this post was submitted on 18 Mar 2024
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"Dumb car" is kind of relative. Computer engine controls have been around since the mid 1970's. And while the first ones were not very good, they have become pretty darned reliable over the intervening years. And as someone who has owned cars and other heavy equipment with mechanical points and down draft and up draft carburetors, you won't ever see me willingly own a car with any of that anymore.
If you really want to minimize the electronics as much as possible, look at 1990's to no later than 2010 models.
Though to be fair, much of the problems with cars are caused by the accessories like power windows, door locks, air conditioning, and power seats. Those are far more problematic than the basic car itself.
I think they mean all the newer techno crap that cars have like touch screens and the like not power windows, AC and engine related stuff thats been around for decades. And I agree with that. I want a car that has the basics and yeet the touch screens and other garbage no one asked for but it seems theres not really any choice anymore.
Those touch screens are all a part of the accessories. And I dislike them intensely also. I also find it very disheartening that in some new cars a software up date is needed to make the dock locks work. A friend had to take his mother's Kia in to rematch the door locks to a new key. They needed to remove the door handles and plug them into a computer to do so.
The last new car I bought, (2015 Jeep Patriot), made me search EVERY car dealer in 2 states before I found one that had manual door locks and manual windows. I often haul dogs around with me and while they are quite good at locking doors and rolling up windows, they really, really suck at rolling them down or unlocking the doors. It took me a couple of months of weekly searching to finally find one for sale.
Kia are bastards when it comes to anti consumer practices, my 2012 Kia had an airbag warning light come on right before it’s MOT and my usual garage said they couldn’t read the fault code, I tried specialised diagnostic readers and even borrowed a garage spec one from a neighbour and still couldn’t get anything from it.
In the end I had to take it to Kia themselves and get them to read the fault code for £130, turns out the fault was exactly what everyone thought it was but couldn’t confirm and now they want £750 to replace a single airbag module that needs to be coded to the car once it’s installed. My car has been in their garage since the start of January and there’s still no sign of the part arriving yet but I can’t install one myself because of the fact that only Kia can recode it to match the car.
I think this thread just goes to show that 'modern technology crap' is relative. For some, adaptive cruise control is modern technology crap, for others, electronic fuel injection is modern technology crap. I recall when power windows were thought to be crap, because when the switch breaks, you can't open the window any more. It's the same with any new tech.