It infuriates me soo much that we banned pop up headlights for pedestrian safety and then let everyone drive around huge lifted trucks and literal bricks like the crybertruck
@@crackedemerald4930 On the 1968 Dodge Charger, the headlight covers were hydraulic. If the hydraulic system failed, the covers were designed to default to the open position. Not sure about any other car with pop up headlights though.
Not everything, but it is getting far and few between to find high quality products. If we want to hold onto humanity instead of becoming enslaved worker ants, we have to make that effort while we still can. For example, the average human brain size has actually been significantly shrinking over the past few thousand years. People don't like to talk about that though. It makes them uncomfortable.
@@sbocaj22 That's called "rationalization." It's challenging for people to accept how stupid they actually are. The idea of progress has been brainwashed into us as a product of civilization.
A big problem with cars today is the people who make them don't drive them. The small, clever features are basically gone. I remember when I started driving my first car, a 2001 VW Polo, one of the first things that stuck out to me was the fact the 3 AC knobs had different sizes, meaning you didn't need to look down (bottom centre to be more specific, right above the ashtray) to know whether you were changing the air speed, temperature or which vent the air would come out. You don't see these sort of features anymore. Clever features have been replaced by smart™ ones.
By cheap ones. It is way cheaper to put everything into screen and/or some touch panel then produce a hundred different knobs and buttons, get all wiring etc. But I still hope that EU at some point will push some safety requirements controls.
This is so true, they replaced car designers who were practical engineers with auto engineers that have a masters degree and no practical experience or knowledge
The dashboard does NOT look like a spaceship. It looks like some kid left their iPad double-taped to the dash of an econo car from Eastern Europe circa 1988.
Thank you. A Star Trek tng shuttlecraft console would be better, but they're able to look down at what they're doing to mess with the touchscreen. I get nervous when I need to adjust the temperature inside since I need to look away from the road (touchscreen)
@@Kaede-Sasaki my current car is getting pretty beat up and the main thing I don't want to deal with in a new car is having to look at a damned screen when i want to change the radio or temperature.
The safety paradox also applies to road design. Where supposed "dangerous" roads(usually many curves or corners) were redesigned and straightened out with the goal to increase safety, after said changes, collisions actually INCREASED! Those curves and weird turns forced drivers to slow down and actively focus on their driving. Whereas the straighter "safer" roads bred a false sense of security and safety, leading to more drivers to reduce their focus on actively driving.
I've been getting into urbanism and city planning and road design in the US and Canada is awful. Roads are not fundamentally designed with a speed in mind so you get wide lanes, smooth roads, and straight stretches that encourage high speeds and then we wonder why our roads are dangerous. Design speed is a thing traffic planners here need to start learning. We have roads designed for a speed of 50 mph with a 25 mph speed limit sign slapped on it
All of those factors along with mis-timed traffic lights led to many drivers where I live to just floor it or engage in road rage if any sort of delay happens. Then again, sometimes you just have really bad people who happen to drive cars.
Yeah, and the thing is, curvy roads are _more fun to drive on_ than straight ones too. Even at the speed limit, a really nice car and a curvy road will turn anyone into an enthusiastic driver.
@@rtmpgt Totally. I'm a huge fan of curvy mountain roads and finally have cars that are very fun to drive on them. I've never felt in danger on even the curviest of mountain roads (which is US 191 in eastern Arizona). It's the long, straight freeways that have lulled me nearly to sleep before.
I'm a mechanical engineeer student and a car enthusiast. I got a few late 80s BMWs, they are made to be serviced, easily repaired, and they last and they were designed by engineers, not the marketing and financial department. Why I love these old cars so much. The hostility towards maintenance in the design of new cars terrify me. It is just all too clear they are not made to be maintained over longer periods of time, but rather disposed off and replaced.
Yes, but Mexican labor has reduced the MSRP so much, now anybody can afford a new car every few years. So what if you have to pull an engine to replace a water pump?
Cyber truck is the best truck you can ever buy whether you are a truck guy or not . Has been confirmed by the best engineers like sandy Munro, you don't know what you are talking about
This would be all true (and technically is, notwithstanding) except that some of this shittiness is mandated by law (driver assistance in particular) and until that changes we're on a bad trajectory :(
I wish. People actually hate driving, and somehow they actually like that tech. It makes no sense that people will pay more money to have less control over the 2 ton 75 mile per hour projectile they step into every morning
"and not enough to be scary" Or flat-out riduculous. Like the push-button cars with the brick remotes: You can't push the button to start, and then push the brake. You have to push the brake first. WHY? Or, it "knows" you're there because the exterior door handle locks work. But it gets confused if you're standing outside and reach in through the window to push the button to stop (or rather, "shut down"). I could go on and on...
Touchscreen controls are awful for any actions needed to be done while driving. Physical controls have tactile feedback that allows you to use muscle memory to do what you want without requiring you to take your eyes off the road. Moving them to touchscreen is quite dangerous.
Yup. The tech stopped at sensors. People drive computer-operated mechanical components now. Don’t buy new shit if you can help it. You simply can’t do any meaningful work on them in your garage now.
My 1994 S Class Mercedes was the best car ever made by humans. Every model after that got worse, less quiltiy more electronics - I gave away my last one, a 2012 5.0L V8 S Class Coupe it had so many electrical problems it was unsellable
A lot of the 'old cars are more reliable' sentiment is down to survivorship bias. Most of the old cars you see on the road are the reliable ones because the unreliable old cars (of which there are many) are rusting away in junkyards, or have long since been crushed into cubes.
@@Hanstra Maybe true in Am3ric4 cos you make a lot of s h ! t cars. But almost ANY European or Japanese car from 1995 to 2005 is capable of 400k miles with basic servicing. My mother and sister had my old Audi 100's - both did 450k miles.
Yes! Everything is on subscription today, and it’s maddening! If I save up and buy a product, I want to own it! I still purchase CD’s and DVD’s just to know, I have the physical media, and it stays mine.
Honestly this is a big reason I'm trying to keep my 2008 vw Jetta alive and on the road. I don't want a touch screen, i don't want powered seats i don't need a backup camera i don't need it to beep at me every minute. I just want a Bluetooth radio, and 3 nobs for volume, temperature and fan direction. But nothing is built like that anymore
Same! Except personally I really like the power adjustable seats because I’m disabled and it’s just not safe to adjust the seat while driving especially with my spine issues
I drive a 2010 VW Golf that is still working perfectly. Manual transmission, physical buttons, a very small non touch screen, manually adjustable seats and mirrors... It's great! It could be even more manual for me though. I once had a problem with the door and it costed a fortune to fix, since the thing is full of wires for the speakers and electric windows. In the 90s and 2000s my father had the perfect car. Pretty much everything was manual. Only the radio and cassette player were 'modern electronic devices'. The car was a bit smaller than people would like now and the back seats didn't have headrests, but overall it was amazing.
When I got my license I ended up taking my dad’s old car (also 2008) and when my brother started driving a few years later he ended up getting a new 2022 car. My mother kept telling me “I’m glad you’re not jealous of your brother because we got him a new car” and I went “if right now you offered me a choice between his car and mine I would still choose my car every time.” My car was the first car I’ve driven, the car I got my license in. It has an absolutely timeless look and feel that I genuinely think it looks better than the current year version of its model. It has a CD player for my collection and if I want to play stuff on my phone I just use my Bluetooth to FM converter. Good trunk space for a sedan and nice ac. New enough to feel nice to drive but not so new that it’s overly complicated. I’ll drive it till the wheels fall off.
Same! But a 2009 mk2 Ford Focus estate. There's very few new tech or feature my or my family need or want (I'm an IT architecture and developer so know a thing or two about software defined X). The things that could be good (better sound proofing, EV drivetrain, some extra cm of space for my 6' and growing boys in the back etc) will have the huge downsides around subscriptions, software, serviceability, short lifecyle for software updates and so on attached..
Future Proof should definitely make a video about the state of electronics repairability and the right to repair movement. I think your style and take could make that digestable and interesting for the masses.
My biggest gripes with modern cars are - touchscreens, driving aids, tacky interiors, too many gizmos, unbearably ugly styling, ridiculous purchase and maintenance costs……and most of them aren’t enjoyable to drive! They are also 100% geared toward lease deals - outright purchase prices are now out of reach of average motorists, almost forcing them onto 2-3 year lease cycles, which helps the manufacturers to maintain ‘sales’.
If you're involved in the most minute fender-bender your insurance is likely to chalk the vehicle up as a "total," essentially forcing you into getting another [new] vehicle, unless you can navigate the lengthy and perilous journey to "retain and salvage title" the vehicle. And this doesn't even address the giant pickups that are 5 feet high in the front with no FORWARD-facing camera to see what - or who - you might be running over.
How are touchscreens in cars not a safety issue? I must look to see what I'm doing just to adjust the temperature. Nothing wrong with slides, levers, buttons, and toggle switches.
Don't forget the spy cameras and microphones that watch and reco0rd everything you say and do, and transmit it to the manufacturer via 24/7 WiFi as it happens. Big brother is watching YOU. In your own car, which actually isn't yours after all.
The realization that manufacturers can make more money through malfunctions and the required repairs/replacements has spelled the doom of every industry.
Well sort of, it's of critical interest to most carmakers to make their cars last through the warranty period or they start losing money, but after that manufacturer repairs become a new income stream.
I guess you aren't old enough to remember when cars were smoking at 50,000 miles. It's a good thing you could fix them, because they needed a lot of fixing. My car is 24 years old and other than the transmission needed replacement at 180,000 miles, runs great. No 1950's car could put on 220,000 miles w/o at least a valve job, and more likely, complete overhaul.
@@smh9902the whole reason why cars from the 1950’s to 1962 had a finite lifespan was that was when they still used a road draft tube to ventilate vapors from the engine at highway speeds. One of those things that worked in theory, but ended up being disastrous and messy. The problem is the road draft tube didn’t do anything in stop and go traffic, as a result the vapors wouldn’t be ventilated from the engine. Since blow-by gases would react with any moisture that happened to be present, would cause lots of sludge buildup which ultimately would cause oiling issues. As soon as the PCV valve became mandatory in 1963, eliminated all those problems. The PCV valve doubled the life of engines since they could go up to 150,000 miles to 200,000 miles without a problem while road draft tube engines were lucky to make it to 100,000 miles.
The most annoying thing about the infotainment centers are the lack of knobs and buttons. That struck a cord with me, undeniably why I still love my 2016 Corolla. A blend between convenience with bluetooth, but with a full set of buttons and knobs that I can touch without having to take my attention away from the road.
I do actually like touchscreen. But I think all the essentials should have physical buttons. I think we actually need regulation and research as to what those minimal physical controls are.
In the late 80's, The digital "revolution" was introduced to home stereos. It was terrible as all the knobs and switches were replaced with tons of buttons.
as someone who uses scooter and bus to get around, this is actually interesting but my biggest concern is cars getting bigger and wider and becoming less safe for everyone around them. modern SUVs that everyone seems to be buying today are practically tanks compared to small, cheap "city cars", bikers, cyclists and pedestrians.
This is why I'm bucking the trend and buying a Miata. Perfect for couples, two seats, really tiny, really efficient, plenty fun for the twisty backroads, practical enough to hold a week's shopping in the boot, fast enough to get out of its own way. Big SUVs are stupid. A family could easily live out of a Mazda 3 or any similar car from any other brand.
What's more, the Rhode Island DMV had the audacity to reneg on Kei teuck ownership, and their excuse is that the tiny, nimble, fuel efficient things are "a danger to the drivers and those around them." Ah, great! please proceed with revoking the registration for all modern pickups for having front ends like brick walls.
pretty much this ... there are sensible inovations and there are marketing gimmicks ... the problem is, we get a lot more of the later forced on us ...
My car is a 2010 corolla which is right on the edge of the tech switchover and I will be holding on to it as long as is humanly possible. It’s reliable, and safe but not decked out in all the crazy bells and whistles. Still has a real key, has a radio and CD player and aux but no Bluetooth or screens. Cruise control, but nothing more than that. Imo the perfect balance of the good things about modern cars without all the crazy.
I drive a 2002 sports car. I've had to completely adjust my driving style to account for an entire class of driver that relies solely on driver assist features. You really start to notice the difference when you are one of the few people on the road that doesn't use them. I have to constantly pursue open space on the road. I do this to proactively avoid tech-reliant drivers, and while it may appear as aggressive driving, it really isn't, it's more like quick moves to get out of high potential danger areas. It's hard to even pinpoint why I need to do this, it's just a feeling you get when on the road that the people around me are completely unaware of my driving cues because people no longer actively read them. You are right, we're just creating bad drivers.
