How excited are you with the direction new vehicles are going?

Are you really into all the new tech? A giant screen that is largely useless? Do you like the increased connectivity? The inclusion of features you must pay a subscription to unlock? Riding on top of a giant battery that would murder an entire lake’s ecosystem if it were to rupture? Increased complexity to meet more restrictive EPA guidelines?

If you can’t already tell, this stuff kinda bums me out. I’m considering never buying a new vehicle again. My Tundra was my first and may be my last. We will be replacing my wife’s Yukon soon. I think I’d rather pay cash and maintain a well cared for 2nd gen Sequoia.

Signed,
Your friendly neighborhood troglodyte

 

I love it so much I went and spent $60k on a 5 year old car because - IMO - it’s better and will last longer than anything currently produced.

https://www.cargurus.com/Cars/inven...pid=directVDPSimilarListing#listing=330354177

 

Bottom line is things cost way to much now. Some tech is cool or helpful but much of it I dont need or want- lane keeping assistance is a great example. It is distracting, and if you pay attention (as you should when driving a several thousand pounds projectile) it is not needed. If you can't pay attention long enough to drive and stay in a lane, you should not be driving. Due to laws and safety, we are often required to pay for tech like this to help keep people safe.

 

I don't want to drive a computer, I want a real truck.

 

I get my new vehicle fix via my wife. She digs all the bells and whistles. I quietly watch as stuff breaks and her vehicle goes in for service. Last year I just shook my head when her sister traded in a 4 y/o fully loaded Yukon that was spending too much time in the shop with broken tech....for a new Yukon....with more new tech.

I'd imagine some of the industry tech is trendy, and some of it will evolve and stick around (remember power seatbelts in the 90's?) I'm just content to run a few years 'behind' and let somebody else beta test all the new crap.

 

I hate all this garbage. I don’t need a bench seat and column shift necessarily in order to keep me in that happy zone. I do like the floor shift and bucket seats….but I mainly don’t want 12 cameras, collision sensors, lane keep assist, a 14” screen that doesn’t work, or radar cruise blah blah blah. I would never use it, and it just opens the door to more stuff breaking and warning lights all over my dash. Just let me drive my truck in full control and leave me alone. And give me a good powertrain not neutered by Washington bureaucrats.

 

The last option should have "a body made from unpainted Corten steel" added to it.

 

I would have selected "Hate it", but bench seats and columnn shifters are going too far. I like bucket seats and floor/console shifters.

Subscription services to use features on my vehicle?



That's how I feel about that.

 

I gotta go with this.

 

In the winter, I really like the heated seats & heated mirrors. I hardly use the rest of the technology.

 

Computers are reliable, it's the change to s*** quality servos/actuators in places where they don't belong or the plethora of unnecesary sensors.
-The extreme moldings for body panels and lights only making them more expensive.
-The increased difficulty of otherwise easily serviceable parts.
-Plastic instead of metal on parts exposed to solvents/heat/oils.
-Too many gimmicks... or as the undustry calls them... "features"

Yeah, not too fond of where it's going

 

Can you change your poll so I can select multiple answers of "no/hate it"?

 

I'd like to think that my Ram is somewhere in the middle when it comes to tech and it makes a lovely exhaust note that comes from the 6.4. I specifically got my truck without lane detection and blindspot monitors; I have them on the Highlander and my previous Tundra and I just don't like those systems. I do like the 360 camera and the bed camera and honestly if I were to buy another truck it would be a must have; makes parking so much easier. Regarding the big screen well it wasn't really a selling point but if I wanted the 360 cameras it needed to come with it as its not offered with the smaller screens.

The little knob shifter thing does still get to me sometimes makes no sense that a TRX would come with an actual floor shifter but not a regular 2500

 

I specifically bought my 2.5gen (2018 bc they kept threatening that the 3rd would come out "next year") before the 3rd gen came out bc of all the cr@p that I knew would come with it. I've used the Radar cruise maybe twice in 4 years. My wife has a "luxury" SUV and I hate all the tech. Sometimes, coming to a nice SLOW stop at a light, the car will think I'm about to hit someone and freak out. Worse yet, it also lowers the stereo volume as some sort of safety feature at the same time. Even if I put it in park, and then back in drive WHILE STOPPED, it still thinks I'm about to hit someone! I'M STOPPED!!! One time it even started to roll up the window while my arm was outside bc some dude came up on me super fast at a light!


