Overrated vs Underrated Features in Cars! » MotorOctane

Cars nowadays come loaded with features, and on paper, almost everything sounds impressive. Huge touchscreens, ambient lighting, panoramic sunroof often grab attention instantly, but not all of them make a real difference once you start living with the car. Some features are overrated and rarely used, while others quietly make everyday driving more comfortable – but don’t get the recognition they deserve. Let’s take a look at which car features are overrated and which ones are truly underrated.

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Overrated Feature #1: Huge Touchscreens

XUV 7XO with triple screens and integrated AC controls.

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Big touchscreens look great in advertisements and dealerships, and definitely add to the wow factor, but their real-world usefulness is often overstated. Basic functions like adjusting the AC temperature, changing fan speed or increasing the volume is buried deep inside menus, which can be distracting while driving. These huge touchscreens also become a fingerprint magnet and can be a pain to keep clean.

In everyday use, many drivers find themselves missing simple physical buttons that are quicker and safer to operate. While touchscreens are important for some functions like navigation, Carplay, etc – convenience matters more than visual appeal.

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Overrated Feature #2: Sunroof

Indian buyers are obsessed with sunroofs, and carmakers know this. For many buyers, a sunroof has become a must-have feature, often associated with “premium” cars. But in real-world Indian conditions, its usefulness is limited.

It has become very common to see people standing through the sunroof of a moving car, turning it into a novelty feature rather than a practical one. Beyond the obvious safety concerns, harsh sun, dust and heat conditions result in the sunroof being shut for the majority of the year. After the initial excitement fades, it usually becomes one of the least-used features in the car.

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Overrated Feature #3: ADAS

Advanced Driver Assistance System, or ADAS, sounds very reassuring on paper. Features like lane-keep assist, adaptive cruise control and automatic emergency braking are often highlighted as must-haves. However, in real-world Indian driving conditions their usefulness is quite limited.

Inconsistent lane markings, unpredictable traffic and frequent cut-ins by animals as well as bikers mean ADAS systems often struggle to work as intended. Many drivers end up switching off these features after repeated alerts or sudden unexpected braking which can cause accidents instead of preventing them. While ADAS has its place, today it is still better suited to more structured road environments.

Now, let’s shift the focus to the features that are often overlooked, but actually make everyday driving easier.

Underrated Feature #1: Ventilated Seats

Ventilated seats might sound like a luxury feature, but in Indian conditions, they’re genuinely useful. Long hours in traffic, high humidity and summer heat make regular seats uncomfortable very quickly, especially on longer drives.

Good news for the buyers is that ventilated seats are no longer limited to expensive cars, with several budget and mid-range cars like Kia Sonet, Hyundai Venue and Maruti Suzuki XL6 now offering them. Once you’ve experienced them, they quietly improve the comfort and make driving a lot more pleasant, especially during summers.

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Underrated Feature #2: Auto-dimming IRVM

Auto-dimming inside rearview mirrors make night driving far less stressful, where high beam usage and illegal LED bulb usage is common. By automatically reducing glare from vehicles behind, it helps the driver with better visibility without constantly adjusting the mirror.

It’s a small feature that quietly improves safety and reduces eye strain, yet car makers often only provide it on the higher variants in order to cut costs. Once you get used to it, driving at night without it feels noticeably more tiring.

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Underrated Feature #3: Automatic Wipers

Automatic wipers don’t sound exciting, but once you get used to the convenience, they’re hard to give up. During sudden rain or changing rain intensity, they adjust automatically, letting the driver focus on the road instead of constantly adjusting the wiper speed. In real-world conditions, especially during unpredictable monsoons, this feature helps improve convenience and safety.

Which features do you think are overrated, and which ones do you actually use the most?

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