621–630 of 671 posts
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This is pretty much what the US did to itself in the first place - bulldozed half the cities in the country to make them car centric. There’s no reason you can’t do the same thing in reverse. Buildings are not actually all that permanent (especially in the US where in most of the country they appear to be made out of wood & plaster).
Very few houses in the US have plaster, unless they're over 70 years old.
What I hate about "car discourse" like this is the apparent blindness to public transportation. Trains, bikes, buses, and street cars solve almost every problem that the author complains about. The only outstanding problem, however, is that American infrastructure has been deliberately designed solely around the car. Those who suggest alternative modes of public transportation are immediately written off as "impracti…
I'm fine with a touch screen for things like rear camera and plugging in a smart phone, but I want actual volume, temperature, and fan speed knobs. I also want all of the information about the car I can get. For example, I don't want a "tire low light", I want an air pressure in each tire with an flashing indicator that its out of safe range. I don't want an "overheat", I want the temperature and big flashing when it…
My 1992 Miata came with an honest-to-god oil pressure gauge in it, that gave you real oil pressure readings. The pressure gauge moves back and forth with engine RPMs, because the oil pump is driven off of the engine. More RPM = more oil pressure. That's how cars work. In 1994, Mazda removed it, and put in a "Dumb" gauge. It looks like a gauge, but really is either on above a certain PSI or off below that. They did th…
As an aside, the 'dummy gauge' is arguably worse than a lamp because it's much easier to overlook a needle being out of range than it is a light that's always off suddenly being on.
The first generation Miata is an amazingly fun car to drive - it's not fast, but it feels 100% mechanical (even though there are a few computers in the engine).
Power seats are not a pointless luxury. I’m pretty sure they are continuously adjustable which is much better than trying to pull on some lever and get the seat to pop into approximately the right place. To say nothing of mulitple drivers with memorized positions etc.
> Power seats are not a pointless luxury. I’m pretty sure they are continuously adjustable which is much better than trying to pull on some lever and get the seat to pop into approximately the right place. To say nothing of mulitple drivers with memorized positions etc. YMMV, but I have no problem using mechanical adjustments. Power is no advantage for me.
Mechanical adjustment is fine for up-down, tilt (if it uses a dial), and lumbar, but for forward-back I prefer electric. Also because manual forward-back adjustments are very coarse.
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My subaru has a tiny screen built in to the rear view. Its great. Anything else would be a downgrade.
Actual rear visibility would be an upgrade. Cars don't seem to come with that anymore.
Merging onto a freeway is scary in this thing, whereas in my 2003 car, there was a 360 view all around me. Like a lot of things, looks have become more important than function, even in something as safety-critical as a car.
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I’m having a hard time understanding how “I forgot to change gears and then hit the gas” can be classed a UX problem. Sounds like PEBKAC.
"I’m having a hard time understanding how “I forgot to change gears and then hit the gas” can be classed a UX problem. Sounds like PEBKAC." On the one hand, it is easy to point to this as user error and you're not wrong. But older cars have a significant tactile difference in operating different systems in the car. Shifting a gear is very, very different physically than pushing the button for your hazards. Your body…
Airplane cockpits are designed like this, for obvious reasons.
After years of driving a several Mercedes E-Class cars, I now drive a 2004 Jeep Cherokee (not the 'Grand Cherokee'... In the US my Jeep is called the Liberty). It's very basic compared to my Mercs, but oddly I enjoy driving it more - and I'm not one of those 'love cars, love to drive' people. I relate to the point in the article about fancy screens; In my Jeep I fitted a very cheap (£30) Chinese radio head unit. It h…
I once bought such a Bluetooth radio. It cost me over 300€ (new starter, new battery) to finally figure out myself that the cheap Chinese radio was draining my battery and preventing my car to start. Sometimes I had to turn the key 30 times (with a full battery) to start the car.
I went car shopping this year in the new market and found that that if you want more a "dumb" car (UX occurs primarily outside of a touchscreen, no internet, no geolocation) you lose all potential for any nice non-smart features. So no heated/powered seats, no power windows, the material of the interior is refurbished from a spirit airlines airplane, etc. I think manufacturers are hoping that certain aspects of the m…
It's an interesting differentiation strategy though, and while cars are becoming more and more similar along some axis, there is a distinct different segmentation between manufacturers. When shopping for minivans, they all "have" comparable features. But Manufacturer A base model has no advanced safety features; you need to buy $10k of leather seats and chrome highlights to get them. Manufacturer B offers a $2k safet…