I got rid of my old route-runner Nissan. Hated that the car didn't have automatic lights - but it was comfortable, had a great sound system, got gas mileage and was a reliable vehicle for me for 12 years (yes, 12).

Our family car is a Buick and it was 30 degrees this morning dropping my daughter off at school, so I really enjoyed the heated steering wheel and heated seat.

I'm going to shop around a new vehicle and curious what those of you love or hate about your vehicles.

I have a Mazda CX-5 with turbo engine. I love the zip of this car. I love the heated steering wheel and seats as well. For long distance driving I love the intuitive cruise control.

The things I hate mostly can be turned off on many vehicles. The auto shut off when you are at a light was a no for me. I hated it. Thankfully this car does not have it. Some cars steer you back into your lane if you go over the line. I didn't like this on my old car. If there was someone walking a dog on the side of the road, I want to move over and the car would try to steer me back into the lane. I could easily overpower it but eventually turned that feature off.

I love to hate the wireless connection from my phone to car. The bluetooth often disconnects and reconnects at will. I just decided to use the wire instead as it is much more reliable. It was fine at first but the car is only a year old and this is the issue. Mazda says its the phone connection. I don't know.

Everything else is so automatic. The auto brights, the auto windshield wipers, I also have a heads up display so I can see the speed projected onto the windshield.

Overall I love my mazda. I had a hyundai sante fe before and did not like the lagginess of it.

backup camera
excellent sound system
appreciate the rest

>>>I'm afraid to ever go through a true car purchase experience, especially these days. But hopefully, I have at least another 10 years.<<<

while I don't enjoy it, it became a much better experience after I developed my own system - a competitive bidding process which made it all easier....

I drive a 2006 Toyota Matrix and love the simplicity. The cargo room is phenomenal and I spend $25 every 2 weeks to fill up. I don’t have Bluetooth, navigation or backup camera. I have a CD player and radio. I literally go back to 2006 when I drive and I enjoy it. I will never own a new car again or anything other than a Toyota. I’m at 146k and hope to reach 299,999+

I bought a 2019 Dodge Journey in September. It's really comfortable to drive, the seats are great, the climate controls are a little weird, but I'm fingering it out. The sound system is good, I've had Tom Petty, The Traveling Wilburys, and Billy Joel blasting all week. And the backup camera is in the rearview mirror. And you can turn off the info display in the dash, there is a button that just turns off the screen and nothing else.

It's not fast, it's a good practical crossover stationwagon kinda thing. The trans seems reliable, and I got the 4 cyl. engine, so I don't have to worry about a v-6 Pentastar blowing up on me.

I'm a car (and motorcycle) person...

I enjoy driving, not being distracted by smartphones. I love simplicity and reliability. I maintain our vehicles myself. We regularly use our 23 year old Chevy truck with 338k miles while our sports car is operated infrequently on good weather days.

Here's just some features and my comments:

- Technology like blind spot monitoring and catalyst exhaust control are good.
- Start/stop while slightly better for fuel economy under limited conditions, it can reduce the life of an engine.
- Direct injection while better for fuel economy causes carbon fouling of valves and intake ports which requires more maintenance. (Port injection is better for lower maintenance as it washes the valves with fuel and delays carbon build up.) Direct injection also requires high fuel pressure pumps which are more prone to failure.
- Engines now use a variety of fuel saving designs (e.g. variable valve timing) which, if not maintained, will cause premature engine wear and ultimately, failure.
- Oh, I just added this...don't buy a vehicle with CVT or continuously variable transmission. They have short lives. They are less expensive to manufacture and weigh less allowing manufacturers to improve fuel economy figures in their reported averages. Just. Don't. Buy. Them.

Poor vehicle maintenance is the primary cause of shortened vehicle life. Number one item to check at every other fueling is the oil level. Yes, check it OFTEN. Emission control designs such as PVC and EGR systems are causing engines to consume more oil due to lack of maintenance. When oil is being consumed it's telling you that something is wrong such as carbon fouling of oil control rings on pistons, a PVC system or EGR system is clogged, etc.

