GM's automatic headlights, again...

Just got an Impala last night (company car... not actually mine, mine
is at a dealership somewhere because someone who was supposed to do
some paperwork was on vacation... but I digress) ANYWAY... any doubt
in my mind that the automatic headlights are a bad idea has now been
erased. When you leave the vehicle, the lights stay on for 30 seconds
or so... SO... when you look back at it to check to see if you left
your lights on it freaks you out for a minute, until you tell yourself
"oh, it's just the automatic lights"

BUT...

what if you really *did* leave them on?

talk about an incentive to never manually turn on your headlights, even
when they may be needed... (rain, etc.)

And of course, this "feature" is difficult to defeat...

nate

N8N wrote:
> Just got an Impala last night (company car... not actually mine, mine
> is at a dealership somewhere because someone who was supposed to do
> some paperwork was on vacation... but I digress) ANYWAY... any doubt
> in my mind that the automatic headlights are a bad idea has now been
> erased. When you leave the vehicle, the lights stay on for 30 seconds
> or so... SO... when you look back at it to check to see if you left
> your lights on it freaks you out for a minute, until you tell yourself
> "oh, it's just the automatic lights"
>
> BUT...
>
> what if you really *did* leave them on?
>
> talk about an incentive to never manually turn on your headlights, even
> when they may be needed... (rain, etc.)
>
> And of course, this "feature" is difficult to defeat...

I agree...it is distracting and really serves no purpose. I do know
that the women (those in my life anyway) like it a lot though. It
gives them what I would call a false sense of security.

N8N wrote:
> Just got an Impala last night (company car... not actually mine, mine
> is at a dealership somewhere because someone who was supposed to do
> some paperwork was on vacation... but I digress) ANYWAY... any doubt
> in my mind that the automatic headlights are a bad idea has now been
> erased. When you leave the vehicle, the lights stay on for 30 seconds
> or so... SO... when you look back at it to check to see if you left
> your lights on it freaks you out for a minute, until you tell yourself
> "oh, it's just the automatic lights"
>
> BUT...
>
> what if you really *did* leave them on?
>
> talk about an incentive to never manually turn on your headlights, even
> when they may be needed... (rain, etc.)
>
> And of course, this "feature" is difficult to defeat...
>
> nate
>

At least it helps you socialize - you get to talk to the people
that tell you 'hey, you left your lights on!'

"223rem" > wrote in message
...
> N8N wrote:
>> Just got an Impala last night (company car... not actually mine, mine
>> is at a dealership somewhere because someone who was supposed to do
>> some paperwork was on vacation... but I digress) ANYWAY... any doubt
>> in my mind that the automatic headlights are a bad idea has now been
>> erased. When you leave the vehicle, the lights stay on for 30 seconds
>> or so... SO... when you look back at it to check to see if you left
>> your lights on it freaks you out for a minute, until you tell yourself
>> "oh, it's just the automatic lights"
>>
>> BUT...
>>
>> what if you really *did* leave them on?
>>
>> talk about an incentive to never manually turn on your headlights, even
>> when they may be needed... (rain, etc.)
>>
>> And of course, this "feature" is difficult to defeat...
>>
>> nate
>>
>
> At least it helps you socialize - you get to talk to the people
> that tell you 'hey, you left your lights on!'

I wish I had a dollar for every time someone told me that.

N8N wrote:
> Just got an Impala last night (company car... not actually mine, mine
> is at a dealership somewhere because someone who was supposed to do
> some paperwork was on vacation... but I digress) ANYWAY... any doubt
> in my mind that the automatic headlights are a bad idea has now been
> erased. When you leave the vehicle, the lights stay on for 30 seconds
> or so...

On my jeep I can manually override this if I choose by quickly switching the
lights from AUTO to OFF and back to AUTO after I shut off the engine. Maybe
it'll work for you too.

JohnH wrote:
> N8N wrote:
> > Just got an Impala last night (company car... not actually mine, mine
> > is at a dealership somewhere because someone who was supposed to do
> > some paperwork was on vacation... but I digress) ANYWAY... any doubt
> > in my mind that the automatic headlights are a bad idea has now been
> > erased. When you leave the vehicle, the lights stay on for 30 seconds
> > or so...
>
> On my jeep I can manually override this if I choose by quickly switching the
> lights from AUTO to OFF and back to AUTO after I shut off the engine. Maybe
> it'll work for you too.

no such position. Switch has "auto" "park" "on" positions, no "off."

