Fully EV, real buttons and knobs, and of course the model is cancelled.
The original tracking was 2G cellular, later updated to 3G cellular. 2G is long depricated, and 3G is already shutdown in many places.
This is a great car! Which explains why it's no longer available. It doesn't meet modern american needs, like being at least as large as a small building, or having 0 visibility over the hood, or costing at least $75K. (p.s. I paid $15K for mine, with 18K miles on the odometer and 150 miles of battery range)
But if you're into retro, like buttons and knobs, I highly recommend it...
p.s. I have to wonder if the data breach doesn't affect ICE cars as well? Would they use a separate surveilance system?
In the process some forum threads would pick up hundreds of posts over a decade or more so that removal of every nut, bolt, screw, plastic plug, etc is documented with photos, allowing anyone with the vehicle to see exactly how to take ownership of the vehicle from the manufacturer.
True old-school old manning involves not only removal of all the bullshit, but also covers all cosmetic changes to the vehicle that would be needed to eliminate all signs that any of the offending components were ever installed and would include things like how to accomplish all the trim and body work necessary to permanently fill all the holes in the vehicle like antenna penetrations through the vehicle body and plastic trim mods to fill holes that formerly held buttons or switches that no longer exist.
In the process, old-school old manning would attack the software used in the vehicle, removing all the offending functionality with a custom flash tool so that the only software running on the vehicle after all the mods are completed would be that which controls and monitors engine and transmission functionality since that is actually the only software on a vehicle that adds value by allowing the vehicle owner to track operating efficiency in real time.
I can even keep driving while the whole system is rebooting. Around here (where we have many immigrants and some odd practices) I’ve seen people with a towel hanging over their screen while driving, to protect it like a dust cover I guess.
The one thing you might argue I do need from my screen is the speed, which is very easy to see and usually not needed in the flow of traffic.
The outcry against screens is just misinformed imho. My car has plenty of mechanical buttons.
At least you're still acknowledging the abysmal state of modern cars by including this statement. Why on earth would anyone expect otherwise from a car?
EVs are computers on wheels, expecting them to work during reboot is not unlike expecting vim to work during a reboot :)
EVs are not computers, they have computers. The controllers that make it go should stay on during a "sudden reboot". Expecting them to keep working is like expecting my coolant pump to work during a reboot, not vim.
I’ve owned and driven EVs from several brands. Prior to this, I could pretty much always expect the following from my car:
1. The drivetrain always operates normally and safely (aside from some actual mechanical failure) with no computer glitches.
2. I can always see my speed and gear selector state on a dashboard somewhere, even when (not if) the infotainment screen crashes and reboots. I’ve had (2010-2020ish era) Lexus, Audi, and others have infotainment glitches, crashes, and reboots, but the speedometer, drive train, and AC all had physical controls running on isolated systems and so they always continued to work through a reboot or glitch of the infotainment.
3. The AC is always operating (aside from some actual mechanical failure) with no computer glitches or lag to my ability to control it. I consider this a critical safety system given that many drive in climates with weather that can be dangerously hot or cold.
In pretty much every EV I’ve owned, none of these have been true except maybe #1, and that is pretty sad to say that the only thing that hasn’t happened is my entire cars wheels locking up on the highway (and yet still this is reported happening for many EV brands, Tesla, Audi, and Porsche at least come to mind where I’ve read stories).
It’s insane to me that it’s even possible for the cars computers rebooting to entail AC shutting down, not being able to see your speed, etc. If this EVER happens, the entire vehicle line should legally require a recall until it’s guaranteed this won’t happen. We have ways of guaranteeing computer systems don’t fail like this to extremely high probability — car companies only don’t do it because it’s expensive and more complex than just throwing all the same crappy software into one single system rather than designing multiple isolated fault tolerant systems.
Less horrible but still shockingly bad regression is how almost all modern cars AC is controlled through an often laggy computer system (not to mention the almost universally despised move of AC controls to touch screens, instead of physical controls). Maybe not so laggy on Tesla, but in my experience both BMW and Audi have AC control touch screens which sometimes respond but occasionally can have 1-10 second random lags before anything responds. Presumably due to garbage collector lag or something. But this is also a mild safety issue since the lack of predictable behavior from common controls makes it very distracting when trying to so something so common and simple as adjusting the temperature that should just be as simple as a simple physical button or knob.
I don't want to have anything to do with a company like that.
But hey, maybe if I wait around another 5-10 years, there'll be more than 3 mainstream electric sedan options available for the US market and I'll be able to find the perfect car.
Expensive yes but might be worth it if you value your privacy.
I'd be surprised if there was a dedicated fuse for only a modem really, especially in an EV or hybrid.