Cars suck, man
petargyurov.com
petargyurov.com
Cars just keep getting worse. Manufacturers try to cram too much functionality into the car at too low a price point. Even if you buy a car that costs more than most people's house, it is going to be full of technology that at some point will fail. You can't fix it yourself. And when you get it fixed, it invariably ends up costing some significant fraction of what the car is worth. Even if it is just a faulty rail for the seat.
To top it off, silly regulations also contribute to making cars more distracting and annoying. I used to laugh at American cars for making those incessant ding-ding sounds when the door is open. But now European cars ding, and ping, and whine constantly because regulations require them to constantly bombard you with warnings and interruptions. As if that's actually going to make the car safer.
There is something extremely relaxing about driving a vintage car from the 1970s. Sure, you have to learn how to coax the engine into life on cold days. And you actually have to learn how to modulate brakes and throttle. And learn how to fix the 4-5 things that break every couple of years. But that's a lot less bother than having a computer on wheels where every single problem could end up being so expensive it is cheaper to scrap the car and get a new one.
Here's what I'd like: an electrical car modeled on the philosophy of the Fiat 500 or the Citroen 2CV. A minimalist car that is so simple anyone can afford it, and anyone can learn how to repair anything on it. A car with as few parts as possible and where every spare part is easily available. (Fiat 500 parts used to be available where you bought your groceries. That's not going to happen today, but if you could buy every single part online at a reasonable price, that would do).
A car that comes with drawings for every part, for every electrical circuit. A car that can be modified and evolved to fit new needs. A car that can grow a cottage industry of companies that make upgraded parts, rebuild cars etc.
The Fiat 500 and 2CV were important cars. Even more important than the VW Beetle. Because they provided mobility to much deeper demographics. Nobody really makes important cars anymore. Important cars change how society works. And I think the only way we can make cars tolerable again is to figure out a way to come up with a minimalist, open source, vehicle architecture that can satisfy the safety requirements. I think we have the technology to do that today.
The battery pack is not temperature-controlled so it gets hot in long trips, and recharging becomes excruciatingly slow. Then again, it was not designed for long trips.
The new Citroen e-C3 is a modern, cheap(ish) car with a similar concept: optional touchscreen and many physical controls.
I'd also be surprised to learn auto makers aren't doing this sort of thing because it tends to sell better. Similar situation to phones getting larger every year despite some segment crying for smaller phones.
At some point cars had screens, surrounded by physical buttons. I always thought that was a great compromise.
[0]: https://www.retroelectrics.co.uk/classic-fiat-500-electric-c... [1]: https://ev-evolution.eu/solution/fiat-500-ev-conversion-kit/
Not possible with today's safety rules. You mentioned this in passing but dismissed it without understating. You can argue it's not needed (and some probably are not needed), but this is just yelling into the wind.
Also, as Engineers we know that cost is related not just to simplicity but scale. Your dream car will never be at the cost you or like minded people will buy because it may be simple and featureless, but it will be expensive.
The electric car you're asking for will never exist unless you build it yourself or manage to import from a country with lax laws.
Cars very close to the "dream car" do exist, and they are cheap, but they are not available in US/EU due to our absurd regulations. Look at the new land cruiser 70 series. Simple, reliable, affordable - but not available in the US because they don't meet random punitive safety or emissions rules.
citation needed, please!
The problem here is that "random punitive safety or emissions rules" is subjective and up for debate. That is what regulation and politics are for, nobody will ever 100% agree so compromises are made.
I suppose if this is the most important issue for someone, they could move to Japan and have their J70.
If I had that kind of money lying around I'd probably initially focus on funding projects in academia in collaboration with regulatory and certification bodies. There are already (largely pointless) academic programs to design and build race cars. It should be possible to interest academia in doing something vaguely productive instead. Like collaborating on designing a platform for cheap mobility.
As for simplicity and scale: simplicity is absolutely a requirement for cost efficient scalability. To see how incredibly important this across disciplines, have a peek at "How Big Things Get Done" by Bent Flyvbjerg.
This is essentially what the right to repair movement is pushing for laptops, phones and whatnot. Access to replacement parts for phones and laptops aren't necessarily so you can do the work yourself. It doesn't mean that your grandmother will be replacing BGA components on your laptop. But it does mean that you can go to anyone sufficiently competent to carry out the work and get it done.
And as with computers that were not built for easy upgrading and/or repair: a lot of modern cars suffer from the same problem. And often for the same reason: they want you do spend more money buying a new computer/car or have their clueless service reps tell you that you need to spend money on unnecessary parts because they can't or won't repair them.
Righ now both me and a friend of mine are waiting for components to arrive for our respective cars so the workshop can get around to replacing them. I've been waiting for parts to arrive since the start of december. He has been waiting for almost half a year for to arrive from the factory. The manufacturer can get away with shitty service because there's really only one place to get the parts.
