Car question
A question for all you car folks out there—
I’m thinking of buying a used car with active safety features, although I rather I like my car—2010 Ford Fusion. Some makes and models of car introduced these features a couple of years ago (I think around 2015) as options. On some models they were even made standard on more recent cars.
I’ve never bought a new car in my life. The used cars I’ve bought have been relatively low mileage—in the 30 thousand-or-less category—and that’s what I’m planning to do now. The prices are so much better that to me it makes more sense to do that than to buy a new car for a whole lot of $$$ and have it depreciate so much immediately.
My question for you is whether you’ve driven a car with some of these active safety features, and if so what you think of the car and the features.
Isn’t this more fun than talking about Trump?
We have had cars with anti-lock brakes and like that feature. Back up camera is a must; using one side mirror, then camera view, then other side mirror catches most if not all obstacles present or arriving. Our newest car’s camera lens delivers a wide range of vision, not just what’s immediately behind the car.
We have a beeping thingie that warns us of items very near front, back, and sides of the car. Nice, but not as necessary in my mind. We have traction and stability control but haven’t noticed any benefit so far. Maybe that’s good.
“Isn’t this more fun than talking about Trump? ” ( or current events?), yes. The politics everywhere have been so intense and 24/7 since the hurricanes too — thank you for a post on cars! 🙂
You car shopping details are similar to mine. Something 30-60k miles, etc. Many states link the cost of the car to the fee for the license plate, and yearly renewal tabs. And that’s just greed on their part. And with a car 3-4 yrs old the fees will be a bit more fair. The MN DMV really gouges new car buyers for license/tabs.
I agree with Samantha, you can’t go wrong with the back up cam, back up beep and anti-lock brakes. Shop around, test drive 6 or 8 or even more if you have the time. I try to think what do I need that’s actually protective and not just a “bell and whistle” If you’re good at parallel parking, do you need a car that does that for you? When you drive, if you tend to keep your car in the middle of your lane and not “drift” into other lanes, do you really need the “lane drift” warning? Those are the things I ask myself when involved in the joys of car shopping 🙂
Remote starting is always nice. Good luck & Let us know what you decide on.
My mom is leasing a Mazda CX5, it has the warning sound/light (I forget which, drove it a few months ago) for when a car is on either side of you, I could see that being useful. My brother bought an Outback, says it has adaptive cruise control, so it slows down even with cruise control on when approaching another car, that would be another good feature.
As an aside, I’m in a lot lot of cars for a very short period, and tuning the radio is becoming quite a chore. Took a while to figure out the CX5 radio (had to read the manual even!) . Seems like the cheaper the car, the easier to tune the radio. A Kia Rio will have volume and tuning knobs, very easy. More expensive cars have LCD touch screens with all sort of menus to try to navigate through. Kind of a pain, I prefer simpler to more sophisticated but far less user friendly.
dave drake:
The lane drift warning is for people who drive while sleepy, in case they start falling asleep. A lot of people who have it say they turn it on only when they feel tired. It seems to me it could be invaluable.
Rear cameras seems to be standard now but on vehicles older than 2016 most of the other stuff seems to be optional.
I’ve been looking at Subaru Outbacks (2013-14). Subaru seems to have become the “Volvo of Japanese brands” in terms of “safety 1st” engineering (in non-luxury vehicles).
See these articles:
https://www.autotrader.com/best-cars/6-affordable-vehicles-with-collision-warning-systems-188920
http://www.motortrend.com/news/least-expensive-cars-with-active-safety-systems/
http://www.automobilemag.com/news/top-ten-cars-with-active-safety-features/
Also, if you’re a member Consumer Reports has an in-depth list covering many makes and models, but I think it only goes back to 2016.
Here’s a link to the CR charts (login required):
https://www.consumerreports.org/car-safety/cars-with-advanced-safety-systems/
Our car has a heads up display which I find to be very handy. It gives speed and other warnings such as low outside temp, door open, low tire pressure, etc. as in image in the front windshield. It’s integrated with the navigation system which gives me detailed images, distance to go until I turn, etc. I have the option of dimming it or turning it off entirely which we never do. This is probably a device that I will insist from now on is on any car I buy.
