Americans Are Keeping Their Cars Longer, as Vehicle Age Hits 12 Years

Re:Americans Are Keeping Their Cars Longer, as Vehicle Age H... by thaumasiotes on Sunday June 20, 2021 @11:28AM (#27570971)

Let's not forget that car manufacturers seem to be determined to ensure that new cars are worse than old cars. What do I want in a car?

- No bluetooth.

- No touchscreens.

- Really, no screens at all.

- Cabled audio input.

A rearview camera is a good thing, except it still manages to make the car worse overall because the manufacturers somehow can't stop themselves from using the screen to display other things that should have been displayed in another way.

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Re:Americans Are Keeping Their Cars Longer, as Vehicle Age H... by kayodelycaon on Sunday June 20, 2021 @11:38AM (#27571075)

Worse for you. I happen to like bluetooth, backup cameras, wireless keys, and a lot of the other modern features cars have now.

Manufacturers definitely went wrong putting important controls in the touch screen. That’s a usability nightmare. I’d consider the rest to be personal preference.

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Re:Americans Are Keeping Their Cars Longer, as Vehicle Age H... by thaumasiotes on Sunday June 20, 2021 @11:43AM (#27571149)

Wireless keys are a feature from the 90s.

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Re:Americans Are Keeping Their Cars Longer, as Vehicle Age H... by whynotminot on Sunday June 20, 2021 @01:11PM (#27571965)

So are cell phones. But there’s a difference in their quality and ubiquity now right?

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Re:Americans Are Keeping Their Cars Longer, as Vehicle Age H... by thaumasiotes on Sunday June 20, 2021 @05:02PM (#27573883)

No? They let you unlock your car from a distance. This is of pretty questionable utility in the first place, since you can't benefit from the unlocking without being next to the car, but it worked then just as well as it works now.

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Re:Americans Are Keeping Their Cars Longer, as Vehicle Age H... by whynotminot on Monday June 21, 2021 @12:29PM (#27580764)

Mine at least does a lot more than that. For instance, it's smart enough to know if you put the key in the trunk and will automatically open the trunk back up. It has pretty good awareness of where it is in relation to the car, which gives me more confidence in using it that I won't do something stupid and lock myself out (or at least not be allowed to do something stupid). If those earlier systems from the 90s were just as precisely "self aware" then I'll concede this point to you, but I suspect they weren't so well integrated.

As far as the "questionable utility goes", I frankly love it. I love just walking up to my car and having it unlock for me. Sure, it's not much, but it's kind of the equivalent of Touch ID or Face ID on a phone these days. Sure, entering a PIN code isn't the hardest thing in the world, but it's the little things that make life just a smidge less annoying, right?

You didn't address my point regarding their ubiquity now, so I feel like you kinda decided to only address half my point...

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Re:Americans Are Keeping Their Cars Longer, as Vehicle Age H... by kayodelycaon on Monday June 21, 2021 @11:24PM (#27587606)

I meant RFID keys. I never need to take mine out of my pocket. My door unlocks when I touch it. My car starts when I push the on button.

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Re:Americans Are Keeping Their Cars Longer, as Vehicle Age H... by ceejayoz on Sunday June 20, 2021 @01:12PM (#27571971)

My 2016 Corolla still came with an old fashioned key.

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Re:Americans Are Keeping Their Cars Longer, as Vehicle Age H... by Silhouette on Sunday June 20, 2021 @11:55AM (#27571284)

Manufacturers definitely went wrong putting important controls in the touch screen. That’s a usability nightmare. I’d consider the rest to be personal preference.

I'm not sure I'd consider permanent connectivity and the related telemetry and OTA updates to be personal preference. These are often being used in ways contrary to the owner's or driver's interests, from invading privacy to "licensing" vehicle features that can be disabled later, and they come with significant security and safety risks.

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Re:Americans Are Keeping Their Cars Longer, as Vehicle Age H... by mattacular on Sunday June 20, 2021 @11:40AM (#27571114)

I'm with you on this. Integrated bluetooth is nice to have, but if you have just aux in then you can get nearly 100% of the same functionality via a bluetooth adapter. That would be my only reason not to get an old car but even then, the cassette tape adapters are pretty good substitute for aux in.

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Re:Americans Are Keeping Their Cars Longer, as Vehicle Age H... by midasuni on Sunday June 20, 2021 @04:05PM (#27573421)

Cars with a standard size din connected radio can have Bluetooth without any of the other stuff - far better than a c90 adapter, and usually with have 3.5mm and usb power as well.

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Re:Americans Are Keeping Their Cars Longer, as Vehicle Age H... by zdragnar on Sunday June 20, 2021 @02:51PM (#27572856)

You can get rearview cameras that integrate into the rear view mirror. It does make for a tiny screen, and good luck finding that on a new car, but the option exists for older cars at least.

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