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Ask HN: What's the best car without undesirable features?

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Re: Ask HN: What's the best car without undesirable features?

#161

Post by yial »

PaulHoule wrote: post #123
yial wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really would highly recommend Infiniti's AWD options. I took my G37x to just shy of 300,000 miles with no major issues, and it wouldn’t get stuck until the snow was above its bumpers.

That's like the Buick strategy. I don't think I'd ever get one of the premium brand cars new (e.g. Acura, Lexus, Mercury, etc.) but the premium you pay for a premium brand is a lot less in a used car than a new car. Also an older premium car is going to more technically up to date than an older entry level car.

I’ve never bought a car new.

I usually buy 2 ish maybe 3 years old, with When I bought the Infiniti though, my desired specs were based on price (I paid $18k when I bought my 2013 Infiniti g37x in 2015).

Having awd, and above 300hp. My unexpected expenses have been wheel bearing replacements. But aside from that nothing major.

My next car purchase is a convertible probably a bmw m6, or a Mercedes amg 63 s.

I can’t get over knowing however that both of those are bad choices in cars to buy.

So instead I’ll probably buy something with less hp, awd, convertible, and higher reliability/cost to own. If it exists.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best car without undesirable features?

#162

Post by Invertigrate »

MrDrMcCoy wrote: post #90
Invertigrate wrote: post #81

Have you considered purchasing a newer car that you can modify? I would assume that it would be trivial to just remove the antenna for the mobile data and once that's gone then 1, 2 and 3. As for the touchscreens you always have buttons on the steering wheel so you will have to be content with that.

I'm concerned that really new cars are always expecting to be able to connect eventually, and that as a result it would start having issues after being disconnected for a long time.

I don't think they implement that into the cars as developers have to consider that a car may be unused for a longer time and perhaps even be completely discharged.

I think this would be the best approach for you as you would get all the advantages of having a new car while still remaining "off-the-grid" as long as you don't bring your phone with you.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best car without undesirable features?

#163

Post by BerislavLopac »

r00fus wrote: post #145
BerislavLopac wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is essentially a mobile "modem" built in.

Idea: buy a car with an outdated (3G) modem and simply don't replace it.

I don't think that really exists -- the cars either don't have the connectivity, or it's relatively modern (4G+). For the older cars we had to use dongles, which in some cases were even 2G.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best car without undesirable features?

#164

Post by dwd »

grvdrm wrote: post #153
MrDrMcCoy wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Located centrally in the USA. Not much is off limits assuming it's not too huge. My target is something that's reasonably compact but can still comfortably seat four. Doesn't need to be new, but I'd prefer not to go back more than ten years if it can be helped.

GTI. Amazing car.

Hell yeah; my Mk5 everyday drive will be 16 this year.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best car without undesirable features?

#165

Post by quickthrower2 »

3minus1 wrote: post #159
el-dude-arino wrote: post #3

Well I an tell you right now you don't need 4wd, it snows like a MF where I live and if you have FWD with proper snow tires (which you should regardless), you will drive circles around 4WD/AWD cars with just all season tires on in winter. Just buy a mid-2010's honda civic or a toyota camry.

I can't speak to snow tires, but statistics clearly show 4WD/AWD significantly reduces fatality rates for a given car model.

Confounders ruled out?

Re: Ask HN: What's the best car without undesirable features?

#166

Post by nickd2001 »

20 yrs ago, when living in N America, I owned a 1987 Subaru GL wagon (so car was 16 yrs old at the time). Had low-range 4wd which would go through anything. Did 32 mpg highway I seem to recall. Very reliable. Japanese import, probably better built than later US models. I believe those cars last for ever. Mechanic had one with 700k on the clock. Still a few on ebay probably. Think it had a tape deck not even a CD player, that's the only thing. ;)

Re: Ask HN: What's the best car without undesirable features?

#167

Post by luckycharms810 »

MrDrMcCoy wrote: post #16
luckycharms810 wrote: post #12

Mazda CX-90

Seems promising. What do you like about them, and is there a particular year you'd recommend?

- No touch screen, but a screen w analog controls

- analog controls, buttons, knobs for all internal functionality like temperature control, sunroof, seat control

- plugin hybrid

- reasonable mileage on only gas

- electric only mode for city driving

Re: Ask HN: What's the best car without undesirable features?

#168

Post by avar »

brudgers wrote: post #113
avar wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a weird issue I hadn't heard of before. Wouldn't a simpler and cheaper solution be to run an extra circuit to the horn? You'd then honk it by pressing a new button (or use an unused one) in the dashboard. The difficulty mainly depends on how hard it is to get a pair of wires from the horn across the firewall into the dashboard. On some cars this would take no more than an hour in total.

After I got the horn disconnected so the neighbors would stop hearing it and so the car could be driven…that’s the theory this dad had, too. The thinking about it reality was horn current is switched through relays, there aren’t obvious places to mount the new in-cabin portion of the horn, there aren’t well considered off the shelf options for the horn triggering system, and the horn is a critical safety system. And…

I looked up the interior of a 1997 LaSabre, there's plenty of places to add a new button.

I don't think (but I may be wrong) that US law stipulates that the horn must be operated via the steering wheel, and modifying it is trickier for the reasons you mention.

You could have a custom horn via a pull chain, see e.g. [1].

Anyway, this was clearly ages ago. I only chimed in to note that there's often non-OEM fixes for car troubles that are much cheaper, and will pass inspections.

If all you need is a functional horn you can get a working one at a junkyard. Then all you need is to mount it somewhere, a 12V power supply, and a switch.

Even if you can't do any of this yourself paying a mechanic to do it would be a small fraction of the $1600 you noted, which presumably was a full steering wheel replacement (airbag and all).

1. https://www.lalightbars.co.uk/hadley-air-horn-pull-chain-kit...

Re: Ask HN: What's the best car without undesirable features?

#170

Post by brudgers »

avar wrote: post #168
brudgers wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After I got the horn disconnected so the neighbors would stop hearing it and so the car could be driven…that’s the theory this dad had, too. The thinking about it reality was horn current is switched through relays, there aren’t obvious places to mount the new in-cabin portion of the horn, there aren’t well considered off the shelf options for the horn triggering system, and the horn is a critical safety system. And…

I looked up the interior of a 1997 LaSabre, there's plenty of places to add a new button. I don't think (but I may be wrong) that US law stipulates that the horn must be operated via the steering wheel, and modifying it is trickier for the reasons you mention. You could have a custom horn via a pull chain, see e.g. [1]. Anyway, this was clearly ages ago. I only chimed in to note that there's often non-OEM fixes for c…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1sM29zGxeo
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