Optional extras you definitely don’t you need in your new family car ( and some things we can’t live without )

So the old reliable family bus has finally given up, or maybe you just fancied a change - whatever your reason for shopping for a new car it can be a bewildering choice of trim levels, engines space and gadgets to choose from. What doesn’t help are sneaky paid for blogs and reviews that can really distort the truth.

And the truth is that the optional extras fitted to cars push the price up, particularly on the second hand market. They look great on paper, but in the real world hardy get used. So here is our list of optional extras to avoid to help keep within your budget, and a few that really do help!

Not worth it : Self Parking

Okay we admit this one does sound super helpful, your car can park for you? How amazing! Gone are the days for failing to parallel park in front of all the other parents outside the school gate... The reality is these systems are rubbish. Most of the time the car can’t detect a suitable space, short of one the size of an aircraft hanger and most of them won’t bay park either, and can only parallel park on the drivers side. When they do work you’ll need to control the speed and the gear of the car and it is a truly terrifying experience as the wheel moves around without you touching it. After all that, when the car proudly claims that it is parked, a £5 taxi fare from drivers door to curb says otherwise. Also when these systems go wrong they are costly to repair. Avoid this one!

Must have : Lane Assist

Lane assist is becoming more and more popular and we can see why. For longer motorway drives just a little nudge from the car to keep you in the centre of your lane can be very comforting and helps you to refocus.

Not worth it: Any inbuilt Sat Nav

Universally rubbish, universally not used in favour of Google or apple maps on a phone on a holder. Most of the time the Maps built into the car are really out of date. After a few phone calls and an expensive visit to your local main dealer you might be able to get an updated version but installing them can also be a nightmare. Even just inputting an address can be a headache if your car isn’t touch screen, and using voice control ? Forget it.

Must Have : Apple Car play / Android Auto

Plug in, and have your apps at your finger tips. Spotify, Waze, Google/Apple Maps, whatever you need. And it just works so easily. Why this isn’t now industry standard across all cars we don’t know. Oh and Siri works beautify for controlling everything, you can ask it to read an incoming text message and respond to it with surprising accuracy.

Avoid : Self Opening Boots

Every car advertised with this shows someone struggling with lots of bags, walking up to their car and the boot opening automatically, or at a wave of a foot. How useful.

What they don’t show you is How. Long. They. Take. To. Open. Ultimately it will have you trying to push the boot open faster manually - which can lead to this expensive option breaking prematurely leaving you with a boot that you now can’t open at all. In our experience the ones with a foot sensor either stop working as soon as any road grime gets near it - or are so sensitive that even walking behind your car causes it to open. Something you won’t realise has happened until you’re in the drivers seat about to pull away. There are some exceptions - Volvo seem to have got this right, but overall its a miss for us.

Must Have : Keyless entry and start

Really handy this one - especially if your hands are full, or the keys are buried under spare clothes, snacks, nappies and seemly the entire contents of one of the kitchen draws in your handbag. Walk up to the car and open the door/boot as normal. Much easier!

Avoid : Cooled Glove Box

Keeping drinks cold on a warm summers day? Sounds ideal right? You won’t use it, and its ruining your MPG. The main issue here is that gloves boxes often end up stuffed with random bits of paper, half empty bottles, notepads, car owner manuals and various other bits. So even if you do go to use it, you’ll need to empty it first. They don’t really keep your drink cool, let alone make it cold if it isn’t already. The majority of the time they pump your cars air conditioning into the glove box, even if you have it turned off for the rest of the car, so your MPG will drop off considerably and its easily forgotten so you’ll be driving around in December wearing a thick coat and woolly hat while wasting fuel keeping a copy of your breakdown cover letter nice and cool.

Must Have : Heated front screen

You’re already running late for the school run. Everyone piles out of the house and into the car ( and returning to the house after forgetting a reading folder or two ) only to then have to wait ages with the car running and heating on for the windscreen to defrost. Or even worse trying to scrape off ice with the edge of your Tesco Clubcard to no avail. A heated screen is such a time saver. No more running out in your slippers to start the car 15 minutes before you leave as these make short work of ice and frost in a minute or two maximum.

Avoid : Flappy Paddle Shifters

Why these are fitted to non sporty cars we can’t figure out, and why car sellers insist on using them as a benefit is also beyond us. We get the appeal of them, if you have a sporty car and want to live out your Lewis Hamilton fantasy leaving the Aldi car park on a Tuesday morning. But most of the time they are totally pointless. They take ages to actually do what you asked them to do and the car is so shocked that you have decided what gear is best for it that as soon as it can, it switches back into full auto mode to show you who’s in charge here.

Must have : Automatic gearbox

This is a big one, as lots of people prefer a manual over ‘dumb’ automatic cars. The reality is that Automatic cars have come a long long way and really are a pleasure to drive. No more left foot ache in traffic, just push the right pedal to go and that’s it. So handy for nipping around town and even better for long journeys. Once you go Auto, you won’t go back - and you’ll wonder how you ever coped with the frankly barbaric manual car.

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