Hey Automakers:

Do yourself a favor and buy something from last century. It'll be way cheaper and probably last you way longer.

a reply to: Brywilson2

I totally agree with you on the heated seats and the donut spare. Last year I was riding with a buddy who gets a new truck every year. It was a really cold day and I loved the heated seats. Got back to his house, got in my car, and my first thought was, "Damn my butt's cold!"

Being a shade tree mechanic, I like computer controlled engines as long as you can read the computer. It's nice to be able to plug in and have the computer tell me "replace this." My current project car is an 83 "computer" controlled carbureted engine. Trying to figure out what the computer is doing means tapping into wires, reading a multimeter, and comparing that to what the factory service manual says.

When I get around to reupholstering the interior, I'm definitely going to consider some way to put in seat heaters.

a reply to: Brywilson2

Gimme my cd player back

??? Whats a cd?

a reply to: crayzeed

I say get rid of the car all together and find a better form of transportation.

# all these roads every where.

I actually do like some of the tech...

1) Heated steering wheel and seats are a must. I have heated grips and seat on my motorcycle too!
2) Adaptive cruise control is a game changer if you ever take road trips. The car locks on to a the car in front of you and can accelerate and decelerate on it's own. You just steer.
3) ABS. Saved my bacon a couple of times.
4) Bluetooth
5) Front facing and backup cameras make parking so much easier

I'm 6' 7" (used to be 6' 9" damn getting old )

Cannot say I can recall in recent years having to squat to get into a car as driver or passenger, and I drive a Nissan Tiida. (Versa for you yanks)

Admittedly a smaller car might give me problems. (Then again one of my first cars was a Datsun 1000 and I fit in that fine too, although the person sitting behind me would probably get their legs crushed.)

People are getting taller? What are they where you live that they need to be doing squats, 9 foot?
What are they driving? Hot Wheels?

Should go back to hand-cranked cars, you haven't experienced true automotive joy until your car tries to break your arm every time you start it.

Buy a classic.

Seriously, there's plenty of 60s-80s 4 door cars in beautiful shape left to be had.

With some simple suspension and brake upgrades, those old beasts can be pretty nimble.

Aftermarket fuel injection is cheap and reliable now as well. You might never see 30mpg, but the 20-25mpg will definitely be more fun than arguing with a bluetooth obsessed car that decided it wants to communicate in Spanish because you accidentally pressed the wrong part of the screen.

A nice Malibu wagon with a fuel injected ls3 , and overdrive would be a hoot.

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

Should go back to hand-cranked cars, you haven't experienced true automotive joy until your car tries to break your arm every time you start it.

Try opening the doors on my rover. Damn near breaks your fingers you have to pull so hard.

Or the center diff-lock, another two handed jerk-fest. And that's after taking apart half the truck and all the front interior just to access the 600$ lockout solenoid that prevents some retard from putting the thing in 4low in reverse...

originally posted by: Brywilson2
---Gimme my cd player back. Not every driver wants to laod up thier phone/mp3 player and connect it via patch cable or bluetooth to thier car to listen to their music.

I spent some time last year getting a bunch of MP3s on a flash drive. I plugged into my car's USB port. The car's radio supports controls over the folders on the flash drive and playing the MP3s. I like it much better than CDs. You can get a huge amount of music categorized in folders. It's pretty neat!

a reply to: scojak

Agree. Give me a car that doesn't need to be towed to a garage for a puncture.

a reply to: Brywilson2

Not to toot my own username, but you sound like you should buy a used E38!

They sometimes have an option called "Winter Package" which has front and rear heated seates along with a heated steering wheel. There will never be need to hunch over entering from front or rear. They go 150. Good gas mileage. And best of all they are CHEAP to buy. Parts are not cheap, but they are designed for 1,000,000 KM lifetime and don't have that much that goes wrong anyway, especially 1997-1998 plus theres a huge community of owners to get them from.

I've had 3 and could not be happier with any of them.
By the way I totally agree with your post. S&F.

-Driver

Most people drive when they get a flat???

Then you would probably need a tire and rim?