I have anti-lock brakes, backup camera, and side view (right hand side) camera and wouldn’t want to give up any of them. The side view camera isn’t useful as often as the others, but is great when driving in multilane traffic. I also like the keyless ignition, but could live without it.
carl in atlanta:
The other day I drove a 2015 Subaru Legacy with all the safety bells and whistles (called “Eyesight”). It seemed to be a really nice car, but I’m not ready to buy yet because it was the first car I tried and I want to try a lot of others. Of course, by the time I decide to buy one, that particular one will probably be long gone. It’s not that easy to find older models (2015 or 2016) with these features. It’s pretty easy to find newer ones, but they’re not what I’m looking for.
Unless you have a really old car, or econo box, you probably have driven with anti-lock brakes. If not, make sure you understand that you don’t “pump” the brakes.
I like the back cameras. Not a safety feature, but my sisters car has the ability to adjust the air temp to individual seats. Like that feature. Don’t have to be too cold or hot if you have issues with other people in the car and their preferences.
groundhog:
I have antilock brakes already.
I’m talking about things like blind spot warnings and collision avoidance and lane drift warnings (and some cars have lane drift correction).
I also want a backup camera. Those are pretty standard now.
My car doesn’t even have automatic windows or AC, but since I only buy gas about every 3 months, it’s not too bad. I only use it to go shopping. My husband’s car (VW) has those beepers when you get close to backing into something and its GPS is very good. It also has separate AC seats. They are pretty nice.
I am definitely not a car freak.
The greatest safety feature in any car is located between the driver’s ears.
Interesting question: we faced the same issues.
We usually buy used, but one of the cars that interested us was the Subaru Outback, and we couldn’t find a good deal. There were very few on the used market, and the few that were didn’t look like a good deal. The new ones gave us more bang for the buck, and we could add a few safety features that made sense.
Our Subaru Outback was a great choice (ten months).
My daughter shocked her own daughter, and her Mother, when she declared that she wouldn’t have a Subaru because it was a Lesbian car. Her Dad doesn’t shock so easily.
Anyway, she says that Subaru made a commercial some years back that seemed to appeal to that demographic; so among certain well informed people that is now the theme.
I go for minimal bells and whistles. I like my back-up camera, and blue tooth (which I consider an important safety feature.) Anti-lock brakes are essential. I set my side mirrors to cover blind spots, and complement the rear-view mirror. I do use one feature that is foreign to most Californians–the turn signals.
Not too keen on technology that tells the car to do things that I have not commanded.
I agree with those who eschew new cars; but, the other half thinks that new is the only way to go. No need to guess what we do.
Oldflyer:
Yes, Subaru is sometimes thought of as a lesbian car because of certain ads. I certainly never thought of it that way, and in New England it’s a very popular car with all sorts of demographics because of the snow here.
Neo seems to want today’s car at yesterday’s prices.
I can recommend the 2016 MB GLC 300, with so many butt-saving electronic features I could crow about. It once slammed on my brakes when a surly young black deliberately stepped into the vehicle’s path before I could brake. Going less than 10 mph, so I figured he was after a P.I. insurance score, but the car prevented his success.
“she says that Subaru made a commercial some years back that seemed to appeal to that demographic”
I had heard that Subaru found out that they appealed to that demographic and therefore decided to begin targeting it in their ads. (Note: I heard.)
If you want lane drift or collision warnings, go for it. It does not interest me. If you are tired, quit driving. I would not want anti-collision auto braking as a gift.
I love back-up cameras. Mine has markings at specific distances that really help.
But here is the BIG thing that few people know. The single best active safety feature created in the last 50 years is electronic stability control (ESC). It was an add-on option for the 2009 Ford Fusion, but is standard on the 2010 model. So you’ve already got it.
The skinny on the technology is that ABS braking has been around for a long time and was thought to be a big advance in safer braking with shorter panic stops in general. But years of insurance company data shows no benefit.
With ABS, your brakes are already computerized, so why not put a really smart computer in there instead of a dumb one? With ESC, as you drive around a wet curve at speed, the computer can prevent a skid before you even realize the problem.
Insurance co. data shows that ESC has dramatically reduced accidents at speed, in a way that ABS never did.
An ESC side benefit is that when the car is in danger of getting stuck in mud or snow at zero or very low speeds, the ESC can fake a limited slip differential. So if one wheel tends to spin, the computer applies the brake to that wheel, thereby transferring torque to the wheel on the opposite side.
