Arrrrrrrgh! I can't stand modern cars!

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theholycow
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Re: Arrrrrrrgh! I can't stand modern cars!

Post by theholycow »

InlinePaul wrote:and a big wide flat metal dashboard where you could mount all sorts of stuff.
Ooh, I like that. I hate dashboards that slope down towards the seats at all, or in the other direction are almost parallel with the windshield. I don't want to drive around with a lot of crap sliding around on it, but I often have plenty of reasons to put stuff on it and I want it to be a good place for that. I might stick my phone there while using a headset while driving. I'll put it in a mount that sits there to use it as a GPS. When I arrive somewhere, I might need to get myself organized and I'll place a whole bunch of stuff on the dash that I want to bring with me. If I get pulled over I put my keys, wallet, etc in plain sight on the dash so the cop can be less nervous that I'm about to dig a gun out of my pocket or drive away...I may be unhappy that he's about to (usually, IMO, unfairly) bust my balls, but his being nervous will only make it worse.

I like cubbyholes and glove boxes and storage spaces and gaps and pockets. I like a lot of space between the seat and the floor. If I didn't dislike bucket seats I'd like no console between them, that'd be a nice space.
tankinbeans wrote:I couldn't deal with only having one window open. When it's warm out, but not hot and humid enough to justify ac, I have all windows open and the sunroof.
Word! I gotta have lots of moving air. Sometimes I use A/C but it's no substitute for having all my windows open on a nice day.

I try to crank my windows when I'm not driving but sometimes I gotta do it at a red light or even while moving. Luckily I can kinda reach the passenger side...
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Re: Arrrrrrrgh! I can't stand modern cars!

Post by Shadow »

theholycow wrote:[....I might stick my phone there while using a headset while driving. I'll put it in a mount that sits there to use it as a GPS....
Ah, but with tech, you don't need a headset while driving. A nice bluetooth connection gives you the ability to keep your phone in your pocket and hear your phone conversation through your car's stereo speakers while you just speak at a normal volume inside the cabin. And of course GPS is on a large LCD screen built into the dash and also integrated into the audio system that will mute your music when the GPS lady is talking. I really don't understand how anyone can not like technology in modern cars.
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Re: Arrrrrrrgh! I can't stand modern cars!

Post by Shadow »

I think this would make InlinePaul's head explode:

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That is the dash of a new Tesla Model S, a fully electric car that has a 17-inch LCD touchscreen to control just about everything imaginable.
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Re: Arrrrrrrgh! I can't stand modern cars!

Post by tankinbeans »

Shadow wrote:
theholycow wrote:[....I might stick my phone there while using a headset while driving. I'll put it in a mount that sits there to use it as a GPS....
Ah, but with tech, you don't need a headset while driving. A nice bluetooth connection gives you the ability to keep your phone in your pocket and hear your phone conversation through your car's stereo speakers while you just speak at a normal volume inside the cabin. And of course GPS is on a large LCD screen built into the dash and also integrated into the audio system that will mute your music when the GPS lady is talking. I really don't understand how anyone can not like technology in modern cars.
More stuff to break is usually the argument.
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Re: Arrrrrrrgh! I can't stand modern cars!

Post by Shadow »

tankinbeans wrote: More stuff to break is usually the argument.
Thankfully, modern tech is very reliable. The failure rate for the stuff I mentioned is extremely low.
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Re: Arrrrrrrgh! I can't stand modern cars!

Post by ClutchFork »

Rope-Pusher wrote:I've seen a boat that had a dipstick...for the gas tank! You opened the fuel cap, pushed a wooden stick down the hole until it bumped the bottom of the tank, pulled it back out and looked to see how far up the stick the wet mark came. Anything more technical than this is superfluous!
That is EXACTLY how you checked the fuel level in a Model T. But the tank was under the seat.

tankinbeans wrote:I couldn't deal with only having one window open. When it's warm out, but not hot and humid enough to justify ac, I have all windows open and the sunroof.
I often ran with the my side window open and the AC on!
InlinePaul wrote:Having a little kitty heart attack about stuff.
Huh, what? I said that? Me no find original. Maybe accidental clip from other thread? Oh well, no harm.
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Re: Arrrrrrrgh! I can't stand modern cars!

Post by SonicHKS »

I like my car being smart, yet simple.

For instance, with the Sonic if I leave the doors open it'll automatically shut off the lights. I also like bluetooth, having my phone connect to the in-car hands-free and stereo without me pushing a button. Intuitive, natural controls that aren't annoying are something I really like.

However, I don't like a lot of complexity. Everything on the car needs to be something I can understand and work on relatively easily. So I don't like features that I don't need, I don't want direct injection or anything that makes the car needlessly complex, etc.

My Sonic is exactly what I was looking for in a new car. Features I want, none that I don't need, its quality and has nice things like power windows and hardly any stupid features that cost $1000+ to fix when they break. In terms of the engine, its not that different from previous GM products I've owned, its small in a large engine bay and pretty straightforward to fix. Basically, the car is like an older 90's-00's GM with a couple new features and smart fixes that should've been on their older cars.

You'd never catch me buying a German car or anything like that :lol:. They're notorious for needless bleeding edge tech that costs thousands when it fails, engines you have no hope of working on yourself, etc. They're mostly hype and features I don't need, I'll take an American car with $20/ea for parts, thanks 8).
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Re: Arrrrrrrgh! I can't stand modern cars!

