Car Features You Might Just Feel Guilty About Loving

When your told the purest way to drive is to have a manual transmission with no traction or stability control and some amazing power under the hood.  If we could we would do away with power steering and anti-lock brakes, but that might be taking it too far.  Even though we are told this is how to drive pure and simple sometimes we take great pleasure in features that allow us to enjoy an easier drive and give back the performance and efficiency we love that will be the right choice for driving. 

Here are some of the features we feel guilty for loving, but just can help enjoying what they add to the overall driving experience:

CVT – A Continuously Variable Automatic Transmission is certainly a feature that is scoffed at by the purists.  Not only is an automatic, it’s one that doesn’t actually shift.  Instead it offers the gearing that is in between everything for the smoothest ride possible which also produces some of the most efficient results when it comes to the gas mileage of a car with it handling the gearing.  This is the transmission you want for your daily driving to have a smooth performance and enjoyable ride.

Hill Hold – One of the most difficult features of a manual transmission is the fact they have a tendency to roll downhill unless you know how to hold a hill on your own.  This takes a bit of skill to manage, but now you don’t have to.  You can find several manual transmission vehicles with hill hold technology to help when getting going on a hill, this feature is designed to hold the car on the hill with the brakes for a second to allow you to move your foot to the gas pedal to get started.

Perforated and Cooled Seats – Heated seats have been around for years to offer use a warm backside in cold weather and climates, but what about the hotter areas of the world?  Perforated seats have fans to take the hot air away through the vents in the seats to make the seat much cooler and more enjoyable for you to drive when its hot out.  This is a feature that is useful and refreshing to you and your front seat passenger and is found on a variety of the higher end luxury cars.

Rev-Matching – With rev-matching under the hood Chevrolet has made it much easier for you to feel like you are a great driver on the track.  This feature allows the downshifts to be smooth and dispel the throttle blip that can occur.  The feeling you receive is a more engaged ride that is perfect for you to enjoy the ride and know that you are handling the car perfectly.  This is a feature that is even fun to use on the city streets, letting you see how well-tuned this item is to give you the perfect rev-matching result to have an amazing ride.

Heated Steering Wheel – While it seems silly to have this feature in a car many have raved about having a heated wheel to warm their hands up on when they start to drive their vehicle.  This is an awesome option in any car that gives you the temperature you want in order to have a steering wheel that feels warm to the touch and can even warm your palms while driving.  Enjoy the pleasure of a steering wheel that is ready for you to touch it with your cold hands and you won’t ever want to be without this feature.

Brake Hold – This feature may seem like the lazy person’s dream and maybe it is, but somewhere along the lines manufacturers realized we get tired while driving and during a long commute where the need to hold the brake can become long and arduous.  With this feature you press a button and the brake is held while you stretch your leg and enjoy moving a bit.  This is also great when going through the drive through of a fast food restaurant to allow you the ability to take your foot off the brake and relax as you get your food.

While these may seem like guilty pleasures you can certainly see the benefit in.  Whether you love the smoothness of a CVT, the professional driver feeling of rev-matching or you are a comfort person who wants cooled seats a warm steering wheel or a way to take your foot off the brake you can certainly enjoy driving with some of these great items on your vehicle.  What is your guilty pleasure feature of your favorite ride that you simply can’t live without?