It turns out that more technology in cars isn’t necessarily something customers want, and it’s not really improving their driving experience. We know my thoughts on the matter, but I’ll do my best to stay impartial on this latest survey from JD Power that shows most customers don’t appreciate technology in cars unless they can see a clear benefit to them.
JD Power’s 2024 U.S. Tech Experience Index Study evaluated over 81,000 drivers’ experience with “advanced vehicle technologies” in 2024 model year vehicles after 90 days of ownership, It turned out to be a pretty mixed bag when it came to what people liked using. There are a number of tech features that customers like using because they feels that it answers their needs, but at the same time there is a whole lot that don’t get used very often or are continually annoying, according to the survey.
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Depends on the tech. Touch screens? Those can go fuck themselves. Adaptive cruise control? I love that shit. Any backlighting beyond what’s necessary to see knobs and buttons in otherwise total darkness? Fuck you! Any backlighting that’s any color other than red? EXTRA fuck you! Backup cam? Yeah those are good. Backup cam screen that becomes some obnoxiously bright LCD display for the radio? No, fuck that.
Random side thought: a strict Eco mode only-when-pushed button would be pretty amazing. Eco mode kinda already forces your to drive like a grandma, but at the cost of responsiveness. Responsiveness is important if something catches you off guard, so if I slam on the gas suddenly, I want my car to fucking book it, cuz that probably means I’m trying to dodge something. That said, more often than not, when I’m accelerating from a stop or getting up to speed on the freeway, there’s not really any urgency… but I tend to accelerate faster than necessary (waste gas) because my monkey brain likes the zoom-zoom. I want like… idk, the equivalent of a push-to-talk button on the steering wheel for embracing my inner grandma. I push it when I’m actively assessing that there’s no urgency; my speed of acceleration will make only seconds of difference in my overall trip; and no matter how hard I pump that gas peddle, the uses only the most optimal amount of gas to get me up to and maintain speed. Then I take an exit into some busy downtown bullshit where there’s shit coming at me from every direction, and I need to be able to jolt to dodge the giant metal projectile piloted by the monkey brain a few car lengths away from mine.
Basically keep the “Oh shit!” actions free of as many inputs as possible; demand a bit more from the thinky chunk of meat in my head shell only when everything else is relatively chill.
It’s more efficient to accelerate faster than it is to take a long time to get up to speed.
Car tech peaked in 2018. Everything since then has been a down grade in my opinion
The only tech I want:
AC
Heated seats
Bluetooth/am/fm/aux sound system with good high and low ranges, but honestly as long as I have a diagram of what wires go where I can install my own like I did on my last two.
A backup camera for those times when I need to line up my trailer hitch but don’t have a partner to guide me.
Beyond that?
Meh.
GPS is really the only extra thing I think is crucial but yeah
good high and low ranges
Honestly I never understood why people care much about the quality of their car audio system. If you’re driving then you aren’t paying much attention to the music anyways
2002 Toyota Echo 4dr w/air & heat, quarter million miles, no clock and I have no intentions of ever purchasing another car ever.
I feel the same with my '02 Subaru Outback and I’m still under 200k!
I used to have one of those and loved it but 3 head gasket replacements was too many and it was time to move on. Good luck with yours!
How many miles were you at? I’ve only had to replace them once. Had the car for about 6 years now and got it for a flat $5k in great condition. The thing still runs as great as the day I got it. Although I did upgrade it with a new stereo but I keep the stock speakers, which are actually amazing and on par with anything modern imo. Though the stereo install was messy and botched because the person had no idea what they were doing (me). I need to do some small little cosmetic fixes on it though, but it’s mostly small wear and tear stuff from use over the years.
I had a model year 2002 as well, and it went through head gaskets pretty reliably every 30-35k miles. The failure mode wasn’t catastrophic damage every time, but it wasn’t pretty. I think exhaust gases would start getting into the coolant especially when the engine got hot, so I’d be maybe going uphill and notice the temperature spiking. Then I could pull off to the side of the freeway and wait for 30 minutes, start out again and drive home slowly.
Subaru admitted a gasket design fault for something like model years 1998 through 2000, but claimed for a while that everything was fine in 2001 and 2002, jerking me around and generally being awful.
It’s too bad. It was my second car and I was excited for the reputation of reliability and capability of Subaru, but it left such a sour taste in my mouth that I’ll never buy one again.
That is going to break at some point.
I mean, I get the sentiment, but that is just not going to be a realistic long-term solution for “people are not happy with changes in newer vehicles”.
That’s ok, I’m leaving the states in my boat at the end of the year and will only be back on a round trip flight. Fuck you, fuck you, you’re cool, fuck you, I’m outta here…
Yeah and the sun is going to burn out at some point, too.