Post by theholycow »

Good point about auto-shutoff of lights. I do like that feature, though I'd settle for a chime/buzzer. Even better, if I lock it and walk away with the lights still on, it should honk at me.

That reminds me. Chimes and buzzers. I don't want them for minor things. Seatbelt chime? Don't worry car, I'll put it on before I drive away, but I may not have it on when I start the engine, so STFU. I disable it on every vehicle I own. I never forget to wear my seatbelt, ever. It simply has never happened and I doubt it ever will. If you must alert me, a single "ding" will suffice, not 10 seconds of the loudest "BONG! BONG! BONG!" ever.

I do like the chime that goes off in my truck when I forget to release the parking brake before I drive away. Damn crappy parking brake barely holds the vehicle and there's plenty of torque so you don't even notice it if you somehow miss the red indicator light. A good parking brake using a real drum service brake's components would make it unnecessary by dragging hard enough to be noticed, but my truck has the worst drum-in-disc-brake-rotor-hat parking brake design ever.
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Re: Arrrrrrrgh! I can't stand modern cars!

Post by six »

theholycow wrote:I never forget to wear my seatbelt, ever. It simply has never happened and I doubt it ever will.
Second that. I even put on my seatbelt to back the car out of the driveway to wash it. It's simply too engrained a habit to break, ever. I always feel uncomfortable without a seatbelt on whilst inside a car. Same kind of feeling as the sensation of a missing wallet or phone from your pocket while walking away, if you know what I'm talking about...
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Re: Arrrrrrrgh! I can't stand modern cars!

Post by theholycow »

six wrote:I always feel uncomfortable without a seatbelt on whilst inside a car. Same kind of feeling as the sensation of a missing wallet or phone from your pocket while walking away, if you know what I'm talking about...
Exactly. It's like being naked.

When my seatbelt loosens and ratchets out from me moving around in the seat, I pull it so it will retract against me again. I wish it wouldn't ratchet out.
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Re: Arrrrrrrgh! I can't stand modern cars!

Post by tankinbeans »

Seatbelts: ever since falling out of my dad's POS Skyhawk at 55mph when I was 4, I never forget either. Almost dying tends to do that to a person. If I notice a passenger isn't wearing a seatbelt I will stay parked until they take the hint, sometimes I'll glare at them.

I hate, however, the seatbelts with a nasty tendency to get twisted. I have to spend multiple minutes fixing those before going anywhere. Luckily I keep mine in good working order.
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Re: Arrrrrrrgh! I can't stand modern cars!

Post by Rope-Pusher »

InlinePaul wrote:
Rope-Pusher wrote:I've seen a boat that had a dipstick...for the gas tank! You opened the fuel cap, pushed a wooden stick down the hole until it bumped the bottom of the tank, pulled it back out and looked to see how far up the stick the wet mark came. Anything more technical than this is superfluous!
That is EXACTLY how you checked the fuel level in a Model T. But the tank was under the seat.
Well, now that you mention it, this boat had a set of controls concentric to the steering wheel shaft that said "Spark" and "Throttle", although the "spark" lever was used to control the gearshift. It was a Gray Marine engine, which didn't have a provision for manual control of the spark timing.
Always fingered they were from some old Ford - boat was hand-built back in the 20's. Could have been a Model T Gas Dipstick.
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Re: Arrrrrrrgh! I can't stand modern cars!

Post by Shadow »

On some modern cars, you have the ability to customize the warning chimes to suit your own preferences. Don't like a seatbelt warning chime? Turn it off. Don't like a headlight warning chime? Turn it off. A lot of VAG cars have this ability with a simple connection to VAGCOM software.

Also, stuff like automatic locking doors is often controlled by the car owner. Hell, my car is so configurable that it's crazy. I can even turn my DRL LEDs on or off through a setting on the navigation screen.
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Re: Arrrrrrrgh! I can't stand modern cars!

Post by ClutchFork »

theholycow wrote:
InlinePaul wrote:and a big wide flat metal dashboard where you could mount all sorts of stuff.
Ooh, I like that. I hate dashboards that slope down towards the seats at all, or in the other direction are almost parallel with the windshield. I don't want to drive around with a lot of crap sliding around on it, but I often have plenty of reasons to put stuff on it and I want it to be a good place for that. I might stick my phone there while using a headset while driving. I'll put it in a mount that sits there to use it as a GPS. When I arrive somewhere, I might need to get myself organized and I'll place a whole bunch of stuff on the dash that I want to bring with me.
Ah yes, while I meant it had a flat (and vertical) face, it did also make a very nice storage tray and at times I had tons of junk up there. The good old days. Oh and the key went into the dashboard not the steering column on that old '77 F100. Strange how they came out with locking steering columns about 1970 and finally after 40 years it dawned on them that they can actually get the column to lock and have the key back in the dashboard--rather dimwitted of them eh?
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theholycow wrote:Why in the world would you even want to be as smooth as an automatic? Might as well just drive an automatic...
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Re: Arrrrrrrgh! I can't stand modern cars!

Post by AHTOXA »

I also hate the seatbelt chime and I had it turned off the the VW I owned a while back. VAG-COM does give a lot of customization options. On the Sonic I don't really mind because it does not beep or chime at me when the car is standing. Only when it's moving that it starts to beep. I have my seatbelt on before I take off anyway, so it's a non-issue for me.
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