efaardvark

Wasted a weekend, but I got my car! 

I must say, this was something of an experience.  I don't buy cars often.  I treat them well and tend to keep them until they die naturally or are murdered.  My last car was an '07 model that a tree fell on.  The one before that I think I bought sometime in the mid 80s.  I haven't been in the market for over a decade.  These days cars seem a bit different.  Much more exposed electronics and gadgetry.   In fact, these days they're more like "smart" phones.  For example, ipad-like touch consoles seem all the rage (whether you like them or not).  You also tend to have to charge them overnight before you can really use them.    The dealerships I visited were all pushing either hybrids or EVs, or at least things claiming to be hybrids or EVs.  (Is a double-sized battery and a larger starter motor /really/ a hybrid, even if it shuts off the engine at stop lights?  I have my doubts.)  And the apps!  Why apps on your car when texting and cellphones are already such a problem?  Really.  Bad.  Idea.

One thing that hasn't changed however.. that new-car smell.