With an average U.S. new-vehicle selling price of just over $45,000 last month, many can’t afford to buy new — even though prices are down more than $2,000 from the peak in December of 2022, according to J.D. Power.
Even if money is no object, in many ways 10-15 year old vehicles may be the sweet spot in terms of decent features without sacrificing privacy.
I don’t want a monolithic touchscreen (zero physical buttons) with apps, integration, cameras on me in the cabin, data collection and harvesting etc. For that reason I will stick with a decade plus old car.
I watched a video that basically points this out. People have already figured out how to make the most optimum vehicle about 10 years ago, hell probably before, but because we live in a capitalistic society, manufacturers have to keep “innovating” and raising prices and adding useless features that create more problems than convenience. Touchsreens in cars are a perfect example:
1 - At first they were used to display radio and connect to gps, but are now overglorofied phones that have basic car features buried behind menus and laggy screens
2 - Distracted driving was already a problem with texting and driving. So lets put a giant screen on the dash where you can watch Netflix (while I doubt you can while driving, the fact I still gotta look at a screen to turn my wipers on in a flash of rain is a major flaw)
3 - Its a new source of revanue, you’d be stupid NOT to put a screen in your car. All that juicy data, waiting to be collected and sold. If Watch_Dogs taught me anything, its that making our world smarter only makes us more vulnerable.
4 - We were able to get around WITHOUT a screen in our car. A phone mount, a bluetooth adapter, and a dashcam make my 2012 mini cooper feel like a 2025 modern smartcar. Sure it sucks that I had to buy the external upgrades, but I’ve still got modern conveniences like seat warmers, AC, cruise control, traction control. (The only feature I can give Tesla is Self-Driving mode, which is still in beta, so you’re more of a test subject and not a paying customer)
5 - (This is a personal rant) A screen looks fancy, until you realize its actually cheaper to call it a software problem, rather than manufacturing dedicated switches. Making it even harder to repair, since your mechanic now has to learn to code, alnogside manual labor if a part is broken.
The only benefit I see in buying the latest car is if you’re worried about the car being overworked. Aka its legit old and undrivable, but the way I see it, its cheaper to fix your old car over breaking your brand new cybertruck before its off the lot.
Even if money is no object, in many ways 10-15 year old vehicles may be the sweet spot in terms of decent features without sacrificing privacy.
I don’t want a monolithic touchscreen (zero physical buttons) with apps, integration, cameras on me in the cabin, data collection and harvesting etc. For that reason I will stick with a decade plus old car.
I watched a video that basically points this out. People have already figured out how to make the most optimum vehicle about 10 years ago, hell probably before, but because we live in a capitalistic society, manufacturers have to keep “innovating” and raising prices and adding useless features that create more problems than convenience. Touchsreens in cars are a perfect example: 1 - At first they were used to display radio and connect to gps, but are now overglorofied phones that have basic car features buried behind menus and laggy screens 2 - Distracted driving was already a problem with texting and driving. So lets put a giant screen on the dash where you can watch Netflix (while I doubt you can while driving, the fact I still gotta look at a screen to turn my wipers on in a flash of rain is a major flaw) 3 - Its a new source of revanue, you’d be stupid NOT to put a screen in your car. All that juicy data, waiting to be collected and sold. If Watch_Dogs taught me anything, its that making our world smarter only makes us more vulnerable. 4 - We were able to get around WITHOUT a screen in our car. A phone mount, a bluetooth adapter, and a dashcam make my 2012 mini cooper feel like a 2025 modern smartcar. Sure it sucks that I had to buy the external upgrades, but I’ve still got modern conveniences like seat warmers, AC, cruise control, traction control. (The only feature I can give Tesla is Self-Driving mode, which is still in beta, so you’re more of a test subject and not a paying customer) 5 - (This is a personal rant) A screen looks fancy, until you realize its actually cheaper to call it a software problem, rather than manufacturing dedicated switches. Making it even harder to repair, since your mechanic now has to learn to code, alnogside manual labor if a part is broken.
The only benefit I see in buying the latest car is if you’re worried about the car being overworked. Aka its legit old and undrivable, but the way I see it, its cheaper to fix your old car over breaking your brand new cybertruck before its off the lot.