The little arrow indicating the side of the fuel door. For someone who rents cars often for work, when this simplest of features started popping up in new cars, it was a phase transition to a better quality of life.

Seat Belts.  Staying alive/less injured in a crash is always a good thing.

Turn signals that stay on a few extra seconds when you tap them for a lane change. Our Odyssey does this and I think our old Sienna did it too. It’s a nice little safety touch to make sure you fully signal a lane change.

Something I notice in my rentals - when automatics have buttons or a knob for the gears instead of the big lever. Those levers are useless on modern cars. A lot of them get in the way of the storage & plug phone plug in area when in park, which is exactly when I want to access that area. All automatics should have a…

Round or Flat Bottom steering wheels.  Anything less is absurd.

As someone who has driven without it..

Heads Up Display.

Correct answer: Physical buttons/knobs/dials/levers/gauges.

Reliable, comfortable, spacious, isolated from the driving experience, no more than $40,000 and prefers a hybrid. I’ve added reliable because mechanical problems are usually at the top of the list for what non-car people won’t put up with.

Both the Volvo and Buick are good recommendations. Volvo seats probably win but the Buick is $10k less and there are Buick/Chevrolet dealers all over Minnesota and Wisconsin.

I of course have have to nominate the Buick GNX, a grandma’s car that can beat the Corvette of the era with 2 fewer cylinders.

Have you been to a Kia dealer? Kia dealers are the reason those cars aren’t selling, not Kia.

One of the most beautiful cars of the 21st Century; actually fun to drive in SRT guise; the interior didn’t live up to the exterior and nobody was buying 2-seat coupes. But my God, it’s an art deco masterpiece.

Jaguar XJ220. The fact that buyers got so pissy that their still-fastest-production-car-in-the-world had a twin-turbo V6 rather than an NA V12, that they cancelled orders is the pinnacle of rich boy dick swinging.

Ford Focus RS was basically killed because nobody was going to pay $10k of stealership markup. So Ford couldn’t move as many units then killed the whole thing.

I remember watching Top Gear praised the Monaro so much and here in the States it was met with a cold reception because of the styling. 

2004-2006 GTO. The automotive press was fairly kind, but the public response was mostly “It doesn’t look like I think a GTO should look.”

Without a doubt, the Chevy SS. Never marketed, hidden away from the public, and they couldn’t even be bothered to give it a real name. The only reason we got it stateside was so GM could deliver on its promise to the Aussies to export a certain amount.

The final generation Saab 9-5.

It’s obviously the Australian Falcon because the bastards never brought it over here.