When I bought my '03 new, I just HAD to have that car. Over the years I found some features so annoying I have sworn to avoid them in my next car purchase. My top three are...
1) Rain sensing wipers that continue to wipe when the windshield is dry and stay parked when I can't see through the rain covered glass.
2) Automated system that never leaves the steerring wheel and seat in the same position twice
3) I want a car that has SOME effective engine braking so I'm not constantly moving my foot from gas to brake in traffic (with the added annoyance that the peddles are not all on the same plane).
Has anyone else found an irritating "feature" they can do without next time?

My '02 has rain sensing wipers, and they're great! I never take them off sensing mode, they work as advertised.

I agree with your top 2 choices Ric.

I thought I was the only one having those 2 annoying features happen to me all the time. Really annoying wipers keep going even when it's not raining, and 50% of the time it does not rmember the setting for the seating ans stering position.

1.The automatic transmission that Fomoco is trying to sell as a manual.

2.The over active Stabilitrac system

3.The open differential.

Nothing piss3s me off more than spending hours cleaning my car and then, after yelling at my daughter to keep her 6 yr old feet off the back of my seat, when no sooner i turn my key off and >>>>> my seat backs up into her shoes. or how about that annoying seat belt charm, dam it i know i dont have my seat belt on when im parked somewhere.

you can turn off the easy exit feature and you can permanently disable the seat belt minder. both procedures are covered in the manual.

Nothing piss3s me off more than spending hours cleaning my car and then, after yelling at my daughter to keep her 6 yr old feet off the back of my seat, when no sooner i turn my key off and >>>>> my seat backs up into her shoes. or how about that annoying seat belt charm, dam it i know i dont have my seat belt on when im parked somewhere.
Umm, you can disable both of those things. Disabling Easy Entry is trivial--you do it through the Message Center. Perhaps R-ing TFM would help...;)

My '04 had the rain-sensing wipers, and they never performed to my satisfaction. I don't miss them at all in my '06.

you can turn off the easy exit feature and you can permanently disable the seat belt minder. both procedures are covered in the manual.

I didnt know that, but i did know that i could turn the door locks off, that gets annoying too, but i leave it for safety. Jacksonville fl, over 100 murders already this year and still going.

Driving lights, mine is from Canada so it has them. I get annoyed at having driving lights, they are useful sometimes but it takes away the look of the car imo. Rain sensing wipers never work right but that is cause I use rain-x and would rather have rain-x on my windshield than have my wipers over worked.

I hate that beeping w/ the seat belt aswell and I hate how the a/c is always on once you push a button, get sick of having to hit it off. I heard it only stays on for a minute or whatever but if I want a/c, I well hit a/c.

Throttle by wire

rain sensing wipers can be turned off too!! there is a hidden switch on the steering column. if you need i can put a picture up to show where it is

Power everything, automatic, A/C, Heater, Radio, chrome wheels, sunroof, woodgrain, cruise control, advance trac,sport suspension, airbags, seatbelts...yea, these features are so annoying. I can't believe I drive this car everyday, I so hate all the features on it :rolleyes:

Used my wipers all day, mostly on auto. Work good IMO.

auto wipers and throttle by wire

3) I want a car that has SOME effective engine braking so I'm not constantly moving my foot from gas to brake in traffic (with the added annoyance that the peddles are not all on the same plane).

I actually like how it continues to roll. As long as im not like flying up one someone im ok. It just shows its aerodynamics. I think for a sedan its got some great lines.

rain sensing wipers can be turned off too!! there is a hidden switch on the steering column. if you need i can put a picture up to show where it is
yes post it!!!

I didnt know that, but i did know that i could turn the door locks off, that gets annoying too, but i leave it for safety. Jacksonville fl, over 100 murders already this year and still going.
Yea there have been alot of murders over here.

yes post it!!!

Are you guys kidding about the auto-sensing wipers? Just turn the knob out of the auto position. At least you can do that on the '00.

This car has spoiled me, now every car has to have the same features. The leather, auto-wipers, auto seat adjustments, no engine-braking (thats what the pedal is for), rolling all the windows down at once to let out the FL heat, etc.

Are you guys kidding about the auto-sensing wipers? Just turn the knob out of the auto position. At least you can do that on the '00.
My problem with the auto-wipers was that they did not behave the way I wanted, which left me with three choices when it rained: low speed, high speed, or "whatever the car bloody well chooses to do." Paraphrasing Jeremy on Top Gear, I pay for the car, I should get to call the shots.

If I could have chosen among Auto, Intermittent, Low, and High, I wouldn't have been nearly as disappointed with them, because I wouldn't have used the Auto setting.

my rain sense wipers are either in rain sense mode or low-high CONSTANT mode. it's a PITA when it's raining lightly.

My '04 had the rain-sensing wipers, and they never performed to my satisfaction. I don't miss them at all in my '06.

REALLY?! You had an '04 with this feature? It's my understanding that '03 was the last year for this. The feature was discontinued. My '04 V8 Ultimate doesn't have them. Maybe a few early '04s got out before they pulled the plug on the feature.

Dave Kegel

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c65/ciro1999/SSPX0329.jpg

with this :shifty: "hidden switch":shifty: you can select off, auto, intermitten, high and low!!!

weird I don't see anything unless you are joking around?

with this :shifty: "hidden switch":shifty: you can select off, auto, intermitten, high and low!!!