I'd much rather own a car where I can get the parts within 24 hours and I can either get a mechanic to fix it for me, or, if the job doesn't require a lot of custom equipment (which I'm not allowed to buy) and know-how, do it myself.
You sound like you haven't actually given this any thought, so you should ask yourself why you felt compelled to "contribute".
As a driver of a european car, I'm not sure my car has ever bombarded me with any such sounds except if I drive without a seatbelt. Can you explain further?
That being said, only some cars do it so I’m guessing it’s poor manufacturer implementations mainly.
Well, let's start with mandatory speed limit notifications. Which would be fine if all cars actually knew what the speed limit was. They don't always get this right. Which could mean that where you drive, your car will constantly be pestering you. And you can turn it off, but it'll be turned back on when you restart the car. Then a lot of new cars will ding if they don't think you are paying attention. For instance if you have to navigate the display or, again, if the system interprets what it sees wrong. Then there's all the situations that the car, for some reason, feels are threatening. Like if I drive over temporary markings in the road. Or the car gets frightened by a shadow or snow on a sensor. Or if there is a bit of wheel slip because it's winter and I'm driving on solid ice.
I've even had "security systems" almost slam me into the guardrail at considerable speed. Because some idiot at BMW thought that it would be a good idea to not make the car understand how temporary road markings work. In Germany. Where the car is designed.
In that case I'll admit that I didn't notice the beeping as much as I was busy trying to stop the car from killing me. And to be fair, that bit of nonsense was on BMW and not the regulators.
The people who regulate these things aren't exactly drivers. Nor are they burdened by insight.
The story is that a BMW exec brought a design team to see a Volkswagen Jetta and said:
"We are supposed to be the 'ultimate driving machine' but our customers say we have too many menus, buttons etc.
Looks at this VW?
Simple buttons, layout and instruments. Nothing extra. THAT is the ultimate driving machine."
The 1970s car had a ton of parts and mechanisms only professionals could fix. Not being able to touch car software is good, and demand will dictate how many cars will cater to your ideology in the future. Probably not too many.
There are no professional software engineering licenses. If some software is too important for Joe Public to wrench on, it should need to be signed off by a P.E. who can vouch their livelihood and professional standing on the quality of that software, representing not the company's "maybe some people will die, but we can afford it" interests, but the public's "we don't want manufacturers planning to kill people" interests.
Until then, I've got the same qualifications as that person. Let me at it.
What?! Those parts were frequently repaired/replaced by non-professionals. Half of the Craftsman section of the tool department at Sears in the 70s and 80s was mechanics tools so you could exactly that.
Also, how much experience do you have working on cars? The reason I'm asking is that a lot of repair and maintainance jobs may seem hard if you've never done them before, but are actually not that hard.
Depending on whether the classic car needs any restoration it will be about as expensive as a mid to upper range electric car but as it's a classic car and most of the installs are reversible you don't have the same worries about a modern electric car being disposable junk to be discarded in 10 years, you can probably just get a new battery pack put in after 10 years or whenever and continue driving.
I'd like to see a car that has a very minimalist architecture and that will meet regulatory requirements. A car that initially may have only a handful of manufacturers producing the key components that need to be done right to fulfil the regulatory requirements. The main structural elements, the drivetrain and control system, suspension, brakes, crumple structures, airbags etc.
The first milestone is a complete car that regulatory bodies can approve. Then it gets interesting.
When a complete system exists I'd wish the designs to be open so that you can do two things. First, the major parts can be made by multiple manufacturers, possibly local, bringing competition to the table. This is mostly about being able to prove that the parts you manufacture are up to spec. The second thing this would enable is evolution. Evolving parts would be more expensive since you have to go through testing and certification processes. But if you can afford that, you can get a competitive edge. Some people may pay more for a chassis that is stronger and lighter, for instance.
This would also open up for individual brands to develop on top of this. Most cars today are already "platform cars". Meaning that the same basic car is give various "personalities" and marketed under different brands. By having an open car, you might even get interesting companies such as the coachbuilders of 100 or so years ago (see wikipedia for "Coachbuilder"). Or more streamlined operations focusing on low cost for consumers and production for inventory
With a completely open car, where all parts can easily be sourced from multiple sources, repair becomes easy again. You buy parts and do it yourself, or you can choose to have a workshop do it for you.
I'm interested in what we can do for the masses. Not the few.
Now imagine what the increased availability and cost reduction of additive and subtractive manufacturing enables.
I’ve got 3 kids under 5. Car seats are absolutely enormous these days — it’s impossible to fit 3 across in even the largest “crossovers” (VW Atlas / KIA Telluride). I don’t want a big car (my dream car is something along the lines of the Audi A4 Allroad Saloon) but I also sometimes need to bring all my kids to the same place.
Figure out a way to safely downsize car seats and I bet SUV purchases would drop 10% or more.
Like an Estate / Station Wagon, a category of very capable cars that is being extinguished by the rise of SUV.
Different regulations apply to the two categories, in particular fuel economy. From what I'm seeing, a manufacturer's current line of "cars" has to average over 40 mpg, while their line of "light trucks" only has to average around 30 mpg.
