"Integrated" radios in some cars prohibit upgrades

| > | The best way to handle all of this is one large LCD in place of

In '86 the Buick Riviera came out with their touchscreen graphical
interface which controlled the radio/climate control/trip
computer/diagnostic info., etc.. That was a pretty cool set-up. It
probably sold a ton of Rivieras.

Seems like it'd be easy to have a video monitor in the middle of the dash
to control the climate control/radio/navigation/trip
computer/diagnostic/DVD player, etc.. As far as the navigation system
having to be standard to have this system as a standard, the nav system
could simply be another program built into the in car PC/video system. If
they don't order the nav system, then it simply won't contain it.

 

Given a few years, might not be an issue. After all how many small
hardware stores are left in your hometown?

VW, Audi, GM & I think BMW are building cars in China. My Dad never
wanted a VW built in Mexico, yet................

Unfortunately, it's only a matter of time..

 

You may be right about this........... Glad I like Chinese food.

 

Maybe, but all these advances brought their own problems. TV brought on
childhood and adult obesity, as it moved kids and adults from playing
outside
and getting exercise to a sedentary lifestyle on the couch. It also has
damaged
learning - instead of people's brains being filled with useful information
they are
getting programmed with crap - look at a typical grammer school or
elementary school
test from 100 years ago and see if kids in grammer and elementary school can
pass it today.

Personal computers have been responsible for a huge proliferation of child
porno,
identity theft and other scams.

Antibiotics have been misused and as a result we now have resistant strains
of
germs. 30 years ago if a population of 100 people got a cold germ that
would
make 90 of them merely miserable and kill 10 of them, we could administer
antibiotics to the 10 and save their lives. Today, because people have been
taking antibiotics because they are too much of a wussy to endure a couple
days
of misery, we have resistant cold germs that when they get into that same
population
of 100, the 10 people will die, you cannot save their lives any longer, and
the
other 90 will still be miserable because now the antibiotic doesen't work.

If your a parent with a fatso kid you probably would want to go back to a
world
without TV. If your a victim of some bozo that printed dupes of your checks
and
cleaned out your checking account, you probably would welcome a return
to a world without PC's. If your one of the 10 you probably would have
wanted
to have seen most people not be given antibiotics unless it was life
threatening.

So I don't think your assumption is particularly correct here.

Ted

 

New car buyers have driven these features, and today, new car buyers seem
to be the most ill-informed about cars group of people there are.

Ted

 

New car buyers don't have to worry about long term reliability or longevity
of the product. They have a warranty. They tend to buy new cars when the
warranty is finished.

Second owners are the ones to have to deal with the garbage gadgets stuck
into the cars. New car manufacturers don't give a damn about second owners
because they don't buy new cars. Manufacturers only have to appease the
warranty crowd.

Second owners who get fed up of failing power windows, horribly expensive
alternator replacements, inaccessable wiper motors etc etc eventually end up
being new car buyers to get that warranty. However, in the process, second
owners tend to move to better made foreign cars.

 

While certainly the new car buyer is the *primary* concern of the
manufacturer, if the used car buyer quits buying the first owner's cast
offs, the used car value drops, which will have some effect on
purchasing decisions of new car buyers (i.e., anticipated low resale
value can cause them to buy a competitor's product instead).

If that's true, then, again, the used market for the one-owner used
so-called domestic cars dries up, negatively impacting prices/
saleability of both used and new. This being a Chrysler newsgroup, some
here probably understand the impact on the market of a reputation for
low resale value. 8^)

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
adddress with the letter 'x')

 

Chinese food in America is just as american as apple pie... I had a
roommate from Hong Kong back in college who loved pointing this out as
he ate his freeze dried seaweed.

