Too many gadgets in new vehicles?

My Sister, the rich one married to the Dr needed a driver to a Family do after having eye surgery. First time I ever drove her BMW 4-wheel drive with a Heads-Up display, Fighter Pilot-style speed number projected onto the windscreen in front of the driver. Every time I edged past the limit on the expressway, she told me I was speeding. Couldn't see to drive, but she could see that. Bloody annoying.
 
The Sock said:
The driver should, at all times, be responsible for the conduct of their vehicle.
They are, after all, criminally responsible for it.
If a "driver aid" fails and death, injury or damage is caused, who are you going to blame, the "driver" or the vehicle?
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If you are leading a company, you are still responsible for the results. Still, helping hands can come in handy...

If you are writing a letter, the computer can make it prettier, do spell-correction etc. - you are still responsible for WHAT you write... Are you avoiding computers? Do they control your life?

Again: these are ASSISTANCE Systems, they do not replace the driver, they shall help the driver to focus on the traffic. If you can't live with them, go for an old car pre- 90's, maybe even pre 80's.

I understand that the older we get, we get overwhelmed with the pace the changes happen. Still, avoiding it is not the solution, adopting and appreciating it keeps our brains fresh...

And sorry to say this, but with a new car, you won't have a choice. Best to try to get over it.
 
Exmoor beast said:
I honestly think every driver should have to prove they can change a wheel, top up fluids, tyre pressures and cars should be made so you can change a bulb without tools.
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Good solution, would exclude 80% of all women and 90% of men over 70 from traffic and with that, help to reduce traffic jam...

not realistic to happen though... ;)
 
2010 is about the limit for most cars that I find reasonable (my daily audi) apart from basic cars like my daughters VW up - manual windows etc. Having said that trying to find manuals to support self maintenence is TERRIBLE - even down to identifying fuses. On the whole I prefer analogue
 
pf1 said:
Is air conditioning a driver aid Lothar?
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100%!! Try to drive at 40+°C without it and see how long you can focus on traffic

Guys... I am old, too (well - becoming 59 this year). Respectfully, I feel though like a 30 years old, sitting in a family gathering when all the old people sound like "Everything used to be better in the good old days....".🤪

It is a question of one's mindset. Nothing else from my point of view. Hard to argue on a Motorbike forum for bikes that are partly as old as we are though, I know... :D
 
Paul Marx said:
I dream of the day that cars will be self drive eliminating the most dangerous factor in the use of the car, the human being.
Paul
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The most dangerous thing imaginable as far as motorcyclists are concerned ........ ref " blind " Teslas not seeing ( and killing ) riders ...........

Then of course , there is the very real threat of non - compliant motorcycles being banned from " smart " highways ..........


Mind you , I`m obviously in a minority here in that I ride a bike , and don`t drive a car .......... never have , never will .......

Would rather chew razor blades / guide my dad into my mum etc etc etc ...... you get the picture ...........
 
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My wife’s old car (Peugeot ) had a screen that was billed as really the future - to turn up the fan you had to go into the screen so at least three pushes to get to the right screen - then the fan stopped increasing its speed - spent 10 Days in the dealer before they announced that the screen was fecked - also terrible electric hand brake - new car Skoda has lever for the handbrake and a nice multipoint ion knob for the fan speed - result !!!
 
rocketonarail said:
The most dangerous thing imaginable as far as motorcyclists are concerned ........ ref " blind " Teslas not seeing ( and killing ) riders ...........

Then of course , there is the very real threat of non - compliant motorcycles being banned from " smart " highways ..........
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And me who thought that it was car drivers that were a danger for motorcyclists!
Separate roads for motorcycles and other traffic would be ideal. I try to practise that as much as I can by sticking to small roads. Very little traffic apart from when the small road leads to a motorway when cars will use the road to access the motorway.

Paul
 
Laverdalothar said:
100%!! Try to drive at 40+°C without it and see how long you can focus on traffic

Guys... I am old, too (well - becoming 59 this year). Respectfully, I feel though like a 30 years old, sitting in a family gathering when all the old people sound like "Everything used to be better in the good old days....".🤪

It is a question of one's mindset. Nothing else from my point of view. Hard to argue on a Motorbike forum for bikes that are partly as old as we are though, I know... :D
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I don't agree Lothar, it's a comfort aid just like the foam in the drivers seat is. I do drive in 40C with no AC in Portugal because the bloody system in my old Mazda only works when it feels like it. It's uncomfortable but it can be done.
 
I’ve always been fascinated by the coordination of multiple parameters - with an understanding of physical realities and limitations - to create an aesthetically pleasing whole. It makes no difference to me whether I’m watching a Grand Prix rider drifting through a corner or an excavator operator who has mastered their machine.

Of course, lot's of features get on my nerves, too. Having worked in the automotive industry, I know that some of them are introduced as "innovations" alongside new vehicle platforms, sometimes simply because the competition has them, or because a manufacturer wants to lead with a unique selling point. A sensible human-machine interface is one aspect of this; interference with operational processes and/or vehicle behaviour is another story altogether.