On an episode of Some Ordinary Podcast a few months ago they talked about Ford testing out a self driving feature that will drive their cars back to the dealer if the owner is late on payment. That'd be really fucking fun to wake up in the morning and finding out your car walked out on you while you're sleeping.
or worse, a mistake in the computer system flagged the car as being late on a payment. These are the sort of features that would instantly remove a car from my potential buy list, even if I've never missed a car payment in my life.
Also what's to stop them from taking the car even if you did pay the entire thing off, and then sold it to someone else, but the system thinks it's stolen due to a different GPS location?
I bet you a million bucks that if Ford activates this feature and the car crashes into another car during its drive to the dealer, the dealer will absolutely say it's the fault of the person who paid late.
@@WaterworksMC if you can make it go 60 mph, or you can turn it into some sort of mr bean mobile, weld 2 together than there you go, a car, i invented it dont steal my invention
As a life-long car enthusiast, I totally agree with everything said in this video. Things really took a wrong turn in the late 90s, with planned obsolescence and SUVs... Cars are mechanically safer nowadays, but full of ridiculously pointless tech that not only makes us worse drivers but also dumber consumers.
SUVs and their body shapes were literally the orginal body style for cars though back in the early 1900s. We have just returned to form. Plus sedans and such keep getting less and less practical being slammed to the pavement and less usable. Not to say SUVs and crossovers are all perfect. Many do in fact sucked.
@@lester9230 As a "Dumb consumer" I'll enjoy my new Miata knowing that it'll be more fixable than any other modern car for at least the next decade or so. Always buy a car with an avid enthusiast community backing it, as the aftermarket will always be there to develop fixes for common issues with a vehicle.
That's why I love my 2009 C class. Manual shifter, small retracting screen for radio and navigation, and bunch of clicky tactile buttons and dials. I wouldn't mind a parking camera, but i can live without it.
I'm driving a 2005 Subaru Legacy, and it often leaves me wondering when did we suddenly got conned into NEEDING a new car every 1-2 years? My car runs great, as long as I've kept up with maintenance and I've spent way less money than I would by buying a new car every 5 years even.
Because its getting leased not bought, also trade ins. Majority of avergae people cant afford a 30k-20k car so what do they do, they trade in their car plus like what 5k a year or something? Which then becomes more manageable to pay. Also since they are new means lower break downs, less headaches and looking for a mechanic.
@@sbocaj22 thats true but once in the loop of the trade in, its difficult to get out. By that I mean its easier to get a shiny new car rather then keeping and old one and paying it off.
unfortunately a lot of people aren't willing to keep up with the regular maintenance an older car needs and would rather trade cars in than worry about it. convenience culture at its finest i guess!
Car hacking is going to be huge. These aren’t complex systems and decent hackers could fairly easily unlock all of those features that are blocked behind digital paywalls. Turn off tracking data, OTA monitoring, nanny systems, etc.
These problems are kind of general, but there are problems more specific to cars. Like, regulations in the US has caused automakers to prioritise selling larger, heavier, less efficient, and more dangerous vehicles like trucks and large SUVs. It's amazing just how many problems there are with cars as a concept in society.
As someone who loves big trucks, I’m all for manufacturers offering small affordable trucks. Not everyone needs or wants something huge, and I’d love to see the extra options. I also wish diesels were more common in the mid size truck segment too.
Something just like this is happening even worse in the motorcycle industry. My dad owns a 2021 BMW gs1250, it said it needed an oil change. We did it, and guess what? YOU CANT RESET THE MAINTENANCE LIGHT YOURSELF!!! All of the shops and dealers local to us said take it to bmw, (which was an hour and 45 mins btw) just to reset a dang maintenance light…. WHYYYYY. If we buy something, we should be able to do whatever we need to do to fix an issue. We need new legislation on crap like this, bc at this point it’s sad how much proprietary garbage is in cars/motorcycles now
to summarize this video: Planned obszolescence is industry standard and the better that computers and software simulation is getting the better they get at planning when a product fails
We enthusiasts have been talking about this for years, finally it seems that the general populous are catching on. Thank you for bringing this info to people who otherwise may not receive it, it's the only way that this could ever change for the better
This is my favorite video on RUclips. Ive been a passionate car fan for a long time and new cars drive me crazy. Especially the idea that a company wouldn't allow me to work on my own car.
I hate the spaceship cockpit, capacitive buttons and the distraction coming from having to interact with a screen that's placed in an unergonomical position so much. Give me back levers, knobs and buttons that I can use without looking at them nor have to consciously think about using! My Mitsubishi Colt 2012 is peak practicality in that regard.
Same. 2013 Yaris. People look at me like I've never driven a "nice" car, or I'm poor, which is even more sad. Kinda gold though as I have a built R34 GTR that runs 9's to destroy their dear hearts with if needed. I cannot fathom why you would want a bloody 5 tier menu screen to try and change simple settings.
Cars today are not driven but pointed… Want a self driving car, take the bus… Need a self parking vehicle, relinquish your drivers license as you’re not fit to drive… Need a vehicle that automatically slows when approaching another vehicle, become more aware of your surroundings.
That unsellable clause isn't unique to Tesla. A lot of rare cars have those requirements where if you don't keep them for 12 months you either must sell them back to a dealer or some other rule. Sometimes you pay a fine, sometimes it's loss of ability to ever buy another one, sometimes you only have to give the manufacturer first option to buy but if someone gives a better deal you can opt for that. The Corvette and the electric Hummer were two other famous ones with this issue.
I was going to change out some of the fluids on my car recently and the fluid receptacle (CVT Fluid) didn't even have a dipstick, it's purposefully set up to prevent individuals from measuring and changing the fluid themselves.
My parents got themselves a brand new suv about 2 years ago. Dad, who is now 79, was in love with the color and how well it rode (comfy seats) and he liked all the backup cameras, side cameras and even some weird camera that's above - which makes no sense to me without having a drone taking that shot, but sure enough it does it. 😅. But omg do they get so frustrated at everything else it has to offer. They're pretty young for their age and enjoy some tech but this thing, I'm 46 and grew up ripping apart computers and reassembling them and even I was no thank you when they listed the crap this car does. Apparently if they use a wand to wash their car they can't wash under the back bumper unless they take the car keys out and lock the car. Otherwise it opens their trunk mid wash! If they remove a hand from the steering wheel (like so many of us do on long trips) it yells at them. An actual voice talks to them and tells them to put their hand back (idk how long it has to be off before that happens). My mother insists that it reports their driving back to the insurance company, but I feel like that's more like my mom signed up for that to get a discount and didn't realize what they meant by monitoring or something lol! I got in it the other day to pair the Bluetooth for her new phone and thought I might be going slowly mad. So many menus! Seriously all I want in a car is: good safety rating, blindspots warning, heated seats (helps my crap back) and Android auto (or whatever it is for iPhones) to listen to Spotify or Libby. I need no other fancy gadgets. ...well maybe the automatic windows just because sometimes cars make a horrific noise on the highway when you only have 1 window down and so cracking the opposite back window helps. But yeah, that's it. I certainly do not want a giant tablet console. This crap needs to stop.
@@sprockkets to be fair, it might. 😆 My parents aren't well versed in all that car's bells and whistles and I certainly haven't perrused it's giant user manual. Good Lord you should see it. It's at least and 1.5 inches thick!
Your mom isn’t wrong, although they usually don’t report directly to insurance companies. Instead, they sell your data to third-party data brokers, which sell information to insurance companies. For example, GM has been selling information about driving behavior (including instances of speeding, braking hard, or rapid acceleration) to LexisNexis, which generates consumer risk profiles for insurers. The desire to use and monetize data is one big reason for the shift to “connected cars.”
I hate my wife's 2021 trailblazer. If the check engine light comes on it auto throttles the engine, the auto shutoff is going to wear the starter out, and we are on our 3rd warranty repair over a sensor malfunctioning. Her last car was a 2009 Rav that was purchased used. Never had any issues with it other than basic maintenance.
Start/stop systems use different starters and have an actual control circuit for them than old "regular" starters. They last 4x as long as a normal starter would because it puts less load on the starter. But given the fact you bought a GM product I wouldn't expect them to have given a single crap about that so enjoy replacing that in the future!
When my mother bought her Buick Envista I drilled it into her that she always has to push the start stop disable button, every time she gets in the car. She never drives without doing it.
I just need a functioning A/C, Knobs, Gauges and a Kenwood in dash stereo. I do not need all this other garbage. I hate the lit up screen shinning in my face when I'm driving at night
As someone that watched movies on tour bus mini screens; I do not recommend it for those prone to motion sick. I cannot image how much I would get car sick if there's a screen in the car.
Here in Europe, most cars are manual transmission. I have never driven an automatic car. When I got my license, I bought a very old car (it said it was built in Czechoslovakia, imagine 😅). Everything was manual, mirrors, seats, keys, no commodity at all, very hard direction. That was the car I learnt to drive with and I think I am quite a decent driver thanks to my little tank. Now I drive a Seat Leon from 2008, very reliable and steardy. I hope it still lasts a long time.
@@isabelsenas3711 Ah, those were made from 1994. So after Czechoslovakia separation. I thought you got something from the commie times :D Felicia was a good car for the years tho, light years ahead from old commie Skoda cars.
@@deffington6627 I don't remember which year was it made, but in the docs it said Chezchoslovakia. Maybe they recicled some papers? No idea. Yes, my Felicia was a tank, hard as hell 😂
@@deffington6627 Commie cars were just meant as a last resort type thing though. You never needed a car in Soviet or eastern bloc states unless you lived in a rural area. Despite that the VFTS was a thing and I've seen people crank out well over 200hp N/A from the VAZ 1.6L engines. Plus the 2.45L in the Volga was just a military multifuel engine slapped in a civilian car. They literally run forever on nearly anything with the most half-assed maintenance you can imagine. They suck to drive though lol. Fun as a novelty or when you've turned one into a rally machine, but otherwise super disconnected and 0 feel of whats going on. They last a good while but so does a mid 90-s to early 2000's BMW and those things are objectively better in a lot of aspects (especially ergonomics) than most modern cars so....
I rented a car over the weekend and it took two people working together to figure out how to put it into reverse. Had to hold a button and push it forward to go in reverse. 🥴 Nothing about the controls in that car were intuitive to me.
my in-laws car you can not do an oil change on it. It has no oil drain plug and requires a special pump to pull the oil out of the engine via a special port on top of the eigne.
You captured the sentiment perfectly. I will continue driving my 1986 F-150 probably forever, if possible. It has a rock solid 5 liter EFI V8, A/C, power windows and locks, cruise control, and an overdrive automatic. Doesn’t lack any features I actually want, auto makers haven’t added any meaningful features in the last 30 years. Still hauls a trailer perfectly. When it breaks down (rarely) I can fix it in my driveway for dirt cheap. Just got done replacing the 38 year old OEM timing chain. It was *40 dollars* for a new performance double roller, chain and gears. A 2020 F-150 with a 5 liter V8… *325 dollars* for the timing set. And easily 2x harder to replace.
I'm just retiring my 1997 Expert van(because its kind of knackered, and increasingly Euro 2 engines are not allowed to go places). The last year cars were entirely electromechanical. Having to deal with computers full of proprietary software is going to piss me off royally. It's not the computers per se - it's the fact that none of the software is available to adjust and fix. It's all locked-down. I may have to build my own EV eventually to get a modern vehicle that I can still control.
@@xxwookey What EU state are you from? I'm from Romania and I'm still driving my Euro 3 diesel (manual transmission) car. Planning on driving it for the next 20 years at the very least. I've had it for 10 years now.
Even most car companies kinda hate dealerships. They're just legally to sell through them in most cases. The subscriptions put money directly in the manufactures pocket.
I’d absolutely love a video on subscriptions! So many things are now just “subscription as a service,” not actual things you can own. It’s bad enough in gaming and software, but now that cancer is spreading to other industries.
Typing this after only 1 min into the video, but the issue with modern cars is the same issue with every other modern thing (phones, computers, bikes, etc). The issue is everything is made to fail to keep you in a perpetual state of buying new, whereas it seemed like there was a period post world war 2 where many consumer items were built to legitimately last and allow you to opt out of the buying cycle if you took care of your belongings. Edit; post watching, my first and only car I have ever owned is an ‘03 ford ranger. And the closest I’ve been to driving off the road was a painful two hours driving my Finacee’s 2020 Corolla where I was battling the lane assist the entire time I was on the highway, if I neared a line it would auto steer which would make me over steer against it in compensation causing it to try and correct me trying to correct it which went on my whole turn driving.