This has probably changed a bit... the most current numbers I see are for the 2020 model year.
Really a very practical vehicle. Just needed a little more oomph.
I'll hopefully keep it for at least a decade or two - it is designed for much more demanding tasks than the about monthly family outings, the holidays and standing idle the rest of the time while I commute with my bicycle and shop with my cargo bicycle.
I fail to see anything electric currently available that could replace that incredible efficiency. I hope that, by the time I'm ripe for replacing it, the technology and the market will have matured.
That's just not right. Minivans are typically as big, if not longer, and weigh more or less the same. As to cost, unless you're comparing the suburban, (relatively rare vehicle even in my corner of rich, suburbanite, 6 kids midwest) their cost is comparable.
Ive been looking to buy a Sienna for over a year and I cant find one without dropping almost $70 k out the door. For that money I can get an expedition and have more space.
If you mean 1800 kg, my full size 3.3 L V6 Sorrento weighs less at 1724 Kg. So unless you're comparing a Renault to a GMC Suburban, which I must insist are rare, you're just nowhere near the right mass.
But for internal capacity, so much better: one of the big things is that the much shorter hood makes it easier to maneuver and gives you more usable space from that extra length.
Could make a van work I suppose.
would be easiest to just move the marketing dollars from the Mustang to the Sienna, but those dollars come from the markup over BOM that Mustang owners are willing and able to afford
Sienna purchasers probably don't mind paying less for a stigma since their primary concern likely is carrying kids around, instead of advertising their ability to have them in the first place
A minivan would be too big for my family's daily needs, but I love renting them for road trips. Even the older dodge caravan has great space and is a comfy ride for everyone.
And they're not cheap by any stretch. A base model Sienna is almost $40k. That's more than a year's income for 25% of households[0]. The Platinum starts at $15k more than that.
[0] https://dqydj.com/average-median-top-household-income-percen...
So much this. My minivan fits my five kids, myself, and all of their bikes (using the big trunk and front seat) with room to spare. It's amazing.
Nonetheless, my wife won't drive it and complains constantly that it would "make her look like a soccer mom." She hates it.
Instead she drives a Subaru Ascent, which only just barely fits the kids, feels cramped, and has maybe 30% of the cargo space—all while having a pretty similar footprint.
Quiet, spacious, Great sound system, V6, 4 captains chairs, room for our drums and amps. Cruised great. No maintainence in the 3 years I owned it. Fuel economy around 20 on a good day. Very comfortable.
Seats popped out, tons of storage room. Low rear bumper / floor so you could easily load it.
Prior to the Ford flex they were used by a lot of installers for these favorable features
My theory is that it's about making the model line up more efficient: SUVs can sell with both families and with image-conscious individuals. So rather than selling mini-vans to families and trucks to individuals who just think they're cool, sell SUVs to both groups.
Great car. Its engine was a a notch or two above baseline which gave it plenty of power, plenty of room, drove well. Also if you needed to haul something large instead of kids just pop out as many seats as needed and suddenly you had van-like cargo space.
But if you pick narrow seats you can make it work. I have 3 car seats in the back of a 2016 Subaru Legacy, which also generally a bloatfree car
I hope those enormous modern seats are made that way for the sake of protection. Cause even with a bigger car, like Audi A6, two such seats consume all the space on the back bench
What? This is totally false. Even friggin cheapo Dacias have that feature.
Yes, there is.
This is mandatory at all European countries since the first passenger seat airbag.
He wants an A4 He has a much bugger car because he needs fo fit three car seats.
That the market has cars bug enough for him, and the reasons for providing it, are not germane to his comment.
> That the market has cars bug enough for him, and the reasons for providing it, are not germane to his comment.
Did you watch the video? If the response to "why are cars so big now" is "because kids" then I think it's relevant to point out that that's not why they're big, and that we somehow manage to have 3 backseats and non-tank sized SUVs in Europe just fine.
Just thought I'd share in case you ever want to reconsider the dream car thing. You never know until you try and you can always bring car seats and test fit.
To your original point though, most of the time we use my wife's Honda Pilot because of the extra space for errands, sports gear, and luggage (and also because my wife doesn't want to drive stick in Northern Virginia traffic).
Just buy narrow car seats designed for 3 across. I've done it recently in a Subaru Outback with zero issues.
It can be tough in the third row of cars with a third row because of the wheel wells, but it seems to work fine in a regular car.
We live in an area too remote for regular public transit, and are not ready to sacrifice the convenience of having our own vehicle.
Because we own one vehicle, it must transport 2 kids (in carseats), 2 adults regularly, a third adult occasionally, and a dog regularly. Plus it needs a smidge of storage room.
In short, our environment and family makes an SUV a good option. Everything else is really difficult to live with.
We just bought a new dishwasher and several of the advertised features are only accessible if I connect it to the net and use an app. Since I won’t connect it to the net, I could have saved money by buying a model that didn’t advertise those features.