Let’s be honest: younger customers want smartphones on wheels. They couldn't care less about characteristics we felt pleased with in view of a.m. aesthetic command.
 
We live in a consumer society.
Produce, sell, buy. There are only two words to define our economies: market and growth. With that, as we say in french, we are driving straight into the wall.

We live in car societies. We must sell cars to the biggest possible number of people. We need petrol to power those cars and that means regularly going to war and obeying the dictates of primitive undemocratic countries.
For everybody to have a car, the cars must be simple to use. Human intelligence hasn't found anything better to transport a single person around than a vehicle capable of transporting 5 people fast and in confort over long distances. There is a means, it's called two wheeled transport, we're supposed to be motorcyclists, aren't we.
Driving straight into a wall.

Everyone isn't as capable as we are, so cars must take over. Pride comes before a fall. People who are too sure of themselves are responsible for a lot more tragedies than people who doubt.
The future is the autonomous car. That way we can sell more and more cars.
When our Laverda were new, well off families had a car. Now everybody has one, even if they don't have a driving license and all middle class families have several.

For once, I totally agree with Lothar. Old people incapable of moving on and adapting is nothing new. In fact, in clinical psychology, it's a sign of ageing.

Paul
 
pf1 said:
I don't agree Lothar, it's a comfort aid just like the foam in the drivers seat is. I do drive in 40C with no AC in Portugal because the bloody system in my old Mazda only works when it feels like it. It's uncomfortable but it can be done.
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when you say portugal, you most probably mean the Algarve, right. Longest distance is 100Km. that is not a long distance drive in 40°....

Let's agree to disagree then. I stick to my point of view. ;-)
 
In 2018 I bought new car that I like very much, manual shift included but a fairly luxurious car that is also fun to drive. It’s now got 155,000 miles on it and I plan to run it to at least 200,000 to extract maximum value. However a couple of months ago I started to consider what would come next. Faced with the onslaught of electronic nonsense that cannot in fact be permanently turned off, EU originated legislation mandates that it default to ‘on’ for every new drive, I decided it was time to look, find and buy. I ended up with a 2021 version of the exact same car, even the same color as it turned out, with only 25,000 miles. It’s now a weekend car for my wife and I, waiting until the 2018 version wears out to become my main ride. There is no way on God’s green earth that I will submit to spending money on the over regulated nonsense of new cars, but unlike brand new cars the as-new 2021 car allows you to turn off most of what it has. As with motorcycles, I’m buying the features I want with my money and not what brainless bureaucrats dream of: an unlightened, retrograde future of socially engineered compliance and submission.

My adaptation to change involved choosing to buy a used car, having previously bought a series of new ones for decades. Nowadays you have use your brain in combination with a (hopefully well stocked) wallet to get what you want and need, and reject being a weak minded robotic victim. Aging and reduced capability is when you instead lose your ability to do so, collect your little government pension, spend it as you’re directed and succumb to fate. Propaganda from the weak and dull minded (young and old) does not make compliance with out-of-control authority a sign of forward looking flexibility.
 
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I don't mean the Algarve Lothar I mean the upper Alentejo on the border with Spain near Badajoz and it HOT.
Needless to say people managed for years without air conditioning and many still do. You are correct about one thing though, we will just have to disagree on this point.
 
rocketonarail said:
That would restrict your right to travel where you want on the vehicle of your choice .......... Can you show me a separate road to the B4425 if you want to get from Barnsley to Bibury ?
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Take a high speed rail link.
If it doesn't exist, get it built.
That is a choice.
(the B4425 appears to be closed due to road works)

We already don't have a choice as to which roads we use and which vehicles we use. That is now the case in all major towns across Europe and it will only become more restrictive and more expensive.
It is of course the worst option since reason would dictate, yes dictate, investing massively in public transport. But that isn't a main option since the consumer option rules. We will keep on being sold cars, they'll be electric.

Paul
 
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I think you’ll find that EV mandates will die over time and under the force of democracy a lot of the authoritarian vehicular wet dreams of today will be pushed aside. Not all of them, but many.

I make my living designing complex schemes to electrify vehicles, it’s a wave that can be ridden at the moment to make money. I don’t believe it is the whole future.
 
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Paul Marx said:
Take a high speed rail link.
If it doesn't exist, get it built.
That is a choice.
(the B4425 appears to be closed due to road works)
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Well .......... Get a high speed rail link to by-pass every road I enjoy riding on , and then suggest / compel me to use that rail link instead of riding my bike ?

The B4425 is a country road passing through the Cotswold National Landscape , as do many arterial roads ....... planning permission for high speed rail links would rightly be kicked into touch ........ and where would the money come from in any case ?

The road is not closed due to roadworks , I just happen to enjoy riding my bike along it .......... Why should my enjoyment to go where I want and when I please using a vehicle of my own choice be curtailed ?

I`m a motorcyclist , not a rail commuter ......... Sorry about that !


It`s not usually in my nature to respond to such an obvious wind - up ........ but on this occasion I couldn`t resist ....... :) ................
 
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