If mud and snow is a big or frequent deal for you, then all wheel drive (AWD) is the ultimate fix. Then you can forget the prev. paragraph. Note: All wheel drive is better than the old 4 wheel drive, because the latter had slip differentials that allow a wheel to spin with no torque to the opposite wheel.
On the other hand, if you never deal with mud and snow, then skip the AWD. AWD adds considerable expense, adds a substantial amount vehicle weight and reduces gas mileage.
Oh yeah, don’t forget the passive stuff either. Don’t drive if someone in the car won’t buckle up. Some seat belts automatically get tighter just before a collision. Sounds like a big plus to me, but I don’t know the data. Also, make sure that the center of your head rest is about 1″ below the height of the most rearward part of your skull. Might want to double check the accuracy of that last one.
GPS: If you buy an car with an integrated GPS system, you are locked into their update schedule. (How often do they publish updated maps? How much do updates cost? How much do repairs cost? How does quality compare to third party devices?) I do *not* know anything about the quality of current auto systems, but one friend was very unhappy with the system built into the car he bought 5 years ago.
Built-in vs. add-on: The replacement cost for my Toyota audio (radio, CD, mp3) is over $1000, whereas an equally capable Alpine unit would be 1/3 or 1/4 the cost.
My father fell asleep at the wheel on the highway. Airbags saved his life. When I looked for a car recently, I made sure it had lane departure warning. (I ended up with a new Subaru Legacy.). Yeah, you shouldn’t drive when sleepy, but it happens … and I figure that as I get older, having safety features that compensate for my mistakes will be even more valuable.
And I have to say, the the adaptive cruise control is even cooler than I thought it would be. You set your desirable following distance, then if someone pulls in front of you, your car automatically slows down and speeds up to maintain that safe distance. I did a lot of long-distance driving this summer, and this was great.
We are on our second Subaru. It’s a 2008 Outback. It had the airbag problem. And also the head gasket issue. Since they had to pull most of the engine to get to the airbags our dealer gave us a really good price to fix the head gasket.
If you go with a used Subaru make sure there are issues like that lurking.
At the risk of being tedious, here are a few of my other passive measures.
I carry a flashlight, a spare quart of oil, a space blanket, and at least one of those tools that can cut seat belts and shatter windows.
Check your cold tire pressure at least once a month and follow the pressure numbers on the door frame, except add two psi to those numbers. Cold pressure means that car hasn’t been driven and is not sitting in direct sunlight.
_______
Auto manufacturers would rather give you a smooth ride and sell the car, than give you the safest ride. Remember the Firestone tire, Ford Explorer fiasco? Firestone was right, the Ford pressure numbers were too low. Cop cars add 5 or 10 psi to the manufacturer numbers. The ride can be harsh at those pressures.
Michelin photographed the contact patch of tires on rain soaked roads at 60 mph, with a BMW 325. There was a camera under a thick piece of glass embedded in the roadway. They found that the tires don’t make full contact until the pressure is 36 psi or more.
I have read so called auto experts on the web who claim that any over-inflation will reduce the tire contact patch and make cornering and stopping distances worse. Not true. The contact patch isn’t going to be reduced until the pressure reaches 45 psi or more. There is an optimum pressure for dry pavement cornering, but it is probably around 35 psi and is a complex topic.
Another threat with tires inflated to 30 psi or less, is that when a car leaves the paved road at speed and the steering wheel is turned aggressively, the tire can be peeled off the rim. Then you have little or no control, and can lead to fatal flip-overs. This is why police cars go with very high pressures.
I too have been wondering about how much I would like the very high-tech latest safety gizmos. I think you would only find them on very young cars if you are looking to buy used, so that’s a big limitation. Along those lines, I did a LOT of research and looking for lightly used cars in the past few years, and did not observe the alleged great depreciation plunge in prices.It was shocking how much the 2-4 year old CRVs and Subarus still cost. So perhaps Neo should still consider buying brand-new if the car is otherwise affordable?
I am hoping that windshield technology will make incredible advances in the coming years so that low-light vision and peripheral vision can be enhanced. I can already tell that my night vision is declining and would very much appreciate still being able to safely drive into my 80s.
rigeldog:
Well, the car I found had a big differential. New Legacies were between $30,000 and $32,000, mostly on the higher side of that spread. The 2015 Legacy with 22K miles and all the bells and whistles was $22,000. I think that’s quite a difference.
