Sometime ago I read about ten things that are totally useless in cars when it comes to India. While some of those ten things were obsolete, some things still hold water. My opinion on things/features that are totally inappropriate in India goes something like this:
1. DRL - Daytime Running Lights
The concept of DRLs was introduced for cars in Scandinavian and other Nordic countries where there is low sunlight for most part of the year in an effort to increase visibility of on-coming traffic and thereby avoid head-on collisions. Daytime Running Lights did in fact lower the rate of accidents in those countries, for the simple fact that the drivers of cars need not be reminded to turn on lights during low light conditions. Great.
Whats not great is the idea of replicating that same thing in India where it is simply bloody sunny throughout the year. Car manufacturers have managed to turn a safety item into a novelty item. Gross. More often than not the DRLs in India manage to distract more drivers than actually alert them!
2. Sunroof
For the very same reason that India happens to be on the path of some of the sun's most effective heat waves, why would anyone want a sunroof. Unless you want to bathe in that extreme heat and crank up the A/C ....probably in an effort to experience sweat and a chilling blast at the same time.
Come to think of it , there's a better way to experience it. Go ride on the hills with an Alpinestars jacket. You'd look much less idiotic and a lot more cooler.
3. Convertibles
Drop downs. Fact : In summers, it's just too hot to be driving with the hood down. In winters, it's simply too dusty and sometimes too chilly to be driving with the hood down. In monsoons, well, it's just rains. So when and where exactly do you use your convertible in India?
4. Cruise Control
Give me one, just one, highway in India where you can really use cruise control in a car for more than 10 minutes without having to take manual control again. None comes to your mind, right? Right.
5. Spoilers
All right, I will give it to the cars racing at the Buddh International Circuit. But spoilers on the Lancer and the Octavia RS? Forget the Lancer and the RS, the Etios Liva??????
