Nominations for the most irritating Gen 4 switchgear go to:......

A): The rear wash wipe knob which has a ‘wash but no wipe’ setting which sends a stream of water straight down the rear window. By the time you click the knob to the ‘wipe’ setting, past the ‘off’ setting, the water has all run off.

: The light knob which has an ‘auto’ and ‘manual’ headlamp setting for dip/main beam. If you have a crisis of confidence in the auto system, and decide to take manual control, switching from one to the other takes you through the ‘sidelight’ setting which plunges you into partial darkness as you drive.

C):.....over to you

Dorsetdumpling wrote: A): The rear wash wipe knob which has a ‘wash but no wipe’ setting which sends a stream of water straight down the rear window. By the time you click the knob to the ‘wipe’ setting, past the ‘off’ setting, the water has all run off.

Can't say as I've noticed tbh.

The light knob which has an ‘auto’ and ‘manual’ headlamp setting for dip/main beam. If you have a crisis of confidence in the auto system, and decide to take manual control, switching from one to the other takes you through the ‘sidelight’ setting which plunges you into partial darkness as you drive.

Yes, if I'd designed it, you would turn the switch one way for "atomic= like radioactive decay- completely at random" and the other way for side & head, with OFF as the second position. It is the same in the [strike]Renault[/strike] Nissan, and no doubt in every other car in the world though, so clearly I am the only person in the whole wide world who thinks this- but I'm more concerned with not flashing the headlights and taking another few hours off the bulb life

C):.....over to you

• The bank of switches for the TLAs down on the right where I cannot see them unless I crouch under the dash.
  
  The stupid placement of the window switches.

Every car I've driven, apart from a Talbot Samba, had the switches on the door, it is the correct/natural place- where I expect to find them, not in the middle with identical switches that don't seem to do anything.

Good to see a little criticism aimed at the Gen4. Switches offer generally a poor layout but credit where it's due they've got the stalks the correct way round. Wiper stalk should always be against the window so LHD and RHD are not the same part.
"You just get used to it" is no excuse for poor design, and speaking of which...
Rain gutters - why no drains at the rear? Rain just sits on the roof and gurgles at medium speeds. Chris

I would take issue with the indicator being on the left hand side of a right hand drive car. The indicator should be on the right hand side as you use your left hand to change gear so that way you have the ability to easily notify your intent to other road users even while changing gear. You are much less likely to have to engage the wiper while changing gear.

I think the reasoning for wipers on the outside is that vision takes priority over signalling. You can signal early or late but you need to see now.
Chris

Not sure about that. The indicator right has long been the norm on many British built vehicles as we are right hand drive. What changed that is the influx of European manufacturers as the uk car industry died and those European makers simply swapped the entire driving position of the car without retooling the column switches this is also true for the likes of the Japanese cars designed primarily for the European market that weren't released in the Japanese domestic market. Over time people have got used to the switches being the wrong way round to the extent that the proper way is now often considered wrong.