I find that, with my advancing age, I have more problems with night vision, as well.
Harpoon:
I do a fair amount of lengthy driving at night, and/or when I’m somewhat tired. And as I get older, I worry about that sort of thing more than I used to. That’s part of the reason I’m interested in cars with more safety features.
We just went back to a small SUV, the Subaru Forrester. Has all the bells and whistles and so far my wife likes it. (Forrester is a slightly smaller version of the Outback, or is it the other way around).
Subaru has been making AWD for a long time and have a couple of features that I think make it a good choice for an SUV– their version of symmetrical AWD and the boxer engine (a horizontally opposed 4 cylinder which provides lower center of gravity).
I autocross and the WRX sti is a great car and the AWD gets the car out of the corner faster than anything else. (That’s true for any AWD car), but with the torque vectoring you don’t get as much push (understeer). (I don’t have the WRX).
We haven’t gone on any long trips to make a judgment whether the lane change warning and adaptive cruise control (part of eyesight) are worth it, though I suspect the ACC will be a nice feature.
The voice recognition on the Forrester is bad, or else it’s defective.
I have a 2016 Chrysler 300. It has Backup Camera ( that will warn you if something is behind you), Lane Sensing (anti drifting), forward collision warning (which will slow you and stop you), collision warnings in both side mirrors, forward warnings if too close such as in parking, adaptive cruise control ( you set it and if a car suddenly changes lanes in front of you to your lane it will slow the car down to a set distance you have set). I appreciate each and every one of these safety features. Would not do without them. I think most of these start at around the 2015 cars, but the newer the better. Also the newer cars have a LOT More airbags – everywhere. Don’t overlook the airbags. A good source of used cars are the rental companies. Just make sure wherever you buy to have an independent mechanic check it out to make sure it is not a Hurricane Car.
Look carefully at the year of the Subaru before you buy it. The difference between the model years is big on one of them.
I don’t know if it was the Legacy though.
Literally it went from mediocre reviews to car of the year the next year. They fixed quite a few things. So if it’s cheap it might be because it’s the earlier model.
I have a 2016 Ford Escape with blind spot warnings and collision avoidance beeps. They are nice features but don’t become overly reliant on them. Like backup cameras they are helpful but you still need to look around.
Don’t. Electronic is the most difficult thing to check in any used car. A friend of mine bought a used one and ended up spending 2-3 times the price of the car just repairing electronics.
If you buy some used car, either you buy it from some acquaintance that you trust (and you know the car is used but OK), either you buy simple, the simpler the car, the better.
Bought my 2016 Subaru Outback slightly used by the dealer, 4000 miles, when the 2017’s came out. I love, love, love it. Especially the backup camera and the backup warning if a car is approaching from behind. Especially useful since rear and side windows have been virtually disappearing, what’s up with that? Don’t people like looking out the window?
The lane departure warning is great for this debate while driving “you went over the line!” “No I didn’t!” “Yes! You did!”
The forward collision warning is useful, it also beeps to let you know when the car ahead starts to move, I guess to help distracted drivers?
Blindspot warnings are useful for a timid merger like me.
I’m navigationally challenged, so I also really like the integrated gps. And the automatic liftgate control isn’t for safety, but it makes me so happy:-D
I find the blind spot warning feature very helpful, especially when driving interstate highways in large cities I’m unfamiliar with. Because I don’t know the roads I likely have to make lane changes and that warning light/signal is a life saver in more ways than one. Likewise, the back-up camera and related warning signal about approaching cross traffic is a must have. I have been saved from needless scares to me and others when exiting parking spots in busy mall lots.
“Isn’t this more fun than talking about Trump?” [Neo]
Which prompts the question: Neo, what ever happened to the occasional Jello posts?
Neo says, “Well, the car I found had a big differential. New Legacies were between $30,000 and $32,000, mostly on the higher side of that spread. The 2015 Legacy with 22K miles and all the bells and whistles was $22,000. I think that’s quite a difference.”
That really is a significant savings—a third less for a great car that is only one (two?) old. I would definitely take advantage of that savings. Your post led me to read some articles on depreciation. There is not a lot of agreement on depreciation other than that there is a relatively steep drop once it has been driven off the lot.
