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Comment by salad-tycoon | Hacker News Reader

I just want a cheap, safe dependable car. Anti lock brakes, a couple of air bags, crumple zones, maybe Bluetooth, real dials, two base versions: AWD and non AWD. That’s it. No telephony, no on star, no breathalyzers. I don’t need to play Witcher in it. Just need it to turn on and then off after running around.

I’m holding onto my ancient POS because it’s impossible apparently to find the above. Everything is new and full of drive by wire, telephony, spyware crap. Oh and the prices… come on!

I never was a car buff, I wish I had been as it definitely appears we have ended an era and I mourn isolated from the gear heads.

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I wish there was an actual community of people building open source cars. It exists for fucking airplanes but there's __nothing__ on the vehicle market. Pool some money, crash test a couple, get some shop in asia to make frames. Make it fairly modular, something like an EV version of the 1995 ford ranger, something where people can throw whatever they want on the back and turn it into anything. Super bare minimum, no egregious plastics all over the inside, just use off the shelf parts and people can customize as they see fit.

People make their own airplanes. What nobody tells you is that most people who complete the airplane would be time and money ahead getting a job at McDonald's and buying a completed airplane once they saved up enough money. However there are not enough people who want an airplane to pay for the costs/liability of setting up a factory to build one and so you have no choice if you want a new one.

People also build their own cars from scratch. It isn't as well known, but it is done. Again not a good use of time or money but if you want something specific that isn't on the market you have no choice.

You're conflating the airplane market with the market for experimental aircraft.

Most people making their own plane are following plans and thus not experimenting. They are making an experimental plane because regulations make that their best option, but if it was possible to get a new plane for a mass produced cost they wouldn't. The end goal is the plane not making a plane themself. (most don't finish the plane but that is a different story)

There are kit car sellers and you can build yourself a car (kit or plans), but it’s a ridiculous amount of time to hand-build a car from plans and still a very large amount of time to build and paint a kit car.

Kit cars have been around for decades, though I have no idea if any are available under an open source license.

There are, but they're mostly enthusiast/stylized designs instead of anything meant to be practical

I got a new Corolla and felt that it fit the bill.

It still has newer features like lane centering and radar cruise control. However, it's a good, simple, reliable car at a much more reasonable price point.

As for feature creep - this is inevitable because all 99.99% of consumers care about are features and price. It's like people asking for a "non-smart TV". It's not going to happen, ever. Consumers who care about that aren't a percent of a percent of the market.

I also got a new Corolla recently, but I did have to opt out of the features that phone home to Toyota.

Honda and Toyota are still cheap, safe, and dependable.

Our CR-V is such a great value I don't actually understand how they turn a profit.

There are tons of models that match this list if you drop the no-DBW requirement. My 6-speed Wrangler is throttle by wire and I have no issues on-road or off-road. You can also usually adjust the throttle if you don't like the feel. Maybe take a look at Subarus if you want no-frills AWD.

I bought a Ford Maverick last week and it's pretty close to this. In addition to bluetooth, the head unit supports carplay/android auto. But it has no built-in nav system or subscription bullshit.

It has knobs and buttons for everything you want to use while driving, including volume, transport controls (on both the steering wheel and below the screen), radio tuner, and climate control.

The closest alternative I looked at was the Hyundai Santa Cruz, which was more expensive. All of its buttons except those on the steering wheel and column stalks are capacitive nightmares with no tactile feedback. That alone was enough to help make my decision.

do your own maintenance, Toyota/Honda late 2000s should serve you well for another 20yrs..

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