You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
New car time, my wife who'll use it the most specifically wants: heated windscreen, cruise control & air con.
Make & model spec with the above features would help.
Was looking at a Ford Focus Titanium, needs to be a hatchback, 4 door, petrol.
I thought Ford had the monopoly on the windscreen thing, but apparently they don't any more.
Ta
I think Skoda have some models that are heated windscreen
They had a patent, but it ran out in 2010 iirc.
Now anyone can do the heated screen.
They are awesome, although i cant help with any actual advice.
Heated screen is available as a relatively low cost (about £150 if my memory serves me correctly) option on recent Mini models.
Porsche Cayenne.... Very nice but more expensive I think!
Seriously, maybe some of the VW range.
What's wrong with the focus?
Heated screens are brilliant.
Sorry, can’t help with other makes that have the heated windscreen, but just a word on cruise control!
I have a Ford Galaxy with adaptive cruise control, but what I find even better - and may be worth taking a test drive with - is the speed limiter feature. Put it on and the car somehow reads road signs to see what the speed limit is and then limits the car to that speed! It means steady pressure on the accelerator holds you at the speed limit. If you want to go faster just push the pedal in hard for a moment and it will take you past the limit, but as soon as you drop below the limit it resumes the limiting! If you reduce the pressure on the pedal, the car slows. Makes it super easy to maintain gaps. In fact, just makes all driving super easy, IMO!
Anyhow, I think that if the Ford has the speed limiter feature it also has cruise control.
Edit! And you can adjust the auto limit yourself, up and down in 5 mph increments.
Seat do them; a colleague has one on his new Ateca - that being the case, I imagine most of the VAG range will have them.
I'm not sure how far up the range you have to go to get one - his is the Excellence model, so loaded with kit.
Yep, been available on VAG cars since at least 2006.
Heated windscreen was standard on some VWs I was looking at last year
Volvo have heated windscreen. V40 is their Ford Focus equivalent
.
My bangernomic 59 plate a3 has a heated windscreen. Yet to test it in anger as only had it since March.
Volvo c30
Check the actual functionality of the heated screen first.
We had a 2016 Qashqai with a heated screen, it was bloody awful (the screen, the rest of the car was OK). At the time I also had a Ford Puma from 2000 the heated screen in that was awesome, the screen in the Qashqai never managed to demist the screen at any time, in fact we asked if it was broken when the car was serviced, apparently not.
No idea how you might check it though...Sit in the car with all the windows closed and opened thermos of hot water perhaps.
Various VW group stuff does, but only in the last couple of years. My new eGolf apparently has one.
If you have off-street parking to charge, just about every electric car (and most plug-in hybrids) can pre-heat on a timer, or sometimes from the key. Defrosted windscreen AND all the windows AND a nice warm car to sit inside.
No idea how you might check it though…Sit in the car with all the windows closed and opened thermos of hot water perhaps.
Or just check the electrics, or the temperature change of the windscreen
The vw heated screen is pretty much invisible, unlike the ones I've seen from ford ( probably older ones though? ). Very effective. Adaptive cruise very useful too.
Mazda 3 is essentially a Focus with a different pair of pyjamas - has a heated screen and I love it.
Amazingly Caterham 7s have heated screens, even the ones that have no actual heater
Amazingly Caterham 7s have heated screens, even the ones that have no actual heate
Mine didn't, but it probably fell off. Every bloody other thing on it did. Actually it did have a heater, but as the roof wouldn't stay on over 30mph it just kept you ankles warm.
I’ve had Fords with heated screens and they are great but I don’t think I’d discount a car just because it didn’t have one.
For example on my Golf if I select the windscreen dentist function on the heater controls the screen still defrosts pretty quickly.
Not as quick as a heated screen but I wouldn’t narrow my search to exclude a car without.
Don’t think a heated screen is designed to demist, more to remove ice and stuff from the outside.
Aircon much better for demisting.
Sorry wrong use of terminology and used de mist rather than de ice.
I meant that my heater set to the screen setting still makes a fairly decent job of deicing. Not as quick perhaps as a heated screen but not so long that I wound consider heated screen a “necessity” rather than a “nice to have”.
Heated screens are great, especially as the nights start getting colder.
Mine has heated seats and steering wheel too, which is nice... ;o)
Just need a heated handbrake lever, or an electronic one as per VW.
Heated screens are absolutely for de-misting, they are incredibly effective at it, much faster than just blowers
Mazda 3 - bil had one for a decade, from new, 160k and he had one minor problem with it. He had posh un that was fast, cruise, leather and heated screen.
Volvo V40 or V60 - super comfy and winter pack means heated seats and windscreen, cruise as standard on ovlov's. Ovlov's are the most intuitive and clean to use cars I've ever used. Little details like how good the heater is, how they are designed to be serviced easily, spotlight dashboard illumination, ace stereo as standard etc. I'm a fan.
All Ford cars apart from the Ka, Vauxhall Corsas, plus those mentioned above.
baldiebenty
Subscriber
Check the actual functionality of the heated screen first.
Aye. Especially, be sure that it's fully heated- my Subaru has a "heated windscreen" but it's actually just the bottom where the wipers sit, to stop them freezing to the screen. Still quite a nice feature especially in thawy freezy conditions but not a patch on my old Ford's full screen.
mashr
Member
Heated screens are absolutely for de-misting, they are incredibly effective at it, much faster than just blowers
Yup. Was especially useful on my old diesel mondeo, because it took so long to get any heat into the blowers