can you buy a recent car and hack away the tracking features? e.g. disable gps / trackers, microphones, etc.
Ask HN: What's the best car without undesirable features?
21–30 of 183 posts
Re: Ask HN: What's the best car without undesirable features?
#22Just buy a base model Subaru?
Re: Ask HN: What's the best car without undesirable features?
#23Used car with front wheel drive, preferably traction control, put Blizzaks on all four wheels and you’ll do OK in snow unless you insist on driving on unplowed roads. There are a wide range of cars I would consider. Say a Toyota Camry or a Honda Accord or a Nissan Altima. Lately I have been partial to Buicks. An old Nissan Leaf with a shot battery can still go 70 miles which makes it a great second or third car in a…
> Used car with front wheel drive, preferably traction control, put Blizzaks on all four wheels and you’ll do OK in snow unless you insist on driving on unplowed roads.
There's more to cars in snowy climate than driving. OP clearly wants AWD, why tell him he doesn't really want it? As someone who's lived North most of their life, AWD is clearly a big advantage both for driving and for getting unstuck.
Have you never been snowed in by a snow plow and have to spend an hour trying to get out of a snow bank because your stupid front wheels won't grip? And then they finally grip but you drive a bit too far and you get over another snow bank and the front wheels are now lifted, losing all chances of getting out without spending another hour digging?
So in the end you arrive to work 2 hours late and with wet clothes from all the sweat and snow that got in while you fell repeatedly pushing your car?
Re: Ask HN: What's the best car without undesirable features?
#242016 or earlier subaru outback
Re: Ask HN: What's the best car without undesirable features?
#25Maybe a commercial vehicle. If small enough. Otherwise buy or fix an older vehicle. Or go nuts doing an EV conversion.
I would love to do an EV conversion of an old Subaru, but I'm not the handiest with cars myself, lack suitable garage space, and have not found any shops anywhere in the US that do conversions for anything other than classics. If you have a lead on EV conversions for 90s-ish cars, I'd really appreciate it.
Re: Ask HN: What's the best car without undesirable features?
#26Used car with front wheel drive, preferably traction control, put Blizzaks on all four wheels and you’ll do OK in snow unless you insist on driving on unplowed roads. There are a wide range of cars I would consider. Say a Toyota Camry or a Honda Accord or a Nissan Altima. Lately I have been partial to Buicks. An old Nissan Leaf with a shot battery can still go 70 miles which makes it a great second or third car in a…
> Used car with front wheel drive, preferably traction control, put Blizzaks on all four wheels and you’ll do OK in snow unless you insist on driving on unplowed roads. There's more to cars in snowy climate than driving. OP clearly wants AWD, why tell him he doesn't really want it? As someone who's lived North most of their life, AWD is clearly a big advantage both for driving and for getting unstuck. Have you never…
No I haven’t but it sounds like you should carry kitty litter in your car.
Re: Ask HN: What's the best car without undesirable features?
#27Has there been a widespread epidemic of anti-theft systems being used to impair the enjoyment by owners of their cars? Has it happened even once?
I think you're looking for a 20-year-old car. The last car I had that met all these criteria was a 1999 Mazda. But you will have a hard time finding a car that was marketed in America 20 years ago, that realistically gets > 30 MPG.
Re: Ask HN: What's the best car without undesirable features?
#28The new LandCruiser 70 series matches exactly what you want. I believe you can buy them in many countries (U.S. not included). https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a46001237/toyota-land-crui...
Under what circumstances would a BJ70 get over, or anywhere near, 30 MPG?
Re: Ask HN: What's the best car without undesirable features?
#29Adding to the list of 2010s-era Japanese cars, the 2nd gen Mazda3s have good reliability without the "Toyota tax." If you don't want to go with a 10yo car, current Toyotas will let you disable the 4G modem by pressing a series of buttons, and have physical HVAC controls. There's pretty much no getting away from touchscreens in current cars, though. The only alternative is Mazda with their selector knob, but I've found it more distracting when I rented one.
Re: Ask HN: What's the best car without undesirable features?
#30Used car with front wheel drive, preferably traction control, put Blizzaks on all four wheels and you’ll do OK in snow unless you insist on driving on unplowed roads. There are a wide range of cars I would consider. Say a Toyota Camry or a Honda Accord or a Nissan Altima. Lately I have been partial to Buicks. An old Nissan Leaf with a shot battery can still go 70 miles which makes it a great second or third car in a…
> Used car with front wheel drive, preferably traction control, put Blizzaks on all four wheels and you’ll do OK in snow unless you insist on driving on unplowed roads. There's more to cars in snowy climate than driving. OP clearly wants AWD, why tell him he doesn't really want it? As someone who's lived North most of their life, AWD is clearly a big advantage both for driving and for getting unstuck. Have you never…
During the part of my life when I lived in an intensely snowy climate, I never had a vehicle with four-wheel drive, and never had any issues. Four-wheel drive is a crutch to get you into situations your brakes can't get you out of.