the oil dip stick is my #1 for poorest design
I also removed the plastic engine cover...The engine looks great; why hide it...also can see water or oil leaks if they occur down the road.

 

Cupholder in the passenger seat.

 

I listen to cassettes all the time. Check out half a dozen or so books on tape from the local library. It's the only thing that keeps me sane during my 110 mile daily commute. Commercial radio is useless. NPR is always begging for money. At least you guys have the CBC.

I'd like a unit that plays CDs, MP3s, and cassettes, but there doesn't seem to be such an animal. Or rather, the only one I've found so far was a Kenwood and it was big and silvery and I thought it would look kind of out of place on the dash.

 

One bourbon, one scotch and one beer.

 

I agree with one of the previous posts:
STOPWATCH!!??? WTF is the point of it? A compass would be way better.

 

I agree that the stopwatch seems a little silly.

I also agree that I really wish the mirror had a compass. I use the compass in my truck ALL the time. Any time I need to go around traffic or find a new place following a map the compass kicks butt.

I did see a compass at Walmart that actually matches the Z interior. It is black textures plastic with a silver ring on the back like our instrument cluster! I am probably going to go back and get it. (i needed to check that there was room for it in the car).

It runs on batteries, so I may have to devise a way to run it from the car's 12V.

Oh yeah, for you guys hating on the cup holder, I happen to LIKE my front cup holder. Once and while I will get a coffee on the way to work. Since the holder is a little shaky over bumps the trick to is drink some of the coffee to lower the liquid level before driving with the cup in the holder.

 

Some annoyances...

1) Door handles, sucks for lefties but at least they look cool
2) Cassette deck, haven't owned a cassette in maybe 10 years. What will it look like in 5 years from now?
3) Rear view mirror, should have mounted it on the dash. The taller you are, the less you see.
4) Passenger power seat with *manual* tilt latch? One or the other but not both.
5) IMO, there are too many gears and the ratios are too tight for so much torque. At least make 6th a true overdrive, hardly any RPMs are dropped when going from 5th
6) Airbag warnings on both visors and permanent.
7) Why so little room in the hatch, and why such a big strut bar?
8) Seat warmers cycle and not consistent in heat. I figured since there's 2 settings at least the output would be consistent.
9) No glove box in front of the passenger
10) Why is the cruise on/off button on the steering wheel not the bottom button and is instead the middle of three? Given the scope of it's functionality (ie: overpowers all other options) you'd expect the interface to have it separated, not imbedded within the other switched. Typically, I'd expect the switch to be on the console or dash anyways.

Having said all that, I love this car!

 

Definitely the most pointless part of the car is the sticker teaching you how to store two golf bags.

 

My front cup-holder is rock solid. I put a big gulp in there all the time. Fits perfectly. So much better than the 2 in the console. Drinks just fall over during cornering in those.

 

Mine only shows you how to fit one. LOL

 

I'd have to say everything is either pretty useful or okayish to me. I think I use every single gizmo in the car so I guess the more the better.

 

I think I've got you all beat.

My car has a block heater. Must be a Canadian thing.

 

I like everything about the car there's only a few minor things that could be improved.
1. Never seen a car where you press out on the lever to turn on the high beams, when i first got my car i was going down a dark back road trying to figure out how to turn on the highbeams and kept flashing them. I ended up getting pulled over cause the cop on the shoulder of the road thought I was flashing my high beams to warn people that there's a cop there, I just gave an explanation of Nissan's design and he laughed at it.
2. The oil dipstick is the most pointless thing in the world
3. I love my passenger cupholder, it holds a bottle of water perfectly going to and from the gym.
4. Only for us guys in Florida the heated seats is a bad idea especially when i get in my steaming hot car, it's 100 degrees outside im sweating like crazy and suddenly realize I accidently hit my heated seats button while shifting.
5. I wish the car had a simple N-S-E-W compass, it helps a lot more then people think especially when you're in an area you don't know.
6. I love the nav compartment for holding my student parking pass when i'm not parking on campus since i think it makes the car look bad
7. I think another pointless thing is having the analog speedometer. I know everyone on here uses their digital speedo and never looks at the analog one, the steering wheel is in the way anyways
8. The two tiny indents for where the screws go on the front bumper for a front license plate if you live in a state where you don't need one, even tho I never put one in my old prelude up in Maryland

 

The stock wheels and tires. I only used them once.

 

Have to agree accept i havent noticed rear-wiper fluid leaking

 

I like the drink holder, but once I took a fast left and my center console turned into a quaint little waterfall. I mean just imagine diet coke under maybe .5 lateral G's cascading down from the top of the drink down to the shifter. It was pretty cool really.



>> 1) Door handles, sucks for lefties but at least they look cool

Haha, well I'm right handed and I open every OTHER car with my left because it's easier that way.

 

Biggest waste is sunglass holder, and the knee pads.

 

Thats my anti-speeding ticket device.

p.s> how do you guys manage to turn off your headlights??

How do you go about using your turn signals?

 

Same question...I'm thinking the headlight assembly was a little bit looser in '03. Mine has never done that. I leave my blinker on when I chnge lanes a lot since it never turns itself of! Stupid thing...

 

Santacruzslick do you really have 198 million post. Man, you need to get out and drive your Z a little more