Does anyone else but me think there are way too many electronics in today's vehicles?

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KalboKalbs

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It's all not a big deal in my mind. Enjoy my gadgets. Turn off the lane nonsense and one other nanny thing.

Folks ought to buy what makes them happy, not irritated.

The entire thread cracks me up.

Up one, Docwagon nails it. A few others have also.
 

jejb

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Some of the modern technology on today’s vehicles is valuable, having my climate controls on the radio is not. Thankfully my Big Horn has buttons as well as electronic inputs.
So does my 22 Ltd Longhorn with the 12" screen. I never use the big screen to adjust the climate control stuff. You do need the display for the heated/cooled seats and the heated steering wheel though.
 

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I guess "if" I could find a clean older Dodge, I would give it some serious thought. As for seats, I ordered the bucket seats in it. The buckets were only offered in the 2 wheel drive, but in those days the order form was filled out in hand. The dealer felt that we could get them. The down side to that was it took 9 months to get the truck. Kind of blamed that to the bucket seats. Plus having the manual 4 speed trans was nice as well. It was a nice truck and I never had any issues with it.
 

mtnrider

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Complaining about electronics from your electronic device on the internet........ Seems ironic doesn't it?

While I'll agree that some of the "nanny" features are annoying you can't argue that electronics also allow us to have 1075lbft of torque and 410HP vs an old manual 12v that was 400lbft and 160HP (and they weren't without issues). (used a diesel as an example)

I'm in the old fart category so I'm all too familiar of driving vehicles without a lot of electronics. While it has some nostalgia I'll don't mind having some cool techy features and conveniences in these modern trucks. If you don't like it why did you buy it?, there are plenty of old trucks with little to no electronics out there so sell this one and find something that doesn't irritate you.


.
 

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My last two trucks - an '87 Ranger and a '00 Silverado, both of which I bought new - were both manual transmission. I couldn't get one this time around, but that's OK. I got a thigh like Popeye's arm from almost 40 years of pumpin that clutch. :cool:
 
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1979PowerWagon360

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I don't know, I just think it's a skill people should acquire. identifying that you're headed either N*S*E*W is important. and being able to read a map (and believe me, LOVE the "Google maps" software and what it will allow you to see, now I already know what my target looks like before I even get there!!!) and chart your own course is a legit thing.
I'm shocked at the number of people I deal with at work who cannot identify N,S,E, or W!!!! Many are adults too, and they are in their own neighborhood! Truly unbelievable numbers!!! "What direction was the vehicle last headed"? Answer I'll get is often "up" or "down" the street or "turned left". So I'll confirm with "so north on 123 Street"? Then a baffled look, gears turning, and so often "oh I'm not good with directions"!!! Adults!!!!
 

REDinAZ

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I'm shocked at the number of people I deal with at work who cannot identify N,S,E, or W!!!! Many are adults too, and they are in their own neighborhood! Truly unbelievable numbers!!! "What direction was the vehicle last headed"? Answer I'll get is often "up" or "down" the street or "turned left". So I'll confirm with "so north on 123 Street"? Then a baffled look, gears turning, and so often "oh I'm not good with directions"!!! Adults!!!!
correct. too often when someone asks where something is and I tell them, "...it's at the Southeast corner of such & such" they usual react like I'm speaking Latin.

FYI, like that Dodge Diplomat in your driveway. I own an retired former gov unit too, a 99 CV SAP....

20201116_152251.jpg
 
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Tulecreeper

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I find it interesting that when referring to distance men (usually) speak in terms of time, and women (usually) speak in terms of distance. Men don't care how far it is from Point A to Point B, they want to know how long it will take for them to get there. :driver:

Dude: "How far is it to Smallville?"
Dudette: "About 20 miles"
Dude: "OK, and how long does it take?"
Dudete: "I don't know, I've never timed it."

Or...