Which is another gripe that has already been discussed here... :/

nate

>> On my jeep I can manually override this if I choose by quickly
>> switching the lights from AUTO to OFF and back to AUTO after I shut
>> off the engine. Maybe it'll work for you too.
>
> no such position. Switch has "auto" "park" "on" positions, no "off."
>
> Which is another gripe that has already been discussed here... :/

Wow. No wonder people hate GM so much. What crap.

JohnH wrote:
> >> On my jeep I can manually override this if I choose by quickly
> >> switching the lights from AUTO to OFF and back to AUTO after I shut
> >> off the engine. Maybe it'll work for you too.
> >
> > no such position. Switch has "auto" "park" "on" positions, no "off."
> >
> > Which is another gripe that has already been discussed here... :/
>
> Wow. No wonder people hate GM so much. What crap.

Followup: DRLs were changed to low beam sometime between '02 and '05.
Has GM seen the light? (intended...) we can only hope. I did figure
out how to disable the "feature" that leaves your lights on after you
shut the car off. With low beam DRLs most of my objections to the
lighting have gone away, while I am still not ecstatic about the auto
headlights - I can live with them.

Actually the car is one of those love/hate things. It actually drives
better than I have come to expect. There's actually a decent about of
feedback through the steering wheel and brake pedal. It's still a
wallowy pig, but nowhere near as bad as GMs I've driven in the past.
(I called my '02 GTI a wallowy pig as well, so perhaps my taste in cars
leans towards the go-kartish.) It's inoffensively styled, much nicer
than just about every other GM design on the market, even if I wouldn't
nominate it for any design awards. I was, overall, pleasantly
surprised at it being decent. That said...

it's friggin' gutless. the 3400 is a joke in the Impala, it would be
acceptable in a Cavalier maybe. It actually doesn't appear as a
problem however until you actually try to accelerate quickly however -
I have next to no respect for that whole engine family but the
objectionable noises and vibes seem to have been mostly eradicated. It
just doesn't have enough beans to get the job done. The tranny
downshifts at a sneeze on the gas pedal, but it has to because of the
gutless engine and super-mega-overdrive top gear (not really a bad
thing, if you are doing a lot of driving on flat highways.) It's
fairly inoffensive; if GM hasn't forgotten how to build a durable auto
trans like Ford and Chrysler apparently have, I don't have anything bad
to say about the tranny. Also it is decontented to the point of pain;
IMHO the back seat would be inexcusable in a Hyundai and the fact that
it doesn't fold down is ludicrous (yeah, I know, a folding seat is
optional, but still... what is the point of buying a car that big if
you can't haul stuff and don't want to sit in the back?) there are no
gauges (yeah, I know, the 3800 gets a real dashboard but that wasn't
part of the fleet deal) and there's still a few ergonomic gaffes like
the parking brake, the shift lever that blocks the little thumbwheels
for the dash vent, stuff like that. And the stereo is all bassy and
unpleasant - I'm sure it appeals to the ghetto crowd but come on, would
a little sophistication really kill ya? Too bad they tied all these
stupid other functions to the stereo; I would really like to try an
aftermarket head unit.

So yet again GM manages to **** me off by offering (for a shockingly
high price - sticker was something in the neighborhood of $23K) a car
that still feels inferior to similarly priced offerings by VW and
others that I've traditionally been interested in. Verdict: I can
live with the car but I sure as hell would never have paid my own money
for it.