The column shifter in my 1st gen (2004) was ok, and I don't mind the shifter in the 2.5 gen. I like bucket seats as opposed to bench. Other than that, I hate the tech. Oh wait... I DO like the USB port so that I can load about 4,000 songs onto a tiny thumb drive and not need the radio. I like the backup camera (backed into at least 3 short poles in my 1st gen). Forget the rest of the gadgets. I bought a 2nd tundra bc my 2004 lasted 14 years and 250,000 miles with no time in the shop other than a new alternator. That came out to about $60 a year in fixes over the life of the vehicle.

 

I like the off-road tech and I use Multi-terrain Select on my GX often. Cameras help us loners. I like the option of electrified but reality tells me it's an easy way for them to shut us down during the next planned epidemic or rolling blackouts.

 

Vehicles in general - I’m ok with it. I mean an entry level car today versus one 30 years ago gets you a lot of features that are safety/useful and at a lower cost. I mean a new car starts at what 25k or so and has advanced safety features not available even 10 or so years ago on any trim level. That same car gets 40mpg+ and will last more than a dozen years in most cases - compare that to a mid 70s model for example and your getting alot more at a slightly lower (adjusted for inflation price).

Trucks overall - no - I am not excited. There was a time when trucks were used for work not glorified SUVs with 5 foot beds. Your paying inflated prices for a mid level luxury experience just because it’s a truck. I mean most trucks today are nice - but nothing special compared to a small SUV feature wise. The “lux” trims are becoming 100k Cadillacs - at a time that no one buys a Cadillac.

I’d much rather a 25k 4x4 work truck option w/decent radio - manual everything and 8’ bed.
Give me blind spot detection - but keep the leather seats - the fancy western motif and the foam cooler in the dash console.

The SR Tundra 2.5 was the last of the great work trucks I’m afraid. It’s gone to mid or high level trims. I’d rather buy a 20k restored square body now I think - at least when it does fail - I can replace the drivetrain cheaper than I can have a minor repair to a 2022.

 

Bottom line is that regs demand that ~50% of passenger vehicles offered will need to be ZEVs within something like a 20yr window. The tech being vetted out now is in a weird transitional state to start meeting the rollout for EPA guidelines. This is why there are so many glitchy electronics and complicated powertrains. Hybrids are necessary for emissions and these safety features are necessary for the eventual implementation of level 3 and 4 autonomy. Unfortunately, it's being done on historical network protocols with far too many subsystem interdependencies. When CAN/LIN/other OE protocols go away in favor of primarily automotive ethernet (100Base-T1/1000Base-T1) systems, and drivetrains become pure electric, we'll see a greater stability/durability from mechanical and electrical systems.

 

Maybe in the future, a "tech delete" package will be available but at a premium price.

 

Maybe I shouldn't complain. I can go work for a dealership part-time when I retire and command a premium price as an electrical engineer to diagnose and fix their shit.

 

I like innovation and technological progress as much as the next guy, but not when regulation demands it.

 

I'm all for innovation and progress as well, but I feel like all modern vehicles are just becoming more and more disposable. Eventually they will find ways to recycle certain parts for reuse besides just scraping and melting parts down. With each manufacturer coming out with their own proprietary features and systems, vehicles becomes obsolete as fast as 3 year old cell phones. It will become more and more rare to own vehicles longer term.

I guess I should start buying up and hoarding 90s trucks so I'll have something to tinker on in the future...

 

It exists now... it's called buying and/or restoring antique automobiles. Only upgrade what you want to! And generally, the really nice ones come with a premium price.

 

There's a reason I drive a 20 year old tundra and dropped $6k into instead of selling it for something new. I'm reminded everytime I get in my gf's car and the reverse camera is upside down and the A/C randomly shuts off.

 

That will definitely outlast anything else.

 

Wife got a 2020 Highlander late last year when her previous Highlander (2012) had some paint issues that needed to be fixed and would have cost like *$10K* to fix. It was the first new vehicle she'd owned. It came with a buttload of new tech - seat warmers, lane detection, different driving modes, etc.

First thing we noticed is that rear visibility was complete crap. It honestly made me think my wife was a terrible driver (more on this later). Then one day I went to pass someone on a nice day, no rain, on a country two-lane highway. Stomped on the gas, and halfway through passing, the engine just...cut out for a second, as if to say "Hrm, let's think about this..." When your vehicle power CUTS OUT as you're passing someone, that's a big deal.

We postulated it might be the automatic radar, lane change this or that, etc. Nope. Turned all of that off and I was able to recreate it occasionally, but (of course) not reliably, so I couldn't get it to do the same thing for the dealer.

We then took it on a long drive from MO to VA for Christmas vacation. I've owned a lot of vehicles, as has she...but I've never owned a vehicle that required me to get a chiropractic adjustment after a drive. (5 ribs and my pelvis were out of place.)

