RE: The End of an Era? Your Cars Future
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I hardly drive these days as I get the train to work, but where we live a car is pretty essential. My dad has given up having one. He lives in Bedford and uses his ebike for things like shopping plus the buses. He can get a taxi when he needs it and still be spending less than his car lease. His car got very little use during the pandemic and I think he is find driving less fun as he gets older. Mind you he used to drive all over the country when working in sales so he has done more than his share.
I think modern cars last fairly well. Our Honda is 18 years old and still runs well. A big thing is that they tend not to rust. Newer cars just have so many gadgets that get expensive if they fail. I think that is partly to keep the prices up as a basic car without all the cameras and sensors could be pretty cheap. I don't care that much about how my car looks. Don't need fancy paint jobs and wheels. Needs to be cheap to fix when you get a little scrape, but if the bumpers are matched to the body colour it can be costly.
Living as I did in the countryside and on a farm for the last 12+ years a car has been essential until one day both of our cars had problems and couldn't be driven. The Prius simply because the mot had run out and had to wait for a garage slot for two weeks.
That's when it dawned on us that the rural life has its drawbacks. We were miles from the nearest road and 20 miles from the nearest town.
Taxis wouldn't come to the farm along a dirt road. We had groceries delivered so it wasn't too bad but we realised that this way of living was unsustainable long term.
Modern cars can be amazing. I've owned Toyota's (2) since the 1990's and they literally never broke down. Super reliable. I had a Previa when my kids were younger and bought the Prius when they left home. Never an issue.
Herein is the problem. As more electronics have been added to cars. The level of complexity has grown to the point that the average mechanic cannot fix them.
Tesla's far from being the saviour of car drivers freedom is in fact the opposite.
Tesla controls their cars through centralised software updates and can limit or increase the functionality of their cars. Yes 'their' cars. Users get to use them under a strict licensing agreement.
Tesla has the power to shut down the whole fleet if they wish.
I'm a big fan of technology that enhances our lives but sometimes it can enslave us and we pay for the privilege?
Being in London full time now. I don't see the need for a car at all. If I want to do a road trip around Scotland or wherever I can still use the Prius or rent a car or go by train.
It's a kind of freedom I haven't felt for a long time not to mention the amount of money I have saved on running the thing. 😂👍🏼
I'd love to give up having a car, but have 2 between 3 of us that are used all the time. Changing jobs to one that is two stops on the train is one of the best things I've done.
I think with a Tesla that you can pay for some options that just need switching on in the software. I've not selected what EV we will get, but it is likely to be something cheaper. That may still be connected to the manufacturer. You have to hope they have decent security. I've heard of people being able to hack in so they can control various stuff.
I read recently about a chap who bought a Tesla with the 'standard' range battery and he asked if he could upgrade it to long range?
Tesla adjusted the battery life with a software download? Suddenly the car is capable of long range?
If this is true then what on earth is the point of having an options list? Why not just give everyone the longer range functionality straight away?
I think it costs an extra $3,000 for the long range option?
I don't like the idea of any company directly involved in the control of any vehicle.
Imagine a self driving car running on a Windows OS 🤦♂️😂👍🏼
No thanks 😂👍🏼
It's changing the way companies operate. I've heard of BMW charging a subscription for things like heated seats. It probably costs them little to fit the hardware. I think it can be similar with some software packages where you pay extra for certain features. You want to shift units, but some will be willing to pay extra for those features.
I saw something about the BMW heated seats. Apparently all the cars have the heating system in the seats already and you have to pay more to turn them on? #wtf
This to me seems like the lunatics have taken over the asylum?
Ready installed hardware is one thing but upselling software 'features' as an option to use it seems disingenuous to me.
Where will this insanity end?
It seems you do not actually own a car when you buy it these days.
Yep there is a lot of this sort of thing going on. Look at the computer game companies or any commercial software. You never own anything just a license to use it.
Microsoft have been doing this since the beginning way back in the MSDOS days.
What was that quote that's been doing the rounds from the WEF.
You can bet your bottom dollar someone is going to own everything?