New(er) car tech that you swore off and now you like it?

Ian F said:

For me, the tech I never thought I'd love so much: remote start.  My 2017 GC has it and I use it a lot.  Pretty much every day.

 

I have to say, this is my favorite new widget on the F150 I just bought. Necessary? No. NIce? Oh yeah, particularly the integration with the HVAC and seat heat/cool. It checks internal temp and either heats or cools as needed to hit the preset temp, including the seats. Starting it remotely in the winter and coming out to a pre-warmed seat and defrosted windshield is nice, but I can't wait for summer. I'm having fantasies about hitting the remote start as I dock the boat on a sweltering summer day. By the time I walk up the hill to the truck and trailer the AC and seat coolers should have it nice and cool.

ultraclyde said:

Ian F said:

For me, the tech I never thought I'd love so much: remote start.  My 2017 GC has it and I use it a lot.  Pretty much every day.

 

 

I have to say, this is my favorite new widget on the F150 I just bought. Necessary? No. NIce? Oh yeah, particularly the integration with the HVAC and seat heat/cool. It checks internal temp and either heats or cools as needed to hit the preset temp, including the seats. Starting it remotely in the winter and coming out to a pre-warmed seat and defrosted windshield is nice, but I can't wait for summer. I'm having fantasies about hitting the remote start as I dock the boat on a sweltering summer day. By the time I walk up the hill to the truck and trailer the AC and seat coolers should have it nice and cool.

Exactly.  

Knurled. said:

They made Grand Caravans in 2017 with manual transmissions.... interesting

Ha ha...   But yes, if you need to shift a manual you're SOL.  Although I've noticed my R53 will hang onto the CC setting while climbing a grade until it's really lugging the engine and losing speed.  Then it'll finally kick it off and make me downshift.  Fortunately, being a JCW it has enough power this doesn't happen very often.  Unlike some, I use the cruise control in my cars a lot.  

nurled. said:

They made Grand Caravans in 2017 with manual transmissions.... interesting

Ha ha...   But yes, if you need to shift a manual you're SOL.  Although I've noticed my R53 will hang onto the CC setting while climbing a grade until it's really lugging the engine and losing speed.  Then it'll finally kick it off and make me downshift.  Fortunately, being a JCW it has enough power this doesn't happen very often.  Unlike some, I use the cruise control in my cars a lot.  

I'm pretty sure the Adaptive Cruise in the new Mustangs will work with their manual transmission.

ultraclyde said:

Ian F said:

For me, the tech I never thought I'd love so much: remote start.  My 2017 GC has it and I use it a lot.  Pretty much every day.

 

 

I have to say, this is my favorite new widget on the F150 I just bought. Necessary? No. NIce? Oh yeah, particularly the integration with the HVAC and seat heat/cool. It checks internal temp and either heats or cools as needed to hit the preset temp, including the seats. Starting it remotely in the winter and coming out to a pre-warmed seat and defrosted windshield is nice, but I can't wait for summer. I'm having fantasies about hitting the remote start as I dock the boat on a sweltering summer day. By the time I walk up the hill to the truck and trailer the AC and seat coolers should have it nice and cool.

Definitely my boss has a '16 Grand Cherokee with Uconnect. And I thought this was so cool, his spouse had the Grand Cherokee here in OKC with some food in the back of it for our Christmas pot luck at work. He had to go back to his other place about 100 miles away to deal with some house stuff.

I call him and say, "I'm at the Jeep." He remotely unlocks it, I grab the food, he locks it again. All from 100 miles away. 

Pretty cool stuff. 

Brake_L8 said:

nurled. said:

They made Grand Caravans in 2017 with manual transmissions.... interesting

Ha ha...   But yes, if you need to shift a manual you're SOL.  Although I've noticed my R53 will hang onto the CC setting while climbing a grade until it's really lugging the engine and losing speed.  Then it'll finally kick it off and make me downshift.  Fortunately, being a JCW it has enough power this doesn't happen very often.  Unlike some, I use the cruise control in my cars a lot.  

I'm pretty sure the Adaptive Cruise in the new Mustangs will work with their manual transmission.

Cars generally kick the cruise off if you depress the clutch, is the issue.

Be nice if they were smart enough to re-engage once in gear again.  Maybe some of the newer ones are.

Last night I drove a new CR-V with the auto high-beams.  It was awful and I couldn't figure out how to turn it off.

Drove from NYC to central PA.  It was 3 hours of occasional oncoming traffic.  The highs would kick on after a very long process of the car checking for surrounding traffic, then see a street lamp and instantly turn off.  I was also constantly blinding truckers because their lights were lower than the barrier in the highway, but their windshields were above it.  It was 3 hours of hi-low-hi-low and it was at all the wrong times.  Truly a hideous, awful, and potentially dangerous option.

The car also had the automatic collision warning where the dashboard would turn yellow and scream at you to hit the brakes.... on the highway where the nearest car in front of me was a mile away.  Literally zero obstructions on a 6-lane highway and several times it screamed at me to hit the brakes for no reason at all.

The cruise control also had this annoying feature where if you pressed the accelerator it would shut the cruise off instead of returning to your set speed after temporarily speeding up.  What a stupid idea.

I also just cannot handle CVT transmissions.  I have driven dozens of them and they just suck to drive.  I have gotten over the strange pit-in-my-stomach feeling that the transmission is slipping and self destructing, I just can't stand the strange combination of steady RPMs combined with oddly stepped ratio changes as if sometimes it is trying to simulate an actual gear shift.

What I did appreciate was the comprehensive bluetooth functionality (which I also have with the aftermarket stereos in two of my cars) and the heated seats (which can be added to any car)

I think my point is.... any of the neat tech that I appreciate in newer cars can be easily duplicated with $200 and a Saturday afternoon's worth of labor.  The rest of it dances this fine line between non-functioning safety gadgets and false sense of security.  Seriously.  The owner of that CR-V took the wheel for a while and every time the "brake" warning flashed, she stabbed the brakes when no one was ahead of her, indicating that she (and likely millions of other drivers) are placing their faith and trust in the car more than their eyes paying attention to their surroundings.  I'm afraid she'll do that brake stab one day in front of another vehicle and cause a 5-car pile up.

I'm all for safety equipment, but the stuff that is hastily making into production these days is just (IMO) not ready for prime time