I have a 2015 Taurus. It comes with a wife (standard equipment) in the passenger seat.
I get collision avoidance, following too closely, going too fast, air is too cold and music is too loud warnings regularly.
Rigeldog:
I bought a brand new 1996 Taurus and four years to the month it was totaled (right after payoff).
The amount the insurance company gave was based on regional blue book values for similar options and mileage.
I could have gone with two 2 year leases for the same amount of money, it seems.
When my ’95 Town Car reached the point of no return, I decided to lease a new car. I’m past the getting older point, but I’m still a car guy. I needed reliability since I no longer can do my own work. I found to get a few options like power seats and some car guy appearance features you had to move into the higher trim levels which also included a lot of stuff I didn’t need or want since I put less than 5.000 miles a year on the car. The higher trim levels increased the price quite a bit. While comparing the different offerings, a Nissan dealer made me an offer on an entry level Altima with a special edition package that was exactly the car I was looking for. I’ve had it for two years now and plan on buying it at the end of the lease. A feature I now wouldn’t want to do without is the smart key.
Ed B:
🙂
Regarding blind-spot detection devices:
The proper way to set your mirrors.
Esther:
My feelings are fairly similar to yours.
I hate the fact that all rear and side windows have gotten smaller and smaller and more and more obstructed. I have been told the reason is that the pillars are larger, and the pillars are larger for crash resistance and structural integrity. Cars becoming more crash resistant has sacrificed the ability to SEE out of the windows.
I have a Subaru Legacy with the Eyesight package and I definitely recommend it. Before I bought the car, I thought the backup camera was an unnecessary frill, but now that I have it I love it. Besides the assistance in getting into small parking spots, it comes with a signal that warns me if something is crossing behind me while I’m in reverse (I find myself saying “Thank you!”) The adaptive cruise control adjusts your speed to that of any slower cars in front of you so that you don’t have to keep braking or tapping down your speed while you wait for an opportunity to pass, and it’s surprising how much that helps to make highway driving smooth and stress-free. As for the lane drift warning, I generally keep it turned off, but on long drives I sometimes turn on a lane assist feature that would help to keep me in my lane if I did drift. There’s a brake assist feature that is supposed to help when you stop in emergency situations, but fortunately I haven’t yet had to try that one out.
The Eyesight feature can’t see in the dark any better than you can, so it doesn’t always work in heavy rain or on a dark country road. All the same, I’m a fan. Like you, I’ve gotten a little less confident about my driving skills as I’ve gotten older, and it’s nice to have some reassurance built in to the car.
The safety feature that matters most to me in a Subaru is the way the car holds the road on snow and ice. On the Lesbian issue, they definitely do drive Subarus where I live – but so does everybody else, because they are better on snowy roads than pretty much anything else. My Legacy does not seem to me to be QUITE as good on slippery roads as my previous Forester was, but it’s still considerably better than average. The Forester in its current inflated incarnation is just too big for me, but when it’s time to replace the Legacy – not, I hope, for a long time – I might consider trying the Outback to see if its snow performance is more like the Forester. My son is presently driving an Outback and loves it.
Neo: Did you receive an email from me on 29 August about a changer?
Here’s a story on the Subaru campaign–it’s not just a myth.
https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/06/how-subarus-came-to-be-seen-as-cars-for-lesbians/488042/
20 years ago, it was a big deal for a company to brave the stigma and court this market segment. Boy, have things changed! The pendulum never stops in the middle…
Anti-lock brakes are apparently an issue in the snow, my Audi had a button to take away that feature on slippery roads, which I always found confusing.
I’ve driven rental cars with the backup camera and that is quite nice, I can see why you want it.
I really like the Ford Fusion, maybe you can find one of those with advanced features!
Cap’n Rusty: THANK YOU!
Ed B:
Yes, but unfortunately I haven’t gotten around to looking at the link yet. Been very busy!
I do plan to look at it, but obviously I’m very behind in that endeavor.
Cap’n Rusty: Great advice. I’ve had my mirrors set like that for years and it is amazing how much of a difference it makes when changing lanes on the highway. It has no doubt saved me from major accidents.
Plus, on top of the benefit of no longer having blind spots to speak of, not having to look over my shoulder means I can still use my peripheral vision to see if the car in front of me is slowing down as I’m preparing to change lanes, reducing the odds that I’ll accidentally rear end someone while I’m trying to see if it is safe to move over.