So you can leave your clothes in one machine, and in two hours everything is washed and dried.
But now I have to wait two hours for each load of laundry, versus 45 minutes and swap between machines. They have effectively more than doubled the time laundry takes.
Who thought that was a good idea?
I did not buy an all in one. I was just saying that they don't make sense to me.
I'm allowed to have opinions. I'm a human.
I am one of them, so I am happy to use a combined washer and dryer.
The only place where I can put the washer and dryer is in a bathroom. Separate washer and dryer would make it unacceptably crowded.
(e.g. this kind of arrangement: https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2F... )
On the other hand, I do have limited space for appliances, so in many places I've lived buying a seperate washer and dryer would mean either forgoing a dishwasher, or getting a condenser dryer and installing it in the corner of some random room away from the other appliances (which would technically be a code violation as then it wouldn't have its own dedicated RCD).
So I get a combo unit, turn it on and forget about it for several hours (when I'm home all day, I even use the eco mode, which takes 6 hours for a combined wash and dry). Come back later in the day and unload. It actually does have a 60 minute wash + dry cycle but I rarely use it as it uses a very hot dry cycle which risks shrinking clothes.
I only load and unload clothes once (not twice).
I only program a machine once (not twice).
One big feature my LG has is it will keep rotating the drum a half a turn every few minutes, so you can take the dry, clean clothes out much, much later, and they will not be wrinkled.
As others have said, if you're limited on space in your house it's a bonus. In my case I converted the space that would have been taken up by a second unit stacked vertically into large storage area with shelves.
Nearly all appliances have a „quick“ mode though if you really need something fast.
These machines would double that amount of time, because I couldn't run the dryer at the same time. That's what I'm saying.
The only problem is that for whatever reason the power boxes required to wire them up for hardwired setups are bad and have a tendency to melt, as you’ll find reports of online. I’ve had this happen once already and intend to have an electrician convert my hardwire into an outlet so I can plug it in with a regular cord and not need the box.
Ever since I switched to powdered detergent and started throwing a pinch of powder in the bottom of the tub in addition to filling up the main dispenser halfway, I have not had a single dish come out with a piece of food on it.
I also recommend disabling any “auto” features of dishwasher has.
The only caveat to this video: don’t fill up the detergent dispenser all the way with powder, go about halfway. He corrects this mistake in his follow-up video, which I also recommend.
If you buy it they will continue making and selling them.
- gets something like 3x the mileage
- has air conditioning
- has a ridiculously better sound system
- has anti-lock brakes
- has traction control
- has far superior crumple zones/crash protection
- has air bags
- is far more reliable (even when the Trans Am was new)
- has 2x(?) the expected lifespan
- has adaptive cruise control
- probably a lot of other things I'm not thinking ofI think the point of the article isn't to compare with cars from 50 years ago, as many of the points you made here have been the case for years. Cars got so good, that manufacturers had to start pushing to get more revenue and continue to sell cars, even though modern cars can last 15-20 years pretty reliably.
So your point is that the author's proposed enshitification has been recent and brief? I'll happily concede that cars getting larger and heavier is a blight, but that's been going on (in the U.S.) for at least twenty years, while many of the other points the author makes (and which I am dubious of) are just in the past 5 years or so. As one example, I'll happily take the pain of pairing over bluetooth over having to plug in to USB any day, and let's not even start comparing that to e.g. the cassette-simulator connectors of thirty years ago. :-)
If there's anything I'd point to as an obvious tipping point, I'd say it's switches and knobs that have been converted to touch controls. (for example, on my EV6, I have to use a touch control to toggle between radio controls and climate controls on the strip where you'd normally see them)
That's definitely not one that is progressively getting better with time. I feel like my early 2000s car has a better quality sound than a 2010s BMW I test drove, and I'm pretty sure mine didn't have any kind of an upgrade package on it.
I think the last tipping point was the introduction of Class-D amplifiers which provided "unlimited" power compared to before.
Cheap DSP and a better understanding of psychoacoustics maybe.
My point here is that nothing really changed the game. You could get a high-end, expensive Hifi system 30 years ago that matches the sound quality of a high-end system of today.
The rest, Internet access, BT connectivity, Spotify is bells and whistles.
Even 5 years ago, it felt fine. Now I am noticing more and more that driving the sedan feels flat out dangerous. There are more huge trucks and SUVs on the road. They impede my view of the road, and will also clearly demolish my car in an accident.
I swore off large vehicles when I first started driving, but it is to the point where I’m having to consider getting one for my next vehicle just to feel safe on the road. Something needs to change.
That said, I'm in Houston, where trucks rule (by your username I assume you're in Austin). I'm less worried about whether the vehicle is a truck or not, and more about driver behavior. Stupid, impatient driving is the real danger. Driving defensively is your best strategy. I used to be an impatient driver; these days I more or less stick to driving with adaptive cruise control and just chill and keep my eyes out for the idiots (which includes being disciplined about handling my phone while driving)
It’s a Nissan Versa with an electric motor and battery in it. That means most of the parts on the car are standard and the body is cheap to repair. Lots of higher end EVs have stupid high repair costs from minor accidents due to this not being the case.
