The Circle Of Life

[Zema Bus]

This was in the 1970's, a lot of those cars didn't look very old for the time.

[Grogan]

Back when cars were just mechanical machines that you could fix. Steel parts, not stupid shit that rodents chew off. Now they are all gadgety and software controlled everything.

I'm actually appalled at some of the nannying shit in my new car. I have everything disabled that takes control away from me while driving, but for example it won't even let me change the music selection... "for your safety, features have been disabled while the vehicle is in motion". Gimme back my fucking cassette deck

[mlangdn]

Cassette deck? I immediately thought of my 8-track.....

My car is a 2007 Santa Fe. No nannying crap there. However, my truck is a 2013 F250 Diesel. Once started and the phone pairs, I am not in control. Can't manually do a thing. I have to press the voice button, then after hearing "Please say a command", tell it what I need. If I touch the phone screen, I hear the same "for your safety" warning.

[Grogan]

I don't want 8 track back (cassettes were more useful) but we had those. Yeehaw, let's listen to some Roger Whittaker 8 tracks from the 70's (Dad always played shit like that in the car... he wouldn't often let me play my Steppenwolf or Deep Purple tapes)

I haven't gotten to using that yet, but in my old car if I was going to use the GPS I would just set it up with the car stopped because I hated the voice commands. I don't pair my phone with the car, it's off unless I want to use it. I use the "phone" part very rarely (it would be to call a tow or something), if I turn it on it's usually for Internet.

I've still got lots of stupid shit to sort out in my new car. It's nice, but every new car gets more complicated.

[mlangdn]

I usually do my own mechanical work on my vehicles. They are now either too complicated or need a specialized EXPENSIVE tool to accomplish a task. Us shade tree mechanics aren't saving much using a probable one time tool.

My 2013 F250 went to the dealer twice last year. The first to replace cab mount bushings ~ $1750. Then, it was back in to rebuild the EGR system. Just over $5000 dollars. Parts alone were almost $3000. The truck only had 129k. Fudge.....

My 2007 Santa Fe I can still do most myself. Then again, I'm 71, with more years behind me than in front of me.

[Zema Bus]

My 2007 2500 HD diesel 4WD also has none of that stuff, no screen or voice controls etc. The only voice I ever heard from it was a random ad that came over my speakers while I was driving to activate a subscription for Onstar, and it only did that one time when it was still new. It's a single cab, that's pretty rare these days.