I must admit I am bewildered by the technology in the latest cars. Not bewildered by the tech itself (although that may be true of SOME of it), but that 1. we need the tech and 2. it's actually in cars.
I mean, I NEVER need a lane departure warning system. I don't need a blind spot warning system (none of my cars have blind spots because I know how to position my side mirrors - and I use them). I probably don't need stability control (maybe I've been good AND lucky that I haven't needed to make an evasive maneuver in, well, forever, and I know what to do to gather up a car starting to go out of control). I don't understand why my automobile has to be a mobile entertainment system. I don't know why it has to be as connected as it purportedly needs to be.
I used to say that I would resist becoming nostalgic and becoming irrelevant, but I also must admit that at almost 59 years old, I am becoming exactly that. I long for the days when driving a car like the NSX, with connected-to-the-road steering, brake feel, management of the four corners, etc., meant something. I get that some of the latest systems (torque vectoring, independent braking of each corner, adaptive cruise, car-in-front-of-the-car-in-front monitoring and braking, cross-street impact warnings) are there in the interest of safety, but really? Just think how better off we would be if we invested in not only the technology but the nuts that hold the wheel? How about SERIOUS attempt at driver education, and not settling for the lowest-achieving as the standard? How about REALLY investing in THAT?
This should be taken with a grain of salt since I am privy only to the vehicles in my .sig below. None of those cars have the latest tech, no nav, no info-tainment screens, no connectivity. And I'm not sure I'm worse off because I don't have that stuff. But it might be a case of not knowing what I don't know.
Geez, I sound like the old fart I had hoped to not become. And I am starting to embrace the old fart in me. That part seems to be inevitable and kinda scary.
