I`ll just leave this here....

[johnneilson]

For Pete

That would make a great avitar!!

[Seldom Seen Slim]

For lack of a better venue - - Here's a rant about my 2021 VW Jetta rental car.

I'm driving this car while awaiting word on my truck (I ditched it last week and managed to to out the passenger side A pillar - it'll likely get totaled).  Since it was Christmas week there wasn't much rental inventory so I took what I could get.  My overall response so far is that the  built-in systems are designed so that the most inept drivers are protected from their ignorance - and everybody else will be so bored that they'll have time to study the owners manual (as they're driving down the road) to figure out "How The Ford Can I Adjust The Dash Lights?"

First of all, though, is the anti-skid stuff.  Coupled with worn front tires and 6" of sticky snow - - I had to have the kids push me back into the garage when I got stuck about 10' out.  And that was only after I looked through the manual so I could defeat the anti-skid system that wouldn't let the front tires spin as I tried to back.  They'd alternate as the 'puter sensed spin in one so moved power to the other front wheel.  Five minutes of looking and I found it, did it, and got the car back in the garage.  WowShootDangPoop!  That was a bother.

The dashboard lights were too bright when I got the car - - - and only a week later I discovered the dimmer.  I hate bright dash lights!  I searched the manual, the internet, and my soul for a way to dim them.  And after deep delving into my failings and the web - I found it!!  Yippee!  It's in the Settings menu of the infotainted display.  It is NOT on the dashboard.  (I'm not talking about the ambient light sensor/dimmer thing).  I was driving home, selected "Settings", scrolled to the dashlight intensity tab, and saw that it offered three settings (not the continuously variable intensity that I'm used to), and selected "Min" (it was on "Max", of course).  And then the frickin' thing told me that it won't work while I'm in motion.

What The Royal Blue Flying F**K is this?  Did the driveability crew finally get overrun by the liability guys?

I could go on, but I have to do some work today or Nancy will catch on.  In the meantime I've got a call in to the rental place, too, asking them to upgrade me to something with points, a carburetor, and a transfer case.

[WOODY@DDLLC]

Don't worry Slim, the autonomous cars will be just fine! 

[kiwi belly tank]

Modern vehicles, in fact just about everything now has a Farking menu! I drive cool old stuff & appreciate real switches that don't require a chip to decide if it's ok for my request to be granted!
 I have to deal with this stuff when I go out to newer trucks that breakdown. A common problem is the lights go out while driving.
So here's trucker Joe or Jill packing 80K LBS down Hwy30 in nowhere Wyoming at night & the light controler sees something it doesn't like so it shuts them off! That has to be a Holy Sh1t moment for the driver. Without all the equipment & licensing to scan it I have to locate the controller, unplug it to clear it & then diagnose the problem that shut it off & that is usually a bad connection that showed a higher than normal resistance. In the good old days that would have just popped a fuse. The only other option they have is wait for daylight & drive it to the nearest dealer & get on their waiting list.
 This crap has got way out of hand.
  Sid.
   

[Stan Back]

When we bought a new car two years ago, the salesperson spent about 5 minutes telling us of all the features.  About 10 seconds in he lost me.  I still don't know if there's an emergency/parking brake.  And so much more.  We recently went on a 3500-mile road trip.  I kept track of the miles and gallons and did the math.  I'm sure the car did, too, but was too busy to tell me about it. 

We wanted to get to a certain state park in the Gold Country that was a ghost town where my relations had a saloon in the 1800s.  That person that my wife lets give us directions on her phone took us on miles of dirt roads until she abandoned us.  We took the paths most used at intersections and finally found it.  It had a paved road leading out.  Oh, well.

[manta22]

I think the basic problem is that these days the car control systems are designed by computer weenies instead of  the "human factors" engineers. Having to enter a menu and scroll down to sub-menus is no way to operate a car. Flipping or turning a switch doesn't even take a driver's eyes off the road.

[floydjer]

As the late, great P.J. O'Rourke once wrote...." Nothing will go through deeper streams, climb steeper hills or go around corners faster than a rental car"

[Seldom Seen Slim]

Jerry, are you sure about who said that?  It sounds like Freud.

[manta22]

It may have been Denise McCluggage (sp?) who wrote of racing a rental car on the Pan-Am Highway. She left it leaning crazily at the curb in front of the rental agency, dripping fluid everywhere, and complained to the Agent that " the car seemed to fall apart all of a sudden."

[johnneilson]

some years ago, when My Son was racing Karts Internationally, the older "kids" would argue to rent only FWD cars.

I found out soon enough that they would find a McDonalds and steal the serving trays.
Then put the rears on the trays and lock the parking brakes, and then race around parking lots...

It really was fun, or so I hear....

J

[Stan Back]

Freud taught me that cars were not designed to run at high speeds in reverse on freeways as they would overheat as the radiator would not get sufficient airflow.

[floydjer]

Jerry, are you sure about who said that?  It sounds like Freud.

Beyond sure Jon.

[Stainless1]

But given the opportunity Freud might teach your 12 year old grandson to drive.... at 100 mph... from the pits to roads end... and then let him take it on into to town to Smith's... and back.... 
At least he had him drive forwards... and not in reverse... 

[Seldom Seen Slim]

May the good Doctor rest in peace.  For those that came to the salt too late to meet and know him - - we aren't exaggerating.  Really - he did all these excessive activities and more.    And those of us that hung with him - we got to be with a guy that is a true legend.

[floydjer]

And oddly enough...He and I had a mutual friend here in G.R.