The average car is made up of around 30,000 parts. Not all of those parts are created equal, of course, and some, whether minor features or useful innovations, deserve celebration. Here are some of our team’s favourites.
Bentley Continental GT rotating display - Rachel Burgess
A gauche choice, given that you can buy a very respectable used car for the same money, but Bentley’s £4500 rotating display wins hands down, purely for its James Bond-esque element of surprise. Admittedly, the three sides of the rotating display don’t offer features such as weapon or ejector buttons, but nonetheless, this cool set-up has raised a smile on every person whom I’ve seen witness it.
Ariel Atom 4 spaceframe - Matt Saunders
I suppose it’s a bit of a cop-out picking a whole spaceframe as a car part, but that’s what I’m doing. The bronze-welded tubular steel spaceframe of the Ariel Atom 4 really is a work of rare genius. Not only does it define the totally inimitable look of the car from without, but it’s also the filter through which so much of your enjoyment of the car is delivered when you’re within. You can see the front wishbones bobbing away through it; the brake caliper and brake lines, too, running to the beautiful milled-from-billet nearside front wheel hub. You can worship and adore the expensive Eibach pushrod suspension bolted to it; even poke your right elbow through it when you need a bit of extra leverage on the steering wheel. It’s no exaggeration to record that it, more than anything else, is what makes the Atom brilliant: like some full-sized Meccano set built on money-no-object terms.
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My list of favourite features
Oscillating air vents of a Lexus LS430
Clamshell headlamp covers on '65 Buick Riviera
Gearshift lever on manual Audi R8
SAAB 9-5 cup holder
Honda Jazz 'magic' rear seats
Fiat Coupé fuel filler flap
Cord 810/812 pop-up headlamps
Citroen CX leather seats
Flat windscreen of original Fiat Panda
I'm with Artill on the 405
My other favorite feature was the semi circular rotating ash trays in the back of my granddad's late 80's Ford Orion; it helped that he always made sure to top them up with fruit pastilles before taking me anywhere in the car.
The way the variable
Also like how the wash wipe on my old Volvo's worked, always jetted the screen well before the wipers even attempted to move unlike most cars that operate both simultaneously.