All 4runners still reigning supreme with chonky ass thicc boi buttons and dials. Give me Android auto capabilities on a small screen, backup camera, and rear parking sensors. That’s it.
My wife drives a 2023 loaded Kia Sportage. The thing is basically a smartphone on wheels. Giant dash screen with all the car controls buried in it, touch screen climate controls that double as touch screen audio/volume controls. If I want to change the AC temp I have to take my eyes off the road for a few seconds. Also a subscription service if you want to use any of the actual useful functions like remote start, remote climate control, remote door lock/unlock, sentry mode, etc. I hate where cars are at today.
And only automakers are surprised by this. This last time I bought a car, i avoided all the new ones and just got a reliable one from 2013. Fuuuuck all the tattletale noises, fuck all the touch screen interface bullshit, and fuck their ridiculous asking prices.
Yep. I’m hoping my current car holds out until this 'smartphone on wheels" trend reverses.
‘smartphone on wheels’*
*Apple CarPlay and Android Auto not supported.
Honestly that’s all I want out of the center screen.
I like my 2018 Outbacks layout. Physical controls for AC, knob for volume, and a reasonable touch screen. The gauge cluster has a small screen in the center that shows me some basic info I’d like to see like tire pressure, MPG, etc.
I’m in this scenario, too.
When I needed a new car in 2019 I somehow found a six speed manual Crosstrek that has all physical buttons for climate and radio/volume that also has a backup cam and a touchscreen for CarPlay/Android Auto.
It’s perfect.
2014 impreza. No screen at all. I bought a phone mount that shows waze and charges my phone.
I have cruise control and heated seats. And I can operate both with gloves on!
Don’t need a backup cam because my windows and mirrors are good.
I will drive this car until it dies, and then I’ll replace the head gaskets and drive it until it dies again. And then I will replace the cvt and drive it until it dies a third time.
Unfortunately there’s nothing you can do about the NY road salt. The frame will be left, flake by flake, in the gutters of 490. It’s the only thing that can take this car from me, and it is its inevitable fate.
You know your maintenance schedule well!
And I can operate both with gloves on!
That right there is one of the biggest reasons I hate this trend towards touch-screen interfaces in cars.
“Oh… well we actually didn’t FUCKING ASK YOU!”
-Automakers
Summary: Computerized touch screens and ‘smart’ features with poorly thought-out UI and UX are a solution in search of a problem.
Start with what directly benefits the user and driving experience.
Go from there.
Why can’t some manufacturers just have a phone cradle instead with the backup camera on a screen in the rear view mirror? I hate waiting for my car to boot up just to put on some music.
“What directly benefits the user?”
“Heated seats.”
“Okay, start charging a subscription fee for that.”
I know it’s not what you meant, but it’s what I immediately thought of.
This article strokes my confirmation bias!
I love my 2010 Toyota with 140k miles, and I hope it runs forever. I could afford a new car if I wanted one, but all of the options have been getting worse for years! It’s just a car, but it’s a car from the perfect era of technology to be stuck with forever, and it drives beautifully.
I wish it got better gas mileage by 2024’s standards, for both financial and environmental impacts, but I believe it’s net better on both fronts for me to keep driving it than to replace it early. Fortunately it doesn’t snow where I live, so road salt won’t inevitably rust out the undercarriage.
There’s an aux in for the factory stereo, and I have a $25 BLE audio adapter with a ground loop isolator so there’s no alternator whine despite it being powered by the car. It’s not the most quiet for speakerphone calls, but it’s perfectly functional, and I’ve easily replaced it multiple times. It’s so much better than having a bad native Bluetooth audio system from that era.
I have a really solid dashboard mount for my magnetic phone mount, comprised of pieces from three different companies for maximal awesomeness. Then there’s my USB C PD supply that meets the charging standards of the present day relatively inexpensively and upgradably to any brand, powered by the “cigarette lighter” power socket. The existence of this simple medium wattage automotive DC power port is the greatest legacy left to us by the tobacco smokers of yesteryear. Is it gone yet in the latest cars?
A really slick trick I learned somewhere (maybe on reddit during the good years) is to use tiny zip ties on a cable that must run across your dashboard, such as the one to my mag charger. Put them at very strategic locations on the cable and facing the right way, and snip off the zip tie ends while still leaving a tail maybe about 1/4”, then jam that tail in between two pieces of dashboard trim. Do that repeatedly and the cable will go neatly and orderly around all your buttons and knobs without ever getting in the way.
An aftermarket dashcam is one thing that felt very worthwhile but was actually a decent amount of work to install, since I pulled a bunch of trim and ran wires through the headliner for that clean look with a rear facing camera mounted on the outside of the back. But I think those aren’t quite yet standard other than in Teslas.
2010 was the pinnacle of car technology, change my mind!
give me buttons and dials, not touch screens and ai. I want to drive, not check social media. I’ll be keeping my 2009 until the engine locks up.