Dudette: "How far is it to Smallville?"
Dude: "About 15 minutes."
Dudette: "And how many miles is that?"
Dude: "I don't know, I've never measured it because distance is irrelevant. The time it takes is the only important thing."
 

mikeru

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I find it interesting that when referring to distance men (usually) speak in terms of time, and women (usually) speak in terms of distance. Men don't care how far it is from Point A to Point B, they want to know how long it will take for them to get there. :driver:

Dude: "How far is it to Smallville?"
Dudette: "About 20 miles"
Dude: "OK, and how long does it take?"
Dudete: "I don't know, I've never timed it."

Or...

Dudette: "How far is it to Smallville?"
Dude: "About 15 minutes."
Dudette: "And how many miles is that?"
Dude: "I don't know, I've never measured it because distance is irrelevant. The time it takes is the only important thing."
I can see that in metropolitan areas but I don't see that around here. I live in farm country, with really only one freeway. And I have to drive 60 miles to get to it. So it's mostly two lane highways for the most part, and not really a lot of traffic on them. Everyone here talks in terms of miles instead of time. Speed limit is 55 or 60 mph, so 1 mile is on average 1 minute.
 

Tulecreeper

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I can see that in metropolitan areas but I don't see that around here. I live in farm country, with really only one freeway. And I have to drive 60 miles to get to it. So it's mostly two lane highways for the most part, and not really a lot of traffic on them. Everyone here talks in terms of miles instead of time. Speed limit is 55 or 60 mph, so 1 mile is on average 1 minute.
There probably aren't a lot of people on this forum who live more rural than I do, and have all my adult life. We live about 2 miles out of a little burg with maybe 1100 people, our closest neighbot is about 1/2 mile away. Although the state highway is only 2 miles away, it takes about 5 minutes to get to it because it isn't 60 MPH between here and there - it's 40, then 35, then 25, then 55. The closest "city" is almost 40 minutes north. I say "minutes" because whenever anyone asks me how far it is to go shopping, I say "40 minutes north". It doesn't matter how many miles it is, everyone wants to know how long it will take them to get there because there are several small communities of a couple hundred people between here and there and the speed limit on the highway drops to 40 MPH for a mile or two. So, it might only be 25 miles, but it takes 40 minutes to drive it.
 

mikeru

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There probably aren't a lot of people on this forum who live more rural than I do, and have all my adult life. We live about 2 miles out of a little burg with maybe 1100 people, our closest neighbot is about 1/2 mile away. Although the state highway is only 2 miles away, it takes about 5 minutes to get to it because it isn't 60 MPH between here and there - it's 40, then 35, then 25, then 55. The closest "city" is almost 40 minutes north. I say "minutes" because whenever anyone asks me how far it is to go shopping, I say "40 minutes north". It doesn't matter how many miles it is, everyone wants to know how long it will take them to get there because there are several small communities of a couple hundred people between here and there and the speed limit on the highway drops to 40 MPH for a mile or two. So, it might only be 25 miles, but it takes 40 minutes to drive it.
You say you've lived there most of your adult life. I'm wondering where you grew up then. Just curious if you grew up in a rural area or were you a city boy?
 

Tulecreeper

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You say you've lived there most of your adult life. I'm wondering where you grew up then. Just curious if you grew up in a rural area or were you a city boy?
I said I grew up rural all of my adult life. I've lived here for a decade, but for 35 years prior to that I lived in farm country in N. California. I've never lived in a town with more than about a 20,000 population, and at that I lived on the outskirts. My high school had 300 students.
 
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HighDesertRam

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I find it interesting that when referring to distance men (usually) speak in terms of time, and women (usually) speak in terms of distance. Men don't care how far it is from Point A to Point B, they want to know how long it will take for them to get there. :driver:

Dude: "How far is it to Smallville?"
Dudette: "About 20 miles"
Dude: "OK, and how long does it take?"
Dudete: "I don't know, I've never timed it."

Or...

