I’ve been increasingly dismayed by the direction automakers have been going with vehicle design. They keep packing anti-features into their lineups that are hard to avoid. Do you know of any modern cars that don’t have the following features?
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Internet connectivity. If the car is connected, it’s tracking me.
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Remote anti-theft. If someone else can disable my car, I don’t own it.
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Subscription features. I want to own my car.
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Touchscreens. They are a safety hazard.
There are some features I do want as well:
A: All wheel or 4wd. It snows where I live.
B: >= 30mpg or 250mi range if EV.
There is a discussion on Hacker News, but feel free to comment here as well.
The drawback of older cars, wear aside, is they weren’t designed with things like crumple zones or airbags.
There’s a sweet spot here ; any car with ABS, electronic timing and fuel injection is “modern” enough as to be everyday reliable, mostly. Before 2000 that’s about all the tech there is, and it is mature and effective by then. Then jump above and forget entirely 2000~2006 for loads of "new” tech that turns indeed your car into a computer (or many); by 2010 many cars do feature aircon, anti-slip, cruise control without being luxury items, and the added comfort is appreciable. By then there ain’t yet any communication tech in them, you still own your car.
Also, if you avoid the top trim in average cars, you won’t be plagued by that until very recently. My 2006 Prius was supremely comfortable and devoid of that modern shit ; current 2012 golf also has cool features (top trim.convertible) without a Sim card is a subscription in sight. I bought both secondhand at 10+ years of age.