I think car makers should try to reduce and simplify the amount of unneeded features that are in our cars and car companies should improve the most important things in the cars like the reliability of the drivetrain
I have 2 EV's, one 12 year old and the other 6. Zero maintenance and repair on the drivetrain. We are getting there regardless of what bells and whistles are in the cabin.
I assume they're either older Teslas or Nissan Leafs? Leafs are surprisingly fixable. Nissan at least opened up the comms protocol making battery swaps and upgrades fairly easy. It's a shame they're not a liquid cooled battery...
That’s the problem - cars are now deliberately complex to ensure that owners have to take them back to the dealer for servicing, and are less durable to ensure that drivers keep on renewing their lease deals every 2-3 years.
The car makers only put features into cars that actually sell and bring money. If a feature is in a car, it is either mandated by law, or by customer requests. The drivetrain itself is really sorted out for decades now. The thing is: Many people just don't adhere to the maintenance schedules - especially in the USA.
My parents got a van with a TV when I was about 13 or 14. It was great. Especially driving (more than once) from Pennsylvania to Texas. On a related note, I knew almost every word in Finding Nemo by heart.
8:43 I’ve told this to management/safety department in my truck driving job. These newer trucks have tons of safety features, and automatic transmissions. Newer drivers especially, depend on these safety features to be less safe on the road. Our old semi trucks didn’t have all these fancy safety features and you had to be more alert of your driving. Now a days, you can be on your phone while truck driving and it’ll alert you if you’re too close to a vehicle or not centered in your lane. These trucks auto brake for you too. There’s all these alerts on your screen and random beeping alerts. We had one driver have a roll over, all because the safety feature he depended on while being distracted, wasn’t working properly that time.
Yeah have fun driving in northern US winters with a scooter or bike. For northerners unfortunately there's zero alternative to cars and trucks and we have to put up with this backwards evolution.
The motorcycle world is about 20 years behind the auto industry. You can see it with ABS becoming standard vs an option on most new bikes and drive by wire being much more common now. They're in their zenith, but it will eventually pass as well.
@@RossGoneRogue In Europe manufacturers can't sell motorbikes & scooters that don't have at least ABS, Traction control, Euro 5+ (since Jan 2024), etc. as standard. Helmets require the (current) ECE 22.06 certification. Chinese crapware, without certification is not road legal. In Europe, in terms of safety standards, it's close to the car industry. I think USA should do something about too. Having the "option" to buy the same bike without safety standards (ABS, etc.), to save a few dollar, doesn't' make sense.
For some reason. Being able to drive a standard is a flex for some people. Some of us just grew up driving dirtboxes because automatics were a luxury. It's crazy how even now we see cars in terms of status has changed so much over the decades.
Having the minivan with screen in the back was pretty awesome, but did come with a few drawbacks - Inevitably, you forgot to change out the CD, so whatever is in there is what you are watching. I've watched Star wars episode 1 many times. Arguably many times more than I wanted to. When the car is started, the screen and accessory power drops out. If you are watching a movie, no problem, a few seconds of downtime and its back up. If you were playing Jak2 trying to beat that one slums mission... well...
Driving my 2013 paid off car like a boss. I did install a backup camera for added safety, though. That all said, I do have a.minor nitpick with the last point a little as yes, public or mass transit does exist but not in all places or in a usable form. Great for folks in dense areas but I live in the sticks and have lived where you have to turn off the paved road to get there.
Additionally, maybe I'm a bit over-imaginative but in an emergency scenario, you can just drive a car where you need to go. Whether that be to a friend or family member's house at 3am for an emergency, an unplanned visit to the hospital, or even in an apocalyptic scenario you can just go off-road with the right vehicle and get out of dodge. Public transportation isn't very helpful in any of those scenarios. I'd be a bit nervous about not owning a car, even if I did use public transit most of the time.
@@stephencoakley A study in the US found out that this 'emergency' thinking is fully half the value a lot of Americans place on their car. In places with good public services of course you have (free) ambulances for the health emergency at any time of day or night and high-capacity transit which would get you out of town in most emergencies faster than a massive queue on the motorway. Cars are useful of course, especially for out-of-the-way journeys, building you whole transport system around future potential or hypothetical emergencies is quite odd when you think about it. Those things are incredibly rare in comparison to all the normal day-to-day trips people make.
Yes another downside of public transportation is that you have to get to the transit station. And sometimes it's pretty far from your house. Also one transit station is quite remote from another connecting transit station. i solved all this problem by having a folding bicycle to ride to and from transit stations (and take the folding bicycle onboard), but it's not a feasible solution for everyone.
Another reason that is actually less talked about is that apparently in cities, women feel genuinely unsafe on public transportation and report that basically, if they are at all attractive or feminine, they will get harassed on the bus or subway to the point that they'd rather deal with traffic and the cost of car ownership to avoid that problem. So even if you get a public transit system to the point where a lot of men can use it to save money, it's a far cry from being to the point where women would feel safe on it.
I think this is one of the reasons why we see so many car people move to motorbikes. Cars have gotten very fast, but also too expensive, disconnected and unfixable. Motorbikes(generally) don't have these problems. They are still a very raw and basic riding experience.
A few months ago I bought a 2024 Acura RDX A-Spec Advance. We recently took a road trip on I-81 and on the way back to Maryland were caught multiple times in stop and go traffic. The adaptive cruise control handled the acceleration and braking. The lane keep assist made sure I didn’t drift. Even in standstill/stop and go traffic required much less effort than my old vehicle (2014 Acura RLX). I’m 58 and old school so I always closely monitor not only traffic immediately next to me but ahead as well. But the driver assist technology reduces the amount of information I need to process and allows me to focus on not hitting the vehicles near me. Technology is fine as long as you know how to use it.
That is true that the dealers are trying to do everything they can to try to get you go to them even for maintenance, for example, the removal of the dipstick to check the transmission fluid. And the dealers are getting worse every year: pressuring you to do unnecessary work not listed in your manual, failing to do work they charge you for, doing a shoddy job, damaging your car internally or externally while working on it, and then lying about it. Many people have been taken enough times that they don't trust dealers or anyone else with their car, and rightly so.
Saved my life probably lol I remember it was dark and foggy and I couldn’t see in the camera and for a whole ass second I was wondering how I was gonna see behind me without the screen 😂
I use my backup camera as another window I check. Check the side windows, the rear view mirror, and the backup cam. When used that way I think it increases situational awareness and safety a lot, especially for vehicles where the design gives you a pretty narrow field of view through the rear window.
@@williamwilson6499 When a new Mercedes S class literally broke down within 2-5 years when the w140 is still running just fine The same thing basically goes to every other cars on the road today. Your statement is like shouting "I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT CARS!!!"
@@williamwilson6499 bodies are built to a better standard, engines are more efficient and in some cases more reliable (Depending on things like the injection system etc), but they're also harder to fix. To me, mid 2010s is kinda the sweet spot. You got the last of the proper port-injected cars, modern diagnostics, easily accessible engine bays and still a good presence of manual gearboxes available.
I do really like my backup camera (very useful for seeing exactly where the rear bumper is), but I am happy it is just a little dedicated screen and not incorporated into some touchscreen non-sense infotainment system. Manual transmission too, which is so much fun!
In cities that aren't super dense like NYC, we don't have the solutions to transportation problems he mentions. Sure, a bus or trolley can take you... but you can't just zone out or focus on work and expect to get to your destination quickly or efficiently. It may also involve having to keep an eye out for multiple stops, doing transfers, etc. With a car with FSD it can literally act as your personal taxi for, potentially, a one-time up front cost. Eventually, when it reaches level 3+, it can literally be your DD. You can get out of the bar at 2am and hail your own car, long after public trans stops service in many cities and towns.
it's been pissing me off for the past couple years seeing the rise of large touchscreens in cars that the driver is meant to operate. I'm only 22 so I only started driving 6 years ago. apple carplay is really convenient as a passenger seat music adjuster but its insane to think that a driver is meant to operate all these touch buttons while driving in a moving, bumping vehicle. I'm looking at getting a new car soon and the safest option I can find is a car with a giant screen but you have a rotating knob that moves across the screen instead of a touchscreen. It's just so baffling that I got taught "never look at your phone, a single text can take your eyes off the road for half a mile" but now we have giant touchscreen controls that literally notify you of texts and give you the option to hear them WHILE DRIVING. what on earth is wrong with people designing cars.
On newer models, the touchscreen is sometimes even angled towards the driver, as if the manufacturer actually wants to discourage the passenger from operating it. Cars have had this "style over functionality" design philosophy for far too long now, and I 100% blame tesla for popularizing this trend.
I drive a 2021 Tacoma and it’s kind of a weird mix of modern and old school simplicity. I have a 6 speed manual, I have to turn the key to start the engine, it has a naturally aspirated V6 which I can work on myself. But it also has modern tech like a touch screen with CarPlay, radar cruise control, blind spot monitors, etc. I really like that mix. The new Tacomas I think are joining other modern platforms and going to be harder to work on or repair over time and less reliable. I love my Tacoma for that reason
@@wa11pon33 I want a Tacoma but a car payment of any sort just sounds awful right now. I gotta stick with my little old Camry til she quits which could be another 20 years 😂
@@Madamchief that’s fair lol I’ve just always had a car payment since I bought my first car so I’m used to it. But since I bought the Tacoma I want to pay this one off and run it into the ground because it’s going to be reliable enough!
I loved driving around in my 91 civic, all manual everything. It definitely made life more complicated, but there was something nice about driving it around
10:50 The fact that most new cars only have the lift points for a lift like the ones at the mechanic. I can't safely do any of my own work because there's nowhere to put a jackstand.
*I BOUGHT A MECHANICAL TYPEWRITER* It was made in 1958, it arrived unrestored and worked perfectly. Its no lie to say it has changed my life. I get my creative work done in peace and tranquillity with no distractions and my stress goes DOWN whilst I am working, since when was that a thing? Working and being less stressed? Im not less stressed when I work on the computer...!!! Tech in everything is now starting to DEGRADE the experience of everything
Bro mechanical typewriters are very tiring to use vs today's keyboards (edited). You really want a manual typewriter instead of a powered one? If you really want to connect and engage your brain, use your hand and a pen or pencil.
I love your car videos even as a car guy. They are really easy to understand for non car people because of the really simple and base level information ✋🙂↕️
I’m an apprentice mechanic in Ontario, I can definitely agree that our work has become so convoluted that during school, we basically learn what engineers learn. The industry is getting more problematic since they are also making cars a lot more difficult to repair.
As a truck driver for 30 years, I can say without a doubt. People are much worse drivers than years ago. They don't pay attention. They get a false sense of security because of the advancements in technology and safety. They fail to realize, however , that there false sense of security makes them drive more aggressive and puts the rest of us in danger. They also drive faster than their skill level which results in very bad high speed accidents. Overall most people are not as skilled at driving as they believe themselves to be. So,yeah. Something has to be done. Either we need to go to fully autonomous cars. Or bring back simpler cars that actually require some skill to operate, and requires you to pay more attention to the road.
Bring back the manuals ... I believe we need the European model where in order to get a licence to drive anything other than your own you need a manual transmission vehicle
@@Trust-de-process demolish SUV's, keep sport cars, trucks, and motorcycles all mechanical machines with the exception of ecu components and basic convivence upgrades, I wish one day i could make cars that lasts forever and made to be kept forever
backup cameras solved the problem of like 10 kids getting run over and created tens of thousands of jobs for autobody shops as people back out of parking spaces and scrape the cars next to them, because they ONLY use the camera and not their mirrors.
Apart from all electronics, cars also got a lot heavier wich makes any crash worse for everyone else not in that car. Also visibility has gone down so much. Really high beltlines, especially at the back combined with super thick and rigid window pillars make me feel like i am driving a tank.
It is kind of weird how this episode has a focus on the human interaction with cars. Of course it is fun to drive the first ten years after you get your license, but you are still not the worlds best driver, and don’t get me started on older drivers in cognitive decline. Manual transmission becomes muscle memory at some point, and you still don’t choose optimal gear all the time. I think focus are to much on car enthusiasts , most people just want something nice in front of their house that take them in comfort from a to b reliably and whenever they need it to. Should have focused more on reliability and cost/burden of ownership. I don’t believe everybody knew how to maintain their car in the old days. Hell, regular bikes can last a long time with basic maintenance and a few special tools for a few dollars and most find even those complicated.