It has a dumb infotainment system that I just plug a phone into and use as a screen. All the car’s critical functions are physical buttons that are ergonomically placed.
Acceleration and handling is fine. In fact it out accelerates most gas cars. It has one pedal driving.
The adaptive cruise control and auto steer work great. If you are stuck in traffic it just guides you along leaving a selectable distance between you and the car ahead. Steering assist has never tried to kill me.
220 miles of range is more than enough for a city car and I can charge it at home for stupid cheap. (It’s like $8 to fill from zero off home power, about 1/4 to 1/6 the cost of fueling an efficient gas car.)
It’s small and electric and is called a “Leaf” so it does nothing for one’s penis. But I am secure in that department.
Literally the only sucky thing about it is its CHaDEMo fast charge port which is chonky and a fading standard. Makes it not great for road trips but we have an old gas second car for that.
Make a model of this with a bit more range and NACS and Nissan would have the ultimate boring competent EV that I want.
I like the car enough for its boring competence that I’ve looked into CCS or NACS conversion. Apparently it’s possible and there are people working on kits but I’d have to find someone to do the install since I don’t have time for such a project.
PSA: anyone who knows high voltage electronics well could design and crowdfund a NACS to CHaDEMo dongle on Crowdsupply no problem. It would be non trivial though because it would have to be powered. But there are enough cars with that older standard to make millions on such a device. I’d spend as much as $1000 or a bit more for one.
In general I see a lot of snark about people driving (eg) trucks around that people assume they can’t possibly need. But the reality is that people buy their vehicles based on the most challenging routine thing they need their car to do. I mostly only have four people in my minivan, but the extra space is great for road trips or when the grandparents visit. A lot of people have trucks because they want the towing capacity a few times a year, or they want the space to haul dirty stuff.
IDK, I find the dismissiveness of “must be compensating for something” a little tiresome and honestly kind of incurious.
What you say is somewhat true but we really do have a ridiculous oversized car issue in the US. The irony is that many of the people who really could use these trucks can’t afford them. They are high priced status symbols.
What I was ultimately getting at was that the car industry does not want to sell practical cars. The margin on those is lower. They want to sell puffed up chonkmobiles or overly complex bloatware machines. Then they want to double dip with surveillance.
Enshittification for cars.
This tells me that his level of understanding of the wide range of cars and features. Are their bad cars and bad UIs, yes.
However, as someone who has been driving for 30 years, cars are better in every way now than they were before (From a driving, efficiency, reliability and safety perspective).
The only thing that is arguably "worse" is self servicability. However this is a function of complexity that exists throughout all technology.
Also, these features that everyone on HN complains about.. they are being added because the general population wants them. There are very few people who would buy a car without any screens, ui or infotainment. You wouldn't save any money because a lot of this tech is required for saftey and would be bespoke thus costing more.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/191216/reported-motor-ve...
The author listed a bunch of ways that they are not. Perhaps it would be more interesting to address those directly
I really don't get this - just put a space in the dash where I can stick a phone that charges it and connects to the car audio. I have an old GM car with Carplay that all still works pretty well, but it's basically just a second screen for my phone and as such I barely use it.
To a degree, yes, but auto manufacturers are all too willing to make self-servicing difficult. They only make money when you buy a new car after all. We also see this with, well, almost every other field.
> they are being added because the general population wants them.
Much like phones with unremovable batteries leading to slimmer devices, I can only imagine this is a product of marketing convincing consumers of their desires, rather than them actually requesting all of that. It doesn’t even really make sense; why would the consumer want all of that when they’re not even using it the vast majority of the time in the vehicle?
Right. Sure. 2001 Tundra V8 owner here, and you're just flat out wrong.
Maybe you've had uniquely bad judgement in the vehicles you've acquired over the last 30 years. It happens.
That's not even considered a "car".
So you're both right, but it didn't need to be that way. The manufacturers have royally screwed up the direction in which the industry has gone.
And you say features are being added because the general population wants them. I'll revert to my go-to argument here. The general population want McDonald's too.
That's what I'm paying for. Sure I can't fix it myself but that's not the point.
The car was hit while parked in its first few months and I was very scared that the repair wouldn't be good but turns out the body shop knew what it was doing and did everything correctly putting it back together like new. Insurance was billed about 6k since there were hundreds of parts that needed to be replaced. Do I even want to learn how to do all that myself? Nope.
Cars are a utility for most people.
Yes, modern cars are more comfortable, easier to use, and safer. I don't agree that they are more reliable since fixability is a factor in reliability.
What about safety of people outside the cars? By this metric I believe they are getting worse.
Not having any traffic stress is an added bonus. I actually feel a guilty pleasure walking past cars stuck in traffic.
