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?
I am currenly looking for a new SUV/Crossover. I want one that can perform well, good accelleration and most importantly HANDLING.
Most Auto makers are having a difficult time mating a good engine with handling. You have to pay a premium for that (ie German) Also too many plastic parts on most exteriors.
Technology is moving so fast and the newer models are loaded, however that technology can be very buggy. I had a 2018 Mazda CX-5 rental last week that had the tech screen freezing up on it for long periods of time. Early buyers of the Volvo XC40 are reporting issues with the tech in that new model as well.
I like BMW, but the X3 and X5 are bland styling.
Gonna go with a good used Porsche Cayenne, and bite the bullet on $ if anything should happen which needs repair. Ive owned Porsches before and know what to expect from them....