Today's cars and trucks come packed with some pretty spiffy features. Most drivers will never use them, or even know that they have them. But they will pay for them.
Vehicles these days are needlessly over complex. They are overpriced so that regular people can no longer afford them without stressing the budget to the max.
The vehicle I might be interested in buying would not have any features or extras, just the low tech ability to move me across the landscape.
So, no, I don't want:
- an advanced driver assist system
- smartphone integration (I don't own a smartphone)
- a 31 inch theatre screen
- a fold out desk
- the ability to travel far beyond the legal speed limit
- a button to push on the key fob so the car drives itself out of a tight parking predicament
- heated seats and steering wheel
- navigation systems (I love paper maps, and can fold them, too... usually)
- reverse cameras and parking sensors
- USB charging outlets
- multi-zone climate system
- all of this complexity adds up to an average car price in my country of $66,288. That means a lot of new vehicles are even more than that.
I don't own a car any more. I might if I could get one that doesn't do anything except transport me from point A to point B, and cost $10,000 dollars or less brand new.
The cost to run it would be minimal, and most repairs would be simple enough for the owner to complete themselves.
Here is what I would want in a car:
- seating for up to 4 people
- space for a few bags of groceries
- steering wheel
- gas and brake pedals
- hand cranked windows
- four wheels
- a simple and efficient propulsion method not dependent on computer chips (like a horse... carrots not included)
That's it. I might go for the optional floor mats, but probably not.
Good points!! I had been thinking about getting a newer version of my beloved, basic model Subaru Forester, until I read this article about how invasive all this unnecessary technology is to our privacy as well as to our budgets: https://reclaimthenet.org/cars-a-modern-privacy-disaster
ReplyDeleteThanks for that. It is even worse than I portrayed.
DeleteCar companies want to make money from selling the data provided by all the high tech in new vehicles. The surveillance and monitoring of drivers of new cars is reason enough for me to never buy one again.
Then there is the whole "kill switch" thing. Don't pay your car loan? The holder of the loan shuts your car off until payment is received. Drive in ways the system interprets as dangerous? Expect the new car to take over and automatically drive you home. Or to the police station.
Dystopia? What dystopia?