-Bret

 

| Denis Roy wrote:
| > New car buyers don't have to worry about long term reliability or longevity
| > of the product. They have a warranty. They tend to buy new cars when the
| > warranty is finished.
| >
| > Second owners are the ones to have to deal with the garbage gadgets stuck
| > into the cars. New car manufacturers don't give a damn about second owners
| > because they don't buy new cars. Manufacturers only have to appease the
| > warranty crowd.
|
| While certainly the new car buyer is the *primary* concern of the
| manufacturer, if the used car buyer quits buying the first owner's cast
| offs, the used car value drops, which will have some effect on
| purchasing decisions of new car buyers (i.e., anticipated low resale
| value can cause them to buy a competitor's product instead).
|
| > Second owners who get fed up of failing power windows, horribly expensive
| > alternator replacements, inaccessable wiper motors etc etc eventually end
up
| > being new car buyers to get that warranty. However, in the process, second
| > owners tend to move to better made foreign cars.
|
| If that's true, then, again, the used market for the one-owner used
| so-called domestic cars dries up, negatively impacting prices/
| saleability of both used and new. This being a Chrysler newsgroup, some
| here probably understand the impact on the market of a reputation for
| low resale value. 8^)
|

Since this thread is cross-posted to Ford and GM Newsgroups, they probably
understand low resale value as well. ;-)

I must buck the trend...I keep most vehicles well beyond the warranty...10-15
years and well into 100K miles...yet I always buy brand new when the time
comes. One recent exception was a 2003 Chevy Malibu LS I dumped on CarMax
about a year ago after putting up with it for 9 months. The car had
way...WAY..WWWAAAAYYYY too many "auto" features on it for my taste. Drove me
nuts ever time I got in the POS! I buy low end $16K or less models because I'm
basically a cheap B**tard ant those models are basic...like I like them (or so
I thought). Who would have thought a low-end model like the Malibu would have
so many annoying things about it. Thankfully the "auto" speed-sensitive radio
volume control could be disabled!! If only all of the other "auto" stuff could
have been too. That might have made the car tolerable to own ;-) (although
it had several other significant "quality" issues too and spent some time at
the dealer for those). Anyway, replaced it with a 2004 Sebring...going on 14
months and not a single quality problem and everything (but the tranny) is
manual...I'm in heaven!! Yes I already know that the 2.7 Chrysler engine
it has will probably not last 100K+ miles. But the Malibu 3.1 had it's piston
slap and intake manifold gasket failure problems too...so...

 

"Denis Roy" <wrote in message

Yeah right. I only buy used cars, and I tend to avoid foreign cars
because I've found that American ones seem to stand up better over
time. They may have a few more initial problems, but that's not my
concern since I don't buy new. If you think replacement parts are
expensive for American cars, try foreign ones. You want a car that's
miserable to repair with 'most everything inaccessible? Go Japanese.
You're welcome to 'em.

 

People are fat and lazy because they're fat an lazy, not because of a
TV. One might argue that cars did more to bring on obesity than TV, if
one wants to start blaming objects instead of people for their behavior.

What makes you think it's so much harder than tests we have now? My son
does way more homework than I ever did.

The computer is a box that sits there and does nothing until a person
uses it. There have always been con artists, thieves, rapists and
murderers. The computer hasn't changed that.

No we couldn't, because colds aren't caused by bateria.

Antibiotics don't work against the flu or colds, so I don't follow your
point. The only place where resistant bateria are an issue is in hospitals.

Most parents I know also know how to control their kids, not the other
way around. If I don't want my son in front of the TV I say, "don't
watch TV, go outside" and he does.

I do.

 

What kind of junk are you driving? Power windows have been around for
50 years. Do you still start your car with a hand crank?

 

are you referring to american built foreign cars, or foreign built american
cars?

-a|ex

 

I'll second that. I've never bought a new car in over 45 years of
driving. Currently, I only buy domestic luxury cars that are 5-7 years
old and usually keep them for another 10-12 years. I try to stay with
proven, trailing edge technology, like V8 powered, rear wheel drive,
body on frame vehicles, like Town Cars. These cars suffer an exaggerated
reputation for poor reliability and low panache, and thus, are under
priced in the used market. I can get these cars, sometimes in pristine
condition and loaded with extras, for 15-20 cents on the dollar and then
put another 150k miles on them with a modest investment in parts and
service time. I especially avoid European and all front wheel drive cars
due to serviceability issues and/or very expensive parts cost. Japanese
cars are particularly poor choices as used cars. They enjoy a favorable
reputation for initial reliability and thus have higher than normal used
prices. When they age, they can be expensive and difficult to live with.
I do ALL the maintenance on my cars (except mounting tires).
Stan K.