Well today, it's even way worse. A rich lady drowned in her Tesla because she accidentally put it in reverse and drove into a lake. Doors stopped working after it fell in the water, and she didn't know about the emergency door hatch release.
@@tonii5690 no she didn't understand how to operate her Tesla and I wouldn't blame her. The Tesla doors stop working if the power is cut or if it gets water damaged. The emergency door release is not very easy to find, especially if no one told you about it. That's the problem with having everything electronic and non mechanical. Drunk or sober, the Tesla has a dumb and dangerous design.
I’m in my late 40’s, life long car enthusiast. I was always looking at new cars and thinking about the next one because the market was on fire. Not anymore, all I want is to keep my current cars on the road. All new cars seem “disposable”. A BMW FROM THE 80’s, 90’s and 2000,s were timeless, after 2010 they became appliances and so did the rest of the industry
I drive a 2002 Commodore, that thing is the perfect marriage between tech (tells you when somethings broken, Automatic transmission) and mechanic, space around engine to work on, easy layout, all that’s nessary is there and nothing more
Worst thing is that you can coil copper wire to fix an electric motor yourself for example. There is no reason for an EV to be less repairable then a normal Car.
A lot of EV motors don't use wire - they use copper bars put in by robots. The problem with EVs is that they don't really have much to break, but when they do, it's expensive.
The saddest thing about electric cars is that they don't need to be consumer computers on wheels. There is nothing, absolutely nothing about electric motors thay requires the level of sophisticated technology that EVs have.
If they made an EV that was otherwise exactly like a 1977-84 Buick Electra or Olds 98 Regency, they might be worth buying..but the manufacturers seem to think they have to be cramped, blob-shaped space ships
@@michaelwarenycia7588 Well, some people like their spaceships, the problem in my opinion is the lack of choice. Also while moving the car is certainly what drains the battery the most, I'm pretty sure that having all those extra screens and bells and whistles probably doesn't help the range to be honest. Also it's just extra complexity that makes repairing them more of a hassle when they should actually be as simple if not simpler than internal combustion engines because instead of having to deal with transmissions and oils and whatnot you just have a battery a throttle and electric motors that are basically souped up versions of what you find in a drill.
@@Fernando-ek8jp yes, lack of choice. If someone else wants the spaceship, I'm not saying they shouldn't be allowed to have it, but there's no options for people who want the velour upholstered brougham or a practical midsize work truck. People should also keep in mind that the more people who use EVs, the less advantage there will be, price wise, and the more issues for the grid. I live in Ukraine...granted, a someone extreme case but shortages and grid issues occur in the US at times, too. Tesla's got very popular for a while, in part, I suspect, because of ethnic Russians (the city I live in had a KGB base, army ones too...these are the still-privileged kids of Stalin's colonists) wanting to subtly show support for Russia, since Musk is seen as anti Ukraine...ppl do such things a lot with hammers and sickles on their house facades, etc. But, recently, it's been lots of blackouts and all of a sudden people realize again how great it is to have a vehicle you can carry fuel for in a can, and refuel in a couple minutes since there is never power long enough to fully charge at slower home chargers. Something to keep in mind. *Edit* consumer choice is really paramount and leads to the best products, usually
@@michaelwarenycia7588 that's certainly a good point. I mean, worst case scenario you get yourself a gas powered generator which kinda defeats the purpose of having an electric car and is less convenient than just having a few gallons of fuel that you can use whenever. Anywho, you're right. More choices = more competition = better products. Also, Slava Ukraini. Hope you and your loved ones are safe and that the invaders stop, well, invading.
@@Fernando-ek8jp it was a busy night tonight (barrages of AA woke everyone up) but no damage - I live in Vinnytsia, pretty far from the front and only occasionally targetted. Thank you for your support and your interesting thoughts.
The biggest change in cars in the last ten years is the percentage of drivers intentionally making noise that can be heard more than a mile away, and bearing down on your rear bumper instead of early evasive action to go around you. It's as if the number of military bases increased. If you aren't driving a lifted truck, a dodge charger, or a ninja cycle, you'd better go in for fender reassignment. it's a big mystery that Tesla sold at all, because you can't drop the clutch and have your revving be heard 5 blocks away. What's the point.
I mean, to be fair, I like the sound of a nicely tuned engine as much as the next person, but if I do exhaust mods to any car, I add an active exhaust controller to my car to stop it from being loud and obnoxious in residential areas. My current Commodore Ute for example has an Arduino-based exhaust controller that I designed, which has three modes, one for fully silent (Good Neighbour mode) , one for gesture control (Sport mode) and one for full open mode (Race mode) I'll be putting a similar system onto my Miata when I buy it next :D
@@Gobbler. I agree with you. Hence why I designed the valve system for my ute. Anyone with a non-variable loud exhaust is kidding themselves if they say "they can put up with it when driving" when the large bulk of exhaust note tuning is done to take the "Drone" out of the pipes.
The irony of the the keyed ignition switch is that it was a long evolution of modern tech improving ownership experiences in cars. Originally, there were cranks used to manually turn the crankshaft to get the compression and the engine started. There were people a century ago complaining that by not needing to stand in front of the car physically turning over the engine people would lose the connection with the mechanical part of their car. But, there are still classics and replica cars people can use to enjoy the old-timey experience.
4:50 Can confirm, those TVs were rarely ever used even on long drives. Newer luxury cars have them, except now they're full on computers with games and stuff on them.
I'm really surprised how shallow this take was. It flits along the top of a few things but doesn't get into the depths of things like how long repair queues for cars like Teslas can leave a car buyer essentially without a car, and how EV battery performance under cold weather conditions can severely limit drivability, which itself can make for other problems; how you used to be able to just pound out a dent in your bumper easily and maybe even for free if you do it yourself, but now that everything comes in big fiberglass panels, you could have t o replace your whole bumper for a whopping price. Or how cars are now tracking and selling your location information and other personal information, etc.
@@davideographer4410 Yup. Maybe people who drive to a 7-11 at 11:30 p.m. on a weeknight are in one way or another less healthy or reliable or employable, an insurance company or employer might decide. Or someone who goes to bars or a liquor store X times per month, or hangs out at clubs X number of hours. Or who comes home from a night out at 2 a.m. instead of before midnight? Or goes to a gun store or firing range or protest rally? There are countless ways your private actions can be sifted through by AI in ways that might be detrimental to you.
This stuff makes me appreciate that for a 2014 model, my Subaru BRZ is the most simple ‘modern’ car I’ve seen thus far. MT, key to start, climate control on knobs, the small touchscreen only does music, no back up cam, no assist of any sort, basic ass seats with manual adjustment etc. Own it outright and I’m gonna keep it running as long as I can since I can work on it myself.
Exactly how I feel about my 2013 Genesis Coupe. It’s a premium so it has a few extra basic comforts, but they all still work and it’s such a breeze to work on and maintain. I keep my maintenance records and change my own oil every 3-5k miles and it continues to be my fun and reliable daily nearly 7 years after I bought it. The biggest thing it’s ever needed replaced were the tires.
It infuriates me soo much that we banned pop up headlights for pedestrian safety and then let everyone drive around huge lifted trucks and literal bricks like the crybertruck
very true
i thought it was a possible issue with safety, like if the mechanical mechanism broke your car has no more headlights
@@crackedemerald4930 On the 1968 Dodge Charger, the headlight covers were hydraulic. If the hydraulic system failed, the covers were designed to default to the open position. Not sure about any other car with pop up headlights though.
@@matthewgodwin3050 Ones with electric motors could just have a counterspring that holds them open unless the motor closes them. :)
They even ban Kei truck out of safety but ocersized truck and suv are not a problem somehow
Planned obsolescence has creeped its way into every single product that we use in this day and age.
Not everything, but it is getting far and few between to find high quality products. If we want to hold onto humanity instead of becoming enslaved worker ants, we have to make that effort while we still can. For example, the average human brain size has actually been significantly shrinking over the past few thousand years. People don't like to talk about that though. It makes them uncomfortable.
@@WR3NDthat’s a mute point. Relative Brainsize doesn’t always correlate with intelligence.
yes! an unfortunate truth of the current consumer market, and sometimes feels inescapable
True 😩
@@sbocaj22 That's called "rationalization." It's challenging for people to accept how stupid they actually are. The idea of progress has been brainwashed into us as a product of civilization.
A big problem with cars today is the people who make them don't drive them. The small, clever features are basically gone. I remember when I started driving my first car, a 2001 VW Polo, one of the first things that stuck out to me was the fact the 3 AC knobs had different sizes, meaning you didn't need to look down (bottom centre to be more specific, right above the ashtray) to know whether you were changing the air speed, temperature or which vent the air would come out.
You don't see these sort of features anymore. Clever features have been replaced by smart™ ones.
By cheap ones. It is way cheaper to put everything into screen and/or some touch panel then produce a hundred different knobs and buttons, get all wiring etc. But I still hope that EU at some point will push some safety requirements controls.
Exactly. I'm forced to look down just to change the ac as it's all touchscreen.
smart (TM) (C) (US Patent)
This is so true, they replaced car designers who were practical engineers with auto engineers that have a masters degree and no practical experience or knowledge
Mazda still does this for its controls
The dashboard does NOT look like a spaceship.
It looks like some kid left their iPad double-taped to the dash of an econo car from Eastern Europe circa 1988.
Thank you. A Star Trek tng shuttlecraft console would be better, but they're able to look down at what they're doing to mess with the touchscreen. I get nervous when I need to adjust the temperature inside since I need to look away from the road (touchscreen)
@@Kaede-Sasaki my current car is getting pretty beat up and the main thing I don't want to deal with in a new car is having to look at a damned screen when i want to change the radio or temperature.
Agreed, so many people keep mistakingly saying it looks like space ship when in fact it does not
hey men i know how it happened the tesla's got gutted a while back
@@AlexWall-z5n oh no! the crackheads got into tesla manufacturing HQ!
1950: “By 2000 we will have flying cars!”
2024: “Cyber truck needs software update”
We’ve had flying cars for a while. It’s called helicopters.
@@SamuelMM_Mitosis 🤓
@@SamuelMM_Mitosis Flying cars have actually existed since the 1920s. Although, you probably wouldn't want to be in one
@@SamuelMM_Mitosis You're... grounded.
@@GreatMossWater ok
The problem is not only cars. All tech is getting shitty
Thats true
It's sad to see practically every sector focusing on newness instead of actual innovation tbh
Politicians and laws
Apple started that trend of making computers idiot proof that only make dumber idiots.
@@FutureProofTV yes... it sucks we need to go back to simpler cars again and actual innovation
The safety paradox also applies to road design. Where supposed "dangerous" roads(usually many curves or corners) were redesigned and straightened out with the goal to increase safety, after said changes, collisions actually INCREASED! Those curves and weird turns forced drivers to slow down and actively focus on their driving. Whereas the straighter "safer" roads bred a false sense of security and safety, leading to more drivers to reduce their focus on actively driving.
I've been getting into urbanism and city planning and road design in the US and Canada is awful. Roads are not fundamentally designed with a speed in mind so you get wide lanes, smooth roads, and straight stretches that encourage high speeds and then we wonder why our roads are dangerous. Design speed is a thing traffic planners here need to start learning. We have roads designed for a speed of 50 mph with a 25 mph speed limit sign slapped on it
Sounds like corners and speed bumps have a lot in common!
All of those factors along with mis-timed traffic lights led to many drivers where I live to just floor it or engage in road rage if any sort of delay happens. Then again, sometimes you just have really bad people who happen to drive cars.
Yeah, and the thing is, curvy roads are _more fun to drive on_ than straight ones too. Even at the speed limit, a really nice car and a curvy road will turn anyone into an enthusiastic driver.
@@rtmpgt Totally. I'm a huge fan of curvy mountain roads and finally have cars that are very fun to drive on them. I've never felt in danger on even the curviest of mountain roads (which is US 191 in eastern Arizona). It's the long, straight freeways that have lulled me nearly to sleep before.
I'm a mechanical engineeer student and a car enthusiast. I got a few late 80s BMWs, they are made to be serviced, easily repaired, and they last and they were designed by engineers, not the marketing and financial department. Why I love these old cars so much. The hostility towards maintenance in the design of new cars terrify me. It is just all too clear they are not made to be maintained over longer periods of time, but rather disposed off and replaced.
Yes, but Mexican labor has reduced the MSRP so much, now anybody can afford a new car every few years. So what if you have to pull an engine to replace a water pump?
