Can you still buy a dumb car that doesn’t track & sell all your info?

[Anonymous]

Ford Pinto. All of your data will get burned.

[Anonymous]

I think a lot of people, myself included don't want a car that is overdone with connectivity and electronics. Granted, electronic sensors can be helpful. But knobs don't wear out, are far safer to use, and many people do not want a giant distracting infotainment screen. We don't need navigation systems. We don't want to be tracked. We just want a car.

Because of poor land use planning, cars are also often a necessity to be able to function in society, so they should not be luxury items, but basic, reliable transportation. It says a lot about car makers when they don't market, and then discontinue, smaller, basic, cheaper models, and heavily market larger, more expensive cars with more bells and whistles that provide them with more profit. They know most people can't afford these, but they don't care.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you use a cell phone? Have a grocery store shopper card? Amazon? Google? Use literally any e-commerce website?

Regardless of what kind of car you drive, your data is already out there. Don't kid yourself that you car purchase will keep your data from the companies that want it.

It’s not just the tracking. I already limit the size of my digital footprint. DCUM is one of five sites I visit. I HATE having a smart phone and particularly texti. Texting makes me anxious because it reminds me of work. I don’t bank online. I have one credit card that I’ve got in colleges in the Jurassic period.

I don’t want all the electronics and the additional points of failure that come with that. I don’t even see the need for a car nav system these days as I could use Google maps if I really had too. I don’t want to have to update my car like i do my laptop. I need a distracting computer screen with a multitude of options to run the heating or cooling in my car, I just need a lever I can that moves left and right. All the electronics make the car more expensive. I put less than 6k miles a year on my car now. Most of those miles are from road trips 2x a year to visit out of state parents.

My background is in IT and operations engineering FWIW.

I like analog and hard controls too BUT the majority of people do want their cars to be more like smartphones. And a lot of the computerization supports the quality of your car...check engine routines, tire pressure, safety feature sensors, etc. Once all of that computing power is built-in, a little bit can be diverted to a smartphone/tablet style center stack.

New cars are also luxury goods. Luxury goods usually cost more than they are worth from a rational perspective. So they need to be fancy to sell. Smartphones and iPads are considered fancy. Also smartphone style touch controls are often cheaper to produce than hard parts, and can have better quality since fewer parts are involved and they are touched more gently. So a confluence of factors is moving the market away from your preferences.

I respect your preferences but you should not expect the market to head back your way. And honestly, people should be willing to put up with increased control electrification just to get the latest safety sensors. They are literally lifesaving.

[Anonymous]

Toyota Cross

[Anonymous]

My husband has a Chevy Silverado he bought new, I think the age is now 24 years old. Runs like it's brand new. Self rolling windows, no computer aboard, has a Garmin but it's never plugged in. What OP is saying is the reason my husband will not get rid of it. Last time he got the vehicle inspected an older guy offered $10K cash for it.

It's not so much spying that concerns me, it's someone can easily hack into the electronics and control your vehicle. Don't ever think they can't.