I enjoy having a vehicle that doesn't run on a computer
this post was submitted on 12 Oct 2025
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Stellantis did it
All I want is a car with modern engineering and simple technology. I'm fine with crank windows and a radio I can easily swap out. But I would like an engine that gets more than 7MPG and has crumple-zones that aren't my face. I don't need touchscreens and sensors for everything. And I sure as fuck don't want the manufacturer pushing out "updates" that can brick my car.
Worst thing is they are collecting info on what people do in the car. Here is an article on Nissan monitoring sexual activity inside car.
My 2001 Tacoma get like 24 mpg I think, been awhile since I did the math. Anyways it does all you said, got a tape player crank windows, and a bench controlled by 2 springs and 2 levers.
This doesn’t satisfy the “crumple zone that is not my face” requirement.
I've been in a crash in a 1995 Toyota 4runner which used more or less the same body, head on into the back of a truck at about 50 due to break failure. I can assure you that old Toyotas are about as safe as you can get without it being modern and even then it's a relatively minimum difference. A lot of the increase in safety started to happen with cars around 2000-2005 which given the lag time for a lot of these feature to see it in statistics means that that era of car is pretty damned decent.
Also it wasn't my 4runner mine had its engine self destruct due to a shitty rebuild.
I'm curious to see if there will be simpler electric cars in the future. Like the bare minimum electric circuit to make the car go forward. I could see a DIY kit for something like that. But the security standards these days ask for way more sensors and cameras to reduce risks of accidents wich is fair tbh.
Keep an eye on Slate. Hope they do well
They won't. Funded by Amazon, corporate tracking will still be mandatory.
If someone can jailbreak their kindles then hopefully someone can jailbreak the car haha
I would download a car
I'm keeping a skeptical eye on them. I really like the concept obviously but remaining cautious for a number of reasons.
Obviously as the other replies mention, Jeff Bezos is one of the initial investors, but that's also true of Rivian. The important distinction is you don't have to get the massive tablet computer/nav/infotainment system that would be susceptible to these OTA updates.
Another reason is I was looking through available jobs that they were hiring for and a lot were AI-centric. It was unclear as to why, but obviously that just doesn't sit right. Regardless of whether they use it for customer support, automotive design, or infotainment embedding, I can't imagine a good reason and it was more than one type of position.
I'm hopeful for a future awd version.
I have no interest in driving a rear wheel drive in the snow.
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I picture an electric car with almost no dashboard at all. Just one dial for speed and another for remaining charge along with your odometer if you feel you must have that info. Maybe estimated mileage, but even that’s just spare info to someone who’s used to a classic fuel gauge.
In a car, the interior should fall away and the car should become an extension of the driver. Only by feeling the need to preserve the car do you drive with the necessary attention to protect yourself.
People seem to treat cars like roaming living rooms instead of the farm equipment they really are.
An American worker spending 1hr each way commuting to an 8hr+1hr lunch job is spending 2 out of 7 of their free hours in this machine. It's understandable that the demand for their vehicle to not be an oppressive environment would arise.
But I do agree that not all cars should be packed with these superfluous amenities
Ineos Grenadier is close...still waiting on the aftermarket to come up with reprogramming tools
Ineos Grenadier
That is 86K. What the fuck. Everything I own is not worth 86k.
The Slate EV is supposed to come in mid-$20k range. Doesn't even come with a stereo, you get your own that fits in the space, or just zip tie a Bluetooth speaker somewhere. Refreshingly utilitarian, I think things should be modular.
It’s Bezos sponsored, so take the good PR work with a grain of salt given the state of everything he and Amazon have touched
Ah goddamn it.
Wait, no speakers either?
My manual transmission Subaru Impreza has Android Auto and a Reverse Camera. That's the most advanced part of the car. It's a dinosaur otherwise, with a transmission and drivetrain that debuted in 1999 and an engine that's rough but reliable. The instrument cluster has two gauges - speed and RPM. The rest are on a calculator LCD that displays numbers for fuel and miles travelled, and a billion different danger lights that tell you if there's a problem somewhere. It also has electric windows and door locks. And cruise.
The problems the car has as it gets older are none of the electrical bits - they all work fine. It's the rear wheel bearings, suspension bushings, and center differential that wear out over time. Ironically, the most basic, mechanical parts.
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My 2014 Kia Rio has crank windows, no cruise control, 6-spd manual trans. No touchscreens--only buttons.
Car is very slow (1.6L non-turbo) but gets ~36mpg average. I've gotten as much as 40 when actually driving for mpg.
I think they were doing the Nissan Versa like that for a while too. But it's definitely not common and should be for cars that aren't economy-boxes. And just to lay my shit out, I guess, my progression was: 1991 Plymouth Acclaim, 1990 Chevy Caprice Classic (loved that car), 2000 Chevy Monte Carlo (it blew up!), 2007 Hyundai Tucson, 2012 Hyundai Tucson.
I AM in the market for a new car...eventually. Have replace the engine on this one already and know it's on its last legs. But I don't see anything out there that I actually like. I kinda liked the Challenger, I guess...but I honestly am thinking about going back to cars from the 90s/80s again. I legit miss my Caprice.
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You and me both.
Where are the shops retrofitting decent cars with electric engines? Gimme that EV 911 from 1988. . . for . . . 11 thousand? Okay fifteen.
I had to buy a 2008 car to get these things you listed
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Surely there's a better source you could have linked to than Twitter.
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Doubt.
Seems to be affecting a number of individuals. Usually OTAs go through deployment waves, and I’d expect that only certain combos of trims to be affected but it could also be a shit show deployment. Will be interesting to see what happens.
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I don't get it? Why can't car companies just release software updates that get deployed with the regular service interval, like once every year or two? That way the repair service or dealership will be close by if problems arise.
Better yet, why don't they just write the shit competently and correctly the first time?
And don't tell me it's too hard; that's the way real software engineering used to be done when stuff shipped on physical media and couldn't be patched, and still is done for stuff that actually matters (avionics, etc.). They just want to pretend PC-level half-assery is acceptable because it's cheaper.
They can, but the point of OTA setups is that you don’t have to anymore, and you save a lot that way because satiate testing is very very expensive. Old PC platforms had a standard of compatibility in how all the hardware worked. So you could test a few variations, and be reasonably assured, or you had a specific version for a particular price of hardware, like c&c machines.
So the new paradigm is about testing your most common setup, then slow rolling out and waiting for complaints. If you broke something, you get the details, fix it, and ship again. The problem here is their release cycle takes too long. This is only viable if you can patch things in a day, if it takes you a month to fix a patch that is turning cars into driveway statues, it more than a handful of cars are affected, you need a new strategy.
The penalty of doing it wrong needs to be higher than the cost of doing jt right.
The kind of quality assurance you're talking about is astronomically expensive. Software has gotten a lot more complex over the past couple decades. And just because it came on physical media and could not easily be patched doesn't mean that it didn't have bugs. Far from it.
The kind of quality assurance you’re talking about is astronomically expensive
That might be a valid argument when talking about accounting software with backups in case of fuck ups. We're talking about cars, on roads, with people sprinkled all around.
I would suggest against self driving cars for this very reason. The kind of thing in the article is not a hazard while driving.
Because then they'll actually need to do recalls instead of just patching issues with an update.
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