Japanese cars annoy the heck out of me. I occasionally (forced to) drive a Toyota Venza. Here my issues:
1. low torque at low RPMs.
2. suspension is too soft.
3. it beeps at me constantly. Lock/unlock door, open door, start car, etc.
4. complicated (too many buttons) screens and radio.
5. doesn't allow me to do things I want: a) open door while in drive, b) turn off all my lights when i turn light switch to off, c) use certain screen functions when i drive.
6. hatch door doesn't open if battery is dead.
I'm sure I'd have more if I actually owned the vehicle. The BMW I own doesn't treat me like an idiot.
I would argue that disabling screen functions while the car is moving is more of a safety hazard than not doing so. Unpredictable interfaces are distracting. Would you rather drive next to me while I reach over and adjust the bass on my car stereo or while I spend a few minutes screwing with my car stereo only to learn that I cannot adjust the bass while the car is moving? In many cars, I could simply ask my passenger to adjust the bass. But in my car I will need to pull over on the side of the freeway to adjust the bass and then merge back into traffic from a dead stop. It's a safety feature.
VW/Audi group also seems to be designing cars with the 'idiot' perspective now. Rented a 2018 Q5 earlier this year and had same issue with not being able to open door while in drive or reverse (which sucks for checking parking spaces). Our 2013 Q5 we own doesn't do this. My old Jetta liked to lock the doors the moment the ignition turned on, which meant my kids would reach for the door to enter and find it locked even though I just unlocked the doors. Things like that, highly irritating.
Car controls should be predictable and easily accessed through muscle memory.
It depends on the car. My Honda is super simple, let's me do what I want, and has firm suspension. Even BMWs of the same period were ridiculously complicated and less about being fun to drive. Having all the power high up in the rev range is just something you have to get used to. It's fun.
I'm curious how important "6. hatch door doesn't open if battery is dead." is -- I can count the number of times my battery has died in the past decade on one finger - and that time it still had enough power to unlock the doors, it just couldn't start the car. (door not closed all the way all weekend so the interior lights were on)
My car doesn't have an electric-only trunk lock, but if it did, I could just fold the seats down for access to the trunk... and I could crawl in and pull the emergency release if I really needed to open it.
I'm more lamenting the electrification of something that doesn't need to be.
My mother drives the Venza short distances. Since the Venza is so electronic, the battery dies constantly on her since it doesn't charge enough while driving. So much so that I bought an external battery to boost the car for her - probably once a month if I forget to drive it myself (longer distance). Multiple mechanics say battery and alternator are fine.
> I could just fold the seats down for access to the trunk.
In the Venza, the lever to fold the seats is accessed via the trunk. But you can't open the trunk when battery is dead. Luckily the Venza is a station wagon, so I did crawl over back seats to get the battery.
I find japanese products to have excessive electronics, buttons and beeping. I'm happy to pay for a higher priced German car (in response to the lower TCO comment)
1 and 2 are signature Toyota characteristics, and I'd expect them to be apparent on a big vehicle with little performance emphasis like the Venza. There are a lot of good Japanese cars that have lots of available torque and road-feel. Mazda and Honda feature on just about every enthusiast magazine "Car of the Year" list for good reason.
1. low torque at low RPMs.
2. suspension is too soft.
3. it beeps at me constantly. Lock/unlock door, open door, start car, etc.
4. complicated (too many buttons) screens and radio.
5. doesn't allow me to do things I want: a) open door while in drive, b) turn off all my lights when i turn light switch to off, c) use certain screen functions when i drive.
6. hatch door doesn't open if battery is dead.
I'm sure I'd have more if I actually owned the vehicle. The BMW I own doesn't treat me like an idiot.