They just want people to buy... and buy again... and buy again... and buy again and again... never ending purchases. 💰💰
@@crankychris2 Thanks for telling us that you’re full of shit and never worked on a vehicle. Seriously
Cyber truck is the best truck you can ever buy whether you are a truck guy or not . Has been confirmed by the best engineers like sandy Munro, you don't know what you are talking about
@@electricvehiclesug256 dude, just shut up 🤐
A car company could make a killing by making my sedan from 1995. Just enough tech to be comfortable and not enough to be scary
This would be all true (and technically is, notwithstanding) except that some of this shittiness is mandated by law (driver assistance in particular) and until that changes we're on a bad trajectory :(
I wish. People actually hate driving, and somehow they actually like that tech. It makes no sense that people will pay more money to have less control over the 2 ton 75 mile per hour projectile they step into every morning
Agreed! Although I'd counter that most people who want old cars just buy them used, or import them once they're 25 years old. :3
"and not enough to be scary" Or flat-out riduculous. Like the push-button cars with the brick remotes: You can't push the button to start, and then push the brake. You have to push the brake first. WHY? Or, it "knows" you're there because the exterior door handle locks work. But it gets confused if you're standing outside and reach in through the window to push the button to stop (or rather, "shut down"). I could go on and on...
@@yoku_UwU Most do not hate driving.
Touchscreen controls are awful for any actions needed to be done while driving. Physical controls have tactile feedback that allows you to use muscle memory to do what you want without requiring you to take your eyes off the road. Moving them to touchscreen is quite dangerous.
The older cars aren't necessarily more reliable except the mid 90s to early 2000s cars, this seems to be the best era for reliability
Stupid cafe giving us turbo cvt engines with DI really suck.
Yup. The tech stopped at sensors. People drive computer-operated mechanical components now. Don’t buy new shit if you can help it. You simply can’t do any meaningful work on them in your garage now.
My 1994 S Class Mercedes was the best car ever made by humans. Every model after that got worse, less quiltiy more electronics - I gave away my last one, a 2012 5.0L V8 S Class Coupe it had so many electrical problems it was unsellable
A lot of the 'old cars are more reliable' sentiment is down to survivorship bias. Most of the old cars you see on the road are the reliable ones because the unreliable old cars (of which there are many) are rusting away in junkyards, or have long since been crushed into cubes.
@@Hanstra Maybe true in Am3ric4 cos you make a lot of s h ! t cars. But almost ANY European or Japanese car from 1995 to 2005 is capable of 400k miles with basic servicing. My mother and sister had my old Audi 100's - both did 450k miles.
For the love of god YES PLEASE MAKE THE VIDEO ABOUT THE SUBSCRIPTION SCAMS PLEASE
Please!!!
Ongawdd please
Yes! Everything is on subscription today, and it’s maddening! If I save up and buy a product, I want to own it! I still purchase CD’s and DVD’s just to know, I have the physical media, and it stays mine.
Please and thank you
On top of subscriptions, maybe a video about better forms of transport and what’s keeping them back
Btw getting paywalled for features that already exist in your car is wild 😂. Every industry tryna subscription model us into oblivion
Thank Elon Musk for that innovation, the big 3 did.
Hackers will figure out how to bypass it
Yeah if the heater is there, I have a soldering iron that says I can activate it through an old school switch + fuse, subscription or not!
@@V4mpyrZ 😂💯
If buying isn't owning, piracy isn't stealing.
It’s no wonder there is a semiconductor shortage with all the unnecessary crap on cars now
Modern cars have their features decided upon because it sounds good to investors, not because customers desire them.
Wrong
Honestly this is a big reason I'm trying to keep my 2008 vw Jetta alive and on the road. I don't want a touch screen, i don't want powered seats i don't need a backup camera i don't need it to beep at me every minute. I just want a Bluetooth radio, and 3 nobs for volume, temperature and fan direction. But nothing is built like that anymore
Same! Except personally I really like the power adjustable seats because I’m disabled and it’s just not safe to adjust the seat while driving especially with my spine issues
the loss of the tactile knob/button specifically feels like a huge blow tbh
I drive a 2010 VW Golf that is still working perfectly. Manual transmission, physical buttons, a very small non touch screen, manually adjustable seats and mirrors... It's great!
It could be even more manual for me though. I once had a problem with the door and it costed a fortune to fix, since the thing is full of wires for the speakers and electric windows.
In the 90s and 2000s my father had the perfect car. Pretty much everything was manual. Only the radio and cassette player were 'modern electronic devices'. The car was a bit smaller than people would like now and the back seats didn't have headrests, but overall it was amazing.
When I got my license I ended up taking my dad’s old car (also 2008) and when my brother started driving a few years later he ended up getting a new 2022 car. My mother kept telling me “I’m glad you’re not jealous of your brother because we got him a new car” and I went “if right now you offered me a choice between his car and mine I would still choose my car every time.”
My car was the first car I’ve driven, the car I got my license in. It has an absolutely timeless look and feel that I genuinely think it looks better than the current year version of its model. It has a CD player for my collection and if I want to play stuff on my phone I just use my Bluetooth to FM converter. Good trunk space for a sedan and nice ac. New enough to feel nice to drive but not so new that it’s overly complicated. I’ll drive it till the wheels fall off.
Same! But a 2009 mk2 Ford Focus estate. There's very few new tech or feature my or my family need or want (I'm an IT architecture and developer so know a thing or two about software defined X). The things that could be good (better sound proofing, EV drivetrain, some extra cm of space for my 6' and growing boys in the back etc) will have the huge downsides around subscriptions, software, serviceability, short lifecyle for software updates and so on attached..
Future Proof should definitely make a video about the state of electronics repairability and the right to repair movement. I think your style and take could make that digestable and interesting for the masses.
The fact than an old iPod classic is more moddable and repairable than most iPhones is scary.
My biggest gripes with modern cars are - touchscreens, driving aids, tacky interiors, too many gizmos, unbearably ugly styling, ridiculous purchase and maintenance costs……and most of them aren’t enjoyable to drive! They are also 100% geared toward lease deals - outright purchase prices are now out of reach of average motorists, almost forcing them onto 2-3 year lease cycles, which helps the manufacturers to maintain ‘sales’.
If you're involved in the most minute fender-bender your insurance is likely to chalk the vehicle up as a "total," essentially forcing you into getting another [new] vehicle, unless you can navigate the lengthy and perilous journey to "retain and salvage title" the vehicle. And this doesn't even address the giant pickups that are 5 feet high in the front with no FORWARD-facing camera to see what - or who - you might be running over.
I love Tesla touchscreens! They're perfectly responsive and I find them very helpful
How are touchscreens in cars not a safety issue? I must look to see what I'm doing just to adjust the temperature. Nothing wrong with slides, levers, buttons, and toggle switches.
Don't forget the spy cameras and microphones that watch and reco0rd everything you say and do, and transmit it to the manufacturer via 24/7 WiFi as it happens. Big brother is watching YOU. In your own car, which actually isn't yours after all.
You forgot small turbo charged engines and CVT transmissions
The realization that manufacturers can make more money through malfunctions and the required repairs/replacements has spelled the doom of every industry.
Well sort of, it's of critical interest to most carmakers to make their cars last through the warranty period or they start losing money, but after that manufacturer repairs become a new income stream.
Precisely. We are seeing issues because certain people profit
The industries are not doomed, but your wallet is.
I guess you aren't old enough to remember when cars were smoking at 50,000 miles. It's a good thing you could fix them, because they needed a lot of fixing.
My car is 24 years old and other than the transmission needed replacement at 180,000 miles, runs great. No 1950's car could put on 220,000 miles w/o at least a valve job, and more likely, complete overhaul.
Thats due to materials and machining technology. Build a 1950's design with modern metallurgy, and it would go 500k miles without issue.
@@smh9902the whole reason why cars from the 1950’s to 1962 had a finite lifespan was that was when they still used a road draft tube to ventilate vapors from the engine at highway speeds. One of those things that worked in theory, but ended up being disastrous and messy. The problem is the road draft tube didn’t do anything in stop and go traffic, as a result the vapors wouldn’t be ventilated from the engine. Since blow-by gases would react with any moisture that happened to be present, would cause lots of sludge buildup which ultimately would cause oiling issues. As soon as the PCV valve became mandatory in 1963, eliminated all those problems. The PCV valve doubled the life of engines since they could go up to 150,000 miles to 200,000 miles without a problem while road draft tube engines were lucky to make it to 100,000 miles.
The most annoying thing about the infotainment centers are the lack of knobs and buttons. That struck a cord with me, undeniably why I still love my 2016 Corolla. A blend between convenience with bluetooth, but with a full set of buttons and knobs that I can touch without having to take my attention away from the road.
That's something I love about my new-ish Mazda, which uses a physical knob to control things. There's a screen but it isn't a touch screen.
I do actually like touchscreen. But I think all the essentials should have physical buttons. I think we actually need regulation and research as to what those minimal physical controls are.
I think the last good corolla to get for replacing the radio was the 2013 and older generation. But I really like LED headlamps lol.
@@stephencoakley This is why I'm buying an ND Miata as my next car! Mazda and Toyota have pretty much nailed interior controls :)
In the late 80's, The digital "revolution" was introduced to home stereos. It was terrible as all the knobs and switches were replaced with tons of buttons.
as someone who uses scooter and bus to get around, this is actually interesting
but my biggest concern is cars getting bigger and wider and becoming less safe for everyone around them. modern SUVs that everyone seems to be buying today are practically tanks compared to small, cheap "city cars", bikers, cyclists and pedestrians.
This is why I'm bucking the trend and buying a Miata. Perfect for couples, two seats, really tiny, really efficient, plenty fun for the twisty backroads, practical enough to hold a week's shopping in the boot, fast enough to get out of its own way.
Big SUVs are stupid. A family could easily live out of a Mazda 3 or any similar car from any other brand.
What's more, the Rhode Island DMV had the audacity to reneg on Kei teuck ownership, and their excuse is that the tiny, nimble, fuel efficient things are "a danger to the drivers and those around them." Ah, great! please proceed with revoking the registration for all modern pickups for having front ends like brick walls.
this is mostly a american problem , in europe car dimensions stay relativelly simmilar to the previous decades
US government fuel economy rules actually encourage larger, longer vehicles. And safety mandates make them heavier. Hilarious but true.
@@MrRafagigaprI don't think so. A current Mercedes C class is bigger than a W124 E class.
YES to the back-up camera, the sensors who warns you that a car is in your blind spot.
NO to that giant ipad screen and its 4-5 sub-menu
Giant screen is fine. Removing buttons/knobs for critical functions is not.
No sensor is needed for the blind spot. Just turn your head a little bit more.
Blind spot is a byproduct of silly shape vehicles
pretty much this ... there are sensible inovations and there are marketing gimmicks ... the problem is, we get a lot more of the later forced on us ...
@@AlienLivesMatter Cars have always had blind spots, except for convertibles with the top down.
My car is a 2010 corolla which is right on the edge of the tech switchover and I will be holding on to it as long as is humanly possible. It’s reliable, and safe but not decked out in all the crazy bells and whistles. Still has a real key, has a radio and CD player and aux but no Bluetooth or screens. Cruise control, but nothing more than that. Imo the perfect balance of the good things about modern cars without all the crazy.
Bluetooth adapters powered by the cigarette outlet are available for $10-20 🙌
I drive a 2002 sports car. I've had to completely adjust my driving style to account for an entire class of driver that relies solely on driver assist features. You really start to notice the difference when you are one of the few people on the road that doesn't use them. I have to constantly pursue open space on the road. I do this to proactively avoid tech-reliant drivers, and while it may appear as aggressive driving, it really isn't, it's more like quick moves to get out of high potential danger areas.
It's hard to even pinpoint why I need to do this, it's just a feeling you get when on the road that the people around me are completely unaware of my driving cues because people no longer actively read them. You are right, we're just creating bad drivers.
On an episode of Some Ordinary Podcast a few months ago they talked about Ford testing out a self driving feature that will drive their cars back to the dealer if the owner is late on payment. That'd be really fucking fun to wake up in the morning and finding out your car walked out on you while you're sleeping.
or worse, a mistake in the computer system flagged the car as being late on a payment.
These are the sort of features that would instantly remove a car from my potential buy list, even if I've never missed a car payment in my life.
Also what's to stop them from taking the car even if you did pay the entire thing off, and then sold it to someone else, but the system thinks it's stolen due to a different GPS location?
I bet you a million bucks that if Ford activates this feature and the car crashes into another car during its drive to the dealer, the dealer will absolutely say it's the fault of the person who paid late.