Cap’n Rusty pointed out a good one. I rarely see side view mirrors adjusted correctly.
When I’m killing time in my parked car’s drivers seat (a frequent occurrence) I’ll pick out an object about 30 ft. away that is exactly in my blind spot. Then I’ll adjust the appropriate side mirror to center on that object. Usually the mirror is angled far outwards.
If your side mirrors do not have the little convex areas that give a fisheye view extending the view further out, go to the auto store and buy the stick-ons.
You may not know what it is that’s over there, but you will know that it’s there.
Great—now I want a new car! Been driving our 2006 CRV and 2006 Pilot. They are both wonderful; so reliable, sensible, and comfortable that we were thinking there is no reason to suppose we will be buying a new car for years to come.
Slightly off-topic. In my personal experience, I learned about driving safely by driving a bike (Honda 350 motorcycle) around Clark AFB for a couple of years. When you’re driving a bike .. . No One Can See You. You might have the right of way, but you’ll still be dead. When you’re passing another vehicle, keep an eye on its left front wheel; the driver doesn’t see you and that’s the first clue that he’s coming over to your lane. And always have an escape route; be ready to drive into the ditch.
Neo,
I developed problems with my night vision and I eventually avoided driving at night. It was cataracts. After cataract surgery my night vision is great. You might want to have your ophthalmologist look at you eyes.
I’m leasing a 2017 Camry and love it. It’s my 2nd lease (I leased a Corolla since I was undecided before this) after my 15 y.o. Toyota Solara moved on to my sister due to her being without a car. I’m in the camp of buying a new car (Solara) and keeping it forever, but the leasing experience has been great.
What a difference 15-17 years makes between cars! My back-up camera has a wide lens (so it has peripheral vision) which makes it very helpful when backing up in parking lots when I’m parked between SUVs and can’t see a darn thing.
I have (and had, with the Solara, but not the Corolla) an auto dimming rear view mirror which is another feature I really love. I never worry about being blinded from behind.
The final thing I like is that the PSI on my tires is a display. Very helpful!
Brian E Says:
September 15th, 2017 at 11:28 pm
We just went back to a small SUV, the Subaru Forrester. Has all the bells and whistles and so far my wife likes it. (Forrester is a slightly smaller version of the Outback, or is it the other way around).
* *
The Forester is bigger. We have had both; the Outback went to college with #5 Son. The first Forester was totaled in a collision with a left-turning driver that cut the time too short (we swung right and scraped sides instead of t-boning, but still trashed both cars; no people damage at all). Second was hit by a car coming out of a side-street and crossing 3 lanes (heading for highway turn-off on our left) to hit the passenger door; again, no people damage, and the door was fixed and it’s still being driven by #3 Son.
We moved up to a Ford Expedition and l love being higher off the road and with more mass to protect me from the little zippy cars always cutting me off on one side or another.
My favorite close call was the truck that passed me on the right — while I was already exiting the freeway, to beat me down the ramp. Truly a suicidal idiot.
(Yes we adjust our mirrors per the caranddriver link, and it does feel weird until you get used to it.)
If I had to trade down, I would buy any Subaru again in a heart-beat.
Ray:
Actually I already know that the glare is from the fact that I’m developing cataracts.
Aesop Fan,
The Forrester is the smaller of the two. The Outback is 8″ longer overall, 2″ wider with a 4″ longer wheelbase.
The Forrester is comparable to the Toyota Rav 4 and Honda HRV in size.
We bought a new Subaru Outback with all the bells and whistles a couple of months ago. If it had been solely my decision I would have skipped all that stuff and paid several thousand dollars less for essentially the same vehicle. But my wife loves all that. She believes it improves “safety.”
I don’t. I think it encourages ordinary semi-conscious drivers to be even less aware of their surroundings. “Why bother to turn my head and look when the car will warn me if I’m about to kill someone?”
Though most of the stuff is just an expensive nuisance — lane change warnings, blind spot warnings, etc — I do like one feature: the auto-adjusting cruise control. And I positively hate the automatic-slam-on-the-brakes-when-backing-up feature, which makes it almost impossible to back out of our driveway.
