set to a timer so as not to wake the neighbours with a bark.
On the flip side, this writer does not appreciate the driver attention nannies invading their way across an otherwise tremendous Toyota lineup. The system uses infrared to track and monitor a driver’s face, issuing alerts when it thinks whoever’s at the helm isn’t paying attention. That’s fine — except it exhorts to ‘keep eyes on the road’ and even ‘sit up straight’ when glancing left and right to find a street address or (horrors!) holding the steering wheel at top dead centre.
I’m surprised there aren’t also admonishments to wash my hands and eat my vegetables. Brian Harper’s Faves and Least Faves: All of the things Oh, where do I start on the dislikes? Paddle shifters on cars with no sporting pretensions. Ditto use of the “GT” designation on pedestrian models.
Touchscreens that require accessing menus and submenus to get to what should be basic functions (like HVAC and audio system). Automatic transmission shift patterns that are anything other than a straightforward pull back from Park. Voice recognition that doesn’t.
Gesture controls. Electric handbrakes. Overly sensitive lane-departure or -keeping assists.
Sunroofs. Fake or enhanced exhaust notes. Rear windows that don’t go all the way down.
My likes are simple: a good sound system; a strong, fast window defrost; heated seats and steering wheels; embedded navigation; convertible tops; and manual transmissions. Brendan McAleer’s Fave and Least Fave: Heated steering wheels; and Mazda under-floor storage In the winter months, a heated steering wheel becomes less a luxury option and more a must-have. But not all are created equal.
Shout-out to Volvo’s excellent heated rim – of course the Scandinavians get this right – which is both generously hot and fully heated around the circle, and also comes on every time you start the car if you’ve got the feature turned on. It’s like being handed a warm cup of coffee to start your day. The least useful feature has to be the Mazda CX-70’s under-floor storage.
Getting rid of the (admittedly small) third-row seats of the CX-90 was not worth the tiny amount of additional space we get in this five-seater. Elle Alder’s Fave and Least Fave: Porsche Active Ride suspension; and Porsche centre-lock wheels Porsche takes both spots for me, and both on the same model series! My favourite new feature of 2024 is Porsche’s new Active Ride suspension, which debuted on the new-gen Panamera E-Hybrid models . Pulling from the hybrid models’ 400-volt battery, the system drives high-pressure pumps which independently exercise the car’s suspension to lean it into corners and pitch it against acceleration and deceleration, much like a helicopter.
Smooth on the road, it’s a truly impressive system which genuinely reduces felt motion in the cabin and should make sleeping passengers much easier to take home. My least favourite feature isn’t exclusive to Porsche, but is one that Stuttgart uses a lot . Porsche is now fitting Panamera GTS sedans with centre-locking wheels, a motorsport technology that’s handy for race cars tended by pit crews, but otherwise absolutely inconvenient for track-day drivers, mechanics, roadside service folks, the lot.
So bothered am I by these fasteners’ inappropriate proliferation that I wrote an entire article about the silly things following news of a small parts recall. I like race cars, too, but these are nonsense. Sami Haj-Assaad’s Fave and Least Fave: Hands-free driving systems; and Android Automotive OS Android Automotive OS seems like the most troublesome trend in the automotive industry.
When an automaker announces that its new infotainment system will be utilizing Android Automotive OS, prepare for some annoyances. For starters, some of them don’t include support for Android Auto or Apple CarPlay (Chevy EVs are the worst at this, but a Volvo I drove also lacked Android Auto). Then there’s an Account requirement to get additional apps, but that requires a data service for your car, meaning you’ll have to pay a monthly subscription at some point.
While some automakers provide a decent experience with Android Automotive OS, many others I’ve dealt with have been frustrating. Now for something I’ve been pleasantly surprised with: hands-free driving features. This job requires a lot of time on the road, and while it’s nice to take the route less travelled and find something new, the reality is there’s a lot of mileage travelled on the highway, which is where hands-free driving systems excel.
I’ve tried out General Motors’ Super Cruise, Ford’s Blue Cruise, and Nissan’s ProPilot Assist 2, and found them to be a nice way to deal with the tedium of long-distance road trips. They aren’t always perfect, and can nag you a lot if you’re not paying attention, but when they work, it’s a pretty slick experience. Jil McIntosh’s Fave and Least Fave: GM towing labels; and EV pop-out door handles and Mazda gear selectors One of my favourite features has been around for a while: GM’s towing label, which it sticks on its pickup trucks .
Those huge maximum-capacity numbers you see in truck ads are for the highest across the lineup, but individual models can vary. Factors include the truck’s weight, and higher trims and extra features add to that. To eliminate guesswork, GM determines the capacity for each truck and puts that on the sticker.
For least favourite, I have two. We’ll start with electric-vehicle door handles that pop open and stick out at one end like oversized Popsicle sticks. A couple of automakers make us suffer with them, including the Chevrolet Equinox EV .
Try them in winter, when damp-gloved hands just slide off the end, and you’ll likely share my thoughts on them. My second is the gearshift selector in the Mazda CX-70 (and CX-90). You move it back and forth between Reverse and Drive, as one does with a conventional shifter; but for Park, you have to push it sideways .
More than once, I pushed the shifter forward as I’m used to doing for Park, and then realized I was rolling backwards. Yes, drivers will get used to it, but it could still be an issue in multi-vehicle households. When it comes to simple but vital functions, like putting a car in Park, is it really necessary to reinvent the wheel? Sign up for our newsletter Blind-Spot Monitor and follow our social channels on X , Tiktok and LinkedIn to stay up to date on the latest automotive news, reviews, car culture, and vehicle shopping advice.
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