OT: Talking Cars Tuesday: What's your biggest gripe among new cars?
We live in an automotive platinum age. When I was a kid, 100K was ancient for a car. Now it's a medium sized milestone. You can practically close your eyes and pick from a list of auto manufacturers and come up with something that will be more reliable, powerful, and fuel efficient than something even 10 years ago, and definitely more than something 20 years ago.
However, not everything is perfect, and, I like to whine. What's your biggest gripe about new cars?
For me it's the death of simplicity. It really hit me when I drove an old fleet Ford Five Hundred a couple years back on a long trip. This car had acutal keys, an AM/FM/CD radio, manual HVAC controls, and manual lights.
And I *loved* it. Something about the simplicity spoke to me, and actually made my driving less stressful and busy. It was a great road trip. My Miata is the same way.
I admit, I may be getting old, and you can all get off my lawn. But still...
My '07 Commander has been acting wierd (trying to waterproof my driveway with oil, for example) and I've been looking online at new/used cars. It's damned hard to find a car that doesn't have automagic everything and a screen the size of a small tablet in the center stack, or $400 easily losable key fobs.
What, if any, are your gripes?
"Having an actual key to start a car was not a problem that needed a solution. "
amen!
This to me is a huge gripe. But I think it's just a way of making more money on a formerly cheap but essential component.
should make it impossible to lock your keys in your car
Pretty sure the point was to take somethign that cost $2 to replace at a hardware store, the ignition key, and turn it into something that costs $500 and can only be done at a dealership.
Consumers lose.
Just keep them in your pocket. I never pull my keys out of my pocket, and it's great. Walk up to the car, put my hand in the handle and the car unlocks. Push to start. When I've parked, I hit the lock button on the handle. Never have to touch the keys except picking them off the counter in the morning.
I'm not sure why hitting the brake to start is so irritating, but if you don't, that's how you turn on the car without igniting the engine.
Yeah, I actually like it. Tap that button and the car starts while I do other stuff like put my seatbelt on or choose music.
My wife keeps the keys in her pocket. She just never knows which pocket, so good luck if I ever want to drive the dang car.
Of course this is better than where she left the last set, which was on the deck lid, driving down the road, who the hell knows where.
In related news, the Tile Bluetooth locators are pretty much worthless unless you're within 30 feet.
Couldnt disagree more.
I just bought a car that has push start but requires key in ignition rather than just keyless. Hate it. I liked to not have to know where the key was. If the car started the key was in the coor.
I also miss door handle unlock button.
All that said my "new" car is the first car Ive ever earned that is truly fun to drive.
Then comes the inevitable day when the battery in your keyless fob dies and you can't start your car; then you go to try and change out the battery, except the fob doesn't actually come with a lid that let's you easily get to the battery, so you essentially have to take the fob apart to change out the battery....just so you can start your car.
I may never buy a Ford again for this reason alone.
it's like an airplane cockpit in there these days. Not to mention under the hood - we've lost an entire generation of hobbyist garage mechanics. i also concur that a $100 transponder key is crazy.
But my gripes are: the prices. It's just insane that a basic family sedan is $30k or more. average family can't save that easily, this is why they sell 72, even 80 month loans now. the benefit of course is that cars now are very reliable and can easily last for 7+ yrs if you don't wreck it.
and my other gripe - is the sameness. I assume this is somewhat due to regulations that require certain features and lights and windows etc. But it's wild that so many cars across brands look so alike. Is it regulation or consumer preference? yuck. give me some variety.
to temper my complaints, i do like the advances in cars that i'm complaining about. the reliability, the doors that unlock as i walk up to the car, the controls and convenience and comfort that come with all the tech options in the dash. So I'm griping because you asked me to but truth be told, i like the features in most cases.
the key is lack of choice.
It seems like I can't get a mid sized SUV that has manual controls, a decent drivetrain, and no screen.
I had a '98 ZJ that had a great drive train (Quadra-Trac, low range, 318) but pretty simple interior controls. I loved it.
Today, good luck in finding something without automatic lighting, interior screen, $400 fob, auto unlock, lane departure warning....
Maybe you can get that in like a base, small SUV, but then you end up with a cheap drive train too.
Grand Cherokee Laredo is what you might want to look at
Most have the screen I hate, and the fob I hate but it's closest. Also, the drivetrain I really like is AWD/Low range. I had that on my ZJ and now on my Commander.
Maybe I'll look down south and see if there is a 20 year old ZJ with a 318 someone wants rid of.... ;-)
So I'm in the market for a new car and have been looking at options for about 6 months. My only real request is a compact/smaller SUV as I need the addtional space with 2 kids but don't like driving the larger SUVs.