Dudette: "How far is it to Smallville?"
Dude: "About 15 minutes."
Dudette: "And how many miles is that?"
Dude: "I don't know, I've never measured it because distance is irrelevant. The time it takes is the only important thing."
Well here in semi-rural Utah, the speed limit on I15 is 80, but most of the maniacs who live here drive much faster than that on the freeway. It's not uncommon to have people blast by me at 90-95 miles per hour. It's kind of amusing when I am out volunteering for our sheriff's office to have people slow way down when they spot the marked truck. And we have a one guy in particular who is deputy who does traffic enforcement in an unmarked Mustang 5.0. He literally writes a ticket every 15 minutes.
 

mikeru

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I said I grew up rural all of my adult life. I've lived here for a decade, but for 35 years prior to that I lived in farm country in N. California. I've never lived in a town with more than about a 20,000 population, and at that I lived on the outskirts. My high school had 300 students.
Same size school as I went to.
 

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I find it interesting that when referring to distance men (usually) speak in terms of time, and women (usually) speak in terms of distance. Men don't care how far it is from Point A to Point B, they want to know how long it will take for them to get there. :driver:

Dude: "How far is it to Smallville?"
Dudette: "About 20 miles"
Dude: "OK, and how long does it take?"
Dudete: "I don't know, I've never timed it."

Or...

Dudette: "How far is it to Smallville?"
Dude: "About 15 minutes."
Dudette: "And how many miles is that?"
Dude: "I don't know, I've never measured it because distance is irrelevant. The time it takes is the only important thing."

Never noticed, I think pretty much everybody I know thinks and talks in both time and distance.

Somebody who doesn't know time to travel would never arrive to work on time, meet friends on time, etc. That just defies common sense to think anyone is solely reliant on one or the other.
 
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Sluff Track

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I agree about too many electronics in vehicles these days. Just saw a report that riding in a Tesla is equivalent to sitting in front of a microwave oven one to two feet away. While the microwave is only on for a minute or two at a time, people could spend hours in their cars on long trips.

There are some people whom are actually very sensitive to excess EMF (electromagnetic fields). I have seen them not being able to ride in a 2019 2500, with a hemi, for more than one or two blocks. They got nausea and headaches and had to leave the vehicle as soon as it took to turn around and get back home.

Since the auto companies are going down the subscription rabbit hole, I don't see an end to it unless customers refuse to buy those vehicles.

Will someone make a brand new "LUDITE 1500"? No TPMS, satellite, WIFI or Bluetooth? Just enough computer to keep the engine and drivetrain happy...

Thanks for reading, back to our regular program...
Jim
 

Tulecreeper

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Never noticed, I think pretty much everybody I know thinks and talks in both time and distance.

Somebody who doesn't know time to travel would never arrive to work on time, meet friends on time, etc. That just defies common sense to think anyone is solely reliant on one or the other.
True, my comment was assuming that a person knows both. If I have driven to Smallville at least once, I therefore I know how many miles it is and how long it takes. From that point forward, if someone asks me how far it is I will tell them the driving time. My point was that I don't know of anyone who does it the other way, other than a lot of women I've met. It doesn't make it wrong, it's just backwards. A woman will tell me, "Oh, it's 20 miles to Dodge City." My response is always, "And how long does it take?" I need to know how long it's going to take me to get there because I need to know when I have to leave.
 

Tulecreeper

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Will someone make a brand new "LUDITE 1500"? No TPMS, satellite, WIFI or Bluetooth? Just enough computer to keep the engine and drivetrain happy...

Thanks for reading, back to our regular program...
Jim
And therein lies the rub. There is no need for a computer to run anything related to getting the vehicle from Point A to Point B.
 

AnthonyRI

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And therein lies the rub. There is no need for a computer to run anything related to getting the vehicle from Point A to Point B.
Agreed. Growing up my father would order vehicles so that he could still get them with roll-up windows. I think it would be valuable for work trucks to have less distractions and things to break that can't be fixed by local mechanics. I never understood the advantage of the push-button starts for example. but maybe in this case the tail is wagging the dog, marketing deciding what would be cool and having it designed, rather than marketing selling what production designs
 

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