Hahah, reposessors are going to have a field day with that one.
Not if I take the wheels off and put it on bricks.
I'd much rather drive a 40-year-old car that was designed by an engineer than a factory-fresh vehicle seemingly designed by an accountant
or you can make your own car with a couple of parts and super glue, if it gets a to b its a car
@@circleinforthecube5170 So a bike is a car?
@@WaterworksMC if you can make it go 60 mph, or you can turn it into some sort of mr bean mobile, weld 2 together than there you go, a car, i invented it dont steal my invention
same
Great idea but it would be a collaboration with mechanics and engineers. A good car is one that runs well and can be fixed easily.
As a life-long car enthusiast, I totally agree with everything said in this video. Things really took a wrong turn in the late 90s, with planned obsolescence and SUVs... Cars are mechanically safer nowadays, but full of ridiculously pointless tech that not only makes us worse drivers but also dumber consumers.
SUVs and their body shapes were literally the orginal body style for cars though back in the early 1900s. We have just returned to form. Plus sedans and such keep getting less and less practical being slammed to the pavement and less usable.
Not to say SUVs and crossovers are all perfect. Many do in fact sucked.
I'm sorry the things you like are being replaced, yet "dumb consumers" would not be consuming if they don't like the changes
@@lester9230 As a "Dumb consumer" I'll enjoy my new Miata knowing that it'll be more fixable than any other modern car for at least the next decade or so.
Always buy a car with an avid enthusiast community backing it, as the aftermarket will always be there to develop fixes for common issues with a vehicle.
Cars enthusiasts can't have cheap cars anymore, the best one I can think of Mazda 3.
@@GF-mf7ml Mazda MX5! It's cheap-ish, uses the same engine as the Mazda 3 does.
My driving instructor used to tell me: "the best safety feature to prevent an accident for a car is it's the driver"
That's why I love my 2009 C class. Manual shifter, small retracting screen for radio and navigation, and bunch of clicky tactile buttons and dials. I wouldn't mind a parking camera, but i can live without it.
I'm driving a 2005 Subaru Legacy, and it often leaves me wondering when did we suddenly got conned into NEEDING a new car every 1-2 years?
My car runs great, as long as I've kept up with maintenance and I've spent way less money than I would by buying a new car every 5 years even.
Because its getting leased not bought, also trade ins. Majority of avergae people cant afford a 30k-20k car so what do they do, they trade in their car plus like what 5k a year or something? Which then becomes more manageable to pay. Also since they are new means lower break downs, less headaches and looking for a mechanic.
@@SemekiIzuionot always the case. My 2004 toyota sienna has far fewer maintenance issues than my parents new Subaru Outback.
@@sbocaj22 thats true but once in the loop of the trade in, its difficult to get out. By that I mean its easier to get a shiny new car rather then keeping and old one and paying it off.
unfortunately a lot of people aren't willing to keep up with the regular maintenance an older car needs and would rather trade cars in than worry about it. convenience culture at its finest i guess!
It's nothing new. It dates back decades. The Japanese tried to break that model with ultra reliable cars but people want new and shiny.
Car hacking is going to be huge. These aren’t complex systems and decent hackers could fairly easily unlock all of those features that are blocked behind digital paywalls. Turn off tracking data, OTA monitoring, nanny systems, etc.
Yes but just like tuning your car it's probably going to be outlawed
"void warranty" = enslaved owners
It worked before, it will work again.
Good luck to them. lol
These problems are kind of general, but there are problems more specific to cars.
Like, regulations in the US has caused automakers to prioritise selling larger, heavier, less efficient, and more dangerous vehicles like trucks and large SUVs.
It's amazing just how many problems there are with cars as a concept in society.
As someone who loves big trucks, I’m all for manufacturers offering small affordable trucks. Not everyone needs or wants something huge, and I’d love to see the extra options. I also wish diesels were more common in the mid size truck segment too.
CAFE. Talk about 'unintended consequences'. What a shitshow those regulations have caused.
Something just like this is happening even worse in the motorcycle industry. My dad owns a 2021 BMW gs1250, it said it needed an oil change. We did it, and guess what? YOU CANT RESET THE MAINTENANCE LIGHT YOURSELF!!! All of the shops and dealers local to us said take it to bmw, (which was an hour and 45 mins btw) just to reset a dang maintenance light…. WHYYYYY. If we buy something, we should be able to do whatever we need to do to fix an issue. We need new legislation on crap like this, bc at this point it’s sad how much proprietary garbage is in cars/motorcycles now
It tells you in the service manual how to reset it..
to summarize this video:
Planned obszolescence is industry standard and the better that computers and software simulation is getting the better they get at planning when a product fails
We enthusiasts have been talking about this for years, finally it seems that the general populous are catching on. Thank you for bringing this info to people who otherwise may not receive it, it's the only way that this could ever change for the better
This is my favorite video on RUclips. Ive been a passionate car fan for a long time and new cars drive me crazy. Especially the idea that a company wouldn't allow me to work on my own car.
I hate the spaceship cockpit, capacitive buttons and the distraction coming from having to interact with a screen that's placed in an unergonomical position so much. Give me back levers, knobs and buttons that I can use without looking at them nor have to consciously think about using! My Mitsubishi Colt 2012 is peak practicality in that regard.
Even old spaceships had levers, knobs, and buttons
My 2009 Grand Marquis says hold my beer!
Same. 2013 Yaris. People look at me like I've never driven a "nice" car, or I'm poor, which is even more sad. Kinda gold though as I have a built R34 GTR that runs 9's to destroy their dear hearts with if needed. I cannot fathom why you would want a bloody 5 tier menu screen to try and change simple settings.
Cars today are not driven but pointed…
Want a self driving car, take the bus…
Need a self parking vehicle, relinquish your drivers license as you’re not fit to drive…
Need a vehicle that automatically slows when approaching another vehicle, become more aware of your surroundings.
That unsellable clause isn't unique to Tesla. A lot of rare cars have those requirements where if you don't keep them for 12 months you either must sell them back to a dealer or some other rule. Sometimes you pay a fine, sometimes it's loss of ability to ever buy another one, sometimes you only have to give the manufacturer first option to buy but if someone gives a better deal you can opt for that.
The Corvette and the electric Hummer were two other famous ones with this issue.
I was going to change out some of the fluids on my car recently and the fluid receptacle (CVT Fluid) didn't even have a dipstick, it's purposefully set up to prevent individuals from measuring and changing the fluid themselves.
My parents got themselves a brand new suv about 2 years ago. Dad, who is now 79, was in love with the color and how well it rode (comfy seats) and he liked all the backup cameras, side cameras and even some weird camera that's above - which makes no sense to me without having a drone taking that shot, but sure enough it does it. 😅. But omg do they get so frustrated at everything else it has to offer. They're pretty young for their age and enjoy some tech but this thing, I'm 46 and grew up ripping apart computers and reassembling them and even I was no thank you when they listed the crap this car does. Apparently if they use a wand to wash their car they can't wash under the back bumper unless they take the car keys out and lock the car. Otherwise it opens their trunk mid wash! If they remove a hand from the steering wheel (like so many of us do on long trips) it yells at them. An actual voice talks to them and tells them to put their hand back (idk how long it has to be off before that happens). My mother insists that it reports their driving back to the insurance company, but I feel like that's more like my mom signed up for that to get a discount and didn't realize what they meant by monitoring or something lol! I got in it the other day to pair the Bluetooth for her new phone and thought I might be going slowly mad. So many menus! Seriously all I want in a car is: good safety rating, blindspots warning, heated seats (helps my crap back) and Android auto (or whatever it is for iPhones) to listen to Spotify or Libby. I need no other fancy gadgets. ...well maybe the automatic windows just because sometimes cars make a horrific noise on the highway when you only have 1 window down and so cracking the opposite back window helps. But yeah, that's it. I certainly do not want a giant tablet console. This crap needs to stop.
It should have a car wash mode for that, but that's besides the point and doesn't change anything lol
@@sprockkets to be fair, it might. 😆 My parents aren't well versed in all that car's bells and whistles and I certainly haven't perrused it's giant user manual. Good Lord you should see it. It's at least and 1.5 inches thick!
@@sprockkets which is probably hidden in 5 or 10 submenus.
Your mom isn’t wrong, although they usually don’t report directly to insurance companies. Instead, they sell your data to third-party data brokers, which sell information to insurance companies. For example, GM has been selling information about driving behavior (including instances of speeding, braking hard, or rapid acceleration) to LexisNexis, which generates consumer risk profiles for insurers.
The desire to use and monetize data is one big reason for the shift to “connected cars.”
So you don't need an AC? Got it.
I hate my wife's 2021 trailblazer. If the check engine light comes on it auto throttles the engine, the auto shutoff is going to wear the starter out, and we are on our 3rd warranty repair over a sensor malfunctioning. Her last car was a 2009 Rav that was purchased used. Never had any issues with it other than basic maintenance.
chevy vs toyota engineering lmao
It's your own fault for buying a GM product. You have no right to complain.
Start/stop systems use different starters and have an actual control circuit for them than old "regular" starters. They last 4x as long as a normal starter would because it puts less load on the starter.
But given the fact you bought a GM product I wouldn't expect them to have given a single crap about that so enjoy replacing that in the future!
When my mother bought her Buick Envista I drilled it into her that she always has to push the start stop disable button, every time she gets in the car. She never drives without doing it.
Wait am i reading that correctly? If the CEL comes on, it shuts off the damn car???
I just need a functioning A/C, Knobs, Gauges and a Kenwood in dash stereo. I do not need all this other garbage. I hate the lit up screen shinning in my face when I'm driving at night
Ngl, I love myself a good future car but like...the old ones just hit different and make me feel safe and nostalgic at the same time...
As someone that watched movies on tour bus mini screens; I do not recommend it for those prone to motion sick. I cannot image how much I would get car sick if there's a screen in the car.
Here in Europe, most cars are manual transmission. I have never driven an automatic car. When I got my license, I bought a very old car (it said it was built in Czechoslovakia, imagine 😅). Everything was manual, mirrors, seats, keys, no commodity at all, very hard direction. That was the car I learnt to drive with and I think I am quite a decent driver thanks to my little tank. Now I drive a Seat Leon from 2008, very reliable and steardy. I hope it still lasts a long time.
What Czechnology you got?
@@deffington6627 it was a Skoda Felicia!
@@isabelsenas3711 Ah, those were made from 1994. So after Czechoslovakia separation. I thought you got something from the commie times :D Felicia was a good car for the years tho, light years ahead from old commie Skoda cars.
@@deffington6627 I don't remember which year was it made, but in the docs it said Chezchoslovakia. Maybe they recicled some papers? No idea.
Yes, my Felicia was a tank, hard as hell 😂
@@deffington6627 Commie cars were just meant as a last resort type thing though. You never needed a car in Soviet or eastern bloc states unless you lived in a rural area.
Despite that the VFTS was a thing and I've seen people crank out well over 200hp N/A from the VAZ 1.6L engines. Plus the 2.45L in the Volga was just a military multifuel engine slapped in a civilian car. They literally run forever on nearly anything with the most half-assed maintenance you can imagine.
They suck to drive though lol. Fun as a novelty or when you've turned one into a rally machine, but otherwise super disconnected and 0 feel of whats going on. They last a good while but so does a mid 90-s to early 2000's BMW and those things are objectively better in a lot of aspects (especially ergonomics) than most modern cars so....
I rented a car over the weekend and it took two people working together to figure out how to put it into reverse. Had to hold a button and push it forward to go in reverse. 🥴 Nothing about the controls in that car were intuitive to me.
I'm reminded of a sewing machine backstitch xD
What was the car
my in-laws car you can not do an oil change on it. It has no oil drain plug and requires a special pump to pull the oil out of the engine via a special port on top of the eigne.
& it probably doesn't even drain out the oil as completely as w/a drain plug!
Yeah so when car manufacturers quit providing support you have a $50k-$60k paperweight still not paid off. It costs too much to have maintenance done.
Ok you can't make that claim and leave out what car it actually is. Model and year ?
@@bobbybishop5662 IIRC, some Smart cars use such a scheme
You captured the sentiment perfectly. I will continue driving my 1986 F-150 probably forever, if possible. It has a rock solid 5 liter EFI V8, A/C, power windows and locks, cruise control, and an overdrive automatic. Doesn’t lack any features I actually want, auto makers haven’t added any meaningful features in the last 30 years. Still hauls a trailer perfectly. When it breaks down (rarely) I can fix it in my driveway for dirt cheap. Just got done replacing the 38 year old OEM timing chain. It was *40 dollars* for a new performance double roller, chain and gears. A 2020 F-150 with a 5 liter V8… *325 dollars* for the timing set. And easily 2x harder to replace.