Oh, well … it’s change. And like nearly all the change I’ve witnessed in this life, a little bit is for the better but most of it just helps us to appreciate what we once took for granted.
I love this.
….but quit buying new-2-me cars years ago. My long range plans couldn’t fit the costs into a realistic budget. Too poor-i-fying lol.
I have a ’96 XJ and an ’02 TJ, that I’m competent to fix, maintain, and drive. (I think we drive maybe 3K miles per year, mostly to dine out or buy groceries lol.)
The Wrangler I think of as my sports car lol.
…but I enjoyed the change in column subject nonetheless.
On the not-so-good-side of all these wonderful features: I have a 2013 Mazda 3 with blind spot monitoring (BSM). We got a bit too close to a trash can on the side of the road and took off the passenger’s side mirror. For $30 or so, we got a replacement off the ‘net and put it on. There was a bit of problem figuring out how to get it set right, but that’s not unexpected.
However… the $30 mirror doesn’t give you the BSM, though it does give you the electronic mirror adjust. We called the dealer to see what it would cost for a “real” mirror. I don’t remember the exact price, but it was around $450. We’ve learned to live w/a blinking light on the dashboard.
A couple of belated thoughts on this. I come by your blog maybe once a week to catch up.
When it came to used cars, I bought beaters for most of my life, as I was poor and couldn’t aford better, usually being the last owner of each car before it went to the junkyard. Finally, as IT became a thing, I could afford new cars. I think if you keep a car for its whole life, depreciation is kind of irrelevant. And I also think late model used cars have too many illegally hidden problems.
So, right now I have four cars: a 1995 SL-1 (works fine, though I did put in a rebuilt tranny a few years ago, and parts are getting scarce), a 2001 Ranger (still works great, but for replacing the notoriously weak ball joints a couple of years back), and a 2017 Impreza (I got the bare bones with a manual stick, my sister, who lives in NH, got an Ipreza with the entire trim package, including EyeSight, and loves it). The fourth car is a 2008 Vue, bought used with 28K miles on it, currently acting as a lawn ornament until I rebuild the engine.
If I were buying a 2018 Subaru, I’d probably get a CrossTrek, as that’s this year’s global platform intro (Impreza was the first intro). As it is, the Impreza is a great little car (and famous for being able to negotiate the Devil’s Hole outside Moab, where I once broke my leg). Today I was being bullied by some nitwit in a growling red sports car. I dropped the Subie through the gears and back up, and watched him dwindle in the mirror. The synchronized all wheel drive sticks to the windy country roads like glue.
Brian E Says:
September 17th, 2017 at 12:32 am
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I stand corrected.
To me, the Forester always “felt” larger because of the taller roof and boxier chassis. Can’t trust my own lyin’ eyes!
Anybody here missing Car Talk yet?
If you look at the IIHS safety ratings you will see that in 2016 (the first year for true collision avoidance systems) the Honda equiped with sensing and the Subarus with eyesight will avoid front end crashes with no damage in the IIHS tests by providing collision mitigation and also provide automatic lane keeping assistance. These are much more important than the rear cameras and blind spot alert systems although they are helpful. Other manufacturers are now providing improved systems as well that will pass the IIHS crash avoidance tests. Vehicles earlier than the 2016 models had less sophisticated active safety features. IMO the Honda line is reliable as well as safe.
Don’t worry Neo, soon cars will be giant computers with cameras stuck to them, like Eve Online. That way you can use your computer to look around instead of mark 1 eyeball.
Of course, it also means that anyone can wirelessly hack or sabotage your car…
AesopFan Says:
“Anybody here missing Car Talk yet?”
No. I was a huge fan and listened religiously (burnt incense) until they went so annoyingly liberal political in their show content.
Ed, I’m schlepping your comment over to the post about leftist assumptions in kultcha.
I have to admit I never heard much in the way of partisanship from The Tappet Brothers, such as we do now in everything, just the actual “car talk”.
I bought my daughter a new Corolla last year. the sticker was 20k, we bought for $16,800. I imagine end of quarter, end of month incentives would allow the same. Nice car, safety features, and relatively reliable and easy to maintain.
I know people think car dealing is hard, but you just do research, have a price in mind, walk away if too much trouble. I doubt the corolla dropped in value 3k the min we walked out the door, but even if, it certainly won’t depreciate more than 2k a year… i don’t think.