Example, I just cleaned the (minor) carbon fouling on our truck throttle body and checked the PVC system the other day. I do this about every 50k miles. It slightly improves the idle and off-idle operation of the engine.

[stepping off soapbox...]

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/27/2024 10:56AM by maverick1.

@Okie wrote:

I've have had the same car for almost 10 years now, at 40k miles. I have another similar car that was a hand-me down at 40k miles, as well. I'm a very simple person and don't know much about cars. I think all the cars have it now, but I would say I love the back-up camera. It's helped me a lot in terms getting out of tight spots as I don't reverse park much into crowded lots. It's also come in handy with the occasional parallel park. My car has Bluetooth to connect devices. Only recently actually did I connect it to my phone. It comes in handy as I'm getting closer to my destination with Google Maps navigation on, and then it starts to take over the speakers as I'm about to approach the destination. I like the simplicity, where I only listen to local radio in the car.

Not with my car, but my pet peeve are drivers who turn on their headlights to the highest setting and even their fog-lights when it's not needed! My eyes are sensitive to the brightness at night.

When I first bought a car, I wanted to buy a luxury vehicle, but I'm glad my dad steered me away from that and knew a fleet manager from a Japanese brand. I ended up purchasing the car at what it costs the dealership at 0% financing over five years. I'm afraid to ever go through a true car purchase experience, especially these days. But hopefully, I have at least another 10 years.

Wow, you go easy on your cars. 10 years at 40k miles would be the type of used car I'd buy. I look for those gems of gently used cars out there. My daughter informed me that all cars now have to have backup cams, and I wish the LED bulbs that are common in newer cars would be outlawed, they are blinding!

@Datagirl wrote:

I have a Mazda CX-5 with turbo engine. I love the zip of this car. I love the heated steering wheel and seats as well. For long distance driving I love the intuitive cruise control.

The things I hate mostly can be turned off on many vehicles. The auto shut off when you are at a light was a no for me. I hated it. Thankfully this car does not have it. Some cars steer you back into your lane if you go over the line. I didn't like this on my old car. If there was someone walking a dog on the side of the road, I want to move over and the car would try to steer me back into the lane. I could easily overpower it but eventually turned that feature off.

I love to hate the wireless connection from my phone to car. The bluetooth often disconnects and reconnects at will. I just decided to use the wire instead as it is much more reliable. It was fine at first but the car is only a year old and this is the issue. Mazda says its the phone connection. I don't know.

Everything else is so automatic. The auto brights, the auto windshield wipers, I also have a heads up display so I can see the speed projected onto the windshield.

Overall I love my mazda. I had a hyundai sante fe before and did not like the lagginess of it.

My friend in high school had a Mazda 626 and I swear we would put $5 in gas and run that thing all weekend. The Buick we have has lane sensors, but not auto steering, thankfully. I live in an area where deer could pop out or I need to avoid a pothole and I need to be able to swerve. I won't ever install one of those driving trackers for insurance discounts - I'm in the country and people speed (75 on a 55 mph country road), its normal to pass someone going 55, and you're always going to have those situations where you have to swerve for one reason or another.
Intuitive cruise control would probably be life changing. I'll have to keep an eye out for that feature.

2023 Kia forte. it scored under only the 2023 Toyota Camry and Corolla in consumer reports. best is the back up camera especially backing out next to a big truck. the car air pressure sensors give me peace of mind knowing i can see in real time if i ever get a flat. i like the google car play it causes a lot of headaches. bluetooth connects at will an starts playing. car play only uses online applications. if i want to use my library from amazon music and not get any ads i have to start it through my phone. if i want to connect to wifi i have to turn my car off or turn my bluetooth off on my phone or it will just auto connect to my car. not that great when its cold out and i dont want to burn my high speed data for the month.

I drive a 2003 Ford Crown Victoria....we got it in 2007 with 34K miles on it. It now has 268,000+ and still ticking!! That's what I love about my car!

@guysmom wrote:

I drive a 2003 Ford Crown Victoria....we got it in 2007 with 34K miles on it. It now has 268,000+ and still ticking!! That's what I love about my car!