I finally said "Enough is enough" one day after I saw her knock over a trash can and basically forced her to test drive a 4Runner. She instantly loved the simplicity of it, the way it rides on the highway, the bulletproof reliability reputation, the 'tight' feeling of the vehicle (if you've owned one, you know). As she says, "I don't have to worry if it'll go when I stomp on the pedal; I don't have to press buttons to drive it 'correctly' in varying conditions. I can just *drive* it, and *know* it'll get me where I need to go reliably and comfortably."

Had her practice backing up into a parking space....and holy crap. Perfectly, first try. Her eyes got wide and she said "I love this vehicle. I want one."

She ordered a 2022 4Runner TRD Sport in February and got it at the end of April, and she abso-freakin-lutely loves it. Not the best gas mileage (20-22MPG), not the biggest, not the most powerful....but she absolutely loves it. Seats are very comfortable - we just got back from a week long trip to Destin, and drove 6 hours 2 days ago from Destin to Chattanoooga, then 8 hours the next day from Chattanooga to where I live in Missouri, and nothing's out of place. LOL

Only problem now is that she's low-key frustrated @ me for not 'forcing' her to get a 4Runner years ago.

 

Honestly I am completely indifferent to most of the “NEW” technology. It honestly does NOT make life any better. CarPlay for example…great when it works but 50% of the time the screen freezes and I can’t do S!&t. I have owned quite a few Toyota trucks now with touch screens and push buttons are by far safer and more reliable to use. By nature touch screens cause you to take your eye off the road longer because you have to hit the button perfectly.

Bluetooth is a great piece of technology that I do swear by.

I hate the abundance technology because it’s driving up the prices like crazy. I had a Ford dealership balk because I wanted a simple STX F150 4x4 with the tow package. He asked me why I didn’t want something nicer. In my market the vast majority of all dealerships only bring in the cream of the crop (pre-COVID) models.

Ultimately I am blessed because I can spend 60k on a new pickup when the time comes but I am not going to.

Personally I would much rather save 15 to 17k buy a Tacoma and create family memories by going on a awesome trip vs keeping my butt warm on the way to work…this is only my perspective.

 

I agree with this but keeping my butt warm on the way to work is mandatory too.

 

In addition to ever-restrictive EPA regulations, I think the industry is reeling from the ever-growing expectations of a monster of their own creation. They became hyper-competitive, and all the reviewers, auto journals, Youtubers, etc started saying the same thing: "Wow this 2nd gen Tundra–what a dinosaur! Nothing new to update for this year, yet again. It's still on the old v8 and 6speed. Lol, Toyota must not want to compete at all. The new Ram, on the other hand–have you ridden in it? So comfortable." And the people lapped it up. We were completely conditioned to think that older = bad, older = lazy manufacturer who doesn't deserve our money. This is why we now have guys who become "infuriated" that any aspect of a new truck is older tech.

I mean, how dare Toyota sell the same truck for 15 years that has several 500k+ mile specimens (ahem, most of them from the first year) that went the distance on only routine maintenance? How dare they offer the same truck for 15 years that has higher resale value than anyone else?

I wish there were one–just one–auto journalist who, year after year, would say: "Well, here we are again. Another year of the Tundra. Same design. Still goes forever. Still retains the most of its purchase price when the warranty is up. Still cheaper to own over 5 years, even with the fuel economy. If you want hassle-free ownership and a truck that holds its value, this is the one for you." Toyota should have a series of commercials where their master techs sit around all bored like the Maytag repairman.

 

I'll buck the trend and say that I like the amount of technology in my 2021 limited. I've since disabled lane assist, but it was helpful when I was making the transition from sedan to truck. I think BSM is a helpful tool (in addition to checking your blindspot) that keeps your eyes on the road more as it tells you 'at a glance' that there's a vehicle beside you and you can't switch lanes. I like using the smart cruise control for boring stretches of highway. Collision warning in the Tundra is simply a flashing orange light/sound, which I think is a helpful level of assistance & additional awareness. Finally, for the handful of times I've had to reboot Android Auto, I think it's helpful having a gps map readily available (going to upgrade the wife's HU in her 4Runner soon because her 2017 has a small/'dumb' screen).

Will some of this stuff eventually fail? Maybe, but realistically it's pretty 'old tech' which has been figured out for a while now.

In terms of the drivetrain though, the Tundra got bonus points for its simplicity. I'm happy it doesn't have a turbo/cylinder deactivation/etc.

I'm also half the age of some of you curmudgeons though, so ymmv

 

This one seems to work for me. A friend of mine recently asked how we were able to afford a trip to Spain. He has two vehicle payments and a boat payment. I do not.