ADAS — driver assistance, and how much of it you can switch off

A defined subset of these systems is mandatory on new cars in the European Union under the general safety regulation, so their presence is not a differentiator. How they behave is.

Why it matters when buying

Calibration is where cars differ, and it is not visible in a feature list. A lane-keeping system that corrects gently is a help; one that fights the wheel on a narrow road is a reason owners disable it every single drive. Speed warning chimes fall into the same category, and a car that requires several menu taps to silence them at every start is a car you will be annoyed by daily.

Chinese models arriving in Europe have drawn consistent criticism on exactly this point, and the reason is instructive: systems tuned on Chinese roads and lane markings behave differently on narrow European rural roads. Several manufacturers have retuned them for Europe after launch through software updates, which means reviews of early cars can describe behaviour the current car no longer has.

The only reliable test is a drive on the kind of road you actually use, with attention to whether the systems can be turned off and whether they stay off after a restart. That is a market-level and even a version-level question, so local press tests carry more weight here than European ones.

Related: GSR · Euro NCAP · OTA update