Every car has features that make you smile the first time you discover them—and a few that make you want to throw your phone through the screen. This week on The Driveway Podcast, Elliot, Natalie, and Dave go deep on the car features they love, the ones they'd happily never see again, and the features they wish would come back. Plus: Lincoln is reportedly building something very interesting.
Our Favorite Car Features | The Driveway Podcast #44
The Driveway Podcast
Episode 44
Published: March 11, 2026
Table of Contents
This Week in Auto News
Features We Love
Features We Don't Love
Features We Want Back
In Our Driveways This Week
How to Listen
The Hosts
This Week in Auto News
Lincoln Is Reportedly Building Its Own Bronco Rival
A new body-on-frame luxury off-roader may be coming from Lincoln—think less trail-rated workhorse, more G-Wagen competitor. According to Autoweek, Lincoln is developing a Bronco-platform-based SUV aimed at the ultra-premium segment, with pricing expected north of $100,000. Don't hold your breath: the launch window is 2029–2030. The crew had a lot of thoughts—and a lot of name suggestions. Dutch Warmblood? Andalusian? The Lincoln Vanguard? Tune in to hear the full list.
Features We Love
This is the good stuff: the features that make you grin the first time you discover them and grumpy every time you get in a car that doesn't have them.
Natalie Harrington
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Auto-Folding Mirrors with Reverse Tilt
Lock the car and the mirrors fold in automatically—ideal for tight Boston streets where leaving them out is a liability. The bonus feature: when you shift into reverse, the mirrors tilt down so you can see the curb. Dave hates this. Natalie loves it. The disagreement is what makes great radio. -
GPS-Based Nose Lift Memory (McLaren Artura)
Low-slung sports cars need nose lift systems to survive modern speed bumps. The McLaren Artura takes it further: when you raise the nose, it asks if you want to save that GPS location. The next time you approach that same spot, it lifts automatically. If you're spending a quarter million dollars on a car, you shouldn't have to push a button every time you leave your driveway. -
Porsche Tunnel Mode (Patent Filed)
Not in production yet, but Porsche has filed a patent for a GPS-triggered "tunnel mode." The setup does exactly what you want: drops windows, opens exhaust, activates sport mode, and ramps up artificial engine sound for EV models—all as you enter a tunnel. For those who want the opposite experience, it'll also roll up the windows and dampen noise. Porsche is engineering for the full spectrum of drivers.
Elliot Haney
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Auto Vehicle Hold (AVH)
Found on the 2021 Subaru Forester and many other cars under different names. Press the brake a little harder at a red light and the car holds itself in place—no rolling, no creep—until you tap the throttle. You can lift your foot off the brake entirely. It's the kind of feature you don't know you needed until you have it, and then you resent every car that doesn't have it. -
Ventilated Seats
Technically they're not "cooled seats"—that would require active refrigeration. They're ventilated, meaning air is pushed through the seat cushion. Either way, when you're running hot and the car's been sitting in the sun, that gentle breeze underneath you is a full-on surprise-and-delight moment. Usually a top-trim feature, which means press cars have it and personal cars often don't. -
Mood Curator (Genesis G90)
Select a mood, and the car responds: seat massage activates, ambient scent diffuses, music cues up. The "Delight" setting was apparently quite good. Dave doesn't love the scent diffuser. Elliot does. This one's worth the disagreement.
Dave Undercoffler
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Radiant Heat Panels (Lexus RZ / Toyota BZ / Subaru Solterra)
Instead of blasting hot air through the HVAC system—which burns significant energy in an EV—these three vehicles use a cloth-like radiant heat panel under the dashboard and console to warm passengers' legs directly. It's quieter, more efficient, and surprisingly effective. Dave discovered it in the Lexus RZ and came away impressed. -
Driver-Accessible Front Passenger Seat Controls
Found in the Genesis GV60 (and spreading across the Hyundai/Kia lineup): a redundant set of seat adjustment buttons on the center console, reachable from the driver's seat, to slide or tilt the front passenger seat without having to reach across the whole car. Sounds small. Becomes essential the moment you're alone in the car with two kids in car seats.
Features We Don't Love
Natalie: Cup Holders That Sprout from the Dash
Shallow, exposed, and exactly at the height of a stray elbow or bag strap. If you've ever watched a venti latte go airborne, you understand. These showed up in older cars (and a few small sports cars like the Miata), and they have not aged well.
Elliot: Air Vents Controlled Through a Touchscreen
If there is one automaker guilty of this feature listening right now: please stop. Going three menus deep in a touchscreen to redirect airflow is not design innovation—it's inconvenience dressed up as minimalism. Physical vents that you can grab and point are one of the great tactile pleasures of driving a car. Don't take that away.
Dave: Overly Sensitive Seat Belt Monitors
Put a bag of groceries on the front passenger seat and some cars will chime at you nonstop. The system is calibrated for child safety, which is legitimate—but the execution needs work. If the object doesn't have a seatbelt-compatible profile, the car should be able to tell. Until then, we're all buckling in our takeout.
Features We Want Back
Elliot: Integrated Roof Rail Crossbars (Subaru Outback)
Previous-generation Outbacks had crossbars that folded out from the roof rails when you needed them and tucked away flush when you didn't. The new Outback dropped this feature. It was elegant, useful, and exactly the kind of thing that should have spread to every SUV and crossover—not disappeared.
Dave: The Spare Tire
Tire inflator kits are not a solution. They work some of the time, in some conditions, with some types of punctures. A compact spare (yes, the little doughnut) lets you put something on the wheel, drive slowly with your hazards on, and get somewhere. Automakers have been removing spares to save weight and cost for years. Dave wants them back, and the YouTube comments agree.
In Our Driveways This Week
Natalie Harrington: Cadillac Escalade Platinum Sport AWD
Natalie brought the full-size luxury experience to daycare pickup this week—and found a few standout features worth calling out. The 360-degree camera is prominently placed and stays active throughout a drive, which proved invaluable navigating snow-narrowed streets in a vehicle this size. The doors can be opened and closed via touchscreen from the driver's seat. And the wood trim—unusual for Natalie to say this—is genuinely classy, with metal inlays that feel intentional rather than decorative. The screen that spans nearly the full width of the dashboard is, as she put it, "gimmicky until you see it."
Dave Undercoffler: GMC Acadia Denali
Dave has mixed feelings. The Acadia looks good, offers a genuinely useful three-row interior, and positions itself as a slightly more refined alternative to the full-size Yukon. The problem is under the hood: a turbocharged 2.5-liter four-cylinder that delivers its power only when you're working it hard—and working it hard is loud and buzzy in a way that undercuts everything refined about the rest of the car. Dave's wife noticed. That's the tell.
How to Listen
Have a question for the team? Send an email to editor@cargurus.com
Next week: Best EVs of 2026. Matt's back. Don't miss it.
