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Comment by bjackman | Hacker News Reader

I have no plans to buy a car but I'm curious: what is the sensible choice for technical people with a reasonable amount of money?

I rent cars whenever I travel to the US and I've never not been pissed off by a car's software.

If you live in a country that makes it practica/affordable and you don't need too much range, I wonder if buying an old car with a broken engine and paying someone to do an electric conversion is a good choice?

Or maybe generally just buy a ~10 year old car, find a mechanic and say "I want this car to last a really long time, if we can build a trust relationship I will spend a lot of money in your business" and just budget for extensive proactive maintenance? Maybe with this approach you can still save money relative to a new car?

Or, is it possible to buy a newish car and then just rip out and completely replace the infotainment/climate control/etc while still keeping stuff like the parking cameras working?

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With the budget, I'd buy a gen 2 or 3 jetta or Passat and pay someone else to chase out the gremlins.

I would get a Rivian because you can disable all connections.

> I'm curious: what is the sensible choice for technical people with a reasonable amount of money?

I am probably the extreme minority, but I prefer cars with as little "tech" as possible. I don't need "drive assist" and sorts.

All my cars are 10+ old benzes, Nissans, Toyotas. All under good maintenance routine so giving me very little headache.

I had all sorts of stupid issues with modern cars while renting. One toyota scared the crap out of me while it imagined some pedestrian and yelled with all signs while I was going 100+ km/h on highway. Horrible crap

The "driving" tech I want in my car is:

- Cruise control.

- Camera for parking. I guess sensors too. These are just unbelievaly useful IMO, it makes parking trivial in cases that used to require quite intense focus. I see the appeal of fully automated parking, but with cameras and a car that you have lots of experience parking I think I am fine Austin-Powers-ing into any space that the car physically fits into.

- I guess, maybe, I kinda like the thing where it automatically watches your blindspot and has a little orange light to remind you that there's a car there.

I dunno, when did cars get all that stuff? (Cruise control was basically universal in the US before I was even born I think, but not sure when the others showed up).

But then there's some non-driving tech that I do want:

- Completely frictionless navigation and media control. Android Auto just seems to be fucking nonfunctional so I think maybe what I want here is actually just a Qi mount and a reliable bluetooth controller?

- I've never had it but I bet remote climate control is really nice (warm up the wheel 5 mins before you set off on a frozen morning / turn on the AC 2 mins before you get into a car that you couldn't park in the shade).

I totally agree. This "tech" has been out there for decades, at least for Benz. Perhaps even long enough not to be called the tech :)

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