Not sure I get your point.

Dave

my point is the rain sensor can be turned off. completely off, if you dont like it. also there is an intermitten setting which is exactly like the delay setting on any other car on the planet. you can choose a 24 second delay all the way up to no delay at all!!!

my point is the rain sensor can be turned off. completely off, if you dont like it. also there is an intermitten setting which is exactly like the delay setting on any other car on the planet. you can choose a 24 second delay all the way up to no delay at all!!!
There is no such intermittent setting on the '04s with the moisture-sensing wipers. I can tell you that for a fact. You can change the "sensitivity" on the rain-sensing function, but there is no traditional intermittent setting.

REALLY?! You had an '04 with this feature? It's my understanding that '03 was the last year for this. The feature was discontinued. My '04 V8 Ultimate doesn't have them. Maybe a few early '04s got out before they pulled the plug on the feature.
They killed it in mid-'04. I'm not sure if it was a Job 2 change or a running change; my '04 had both the rain-sensing wipers and the SAT button on the stereo. Mine was built in November, '03.

my 03 doesn't have the intermittnet either. just rain-sense...or "rain-guess"

They killed it in mid-'04. I'm not sure if it was a Job 2 change or a running change; my '04 had both the rain-sensing wipers and the SAT button on the stereo. Mine was built in November, '03.

Interesting, thanks. Mine was built in January 04. No rain sensing wipers, but it does have SAT on the radio. Did they get rid of the satellite option sometime during the 04 model year run as well?

Dave

Interesting, thanks. Mine was built in January 04. No rain sensing wipers, but it does have SAT on the radio. Did they get rid of the satellite option sometime during the 04 model year run as well?
Nope; they added it during the '04 run.

sat button on the radio means the sat receiver is installed.

sat button on the radio means the sat receiver is installed.
Only on the THX/Nav system. On the Audiophile system, it only means that the head unit is Sirius-ready; it may or may not have the Sirius unit installed (it's a physical button, not a software button).

the "Low Fuel" Alert in the message center and beep... Yes I know when I'm low on fuel I usually keep it pretty full, but occasionaly, usually out with a girl and it's got like quarter tank and I know I'm fine, it's keep beeping over and over and over, it's not that big of a deal but that drives me crazy.... I'm not a fan of the auto in this car, it gets "confused" too easily. If you make un unpredictable throttle move (get on it, than let off for a sec and get back on it) it freaks out, shifts and hesitates like crazy searching for a gear. and yeah the overactive advancetrac. I Loved the auto wipers.

In addition to TBW, I would go with "spongy brakes"

i thought that bleeding the brakes would get rid of the spongy feeling? i havent gotten around to it yet but wont it help?

I forgot the most important LS feature of all that my next car won't have. A V8 with so few performance mods available.

Wow why are you guy driving a Lux car if you don't like the features I mean if you want basic no frills transportation get a Focus. I for one have often thought how screwed I am now that I've been pampered by my LS I cant go back. So instead I will list the reasons why the next car I have MUST have some of the features you guy are bitching about.

Auto Wipers I love them 9 time out of 10 they come on before I even realize I should put them on.

Easy Entry more like easy exit for me I love it.

Advantrack have only had it kick in a few times in the rain and damm am I glad it did

SST I use it almost every day. Someone mentioned engine braking that what 3ed for.

ok the msg. center bitching about the fuel every 10 min is annoying but I'll take it over an idiot light any-day.

I like the way the brakes feel I cant stand it when the petal is hard as a rock its a pedal not a on/off switch but thats personal preference and if you don't like it you can always install the steal bradded lines that ought stiffen up the pedal plenty.

About the only complaint I have is the steering wheel controls. I don't know what someone was thinking, but they should have reversed them. Every Ford with cruise control for the last 25 years (or more) has the accel/decel buttons on the right. For the Lincoln, they put them on the left. I can't count how many times I've tried to accel or decel using the cruise and changed the volume on the radio. Dumb!. For Ford owners like myself that might also have an Explorer or a Taurus in the family (or any othe number of Fords), this is very annoying.

Dave

Are you guys kidding about the auto-sensing wipers? Just turn the knob out of the auto position. At least you can do that on the '00.

This car has spoiled me, now every car has to have the same features. The leather, auto-wipers, auto seat adjustments, no engine-braking (thats what the pedal is for), rolling all the windows down at once to let out the FL heat, etc.

i too have been spoiled, spoiled to the point where i hate riding in most of my friends cars. and i love the auto wipers, its always fun when someone who doesnt know i have them sees them come on without me hitting a switch.

Auto Wipers I love them 9 time out of 10 they come on before I even realize I should put them on.
I like the concept of auto-wipers, I just don't like the implementation, at least as they existed on my '04. They were nice when they'd automatically kick up to high as a truck splashed water on the windshield, but they were absolutely useless in light rain, and they left me with no intermittent settings to compensate. That, and their strange tendency to be wiping along nicely in a moderate rain, then, with no major change in the precip, suddenly stop wiping, pause a second to catch their breath, then start wiping again... :confused:

In light rain they are so so but a good coat of rain-x helps a lot that and when its light I usually just just tap the one pass. till the autos kick in. Other then that I have never had any issues with them. but I have the same controller as shokher so I still have intermittent.