But anyway, c'est la vie, it was the end of an era and life moves on. We'd be better off with fewer cars, and with people thinking of them more like washing machines and focusing their attention elsewhere.
There are plenty of articles explaining luddism, that it wasn't against technology, but against the way the tech was being used to shift profits from workers to owners.
IMHO we need a neo-Luddite, or neo-Amish movement; technology, and economics, markets, etc, should serve society, not the other way around.
Hand signals and eye contact play a role in the cooperative dance at intersections, and if I can’t see you then things are more dangerous. I err on the side of safety. Probably every other day I’ll be waiting to cross a road (usually on foot, but it can apply in car, too) and some dark tinted car will be paused, probably yielding to me, maybe, but who knows? Maybe they’re waving me on, maybe they’re glancing at their phone. So I just wait and wait, and eventually they’ll go. I do wonder if these folks understand no one can see them.
I have, but I guess the author hasn't. I've got a 2020 LG CX and it's smooth, works fast, has all the apps I need, including for streaming local media, and it has zero ads. I sort of lost interest after that point, if you can't make a reasonable point right at the start why even continue?
As for the smart TV side, I have no idea if there's ads there since I basically only ever use my Apple TV.
https://www.reddit.com/r/LGOLED/comments/xzxhjr/how_do_i_dea...
But I don’t think high end TVs like the LG OLEDs are not safe from ADs since it’s extra revenue
You can get kits to clean them, but it’s a bit tricky
I thought I noticed people flashing their brights at me, but then I realized it's actually them hitting a small bump, thereby raising the angle of their LED headlights momentarily. I drive a somewhat low-sitting sedan, so SUV LED headlights do that a lot.
The manual adjustment is also very easy :) there are some screws on your headlight assembly that you need to rotate. It is different for different cars, though. So I’d suggest referring to YouTube for your own car’s adjustments.
My Mazda has a scroll wheel to adjust their angle
This begs the question, why did you get rid of that?
I bought Toyota Matrix new in 2006, still driving it. From what I can tell, keeping it running is still more environmentally friendly than replacing it with a new car, even if that car is electric/hybrid.
Has no smart anything. Hardly ever breaks. Probably good for another 150k miles, and at this rate it'll be another decade or two by then and all the current car garbage will be worked out or legislated around.
I stopped buying things for fun a long time ago. The act of shopping for most things has become a stressful experience for me. I can feel the contempt for my existence in the design of many products.
// Hiding critical/often-used buttons behind touchscreens for the sake of minimalism (and cost?)
I see this one written of often but I don’t see it on my 2 year old Toyota or cars I’ve borrowed/rented. I literally never had to access the touch screen for a critical function.
Assuming this problem does exist on some cars, it seems easy to avoid as I’ve avoided it without trying.
// On that note, poor physical layout in general (genuinely thinking that you can rate cars’ on a “hazard-light-button-placement index”)
I’ve definitely experienced the moment in a rental/borrowed vehicle where it took me a bit of scanning around the dashboard to find the blinkers button. But this seems to just be variance across manufacturers. Eg my Toyota is consistent with Toyotas that came before it even if that’s different than some other manufacturer’s internal consistency. Is the author really struggling to find the blinkers on a vehicle he’s already familiar with?
// Cars are getting too big; why are manufacturers pushing “crossovers” and SUVs on consumers and why are consumers buying them? I could write pages on this point alone.
One thing here is that this is a single man who can’t relate to the needs and desires of other types of customers. I loved small cars as a single man and love my mid size SUV as a dad of two and on certain occasions wish it was bigger.
Cars are getting bigger because through marvel of technology that has become economical to manufacture and operate. Eg my SUV gets nearly 40 mpg whereas a few decades ago that was economy car territory.
Cars are getting bigger because they can be made bigger?
Did anyone ask; "would you _like_ a bigger car?"?
Putting aside everything else, I don't appreciate these massive things taking up so much space that often we have to sacrifice an entire extra parking space in a row so that we can park safely.
No, this is a real problem :( I wanted to buy a Corolla but the dealer tickle tortured me until I gave in and said “fine I’ll buy the Highlander”
I still shudder to think about it every time I easily fit my wife, kids and the stuff into the car for a road trip.
Kidding aside “do you want this?” is a question the market asks of consumer. Bigger cars still cost more to buy and run than compacts. People are willing to pay more because clearly enough of us want these bigger cars.
Anyone have recommendations for a "dumb" TV in 2024?
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/searchpage.jsp?id=pcat17071&qp=...
Best Buy search even has a filter for "Non-Smart" -- this is a whole thing. Insignia is their house brand.
These are their 5 sizes.
you cant just buy a simple car anymore.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/blinded-light-american-...
Come drive a BMW with laser headlights in Europe, you will be illuminated(!), it's absolutely amazing what modern headlights can do. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_XEQ8n-R5M
I think this is partially a race to the bottom (or to the top, as it were).