It’s not perfect, but the new (2019+) mazda system is very nice. It’s all controlled by buttons and dials, zero requirement to ever touch a screen. It all feels quite thoughtfully done, especially when you compare it to fords or teslas with a big dumb laggy iPad stuck to the dash.
I’m ok with a decent amount of tech in a car. Like I’m fine being able to connect my phone to the car and have android auto take over the infotainment system.
But the HVAC stuff needs to be buttons I can access/control without looking or very minimal looking.
I don’t want/need my car to have a SIM card, or connect to wifi, and report what I’m doing. If they want to do that, then they can give me the car for free and I’ll drive it around letting them collect my driving habits.
Edit: Oh, and I’m sure as hell not paying some subscription fee on top of the price of the car.
When carplay works, it’s great. But mine constantly has issues connecting to phones. Both my wife’s iPhone, and my Android. Both are flagships that are a couple years old, so still very current and sufficient specs.
Meanwhile, my old aftermarket Bluetooth radio connects every time with no issue.
I do like the convenience of GPS and audio on the car tablet when it works. But honestly, it’s a distraction when it’s being fussy.
Exactly my experience.
Phone dash mount all the way!
Good news, lawmakers in the US finally started looking at this issue.
Bad news: probably will take years for change
Spoiler from the future: it’s legal, and there’s nothing you can do about it.
There are numerous headlines like:
118th Congress on track to become one of the least productive in US history
So good luck with that.
There’s activity at the state level too in multiple states. I heard something about California, then not a lot. Bunch of articles about Texas.
The company I work at is tangentially related to car company data collection. And this week, all employees received an email that we were legally required to save all records newer than 2005 related to a specific car company’s onboard data collection service.
So it does seem like the investigation has already got a subpoena or smth.
General Motors
Is the car company involved, yes.
As of 2022, Toyota still put physical buttons on their HVAC system and audio system.
I know because, against my advice, my wife bought a Toyota Rav4 Hybrid in 2022. I can’t tell her how to spend her money, but at least the car she got didn’t have some of this other bullshit.
Hey, at least she picked one of the most reliable cars on the market.
It’s a good car. I just wish she hadn’t decided to buy one in 2022. It’s bad enough to buy a new car now, it was worse then.
Out of curiosity, why didn’t you want her to buy that specific vehicle?
I didn’t think she should have bought any car. Her old car worked. It wasn’t in the best shape in the world, but it was fine. And 2022 was a terrible year for buying a car.
That’s how you do it. Drove my 99 Crown Vic until the wheel literally fell off. Had it put back on and did another 80k on it. Traded it in at the dealer 4 years later, in working order, simply because it cost 80 dollars a week in gas, and that was back in 2018.
Yep. I had a 2002 Civic that I was planning to drive into the ground, but an idiot mechanic accidentally left the oil cap off when he was fixing it and it eventually destroyed the engine. The amazing thing is it took a very long time to destroy it. We successfully drove my car back from Baltimore to where we live in Indiana and several two hour plus round trips after that before it conked out on me coming home one day back in 2019. So I bought a used 2016 Prius and I plan to drive that into the ground. I just don’t need a fancy new car. I’d like to get an EV only because I hate getting gas, especially in the winter, and if I never had to do it again, I’d be really happy. But I don’t want one enough to get rid of the car I have now.
I drove the Vic with essentially a liter of burnt Hershey chocolate syrup for 3 hours on the highway, and then daily’d it for another 5 days.
Teens are rough on cars, but it survived.
Oh, the COVID-19 shortages? Yeah, that’s a good point.
I have a 2008 tundra a coworker just bought a new one so I asked for a ride. It was nice to see under the enormous center display, the HVAC controls!
I love my subaru outback. It’s a great car. It does all the car things exceptionally well. It holds a lot of stuff. Snow, mud, fuck you it’s all pavement to me baybeee.
I fucking hate my Outback’s climate control, entertainment, map, and information screen. I understand newer models have improved slightly. It’s still awful. The only good thing about that fucking screen is that I can turn everything on from my phone. Literally every other function is awful to try to access and use while you’re driving.
I just bought a forester a few months ago, and my 2 stipulations on the cars I was looking at were all-wheel drive because I live in snow country, and a car no newer than 2018 (IIRC) because that was the year car companies largely switched from manual controls to a 16-inch screen with everything, including climate control, accessed from an app.
When I was talking to the guy at the dealership I bought it from and mentioned how much I disliked the new screens, he outright said, “Yeah, a lot of people don’t like them.”
Similar complaint here. We were ready to replace our 2011 outback and decided it would make sense to get something at least a bit more modern. Loved our outback, and honestly would have bought another if it weren’t for that damn screen.
