As someone relatively new to the motoring beat, I’ve been fortunate enough to have already tried out many new cars. Some of these vehicles are filled to the brim with modern technology, but the feature I find myself using most is remote engine start.
This is by no means a new function, but as simple as it is, remote engine start has proven to be routinely helpful and surprisingly intuitive. If you have a car from the last few years or so, this feature may already be accessible through your key fob. At the same time, select carmakers have added this to their proprietary mobile apps.
On many occasions, this feature has saved me from roasting in a hellish cabin. Starting the engine and subsequently the air conditioner cools down the seats, making for a consistently pleasant start to a drive.
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Although the summer season is over, the weather can still get uncomfortably hot. And with that, most of us have probably gone through the same horrible experience: Opening the door of a baked car and immediately feeling the concentrated heat radiating from the cabin.
Things only get worse when you slide into the cockpit and get blanketed by the literal hot seat and the almost-sizzling steering wheel. The latter is an exaggeration, but it is certainly not a pleasant thing to touch.
When you finally get the air conditioner working, it typically starts with a wash of warm air until your compressor eventually kicks up, and the cooling air finally expels from your vents. Now, it’s just a few more minutes (or what sometimes feels like hours) until your cabin really cools down. Remote engine start solves that, and it is especially great if you have a comfortable place to wait while your car gets cold.
Admittedly, there are a multitude of ways to remedy this uncomfortable experience. You may have read our explainer on using fluid dynamics to remove heat in car cabins, and of course, I’m sure some of you will tell us to just stop parking our cars in uncovered areas. However, this feature is just too easy not to use. With it, you can park almost anywhere, and you can save yourself from a little silliness as you fan your car doors.
Hopefully, more carmakers can make this a standard feature in their future models. What about you guys, which feature do you think all cars should have in this day and age? The comments section is open.
