06 Dec 06
Now that summer's over, we seem to live in a perpetual state of greyness - a kind of half-light that blurs the border between day and night. And it's playing havoc with the sat nav system. In most respects it's a flawless performer; the multimedia control knob is a doddle to use and setting it to take me to a pre-programmed destination takes just a couple of seconds. The traffic alert function is also a major bonus. I've become totally reliant on its ability to predict impending queues - it can often end up taking five or six diversions in a single journey, saving me hours of brain-numbing queuing every week during my commute from London to Brighton.
The problem is the automatic screen adjuster. Every time the light level drops enough to kick the automatic headlamps on, the 7" colour display goes into night mode. And no matter how high I whack up the brightness level, it's too dark to read in the afternoon half-light. As I discovered the other day, after several weeks of painful squinting, there is however a manual override that allows you to switch it back on to day mode. But it has a tendency to flick between modes in changeable light conditions. Annoying.
What else? The thick A-pillars create a bit of a blind spot when cornering and I'm getting regular complaints about the door handles - particularly from members of the fairer sex. The two-part handle design needs a serious squeeze; so much so, in fact, that a lot of passengers mistakenly think I've locked them out. In this kind of weather, that kind of practical joke can earn you a slap.
There also seems to be a fault with the petrol cap release mechanism. Located in the side of the driver's footwell, the rather flimsy plastic lever only deigns to work half the time. I often end up running in and out of the car several times to get the thing open. By the time I've got it open, I often feel like slapping someone myself.