And those were built way better than a lot of newer cars!

@Datagirl wrote:

The auto shut off when you are at a light was a no for me.

Takes all kinds!

I love this feature on my 2019 Subaru Forester. It has saved me hundreds of $$$ in gas over the 4+ years I've had the car.

And, as I have no spawn that I'm aware of, I could give a damn about the environment long term. This feature is good considering I live in a market area with some of the worst air quality in the country.

The deciding factor when purchasing the above-mentioned Forester: Eye Sight camera/Interactive cruise control.

The ex-GF had the same model year (and color as it would turn out), and that feature made road trip driving way easier.

My previous Subaru had top-level trim, and the current one is base. I miss the heated seats...

I would like it if the window child-lock feature didn't disable the front passenger side window. I want to prevent my small children from rolling down the windows, not my wife!

@joanna81 wrote:

@guysmom wrote:

I drive a 2003 Ford Crown Victoria....we got it in 2007 with 34K miles on it. It now has 268,000+ and still ticking!! That's what I love about my car!

And those were built way better than a lot of newer cars!

They were not built "better." They were designed with less complexity such as much less wiring and circuitry. Lower complexity = higher reliability.

Here are a few things that ARE better today:
- Bearing surfaces
- Machining to tighter tolerances
- Oils and greases formulated to specific needs

Note: this is based on my Manufacturing / Senior Engineering Staff and Quality Assurance career knowledge, although not in the automotive field.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/30/2024 08:51AM by maverick1.

I love it when Maverick1 talks dirty to us!

I'm with the simplicity preference. I don't use Bluetooth and even forget to look at the backup camera. I don't talk to my car and don't want it talking to me. Not even the phone is allowed to do that. I will choose my lane and speed as I see fit and resent a vehicle that wants to tell me otherwise. I don't want a giant TV screen on my dashboard filled with a zillion icons for me to choose from while driving. I wouldn't use any of them anyway.

Unfortunately, simplicity is now so rare that, although I should get a new car, there's absolutely nothing on the market that meets my needs (or lack thereof).

Ses, that is exactly why I got this Dodge Journey. the backup camera is in the rearview mirror, not the dash. And there is a button that turns off the display on the dash without turning off the radio or the climate controls. All of the vehicle info can be accessed on the dash, not from the screen in the center.

I don't know if it has bluetooth or not, I haven't tried to pair my phone with it at all, but when I did have cars with bluetooth it was very convenient, especially in CA, I could talk to or call anyone without ever even looking at my phone.

@sestrahelena wrote:

I love it when Maverick1 talks dirty to us!

I'm with the simplicity preference. I don't use Bluetooth and even forget to look at the backup camera. I don't talk to my car and don't want it talking to me. Not even the phone is allowed to do that. I will choose my lane and speed as I see fit and resent a vehicle that wants to tell me otherwise. I don't want a giant TV screen on my dashboard filled with a zillion icons for me to choose from while driving. I wouldn't use any of them anyway.

Unfortunately, simplicity is now so rare that, although I should get a new car, there's absolutely nothing on the market that meets my needs (or lack thereof).

Psst...hey...wanna help check the fluid level with this here dipstick?

@ServiceAward wrote:

I am currently driving a 1998 Pontiac. I love it! They do not make cars like that anymore, and it is harder for the government to track you. I hate that the windows are manual. It is normally not an issue until I pick up an order somewhere and the girl that comes to bring it is too lazy to walk to my side of the car to hand it to me. Instead, she wants me to roll down the passenger window, which requires me to unhook my seatbelt and stretch over to roll the window down.

I had a 97 Pontiac Grand Am and liked it so much when it was time to replace, I went with another Grand Am, just a 4 door instead of a 2. It was a car that was repo'd and the dealership bought it at auction. I was a cash buyer and I got a great deal on it. Too bad Pontiac isn't around anymore. I still see them around occasionally.

I know it's required standard equipment on all new cars, but I would never have a car without a backup camera after having one for three years now.