enSHITification
- Thread starter Chris
- Start date
When people got tired of the bullshit. Unfortunately, there is still entirely too much crap on a Slate, much of it mandated by the Nanny State, but not all of it. Apparently, you're stuck with power door locks and maybe "keyless go" as well. I'd pay more NOT to have any of that crap.
I thought those backup cameras were mandated earlier than that but you’re right! I see young drivers watching their screen backing up instead of their mirrors. Mine in the Ram glitches and skips; it’s literally not even a real time feed. Dangerous. My daughter is learning to drive in the TJ and use her mirrors and that big back window to see what’s behind her. It’s much more reliable information.
Literally the top reason I traded in my Tacoma and bought the ‘18 Ram 2500 Cummins was because it was my last chance to get the manual transmission in a full size truck. I rarely tow and don’t “need” a 3/4 ton but it gets good fuel economy and I still get to row my own gears. No remote start on the MT but I’ve never had it so I’ll survive!
My wife and I seriously think we may never own a new vehicle after ours die. We both want MTs and the new stuff and new prices are unappealing. I’ll probably be restomodding some 20-30 year old vehicles from outside the rust belt and saving tens of thousands of dollars.
If you adjust for inflation I would argue that both the Maverick and the Slate are less costly than a similarly equipped vehicle would have been in the 90s. A base Toyota pickup in 1996 started at $12k without a back seat. How many other things can you name that have ONLY doubled in that time frame?
By all means, if I don't want the empty carbs, please sell me the burger by itself.
We'll see how the market responds (I fear many will take your stance and shun it because it doesn't have enough bullshit) but it fits how I want to use a vehicle in most ways. My only blocker is that I make a 272 mile round trip to the office once a week which means I would have to charge it before I could get back home. The hotel I stay at has 1 charger so if it's taken, I'd have to sit and wait somewhere.
It was a solution to a problem that shouldn't have existed in the first place. They forced the piss poor rearward view with the idiotic high beltline (which also made wheels ridiculously huge), then solved that induced problem by forcing technology to be thrown at it. Back in my RV days, I would have loved to have had a backup camera on the back of the trailer, but otherwise its stupid.
Like so many other things in this bullshit over-technologied world, I simply refuse to participate. I don't want any part of any of it. Remote start is another bullshit answer to a non-existent problem that I don't see the point of. Something else to break and pay for. I didn't need any of this crap in 1978, and I don't need it now!Literally the top reason I traded in my Tacoma and bought the ‘18 Ram 2500 Cummins was because it was my last chance to get the manual transmission in a full size truck. I rarely tow and don’t “need” a 3/4 ton but it gets good fuel economy and I still get to row my own gears. No remote start on the MT but I’ve never had it so I’ll survive!
My wife and I seriously think we may never own a new vehicle after ours die. We both want MTs and the new stuff and new prices are unappealing. I’ll probably be restomodding some 20-30 year old vehicles from outside the rust belt and saving tens of thousands of dollars.
Another regulation driven change that may have resulted in 'safer' cars since everyone is head-down in their phone while driving their 8000lb SUV but resulted in cars that you literally cannot see out of the back, huge blind spots on the sides and a giant dead spot in the A-pillar.
Unfortunately backup cameras are a necessity now. When I drove firetrucks we ran engines from the late 90s and early 00s no backup cams on those and it was just fine backing up if you understood your mirrors. When we got a new truck with a camera it made backing up worse, really was only useful to make sure the guy was clear with the hose before driving off.
Lately been considering making the move back to a basic phone as well. Too much technology and none of it is good. We got one of the worst versions of the "future" possible it seems.
Yea, the PHOOOOOONNE is, if not the ultimate source, what has exacerbated so very much evil/harm/bullshit/whatever in the world. I've driven a couple of vehicles with backup cameras - I still use the mirrors, but glance at the screen too. "Convenient?" Yes. Necessary? No. Would I pay for it? Only if it was on a trailer, or *maybe* a large motorhome, bus, whatever. Normal car? Dumb.
Then again, to this day, under certain circumstances - I open the driver's door and look back!
Required or not, backup cameras are an absolute improvement over mirrors when manuvering a vehicle both large and small. I say this someone who parallel parks a small suv nearly every day and spent many years parallel parking large box trucks in cities and is quite good at it.
Connecting a smart phone to extend the functionality and usability of a vehicle is also a wonderously amazing thing.
The inability for this contingency of luddites to get outside their ideological heads is as irritating as needless money grabbing subscriptions for pretend ongoing services support are.
The camera is a tool the same way the mirror is a tool. There is no fundamental difference, except where certain nuances of functionality are concerned.
Agreed. I'm just saying its un-necessary - something else to buy, something else to break, something else to repair.
And I'll say it one more time: I'm tired of *nice people* calling me a Luddite when I worked my entire career in high tech and have forgotten more about it than most people will ever know. I got over technology for its own sake decades ago. I use technology that make sense and that doesn't rape my pocketbook. Bullshit that answers non-existent questions is just that: Bullshit. Even I said I'd want a backup camera on a trailer or large vehicle. Now a smartphone? Not so much. "There is nothing I can think of that is improved by inserting a smartphone into the process."
Funny thing, I can parallel park my old MBZ - which is a fairly large car by modern standards - just using my mirrors, usually in one shot. No cameras, no beepers, not even curb feelers.
If you don't like it, then all you need to do is not look at the camera screen. You can accomplish this however you want to for as long as you are able to. No one else cares.
Dude - reading comprehension is fundamental. Did you even read my post? I'll quote it for you:
You have arbitrary lines for where tech is allowable and not allowable. It has little to do with a principled consistency with it's usefulness.
And to repeat, I am exceedingly good at parallel parking very large box trucks without cameras. And I still appreciate the one in my little suv because it allows me to back painfully close to the car behind me with no fear of contacting it. I know exactly where my car is with a level of presicion and certainty mirrors cannot provide. Smartphones have nothing to do with it because it would be silly if they somehow were.
I think they're stupid in ordinary cars - and not being able to opt out pisses me off. You'd know this if you read...
There will be somebody who manages to connect one to such a system at some point, and will be crowing about how wonderful it is. Crap, even my damn BED has the option of a smartphone connection and an "App". Completely idiotic, but they can crow about how wonderful it is and market it as a "smart bed".
In an imagined alternate dystopian future, such things will be impossible without accessing a paid subscription app on a government issued smartphone to open the car door.
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