Now if they'd get rid of some of the useless crap like the auto-light
gimcrackery and offer a better engine, heated leather seats with a
folding rear seat, and fix the ergonomic mistakes instead, they might
have something... Maybe a police package would be more my taste, if I
could get the fleet lady to order me one next time around

nate

"N8N" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>
>
> JohnH wrote:
>> >> On my jeep I can manually override this if I choose by quickly
>> >> switching the lights from AUTO to OFF and back to AUTO after I shut
>> >> off the engine. Maybe it'll work for you too.
>> >
>> > no such position. Switch has "auto" "park" "on" positions, no "off."
>> >
>> > Which is another gripe that has already been discussed here... :/
>>
>> Wow. No wonder people hate GM so much. What crap.
>
> Followup: DRLs were changed to low beam sometime between '02 and '05.
> Has GM seen the light? (intended...) we can only hope. I did figure
> out how to disable the "feature" that leaves your lights on after you
> shut the car off. With low beam DRLs most of my objections to the
> lighting have gone away, while I am still not ecstatic about the auto
> headlights - I can live with them.
>
> Actually the car is one of those love/hate things. It actually drives
> better than I have come to expect. There's actually a decent about of
> feedback through the steering wheel and brake pedal. It's still a
> wallowy pig, but nowhere near as bad as GMs I've driven in the past.
> (I called my '02 GTI a wallowy pig as well, so perhaps my taste in cars
> leans towards the go-kartish.) It's inoffensively styled, much nicer
> than just about every other GM design on the market, even if I wouldn't
> nominate it for any design awards. I was, overall, pleasantly
> surprised at it being decent. That said...
>
> it's friggin' gutless. the 3400 is a joke in the Impala, it would be
> acceptable in a Cavalier maybe. It actually doesn't appear as a
> problem however until you actually try to accelerate quickly however -
> I have next to no respect for that whole engine family but the
> objectionable noises and vibes seem to have been mostly eradicated. It
> just doesn't have enough beans to get the job done. The tranny
> downshifts at a sneeze on the gas pedal, but it has to because of the
> gutless engine and super-mega-overdrive top gear (not really a bad
> thing, if you are doing a lot of driving on flat highways.) It's
> fairly inoffensive; if GM hasn't forgotten how to build a durable auto
> trans like Ford and Chrysler apparently have, I don't have anything bad
> to say about the tranny. Also it is decontented to the point of pain;
> IMHO the back seat would be inexcusable in a Hyundai and the fact that
> it doesn't fold down is ludicrous (yeah, I know, a folding seat is
> optional, but still... what is the point of buying a car that big if
> you can't haul stuff and don't want to sit in the back?) there are no
> gauges (yeah, I know, the 3800 gets a real dashboard but that wasn't
> part of the fleet deal) and there's still a few ergonomic gaffes like
> the parking brake, the shift lever that blocks the little thumbwheels
> for the dash vent, stuff like that. And the stereo is all bassy and
> unpleasant - I'm sure it appeals to the ghetto crowd but come on, would
> a little sophistication really kill ya? Too bad they tied all these
> stupid other functions to the stereo; I would really like to try an
> aftermarket head unit.
>
> So yet again GM manages to **** me off by offering (for a shockingly
> high price - sticker was something in the neighborhood of $23K) a car
> that still feels inferior to similarly priced offerings by VW and
> others that I've traditionally been interested in. Verdict: I can
> live with the car but I sure as hell would never have paid my own money
> for it.
>
> Now if they'd get rid of some of the useless crap like the auto-light
> gimcrackery and offer a better engine, heated leather seats with a
> folding rear seat, and fix the ergonomic mistakes instead, they might
> have something... Maybe a police package would be more my taste, if I
> could get the fleet lady to order me one next time around
>
> nate

Yes, the ridiculous GM "gimcrackery" has to go. Hmmm...wonder where we've
heard that before!

In article .com>,
N8N > wrote:
>IMHO the back seat would be inexcusable in a Hyundai and the fact that
>it doesn't fold down is ludicrous (yeah, I know, a folding seat is
>optional, but still... what is the point of buying a car that big if
>you can't haul stuff and don't want to sit in the back?) there are no
>gauges (yeah, I know, the 3800 gets a real dashboard but that wasn't
>part of the fleet deal)

If you wanted to haul stuff, why didn't you pick a Malibu MAXX instead
of an Impala? It would still have the 3.5L from the same family as the
3.4L that you don't really like, but the 3.5L supposedly has more power
and better fuel economy than the older 3.4L.

--
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Timothy J. Lee
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