After getting a gander at that thing, we seemingly confused (or probably just disappointed) our salesman by insisting we wanted the most simple, stripped-down style console they had to offer. Apparently we’re not the most common customers, but i know I’m kinda weird so fair enough. After he went back inside to find out which models they had on the lot that might fit that description, the only one that had a “simple” console was the base model Forester. It was just not enough to transition over from our comfy 6-cyl beast that just had a 6-cd changer with a 1-inch-tall screen and an aux jack, but everything was operated by buttons. Even the rear view mirror had a clever backup camera integrated into it. Makes more sense that way, imo. It was everything we needed and only a smidge more.
I really wish we could have just bought a newer model of the exact same car feature-wise… That outback was a great car 🙂
2018 Impreza Base here. Manual ac controls (where, how fast, how hot), but the touchscreen infotainment is still AIDS. Several seconds from press to recognition. I need the screen to actually do stuff when I press it, not leave me guessing if I hit it right. If they can’t put a faster cpu, they need to have programmers that can optimise these units so they run responsively. There’s no excuse for that legendary input lag.
Good car though, other than that.
Got a '24 outback late last year. For the most part I love it-it’s comfortable, holds my giant dogs and it’s way better to drive in bad weather than my previous car.
I’d read reports on subaru forums that infotainment was bad, so my expectations were low. But even basic stuff isn’t functional. It has gotten less responsive over the months (reminder: we’ve had it just barely a year). The screen has several seconds of lag with every touch, and sometimes controls just don’t work at all. I don’t like that we have to use it for temperature control, and android auto integration is clunky (though that may not be Subaru’s fault).
Add that to the horrifying data collection practices and it makes me question ever getting a Subaru again.
Is it possible to get some kind of firmware update that you may not have received?
kagis
This Reddit thread makes it sound like you need to manually do it or the dealer will do it as part of the regular maintenance. Not sure if this is specific to that model year.
https://old.reddit.com/r/Subaru_Outback/comments/18cjt00/software_update_december_2023/
Reminds me I need to update mine!! Did you have to take this in to the dealer to get it updated or did you do it yourself?
Dealer did that
What does the dealer charge?
I am not sure. It was part of my regular maintenance.
And
Does this help the PAINFULLY slow response in the screen?
Yes, it does! The lags are very short now, if there are any at all.
The people there are also complaining about the touchscreen instead of physical controls.
Hey good catch! I’ll try to ring my dealership to see if I can get that checked out during my next oil change visit.
Thanks
I’m ok with a decent amount of tech in a car. Like I’m fine being able to connect my phone to the car and have android auto take over the infotainment system.
This reminds me of my 2016 Honda Civic. It had just the right amount of tech.
But the HVAC stuff needs to be buttons I can access/control without looking or very minimal looking.
100% this. I shouldn’t have to click through 2 menus on a touchscreen to change a basic environmental control. Give me a damn knob, so if I want to change something I can reach my hand over and turn 2 clicks without taking my eyes off the road.
I have a 2023 Mazda CX-5 and it has the perfect amount of tech for me. The headunit isn’t touch screen, but you get used to the control knob after about a day and eventually it just feels second-nature. Also, all of the hvac controls are physical knobs and buttons, which is amazing.
If they want to do that, then they can give me the car for free and I’ll drive it around letting them collect my driving habits.
I mean, that’s kind of what they’re doing in that having another revenue stream will reduce the car price relative to what would have been the case if they couldn’t do so.
If some people want to make that trade, I think that they should have the option to do so.
I don’t personally want to make that trade myself, though.
I disagree, most of these subscriptions options are all built in and “enabled” if bought. There ain’t no car manufacturers looking to reduce their car prices for us. It’s profit above everything
I stopped using Android Auto on my infotainment system. I thought it was just me but when I’m using navigation (Google maps or wyze), the second I lose service for any reason, it completely exits out and cancels my navigation. I found that if I use it in my phone, it doesn’t have that issue.
2020 Subaru Forester, but friends with other cars (VW, Honda) mentioned the same issue. Not sure if this has been fixes in recent Android Auto updates or in newer cars, but I’m not going to chance it anymore.
I like having Siri in my car when she works. Like when my phone properly wirelessly connects. But when it doesn’t, I hate it, and would be better without it.
Also why the hell can’t CarPlay use the radio, when the car has a radio. Why can’t those two things talk to each other. Fucking dumb.
Yup.
I refuse to buy any vehicle made after 2015, and even that’s quite a bit newer than I’d like.
I wouldn’t mind having tech in my car, but I have a zero-tolerance policy for proprietary spyware-infested shit. Therefore, I can’t buy any vehicle made after 2015.
I’d like to have a double-DIN car computer with a Raspberry Pi, RTL-SDR (for the radio) and OBD2 connection, but haven’t gotten around to making one yet.
