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Ask HN: Best cars without too much digitalization?

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Re: Ask HN: Best cars without too much digitalization?

#151

Post by itsoktocry »

ospzfmbbzr wrote: post #126
judge2020 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's a dying breed though, complicated "driver assist" systems are becoming standard or even mandated :(. It saves lives, even if the systems are not 100% effective.

What a pile. Blind spot detection system malfunction a lot to the point of being useless. Front collision detection is just annoying. I have driven for 40 years and have never rear-ended anyone or run over a pedestrian. These 'safety' 'features' are only useful to terrible drivers. Decent drivers are just annoyed by the car fighting you. I guess they need to have some way to keep adding features so the price points n…

>What a pile. Blind spot detection system malfunction a lot to the point of being useless. Front collision detection is just annoying.

Been driving cars with blind spot detection and front collision for years. Never had a "malfunction". I live in Canada. When it's snowy, the system turns off (and the driving experience is worse).

Seems downright crazy to not want these features. If you think "real drivers" don't want these things you don't spend enough time on the road. Commuting is not about "the driving experience". Most accidents are caused by people not paying attention, which is what these features solve.

Re: Ask HN: Best cars without too much digitalization?

#152

Post by carabiner »

Pre-2015 Tacoma. Doesn't even have climate control. Has the Entune touchscreen stereo, but you can ignore that if you don't listen to music. Everything else is knobs and buttons. But also, keep in mind this is generational. A 2003 Honda Accord has an astonishing amount of digitization relative to a 1980s car. It used to be common for fathers and sons to work on their cars at home for repairs. Not just maintenance, actually fixing things that went wrong.

I think behind most nostalgia is a longing for youth.

Re: Ask HN: Best cars without too much digitalization?

#154

Post by HWR_14 »

fshbbdssbbgdd wrote: post #134
HWR_14 wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you mean "you can physically destroy the radios if that bothers you"? Because it's not a toggle in a UI.

I’m trying to figure out what the connection is between the driver assist features and the phoning home behavior. Are they just two systems that new cars are likely to have, or are they actually integrated?

In Teslas, my understanding is that the driver assist features also judge your driving quality in real time and send them back to Tesla as a score. And, of course, they use the same sensors and processing hardware. So they are related in that it tends to be the same cars using the same hardware powering both.

Re: Ask HN: Best cars without too much digitalization?

#155

Post by ospzfmbbzr »

itsoktocry wrote: post #151
ospzfmbbzr wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What a pile. Blind spot detection system malfunction a lot to the point of being useless. Front collision detection is just annoying. I have driven for 40 years and have never rear-ended anyone or run over a pedestrian. These 'safety' 'features' are only useful to terrible drivers. Decent drivers are just annoyed by the car fighting you. I guess they need to have some way to keep adding features so the price points n…

> What a pile. Blind spot detection system malfunction a lot to the point of being useless. Front collision detection is just annoying. Been driving cars with blind spot detection and front collision for years. Never had a "malfunction". I live in Canada. When it's snowy, the system turns off (and the driving experience is worse). Seems downright crazy to not want these features. If you think "real drivers" don't wan…

> I live in Canada

So do I -- and I drove all the worst highways for years in winter without these useless intrusions. Often in the middle of the night to get to a ski hill in some part of BC for the next day.

Re: Ask HN: Best cars without too much digitalization?

#156

Post by _ea1k »

cmrdporcupine wrote: post #148
worldmerge wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Saab 900 with a Mach E crate motor swap.

Wouldn't work well, that crate motor is made for transverse mounting, the 900 is famous for its longitudinal & backwards motor (and perfectly balanced to avoid torque steer). A good candidate for a Tesla drive unit transplant, probably. Too bad I don't have the mechanical skills to do it myself (I have a non-running 1984 900 SPG in my garage)

Isn't the Tesla drive unit also mounted transverse? Or do you mean that there are more aftermarket solutions to resolve this for Tesla drive units?

Re: Ask HN: Best cars without too much digitalization?

#157

Post by trcarney »

HuShifang wrote: post #7

Good question. A follow-up: What's the best low(er)-digitalization EV (ideally BEV, but alternatively PHEV)? Something with more tactile/analog UI and a minimum of "entertainment" accessories?

I'm not sure what your use case is but I think the Electra Meccanica Solo could be a good option if you don't need to carry passengers or much stuff. It does have a back-up camera, digital instruments, and keyless entry but no driver assist features.

I'm intrigued by this because I think it would be pretty fun to drive a single seat car on the road, but maybe thats just me.

https://www.electrameccanica.com/solo/

Re: Ask HN: Best cars without too much digitalization?

#158

Post by 0des »

1970-01-01 wrote: post #147

First tell us your beef with the status-quo. How do you determine what is a digital feature and what is a digital gimmick? What are you trying to avoid exactly? Are remote diagnostics a gimmick? Is the 20 year old CAN bus a gimmick? Automatic headlights? TPMS? ABS? All of this technology contains properties that identify your vehicle from similar vehicles WHILE making the roads safer.

Excuse the rant, but this comment tickled a sore spot for me.

If I want to sing or shout the entire way home without it being stored in 'the cloud' that is my right. If I want to change my own oil or tires, nothing should stop me. So much of this crap is jacking up the price of a basic conveyance and it just adds more headache, more proprietary parts, and more stuff to go wrong. God dammit I just want to ride to the store and back, stop pestering me like I'm some kind of incompetent child asking for unrealistic things. I swear to fucking christ almighty if I have to make a ticket for the Ford Genius Bar to get some basic shit fixed, I might just snap on the nearest nerd.

OnStar was a mistake, it all went downhill from there. Fuel Injection bros, you can come get some too.

Re: Ask HN: Best cars without too much digitalization?

#159

Post by djxfade »

cmrdporcupine wrote: post #141

Annoyingly, I want an electric car without "digitilization". No distracting central touch screen, no "autopilot" nonsense, proper gauges and indicators, tactile feel. A focus on the driving and safety and ergonomics, not on "we don't need an instrument cluster because iPads are cool, people like their phones and buttons are expensive and break"... A Saab 900 with an electric motor. Please make it.

The MG ZS EV. It has analog gauges and tactile buttons. It does have a touch screen, but that is just for the radio. Everything else has a physical button or switch

Re: Ask HN: Best cars without too much digitalization?

#160

Post by [deleted] »

cmrdporcupine wrote: post #141

Annoyingly, I want an electric car without "digitilization". No distracting central touch screen, no "autopilot" nonsense, proper gauges and indicators, tactile feel. A focus on the driving and safety and ergonomics, not on "we don't need an instrument cluster because iPads are cool, people like their phones and buttons are expensive and break"... A Saab 900 with an electric motor. Please make it.

[deleted]
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