My gripe is that they all suck. They all look the same. Which would be fine if that consistent appearance didn't suck. They all have this curved, modern look which just isn't my cup of tea.
My first car was a 2001 Jeep Cherokee and honestly if I could find one of those repurposed with today's technology I would overspend just to get it.
can tell you that my CRV has been extremely low maintenence. I have had it since 2011, it has 150,000 miles on it and I commute 35 miles of city driving each way to work. I have had to get new break pads and rotors twice, two new sets of tires, and fix a minor problem with the air conditioning, that's it. The interior is spacious, and the hatch has a suprising amount of useable room as well. It has very good gas mileage. I can't speak as to the touch screen, bluetooth and yadayada because it is the model before that came standard. (I have heard the interiors on newer models are very nice and fairly intuitive). I do recommend it though, it has been a very good small SUV for a family of four with gas mileage as a premium consideration.
I have 2 CRVs. My toaster looks better and may even be faster. But since my wife and daughter drive them I am okay with that.
We had a mid 2000s Murano that looked great at that time.
If i was buying I would have chosen a Subaru Crosstrek last time but my wife preferred the CRV
can't think of one feature of a car that I care less about than how "fast" it is. I am not 5 years old and am not entering the CRV into the Piston Cup.
My CRV has been great no problems at 112k miles. However, the AC just blew out and everything online says it is most likely the compressor (very common issue) and will be a 1-2k job. Not sure what I'm going to do now since it's a 9k car. Might need to get a new car tbh if the dealer will give me a decent deal.
My advice: Just bite the bullet and get a mini-van. Trust me you'll be glad you did.
Arrogant bastard!
I have deep and abiding hatred for our minivan. Setting that aside, for utility vehicles that don't have to go offroad a minivan is hard to beat.
are typically cheaper than a minivan
I bought a new 2017 Patriot last August for $18K
My youngest just bought a 2017 4x4 Renegade and she got her payment down to under $350 - she lives in Alaska so 4x4 is needed
Have you looked at wagons?
RAV4 is nice. Very low maintenance.
The escapes before they were turned into the shitty small minivan look.
reminders of shit I need to do - get 3 month service, check the washer fluid, close the door, music may be too loud.
I get ordered around enough at work and by my wife - do I have to be told what to do in my only sanctuary, my drive to work? Just ain't right...
Hey man, somebody done stole yo' battery. I say we go get the MoFo...
Murphy - classic...
Watch this video (from 2009, and cars are even safer today) and tell me you want your old rigid frame vehicle in a crash.
The front and back are meant to crumple in very specific ways to absorb the force. The passenger area is meant to remain rigid to protect the passengers. The idea is to remove as much force on the passengers as possible as that's how you get whiplash and whatnot.
Ironically, you have it precisely backwards
Back in the day, the rigid car didn't crumple - your body did. That wonderfully solid feeling body, nice hard dashboard, and rigid construction transferred all the energy to your nice soft fleshy body
Now the car crumples so your body doesn't
5-month old BMW without so much as even a scratch, I'd say they have worked it out pretty well. And my car was T-Boned by a Chevy Silverado that completely blew through a red light at an intersection. And btw- the driver was on a suspended license...
fuck that guy. glad you made it out safe
I am with you on how hard it is to get at anything in the engine anymore, but given how everything is run by computer, does it even really matter, save for when you have to jump it?
Absolutely not with you on the crumple vs. rigid thing.
Biggest gripe...for all the technology-forward functionality in today's new cars, OEM's lack the conscience, and NHSTA has yet to mandate the disabling of cell phones for the driver, save for actual use of the phone function via hands-free. There are aftermarket devices that one can plug into a vehicle's OBD port, so it surprises me that no entity has stepped up to that plate yet. My commute is 12-13 minutes of highway driving and 5 minutes of secondary road driving each way. I see people every day staring at their screens. This is my biggest car gripe.
After you've driven your car for a while your hand remembers where all those knobs are so you can change temp, volume, etc. without looking--good luck doing that on a touch screen.
unless you're a computer scientist or have $100,000 worth of equipment
Cars these days have so much, I can't even figure out how to use most of it. They damn near drive themselves anymore with Intuitive Cruise Control and lane departure assist.
I had a Jeep Grand Cherokee as a rental that had that feature. It was the first car I have driven that had that so I thought it was a neat concept. I can see how that could get annoying if it is shutting off when you don't want it to. They really should make that a feature that you could turn on and off.