Fairly sure you can permanently disable the lane assist, you can on my car although I haven't as I don't find it that intrusive tbh. I agree about epb, my van has one and although I'm used to it now it's not as nice to use a old fashioned hand brake, stereo controls just need learning.

Surprised you never picked up on those minor irritations during your pre sale test drive?

Lane Keep is different in different cars. In my Vauxhall, there's a switch that turns it off and keeps it off, the Kia I drove the other day had a switch that turned it off but you had to do it every time you start. In some, they hide it under menus and touchscreens. It's not the hardest thing in the world, but surely everyone turns it off immediately as it's a nuisance at best and liability most of the time.

<< Cuts down on weight as well as the operating cables ... >>

If makers seriously need to cut down on weight, they shouldn't have loaded so many gizmos on board, which many drivers now believe they can't manage without !

Being in the driving seat of a modern car is like being the pilot of an Airbus . Going through a check list of what to turn on and off before you start your journey. Haven’t had to set the flaps on my car , yet .

On Diesel Bemmers the swirl flaps cancel themselves without the driver assistance.

Being in the driving seat of a modern car is like being the pilot of an Airbus . Going through a check list of what to turn on and off before you start your journey. Haven’t had to set the flaps on my car , yet .

According to Clarkson , when he gets a visit from the men in the ministry to tell him what he’s allowed and not allowed to do on his Diddly Squat farm they always arrive in Vauxhalls !

So maybe it’s an ex ministry car SLO !

The company I worked for between 1982 and 85 changed from Cortinas to FWD Cavaliers as company cars. My boss sent me down to get a computer monitor out of his car. "It's a red Cavalier" he told me. The key had the notches on the side of the key rather than on the edge as normal. There were 3 red Cavaliers in the car park. I opened all three before I found the monitor.

The next company had a 1.6 Cavalier as the pool car. Boy did that shift. Oddly it had a 5 speed gearbox at a time when they were only supposed to be 4 speed boxes. It's replacement a year later was nowhere near as fast.

The 8v petrol units were all non-interference which meant that a snapped timing belt caused no damage, which was a big bonus when belt failure was a common issue in the 80’s and 90’s.

I had personal experience of this.

Also, a Cavalier was the only car that I have ever had to replace a clutch on at ~60k (mostly dual carriage/motorway so not hard on a clutch).

I like the safety kit on my car, stop start, lane keep, cross traffic and blind spot, to name but a few that my car has, I never turn any of them off, adaptive cruise is brilliant makes long trips a breeze, I like the auto tailgate, and mine even parks itself, ok, I’ve only used that feature twice, but if you had neck or back problems,then it could be useful, bring on the gadgets I say, I even wouldn’t mind a button for the handbrake instead of a lever.

Surely the cover provided will apply to any car which has not had its maker's spec altered

driver aids can be fully working when switched off as the aid still works, just not visible to the driver, I doubt they can be turned off fully as the computers still need to know whats going on around them