 

Neither BMW nor Merc have FWD.

DAS
--
For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling
---

[...]

[........]

 

My experience with Japanese cars was a 1984 Honda Accord that I drove for 19
years. All I ever bought was brakes, tires, muffler and one fuel pump. I
junked it because of rust. It still had original starter, alternator,
radiator, struts, CV joints and boots. It was a truly amazing little car.

My 97 Cavalier so far has been very good. After four years I've only fixed
brakes and control arm bushing.
My 95 Windstar needed lots of little electrical repairs. I traded it on a
Chev Venture because the Windstar had a history of head gasket failures.
The Venture immediately needed an intake manifold gasket. Since then its
been ok but everything in it seems so darned fragile. It seems to strain to
pull the same 2500 pound boat that the Windstar towed with ease.

Both the Windstar and Venture vans are a sheer pleasure to drive and and I
can't imagine life without the versatility.

 

In North America.. Yet..........


In Europe Try looking at the Mercedes A series if you want a FWD
Mercedes. (looks like a 4 door SMART car).

Can't recall a BMW that is FWD off the top of my head but perhaps
someone else here knows of one.

 

They're European... enough to nix that... prices are too high and prices
for parts are even worse. I drove my daughter's '04 Mercedes E320 and
thought that it was merely OK but too small, too much road noise and
waaaaayyyyyy too expensive. Over $50K and didn't even have a built in
compass or HID headlamps standard. Also, I couldn't find an aftermarket
trailer hitch for a Mercedes. Not sure it could handle a modest boat
trailer anyway with the tiny engine.
Stan K.

 

You could, and people do. And there's a whole host of bicycle lovers in
this
city that would love to go back to a world without cars.

Strange how in the last 50 years that all the sudden the majority of people
in
the country have become fat and lazy. Must have been some kind of mental
epidemic. Also even more interesting is the question of why 100 years ago
most people -wern't- fat an lazy and obesity -wasn't- the problem it is
today.

So, tell us what made the population of the US suddenly mostly decide to
become fat and lazy?

There is no coorelation between the amount of homework and the difficulty
of the knowledge learned.

Sure it has. It's made it a lot easier to do and a lot easier to get away
with.
So even if the number of con artists in the population hasn't changed, since
they are so much more efficient at it with a computer, they are doing far
more
damage than they ever did.

Ok your right there. I'll say vaccines then. happy now?

Not true. Many many antibiotics are now useless due to bacteria in the
general
population becoming resistant. Why do you think the drug companies spend so
much money coming up with new ones?

Most parents I know seem to know how to control their kids too.

However, most parents I OBSERVE in public seem to NOT know how to
control their kids.

We generally aren't attracted to getting to know parents who don't share our
values, so why would we know many parents that don't control their kids?
I assume you are the same as well. Do you seek out parents who don't
believe in controlling their kids?

The 'most parents' you know are NOT representative of the majority. I
read lots of people complaining in the local newspaper of how poorly the
schools are raising their kids because they are teaching them evolution
or some other whining like that. Quite obviously there's lots of parents
ready to blame everyone else for their own failures, and there's lots of
them
that want to force the world to change (ie: stop teaching evolution)
because they are too lazy to get off their asses and teach creationalism to
their kids. So yes, I do think there's parents out there quite ready to
blame
the rest of the world because their kid is a fatso, or does not believe in
creationalism, or some such.

The OP stated:

"that doesn't mean that anyone wants to go back to a world without those
things."

You are arguing that every single last person on the face of the earth would
NOT want
to go back to a world without these things.

I am saying that's baloney. There are a number of people that would like to
turn back the clock. I'm not one of them, but even I can understand the
arguments
of those who do. Just because I can understand them doesen't mean I agree
with
them.

You haven't stated one thing here that is any proof that everyone does not
want to
turn back the clock - as the OP asserted was true.

Ted

 

I bet 50 years ago, people knew that the contraction of "your are" is
"you're". 8^)

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
adddress with the letter 'x')