I drive a mid-90's Dodge Intrepid that has some interesting design features, if by "interesting" you mean "stupid, and "design" you mean "poor design", and by "features" you mean "problems".
Issue 1: due to the angle of the windshield and the dash, there is a very strong reflection of the dash on the inside of the windshield. It is very pronounced. If the sun is shining on the dash it is very bad, a definite safety issue. Sunglasses become a must. I tried a dash cover, but besides looking like I was pimpin' my ride, it never laid down completely (offending my delicate aesthetic sensibilities), and made me afraid to drive, because it had a cutout to accommodate my passenger air bag, which is under a panel on the top of the dash, and I kept imagining that if I hit a bunny the airbag would deploy and give me and my passengers a 200 mph rug burn. So the
question: was this car designed and tested in Seattle, or completely inside a building, where there was no sun?
Issue 2: the trunk lid is designed such that whenever I open it when it is wet outside, all the water on the car, and apparently on neighboring vehicles and structures, and perhaps from adjacent counties, is funneled into the trunk in two streams, one from each side of the trunk lid,
conveniently about 1/3 and 2/3 of the way across the trunk, guaranteeing a good soaking to my merchandise. I guess this rules out the "Seattle" theory posited above. So the only conclusion left is that the car was designed and tested completely indoors. And apparently tested at low speeds:
Issue 3: my passenger-side windshield wiper is placed so that it catches the airflow over the hood just right (or wrong), and at freeway speeds it jumps and jiggles and generally has a party. When I first bough the car I switched over to Anco Winter Blades (sealed wipers, great for winter driving because they never get clogged with snow and ice and make you do the "reaching out the window grab and thwap". That only lasted until my first freeway ride, when the extra surface area of the wiper caused it to wave much more vigorously, to the point where I was making lots of friends in the next lane, but was worried about it's effect on mileage and low-flying birds. The driver's side wiper looks like it wants to join in, but can't get up enough steam, so it's one of those guys who dances without the feet ever moving.
I'm generally happy with the rest of the car. In fact, one of the reasons I bought it was that it's a non-transverse-mounted V6, meaning you can actually see all the spark plugs. That helps a lot with maintenance. It's comfortable and good-looking. I just can't drive it fast, or in rain, or in the sun. So it's holding its resale value, since I've only put 20 miles on it in the last 2 years.
