Over the years, cars have come a long way, evolving into much more than a basic mode of transport. Gone are the days when manufacturers could get way by skimping on features, which were considered to be an item of luxury a couple of years ago. There are a host of features that now come standard in most cars, even the entry-level ones, which happened to be non-existent back in the days. By daily driving a 2002 Maruti Suzuki Zen for quite some time now, here are five features that we found are being taken for granted in our modern cars.
Body Coloured Bumpers
Protecting the front and rear of the car, bumpers are the first part of your car to be damaged in case of an accident, be it major or minor. Car manufacturers offer a multiple choice of colours on their cars, so for them, it made sense to leave them unpainted, so it could be replaced right away. Moreover, workshops could keep them ready in stock, without having to paint them before installation. Not anymore, nowdays, even the basic variants of most cars come with painted bumpers, which match or add contrast to the body paint of the car.
Interior Storage Space
Back in 2002, it seems that motorists did not carry much stuff around while on a drive. The cars too, had smaller dimensions due to which not much space was available on the inside. Nowadays, cars have become much larger and things like cup holders and door pockets are available in almost any car. Today, manufacturers can not afford to not provide storage cubbies on the interior as it would tremendously affect the sales numbers but back in the days, you had to live with it.
Central Locking
How easy has it become to just unlock one door and be rest assured that all other doors would also be locked together with it. In older cars, the driver has to first unlock his/her door by inserting the key in the door handle. Then individual passenger doors have to be unlocked by with some stretching. When your drive is done, the same process has to be repeated in reverse. Nowadays to lock/unlock all doors, most cars use a remote, and some do not even require to press the remote, just having the key in your pocket would get the job done.
Day/Night Mirror
Driving the Zen in the night time is quite dreadful. The lack of a day/night mirror, coupled with the low height means the beam from modern, much powerful headlights goes straight into your eyes, blinding you for some seconds. Drivers using their high beam at night make the experience much worse and often, you would want to remove the mirror itself in rage. A day/night mirror helps to reduce this direct glare from hitting your eyes, and is a standard feature in almost every car on sale in our market now.
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Internally Adjustable Mirrors
Despite electrically adjustable mirrors not making their way to every car in the Indian market, a mere stalk on the inside of the car which would adjust the outside rearview mirrors seems to be a luxury now. For the rare occasions when you need to adjust the mirrors, it has to be done by moving the mirror itself in the ORVM assembly and process to be a tedious task, especially when you are used to ones which adjust electrically.