When you're driving your low-riding sedan in traffic, if the car in front of you is an SUV, you can't see beyond it. If most cars become SUVs, you can't see two cars ahead almost ever. That's a crappy feeling - I for one feel less safe, less able to predict if an emergency stop is going to happen - so I'd be unconsciously nudged into buying a taller car myself.
Edit: The more I think about it, I’m actually kind of confused by your point. Even assuming what you say is true, how does driving a larger car avoid the problem of people cutting you off anyway? Is your “solution” to drive a larger car and tailgate or something?
You got it
SUVs are the completely wrong solution to this problem. I'm not sure if distance warning (akin to seatbelt) beepers could help, but I suspect people would hate them so much it'd doom sales.
I had a Scion FRS (a very small and short car) for a while and very much was the (annoying[1]) guy who stayed 10+ car lengths away from the person in front of me so that I could see better. This was one of the reasons I traded it in for something taller.
[1] I had many more incidences of road rage directed at me than I have experienced in other cars before or since because I left so much space in front of me. Lots of "what the ** are you doing?" screamed at me.
Cars have more horsepower, are more fuel efficient, are more reliable, and are most importantly much safer ( to their passengers at least) than they've ever been.
Take one minute to watch "1959 Chevrolet Bel Air vs. 2009 Chevrolet Malibu IIHS crash test" https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=C_r5UJrxcck
They’re pushing crossovers because they can sell them for a higher margin. A taller vehicle looks like you’re getting more for your money. Of course, they don’t actually cost that much more to make.
People buy them because that’s what’s on the lot and that’s what’s trendy… and the manufacturers create the trends to increase profits.
The market is rational, but no one said it was very smart.
On the bright side - they are fixable and manageable, but you cant avoid inevitable agening problems.
Think I have invested as much as the buying price to repairs already
I class it as one of my best, unwittingly made decisions to keep that car considering what I've seen of new cars over the last 10 years.
I always said I’d probably get a car when I could get an electric one in middle age, and it looks like that day may be coming up in the next few years, but I’ll be damned if I’m ever going to buy something with a touch screen and mics that are tracking my every move.
For anyone more in touch with the current car market than I am, is there even a single option for a full electric, or even a plug-in hybrid, without a touch screen and internet connection? I do not give a single fuck about infotainment systems, I’ll gladly plug my phone into an aux cable and call it a day.
Personally I’d like to buy a cheap car, nothing auto, no wireless over-the-air updates, etc
That said, governments (like the US) regulate cars. I can’t buy a car without seat belts, they’re required to have emission reducing stuff, they have to monitor (and fake lol) their emissions. Now the government trying to force manufacturers to have remote stop capabilities, etc.
It’s illegal to have basic, cheap, cars.
Not saying the regulations are bad one way or another tbh. I do enjoy the lack of smog, but I do wonder how much of “reducing emissions” and all these other regulations was more about building a moat for manufacturers.
Deregulation enables higher competition, reducing costs to consumers & increases options.
The reason we have shitty touch screens is because the government regulates competitors from entering.
However I agree that many markets are closed to newcomers because of regulations, fees and interest groups.
But given enough money, even the automobile industry can be disrupted - see tesla.
It was the government, although not quite that directly. Government mandated back up camera which requires a screen on the dash. So once that is forcefully put in there, it was inevitable that product managers start to want to use it to save money by moving all the useful tactine controls with cheap buggy software on that screen.
The advanced safety features which will become mandatory in all vehicles are:
- intelligent speed assistance
- alcohol interlock installation facilitation (i.e. a standardised interface facilitating aftermarket alcohol interlock devices being fitted in vehicles);
- driver drowsiness and attention warning;
- advanced driver distraction warning;
- emergency stop signal;
- reversing detection;
- accident data recorder.
Read more at: https://trans.info/the-european-parliament-agreed-on-new-saf...
Another striking example was Macbooks. The 2011-2012 Macbook Air was an unbelievably good piece of hardware. It didn't make too many compromises for thinness (unlike the 12" Macbook that came later, thank you Johnny Ive for that). It had a useful amount of performance (again, unlike the 12" Macbook). And the kicker was the price. $1300 or so for a 13" MBA was unbelievably good value. This was previously the top end of the "ultrabook" market. Competitors couldn't produce hardware that competed with the Macbook Air on price.
The problem for Apple was it was too cheap. Average Selling Price ("ASP") went down. Johnny Ive no longer had Steve Jobs to tell him "no" too, which didn't help. So we got the much-ridiculed and almost completely useless Touch Bar, coupled with one of the worst laptop keyboards ever designed (allegedly to cut 0.5mm from the thickness). Why? To raise the ASP. That was literally the only reason.
So with cars and laptops and pretty much every other product you look at if you look deeply enough you see that the company's interests don't match the consumer's interests. The idea that "free markets" will create products consumer wants is a lie.
Cars you could once repair a lot of things yourself. Now there are computer systems you need to interface with. Not all of these are bad of course like some improve fuel efficiency, for example. But they are locked down so you can't repair them even if you wanted to. This is an opportunity for even more revenue. If it wasn't for Google Maps you would absolutely have to pay for a subscription for maps.