I still only own cars from the 90s/early 2000s, and i wouldn’t have it any other way, i’ve had less breakdowns then my friends with 2018+ cars
I'm just retiring my 1997 Expert van(because its kind of knackered, and increasingly Euro 2 engines are not allowed to go places). The last year cars were entirely electromechanical. Having to deal with computers full of proprietary software is going to piss me off royally. It's not the computers per se - it's the fact that none of the software is available to adjust and fix. It's all locked-down. I may have to build my own EV eventually to get a modern vehicle that I can still control.
@@xxwookey What EU state are you from? I'm from Romania and I'm still driving my Euro 3 diesel (manual transmission) car. Planning on driving it for the next 20 years at the very least. I've had it for 10 years now.
Even most car companies kinda hate dealerships. They're just legally to sell through them in most cases. The subscriptions put money directly in the manufactures pocket.
I’d absolutely love a video on subscriptions! So many things are now just “subscription as a service,” not actual things you can own. It’s bad enough in gaming and software, but now that cancer is spreading to other industries.
I'm old enough to remember "never put your real name or personal information online" but here we are
Typing this after only 1 min into the video, but the issue with modern cars is the same issue with every other modern thing (phones, computers, bikes, etc). The issue is everything is made to fail to keep you in a perpetual state of buying new, whereas it seemed like there was a period post world war 2 where many consumer items were built to legitimately last and allow you to opt out of the buying cycle if you took care of your belongings.
Edit; post watching, my first and only car I have ever owned is an ‘03 ford ranger. And the closest I’ve been to driving off the road was a painful two hours driving my Finacee’s 2020 Corolla where I was battling the lane assist the entire time I was on the highway, if I neared a line it would auto steer which would make me over steer against it in compensation causing it to try and correct me trying to correct it which went on my whole turn driving.
I think car makers should try to reduce and simplify the amount of unneeded features that are in our cars and car companies should improve the most important things in the cars like the reliability of the drivetrain
I have 2 EV's, one 12 year old and the other 6. Zero maintenance and repair on the drivetrain. We are getting there regardless of what bells and whistles are in the cabin.
I assume they're either older Teslas or Nissan Leafs? Leafs are surprisingly fixable. Nissan at least opened up the comms protocol making battery swaps and upgrades fairly easy. It's a shame they're not a liquid cooled battery...
That’s the problem - cars are now deliberately complex to ensure that owners have to take them back to the dealer for servicing, and are less durable to ensure that drivers keep on renewing their lease deals every 2-3 years.
The car makers only put features into cars that actually sell and bring money.
If a feature is in a car, it is either mandated by law, or by customer requests.
The drivetrain itself is really sorted out for decades now.
The thing is: Many people just don't adhere to the maintenance schedules - especially in the USA.
The right to repair goes hand in hand with being in control of your technology, which is why big companies are fighting it with all they have.
My parents got a van with a TV when I was about 13 or 14. It was great. Especially driving (more than once) from Pennsylvania to Texas.
On a related note, I knew almost every word in Finding Nemo by heart.
0:33 They're objectively not better considering the worse reliability and cost to repair for the price you're paying.
8:43 I’ve told this to management/safety department in my truck driving job. These newer trucks have tons of safety features, and automatic transmissions. Newer drivers especially, depend on these safety features to be less safe on the road. Our old semi trucks didn’t have all these fancy safety features and you had to be more alert of your driving. Now a days, you can be on your phone while truck driving and it’ll alert you if you’re too close to a vehicle or not centered in your lane. These trucks auto brake for you too. There’s all these alerts on your screen and random beeping alerts. We had one driver have a roll over, all because the safety feature he depended on while being distracted, wasn’t working properly that time.
On the contrary, motorbikes & scooters have gotten way better.
Yeah have fun driving in northern US winters with a scooter or bike. For northerners unfortunately there's zero alternative to cars and trucks and we have to put up with this backwards evolution.
The motorcycle world is about 20 years behind the auto industry. You can see it with ABS becoming standard vs an option on most new bikes and drive by wire being much more common now. They're in their zenith, but it will eventually pass as well.
@@RossGoneRogue In Europe manufacturers can't sell motorbikes & scooters that don't have at least ABS, Traction control, Euro 5+ (since Jan 2024), etc. as standard. Helmets require the (current) ECE 22.06 certification. Chinese crapware, without certification is not road legal.
In Europe, in terms of safety standards, it's close to the car industry.
I think USA should do something about too. Having the "option" to buy the same bike without safety standards (ABS, etc.), to save a few dollar, doesn't' make sense.
For some reason. Being able to drive a standard is a flex for some people. Some of us just grew up driving dirtboxes because automatics were a luxury. It's crazy how even now we see cars in terms of status has changed so much over the decades.
I drive long haul. 16 litre motor, turbo, manual transmission - 20 separate gears, no problem. 😅😅
@@STScott-qo4pw now that's impressive.
Never thought I'd hear the Cybertruck being the culmination of all our tech problems with the auto industry, but here we are. Great video as always!
Having the minivan with screen in the back was pretty awesome, but did come with a few drawbacks -
Inevitably, you forgot to change out the CD, so whatever is in there is what you are watching. I've watched Star wars episode 1 many times. Arguably many times more than I wanted to.
When the car is started, the screen and accessory power drops out. If you are watching a movie, no problem, a few seconds of downtime and its back up. If you were playing Jak2 trying to beat that one slums mission... well...
The cybertruck is the most talked about vehicle, but for all the wrong reasons and nobody actually buys it.
There was one in the parking garage every day for like a week, then the recalls came in and it disappeared.
I seen one out on the road for the very first time recently.
Driving my 2013 paid off car like a boss. I did install a backup camera for added safety, though.
That all said, I do have a.minor nitpick with the last point a little as yes, public or mass transit does exist but not in all places or in a usable form. Great for folks in dense areas but I live in the sticks and have lived where you have to turn off the paved road to get there.
Additionally, maybe I'm a bit over-imaginative but in an emergency scenario, you can just drive a car where you need to go. Whether that be to a friend or family member's house at 3am for an emergency, an unplanned visit to the hospital, or even in an apocalyptic scenario you can just go off-road with the right vehicle and get out of dodge. Public transportation isn't very helpful in any of those scenarios. I'd be a bit nervous about not owning a car, even if I did use public transit most of the time.
@@stephencoakley A study in the US found out that this 'emergency' thinking is fully half the value a lot of Americans place on their car. In places with good public services of course you have (free) ambulances for the health emergency at any time of day or night and high-capacity transit which would get you out of town in most emergencies faster than a massive queue on the motorway. Cars are useful of course, especially for out-of-the-way journeys, building you whole transport system around future potential or hypothetical emergencies is quite odd when you think about it. Those things are incredibly rare in comparison to all the normal day-to-day trips people make.
Yes another downside of public transportation is that you have to get to the transit station. And sometimes it's pretty far from your house. Also one transit station is quite remote from another connecting transit station. i solved all this problem by having a folding bicycle to ride to and from transit stations (and take the folding bicycle onboard), but it's not a feasible solution for everyone.
Another reason that is actually less talked about is that apparently in cities, women feel genuinely unsafe on public transportation and report that basically, if they are at all attractive or feminine, they will get harassed on the bus or subway to the point that they'd rather deal with traffic and the cost of car ownership to avoid that problem. So even if you get a public transit system to the point where a lot of men can use it to save money, it's a far cry from being to the point where women would feel safe on it.
I am sure this is less an issue outside USA
I was about 10 when Demolition Man was released in 1993, as a grown man today, I understand it was more of a prediction than fiction.
Is that Olds 442 getting prettier every year, or are today's cars just getting uglier?
I think this is one of the reasons why we see so many car people move to motorbikes.
Cars have gotten very fast, but also too expensive, disconnected and unfixable.
Motorbikes(generally) don't have these problems. They are still a very raw and basic riding experience.
There are less motorcycles on the roads than previous times. Motorcycle sales have down for a few years.
A few months ago I bought a 2024 Acura RDX A-Spec Advance. We recently took a road trip on I-81 and on the way back to Maryland were caught multiple times in stop and go traffic. The adaptive cruise control handled the acceleration and braking. The lane keep assist made sure I didn’t drift. Even in standstill/stop and go traffic required much less effort than my old vehicle (2014 Acura RLX). I’m 58 and old school so I always closely monitor not only traffic immediately next to me but ahead as well. But the driver assist technology reduces the amount of information I need to process and allows me to focus on not hitting the vehicles near me. Technology is fine as long as you know how to use it.
Stop driving my guy
That is true that the dealers are trying to do everything they can to try to get you go to them even for maintenance, for example, the removal of the dipstick to check the transmission fluid. And the dealers are getting worse every year: pressuring you to do unnecessary work not listed in your manual, failing to do work they charge you for, doing a shoddy job, damaging your car internally or externally while working on it, and then lying about it. Many people have been taken enough times that they don't trust dealers or anyone else with their car, and rightly so.
Wow I didnt know people have Tech cars have to pay subscription in order to get those features sound ridiculous.
Where ya been? :)
My backup camera has saved other people's cars from thousands of dollars of damage.
That just means you suck at driving
Saved my life probably lol I remember it was dark and foggy and I couldn’t see in the camera and for a whole ass second I was wondering how I was gonna see behind me without the screen 😂
I got hit because backup cameras don't have peripheral vision. By all means, use it, but not exclusively.
I use my backup camera as another window I check. Check the side windows, the rear view mirror, and the backup cam. When used that way I think it increases situational awareness and safety a lot, especially for vehicles where the design gives you a pretty narrow field of view through the rear window.
I can drive.
Really not built like they used to be! Especially when you spend like $5k to replace an info cluster or infotainment system 😭
Be glad they aren’t built like they used to be.
@@williamwilson6499 why
@@williamwilson6499
When a new Mercedes S class literally broke down within 2-5 years when the w140 is still running just fine
The same thing basically goes to every other cars on the road today.
Your statement is like shouting "I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT CARS!!!"
@@williamwilson6499 bodies are built to a better standard, engines are more efficient and in some cases more reliable (Depending on things like the injection system etc), but they're also harder to fix.
To me, mid 2010s is kinda the sweet spot. You got the last of the proper port-injected cars, modern diagnostics, easily accessible engine bays and still a good presence of manual gearboxes available.
@@rtmpgtyou can build better without all the electronic clusters that can fail or get damaged or proprietary parts/software
I do really like my backup camera (very useful for seeing exactly where the rear bumper is), but I am happy it is just a little dedicated screen and not incorporated into some touchscreen non-sense infotainment system. Manual transmission too, which is so much fun!
In cities that aren't super dense like NYC, we don't have the solutions to transportation problems he mentions. Sure, a bus or trolley can take you... but you can't just zone out or focus on work and expect to get to your destination quickly or efficiently. It may also involve having to keep an eye out for multiple stops, doing transfers, etc. With a car with FSD it can literally act as your personal taxi for, potentially, a one-time up front cost. Eventually, when it reaches level 3+, it can literally be your DD. You can get out of the bar at 2am and hail your own car, long after public trans stops service in many cities and towns.
The chrisfix edit disabled me :'D
it's been pissing me off for the past couple years seeing the rise of large touchscreens in cars that the driver is meant to operate. I'm only 22 so I only started driving 6 years ago. apple carplay is really convenient as a passenger seat music adjuster but its insane to think that a driver is meant to operate all these touch buttons while driving in a moving, bumping vehicle. I'm looking at getting a new car soon and the safest option I can find is a car with a giant screen but you have a rotating knob that moves across the screen instead of a touchscreen. It's just so baffling that I got taught "never look at your phone, a single text can take your eyes off the road for half a mile" but now we have giant touchscreen controls that literally notify you of texts and give you the option to hear them WHILE DRIVING. what on earth is wrong with people designing cars.
I'm also 22 & recently bought me a used truck that's almost as old as I am ('02 Ranger). Used vehicles are also cheaper.
On newer models, the touchscreen is sometimes even angled towards the driver, as if the manufacturer actually wants to discourage the passenger from operating it. Cars have had this "style over functionality" design philosophy for far too long now, and I 100% blame tesla for popularizing this trend.
