Like many others on this forum, we live rather frugally. Most of the time, we buy what we need and only rarely we get what we want. For most of “what we want”, we shop around very carefully and often ending up with second hand items.
One of the consequences of such live style is, apparently, getting left behind by the technology.
While many have shown me all different apps on their phones - I was not concerned. I am pretty sure I could learn those quickly if I ever need to use one of them.
On the other hand, I am totally surprised by how much new technologies they are putting on the cars. A colleague recently acquired a very fancy car and he told me the dealer gave them an ipad so they could learn all the features of the car. Initially I did not buy that - how big a learning curve could it be for driving a car??!!! Then someone showed me this youtube
OMG. do you need degree now to operate all these fancy features?
Our last auto purchase was last year for DS. We got him a very basic transportation and there is not that much buttons to push. Hopefully, they will always making these basic cars available.
I guess we need to start pay more attention to the new technology around our daily life. Just getting by may one day leaves us way behind the curve on new things.
So, please share with me what you found to be the cutting edge technology that most of the people should know about.
Don’t freak out. There are some products (and admittedly, some companies) that are designed to wow the customer with their complexity and modernity. Some people really like that, they enjoy the learning curve and feeling like they are on the cutting edge and that other people are left behind. Mercedes does this a lot, as does Chevy.
But that is a characteristic of those products and producers, not the car industry as a whole. Yes, there will be new features that require you to learn their operation, but by and large they will be options. Your typical car functions are not going to change in most cars, and there will always be someone making “traditional” cars.
I honestly cannot think of anything that is genuinely crucial besides cell phones and computers.
I would have to admit that unlike my Hs vehicles, I consider electric windows to be a necessity.
But can’t think of anything else.
How do you insert photos?
It’s fairly easy to add seat belts to meet safety regulations.
Seat belts were installed in Ford in the late '50’s and were required for all cars by 1968.
A big plus in our neighborhood where there are quite a few car thefts, not many know what to do with a choke, or even a clutch!
P.S. In my opinion, it’s not worth it to scrimp and cut corners, and get older technology. It’s the one thing we research carefully, then we buy the current stuff.
When I upgraded my IPad one (which could no longer upgrade to the current IOS), I went into the Apple Store and told them I wanted the newest version of the IPad Air. Ditto my iPhone (but I got mine at the ATT store).
Not worth it to have something cheaper, and older, that may not be able to be used with current software or apps.
Exception here…we will NOT buy any computer on it with Windows 8. It’s a horrible operating system. But we need a new laptop for a kid…and this is what may return us to Apple. We can’t wait for Windows 10 to come out…
These days, the most rapid changes are in the electronics. Don’t think anyone has invented a new hammer yet.
So far, cars seem to be the right place to put all these new things in. I would guess many of these features are in the private jet first. Don’t know anyone with a jet so I don’t know for sure.
@ucbalumnus How do you insert a photo? Are those from a working car?
Newer cars have airbags, which do save lives. (Some years back, a student in the school where I was subbing took his car–which his parents had given him when they got their new car–and drove it into a bridge support. With airbags, he might have survived to regret his action. The parents’ car did have airbags.)
Newer cars have navigation systems, which vastly simplify life for those of us who struggle with finding our way.
Newer cars produce far less pollutants.
Do you need all the bells and whistles? Up to you. Me, I like them a lot.
“While many have shown me all different apps on their phones - I was not concerned. I am pretty sure I could learn those quickly if I ever need to use one of them.”
-This is not falling behind at all. I simply do not carry my phone, only when I am on Global support at my job (we support the entire globe, but primarily Europe, and then I have to carry my work BB becasue I might get a text message for the critical help call ). My phone stays in my car for emergency puposes. I do not want to be connected to the universe every moment of my life.
I think it’s important to stay current on communications technology, especially as we age. What sets my MIL and mom apart from the rest of the world is that they don’t use computers or cell phones. At this point, it’s really living in the dark ages to live in southern California and not be able to text or look something up online. It’s isolating. Because they never got in at the beginning, now the whole thing seems overwhelming to them, which I understand. They both have cell phones but don’t use them. I worry when they’re on the road.
I also wish I could text them, send them photos of the grandkids doing fun things, etc. One relative who isn’t much younger keeps current with Facebook. I don’t use Facebook, but if I’m lucky enough to live to be 80+, I may start just to keep up with relatives.
Cars are something else, but I think there will always be cheaper, simpler versions, at least through my lifetime.
…no, we do not live frugaly at all, we love fansy vacations, we drive nice cars and we just done paying for D’s Medical School and bought a second house, and we are by far not a high earners at all. I just do not see much connection between technology used and living frugaly or not. We have several large screen TVs…
Sometimes when H and I are out, either for pleasure or running errands, we may think of something else we want to do, and we can do this easily because of our navigation systems (or you can use a GPS app on a smart phone). Last Sunday, we went up to Milwaukee for a spur-of-the-moment lunch at a place that I like, but had not been to the location in Milwaukee. After we left the lunch place, we decided to head over to Lake Michigan south of Milwaukee, and take the road as close to the lake that we could so we could see what kind of real estate is in the area. We would not have been able to do this unless we’d planned ahead and taken maps with us (we don’t even have any maps we carry around in the car anymore); even then, one of us would have had to had their head in an open map, and I can tell you, it won’t be me, because that would make me car sick. We didn’t really have time to just go get lost, as H had an evening engagement he needed to be back for.
Technology would not have allowed us to do this. And this is not the first time we’ve used technology to change our plans, spur-of-the-moment. We are much more adventurous with this technology.
However, lots of people now carry phones that have mapping and navigation capability, so having it built into a car may not be as useful or worth the extra cost.
One could get a stand alone GPS unit for the same cost as one monthly fee of smart phone. There is just no need for a smart phone if it is for the GPS purpose.