But the biggest problem with cars is how necessary they are, deliberately so. We've built our entire infrastructure to create car dependence and that makes life worse for everyone, whether you like driving or not. \ [1]: https://www.theverge.com/2023/9/7/23863258/bmw-cancel-heated...
They all look like ass.
Worse, they all look like the same ass.
At first glance, it's hard to tell if a modern vehicle is a Porsche, a family econobox, or a work vehicle for the dude who picks up the dog feces in your yard.
It would be different if this was because they were all pretty, but they're not. They're all hideously ugly.
I believe the technical term is "putty-lookin' ass whip". https://www.blackbirdspyplane.com/p/why-do-new-cars-look-lik...
Because when you talk about safety, concerns about environment steps a side. Basic argument that greenwashing is another level of marketing for consumers.
The thing is that manufacturers don't just have online models and dumb models. They have models where extremely useful practical features are only included on the ones that also require being online, because that's how they get you. And the market drifts because people want those extra useful features. My dishwasher has a salt reservoir (exceptionally uncommon in the US) for water softening without GI-damaging rinse aids, a fully enclosed housing with leak sensors to trap and alert internal leaks, inline water heating instead of an oven heater in the bottom so plastics can go anywhere without melting, and so on. None of those features are internet-mediated. It just happens that those extra features I really enjoy are on a machine that _also_ wants to be on the internet, and they press the issue by making the internet the only way to see what step the machine is in its cycle because the better drying and so on are only available with hidden-top controls (honestly fuck top controls on dishwashers, seriously). Thankfully setting that up is optional for now, but one day it probably will not be.
I wonder this about crossovers because every time I look into one, I reach the conclusion that it's a bigger car with somehow not much extra space on the inside for how much bigger it is.
But smart tv? I think they genuinely improved my experience. I can pretty much watch any show anytime using my phone as the controller now, I don't see how it's possible with old TV?
The TV was essentially fine, but the "smart" component had aged very poorly and made the whole thing less than satisfying.
You're talking about the great and convenient parts, but for many generations of smart tv those only last a short while.
I also did a GDPR request to Renault and either they are lying or they don't collect any telemetry. The drivetrain components are all simple parts and fixable in most repair shops. The battery and motor are another thing of course (needs a trained electrician), but that's probably inherent to EVs. Never had any software issues or updates preventing me from driving.
Regarding the points in the article:
* Critical cuttons are all there
* Buttons are located where you'd expect and can be operated without looking
* Lights are bright AF, sorry oncoming traffic :(
* Basic tires and lots of standard Clio parts all over
* App with a subscription you can ignore without major loss of functionality (remote heating)
* All smartphones i plugged in via USB work
* Paintwork: Everybody seems to get the white Zoe, good luck finding your car in a parking lot. Interior is black and white recycled plastic.
Still, highly recommended and fun vehicles :)
This might have something to do with the fact that this is what people want. It is still possible to buy a small car.
As bad as car touch screens are, is this rent-seeking?
You could argue that subscriptions to “features” in your car are getting closer to Doctorow’s concept. But cars aren’t platforms. I am not locked into my VW purchase because all the other drivers are using VWs.
I’ve also not experienced what the author is complaining about. I’m sure it exists but it’s not unavoidable, at the very least.
https://abc7news.com/car-insurance-auto-mileage-odometer/133...
Yes officer, this one right here.
But in all seriousness, why? I would maybe find it tolerable if it was consistent, but most of my experience is that it ramps up to 48/60fps and back down to 24fps in a matter of seconds. It's jarring.
If it is at 24fps it is already stuttery on my 60hz monitor (not a TV and not smart!), so anything is better than constant, obvious stuttering (which I understand most people learn to ignore, but I can't). In my experience it either works perfectly or it is just the 24fps stutter, so having perfection 70% of the time and stuttering 30% of the time is better than stuttering 100% of the time.
For my family who have smart TVs I've noticed 0 issues with the interpolation itself and it is always a smooth 60fps (which IMO is better than smooth 24fps), though they also have some ML sharpening enabled which sometimes has strange artifacts.
FWIW I also can't play video games at <60fps and have trouble enjoying any fast paced action scene shot at 24hz (with the exception of anime, where at least every frame is carefully constructed and chosen to work at the intended framerate and isn't just a blurry mess)
Your modern car could be a lot better than it is, but it probably would hurt sales.
I don't want to waste my time wishing how even better it could be. It's going to continue getting better and the rate of improvement is good for me.
Perhaps other people are a lot more demanding?..
So it's too difficult to wirelessly connect your phone to your car? Something you do one time and then it magically works forever? I'll grant, it should be easier, but this is like saying there's too much paperwork to buy the car in the first place: sure, it would be nice to walk in, pick a car, and drive it away (hello, volkswagen sign and drive disclaimers) but it's a one time thing.