I drive a 2021 Tacoma and it’s kind of a weird mix of modern and old school simplicity. I have a 6 speed manual, I have to turn the key to start the engine, it has a naturally aspirated V6 which I can work on myself. But it also has modern tech like a touch screen with CarPlay, radar cruise control, blind spot monitors, etc. I really like that mix. The new Tacomas I think are joining other modern platforms and going to be harder to work on or repair over time and less reliable. I love my Tacoma for that reason
How do you like that car payment? 😅
@@Madamchief it’s not that bad actually lol
@@wa11pon33 I want a Tacoma but a car payment of any sort just sounds awful right now. I gotta stick with my little old Camry til she quits which could be another 20 years 😂
@@Madamchief that’s fair lol I’ve just always had a car payment since I bought my first car so I’m used to it. But since I bought the Tacoma I want to pay this one off and run it into the ground because it’s going to be reliable enough!
@@wa11pon33 the electronics will give out sooner than the motor. You'll get at least 250k out of it💪
I loved driving around in my 91 civic, all manual everything.
It definitely made life more complicated, but there was something nice about driving it around
10:50 The fact that most new cars only have the lift points for a lift like the ones at the mechanic. I can't safely do any of my own work because there's nowhere to put a jackstand.
*I BOUGHT A MECHANICAL TYPEWRITER* It was made in 1958, it arrived unrestored and worked perfectly. Its no lie to say it has changed my life. I get my creative work done in peace and tranquillity with no distractions and my stress goes DOWN whilst I am working, since when was that a thing? Working and being less stressed? Im not less stressed when I work on the computer...!!!
Tech in everything is now starting to DEGRADE the experience of everything
A typewriter changed your life?
Bro mechanical typewriters are very tiring to use vs today's keyboards (edited). You really want a manual typewriter instead of a powered one?
If you really want to connect and engage your brain, use your hand and a pen or pencil.
@@sprockketsI like writing by hand.
@@sprockkets Bro computers caused lots of hand injuries due to repetitive stress syndrome.
@@piccalillipit9211 nowhere near as bad vs mechanical ones
I love your car videos even as a car guy. They are really easy to understand for non car people because of the really simple and base level information ✋🙂↕️
I’m an apprentice mechanic in Ontario, I can definitely agree that our work has become so convoluted that during school, we basically learn what engineers learn.
The industry is getting more problematic since they are also making cars a lot more difficult to repair.
As a truck driver for 30 years, I can say without a doubt. People are much worse drivers than years ago. They don't pay attention. They get a false sense of security because of the advancements in technology and safety. They fail to realize, however , that there false sense of security makes them drive more aggressive and puts the rest of us in danger. They also drive faster than their skill level which results in very bad high speed accidents. Overall most people are not as skilled at driving as they believe themselves to be. So,yeah. Something has to be done. Either we need to go to fully autonomous cars. Or bring back simpler cars that actually require some skill to operate, and requires you to pay more attention to the road.
Bring back the manuals ... I believe we need the European model where in order to get a licence to drive anything other than your own you need a manual transmission vehicle
@@Trust-de-process Agreed
@@Trust-de-process demolish SUV's, keep sport cars, trucks, and motorcycles all mechanical machines with the exception of ecu components and basic convivence upgrades, I wish one day i could make cars that lasts forever and made to be kept forever
backup cameras solved the problem of like 10 kids getting run over and created tens of thousands of jobs for autobody shops as people back out of parking spaces and scrape the cars next to them, because they ONLY use the camera and not their mirrors.
Apart from all electronics, cars also got a lot heavier wich makes any crash worse for everyone else not in that car. Also visibility has gone down so much. Really high beltlines, especially at the back combined with super thick and rigid window pillars make me feel like i am driving a tank.
Idunno man, even before tech in cars, people in general didn't know shit about how their cars worked and were terrible drivers too.
Agreed. So weird that "driving manual transmission" is somehow romanticized in this video. I couldn't get rid of mine with an automatic.
It is kind of weird how this episode has a focus on the human interaction with cars. Of course it is fun to drive the first ten years after you get your license, but you are still not the worlds best driver, and don’t get me started on older drivers in cognitive decline. Manual transmission becomes muscle memory at some point, and you still don’t choose optimal gear all the time. I think focus are to much on car enthusiasts , most people just want something nice in front of their house that take them in comfort from a to b reliably and whenever they need it to. Should have focused more on reliability and cost/burden of ownership.
I don’t believe everybody knew how to maintain their car in the old days. Hell, regular bikes can last a long time with basic maintenance and a few special tools for a few dollars and most find even those complicated.
Well today, it's even way worse. A rich lady drowned in her Tesla because she accidentally put it in reverse and drove into a lake. Doors stopped working after it fell in the water, and she didn't know about the emergency door hatch release.
@@americanfreedomworldpeace Turned out that rich lady was drunk.
@@tonii5690 no she didn't understand how to operate her Tesla and I wouldn't blame her. The Tesla doors stop working if the power is cut or if it gets water damaged. The emergency door release is not very easy to find, especially if no one told you about it. That's the problem with having everything electronic and non mechanical. Drunk or sober, the Tesla has a dumb and dangerous design.
I’m in my late 40’s, life long car enthusiast. I was always looking at new cars and thinking about the next one because the market was on fire. Not anymore, all I want is to keep my current cars on the road. All new cars seem “disposable”. A BMW FROM THE 80’s, 90’s and 2000,s were timeless, after 2010 they became appliances and so did the rest of the industry
I drive a 2002 Commodore, that thing is the perfect marriage between tech (tells you when somethings broken, Automatic transmission) and mechanic, space around engine to work on, easy layout, all that’s nessary is there and nothing more
Worst thing is that you can coil copper wire to fix an electric motor yourself for example. There is no reason for an EV to be less repairable then a normal Car.
the motor is the last thing you'd have to repair, its all the other parts that matter.
@@bensteele5801 Its an example of a worst case scenario, you dont have to take it literally.
A lot of EV motors don't use wire - they use copper bars put in by robots. The problem with EVs is that they don't really have much to break, but when they do, it's expensive.
@@sprockkets If a robot can get to it i can get to it even if weldet shut. only thing keeping me from doing that is software.
@@AntiFreak321 You can open any motor. Whether you can actually rewire the copper bars....probably not. I've seen how they are put in.
The saddest thing about electric cars is that they don't need to be consumer computers on wheels.
There is nothing, absolutely nothing about electric motors thay requires the level of sophisticated technology that EVs have.
If they made an EV that was otherwise exactly like a 1977-84 Buick Electra or Olds 98 Regency, they might be worth buying..but the manufacturers seem to think they have to be cramped, blob-shaped space ships
@@michaelwarenycia7588 Well, some people like their spaceships, the problem in my opinion is the lack of choice.
Also while moving the car is certainly what drains the battery the most, I'm pretty sure that having all those extra screens and bells and whistles probably doesn't help the range to be honest. Also it's just extra complexity that makes repairing them more of a hassle when they should actually be as simple if not simpler than internal combustion engines because instead of having to deal with transmissions and oils and whatnot you just have a battery a throttle and electric motors that are basically souped up versions of what you find in a drill.
@@Fernando-ek8jp yes, lack of choice. If someone else wants the spaceship, I'm not saying they shouldn't be allowed to have it, but there's no options for people who want the velour upholstered brougham or a practical midsize work truck. People should also keep in mind that the more people who use EVs, the less advantage there will be, price wise, and the more issues for the grid. I live in Ukraine...granted, a someone extreme case but shortages and grid issues occur in the US at times, too. Tesla's got very popular for a while, in part, I suspect, because of ethnic Russians (the city I live in had a KGB base, army ones too...these are the still-privileged kids of Stalin's colonists) wanting to subtly show support for Russia, since Musk is seen as anti Ukraine...ppl do such things a lot with hammers and sickles on their house facades, etc. But, recently, it's been lots of blackouts and all of a sudden people realize again how great it is to have a vehicle you can carry fuel for in a can, and refuel in a couple minutes since there is never power long enough to fully charge at slower home chargers. Something to keep in mind. *Edit* consumer choice is really paramount and leads to the best products, usually
@@michaelwarenycia7588 that's certainly a good point.
I mean, worst case scenario you get yourself a gas powered generator which kinda defeats the purpose of having an electric car and is less convenient than just having a few gallons of fuel that you can use whenever.
Anywho, you're right. More choices = more competition = better products.
Also, Slava Ukraini. Hope you and your loved ones are safe and that the invaders stop, well, invading.
@@Fernando-ek8jp it was a busy night tonight (barrages of AA woke everyone up) but no damage - I live in Vinnytsia, pretty far from the front and only occasionally targetted. Thank you for your support and your interesting thoughts.
The biggest change in cars in the last ten years is the percentage of drivers intentionally making noise that can be heard more than a mile away, and bearing down on your rear bumper instead of early evasive action to go around you. It's as if the number of military bases increased.
If you aren't driving a lifted truck, a dodge charger, or a ninja cycle, you'd better go in for fender reassignment.
it's a big mystery that Tesla sold at all, because you can't drop the clutch and have your revving be heard 5 blocks away. What's the point.
Oh, Dodge is making an EV that sounds just as loud as their gas cars. F em.
I mean, to be fair, I like the sound of a nicely tuned engine as much as the next person, but if I do exhaust mods to any car, I add an active exhaust controller to my car to stop it from being loud and obnoxious in residential areas. My current Commodore Ute for example has an Arduino-based exhaust controller that I designed, which has three modes, one for fully silent (Good Neighbour mode) , one for gesture control (Sport mode) and one for full open mode (Race mode)
I'll be putting a similar system onto my Miata when I buy it next :D
loud cars are so annoying, "oh look guys i blew your eardrums out i'm so cool!!!"
@@Gobbler. I agree with you. Hence why I designed the valve system for my ute. Anyone with a non-variable loud exhaust is kidding themselves if they say "they can put up with it when driving" when the large bulk of exhaust note tuning is done to take the "Drone" out of the pipes.
The irony of the the keyed ignition switch is that it was a long evolution of modern tech improving ownership experiences in cars. Originally, there were cranks used to manually turn the crankshaft to get the compression and the engine started. There were people a century ago complaining that by not needing to stand in front of the car physically turning over the engine people would lose the connection with the mechanical part of their car. But, there are still classics and replica cars people can use to enjoy the old-timey experience.
4:50 Can confirm, those TVs were rarely ever used even on long drives. Newer luxury cars have them, except now they're full on computers with games and stuff on them.
I'm really surprised how shallow this take was. It flits along the top of a few things but doesn't get into the depths of things like how long repair queues for cars like Teslas can leave a car buyer essentially without a car, and how EV battery performance under cold weather conditions can severely limit drivability, which itself can make for other problems; how you used to be able to just pound out a dent in your bumper easily and maybe even for free if you do it yourself, but now that everything comes in big fiberglass panels, you could have t o replace your whole bumper for a whopping price. Or how cars are now tracking and selling your location information and other personal information, etc.
Important points! Modern cars are surveillance systems on wheels.
@@davideographer4410 Yup. Maybe people who drive to a 7-11 at 11:30 p.m. on a weeknight are in one way or another less healthy or reliable or employable, an insurance company or employer might decide. Or someone who goes to bars or a liquor store X times per month, or hangs out at clubs X number of hours. Or who comes home from a night out at 2 a.m. instead of before midnight? Or goes to a gun store or firing range or protest rally? There are countless ways your private actions can be sifted through by AI in ways that might be detrimental to you.
@@MarcIverson Sounds dystopian but this is the reality we're barreling towards 😞
This stuff makes me appreciate that for a 2014 model, my Subaru BRZ is the most simple ‘modern’ car I’ve seen thus far. MT, key to start, climate control on knobs, the small touchscreen only does music, no back up cam, no assist of any sort, basic ass seats with manual adjustment etc.
Own it outright and I’m gonna keep it running as long as I can since I can work on it myself.
Same with my MX-5 ND - it's an incredibly simple car. It's a forever car for me too.
Exactly how I feel about my 2013 Genesis Coupe. It’s a premium so it has a few extra basic comforts, but they all still work and it’s such a breeze to work on and maintain. I keep my maintenance records and change my own oil every 3-5k miles and it continues to be my fun and reliable daily nearly 7 years after I bought it. The biggest thing it’s ever needed replaced were the tires.
You are absolutely correct. There's too much unnecessary technology in our cars.
(10:53) It sounds like people need to call in advance before going to a car repair place and ask if they have the technology to fix the car.
i can confirm the minivan with the TV was AMAZING its literally a core memory with the car (we dont have that car anymore 😔)
Why'd you take the Cybertruck off the thumbnail? It was perfect for this
Still there. RUclips puts a different thumbnail based on current timestamp if you're already watching the video.