Why we no longer love gadgets

Do you love gadgets? I once did. But now I’m not sure and I’ll tell you why. I’ve just spent a week with a Citroen C5 Tourer. Big estate, and a great car. But it’s also one that, so it seems, sprouts buttons from every surface.

Now I believe that good design should be intuitive.If you need to read the handbook to work something, its designer has missed the mark. Now the C5 is blessed with a rear door that opens to its full height by pressing a button on its keyfob. That’s a great idea and a boon if you’ve struggling car-wards with arms-ful of shopping. Logically, it should close at a second push on the keyfob. But no. It shuts only if you find the switch recessed into the tailgate’s edge. If you’re short, you’ll not reach it.

Then there’s the suspension, which had so many settings I never fathomed what they were all for. I don’t want to be too hard on the C5 for, despite niggles, I liked it very much. And, in fairness, I should say that it’s not the most gadget-heavy model I’ve experienced.

But it brings me to a wider point. More and more cars seem needlessly complicated, offering too much that we can’t work or don’t want. With crippling fuel prices forcing a down-shift into smaller, more efficient vehicles, isn’t it time that car makers got in step? Simpler means lighter, and it’s worth remembering that every switch your car has invites using power and fuel, perhaps wastefully.

Gadgets are great when they work instinctively and genuinely help. But when they don’t... well, what do you think?

Tell me which gadgets you love – and hate.