Technology overload- new cars

[MushCreek]

We rented a Ford Focus for a vacation trip recently. Nice little car, but- if this model is any indication, new cars are going to be a nightmare for the technically challenged (like me). It's a virtual electronic device on wheels. The steering wheel features 21 buttons. The sound system has another 36 buttons. It took the entire trip to learn how to operate the basics. On my 2002 van, I reset the trip odometer by pushing one button- you can do it by feel. On the Focus, you have to scroll through several menus, then press and hold the appropriate button. Talk about distracted driving. While they pass laws against cell phones and texting while driving, cars like this are perfectly legal. I suppose I'd get the hang of it if I owned the car, assuming I didn't plow into someone while learning. Even so, with so much crap on the steering wheel, it blocks the instrument panel in certain positions. Can you imagine when all of these electronic goodies break down? I hope they continue to make basic cars without all of the bells and whistles. I use a 'dumb' phone; it's a phone, and you can take pictures with it. I'd like my next car to be as simple as that.

[rick91351]

Mush I never had thought of the aspect of distracted driving.

I try not to be tech challenged nor bugged by it.  I might not embrace it but try not to get bugged. 

Personally it occurred to me as well only in a different arena before I retired.  When the railroad went tech heavy indeed there were incidents while surfing screens how do you do.... where is the....... all some times to the debt of public and company safety.   It was all handled like the car thing there you are sitting there learning by the seat of you pants and taking your eyes away from road and your surroundings!!!     
 

[UK4X4]

My last rental in the UK was a VW bluemotion passat

It has an automatic handbrake- which sometimes worked and some times not
It also had an auto engine  shut down when idelling in traffic or a stop .

I hated both of these widgets

But the milage I got on the 10 day trip was pretty awsome !

104bhp turbodiesel  62.8mpg

[John Raabe]

We have a nine year old Prius and I have to admit that it really took some getting used to. Changing things like the radio and ventilation system from a touch screen is very distracting. Give me those old twisty knobs. Eyeball focus is better deployed watching the road and traffic.

But I do love the milage.

[waggin]

The more "convenience" accessories a vehicle has, the more likely it is to break down and not be serviceable by the owner.  Additionally, that stuff adds weight, and that hurts fuel mileage.  I'm in the process of trying to sell my excessively complicated electro-mechanical contraption and go back to something with a manual shift-actuated transfer case and manual windows.  Many new vehicles aren't even available with a standard transmission or manual windows any more, sadly.  Try buying a truck or SUV with a manual transmission, manual transfer case, manual hubs, and manual windows.  Yup, that's the unicorn option package.  Needless to say, I'm looking at much older stuff.

[MushCreek]

My Ford van is an '02, and it's pretty basic. Manual windows and door locks. It has an automatic tranny and power steering, but that's about it. I've actually learned a bit about how to diagnose and repair the computerized engine, since Fords eat coils (it has and the dealer gets $300 EACH to replace them. I also found a major vacuum leak that the dealer somehow missed on their $1000 'tune-up'. My next truck will be older- much older, maybe 1950's. I drive a lot in the van, commuting back and forth from FL to SC, but once we live here full time, I'll get an old farm truck to tinker with.