new car/ good tech/ not sure?

[jbmaine]

Hi all, 

 For the past few years our car was a ford edge. We bought it slightly used ( 2014) with a factory tow package. It was perfect for us. Not too big, towed our 16" lund, no complaints, we loved it. However it was starting to show it's age. Power seats didn't always work, a couple of rust spots, things like that. As our only car we needed dependability, so we looked to upgrade. We looked for a newer used edge with a tow package, but no luck within hours of our location. Then we looked at toyota, honda, pretty much all other brands, but kept going back to the edge.  Turns out our dealer offered us so many incentives, we ended up going new. 

 So here we are with a 2020 edge, and for the most part we love it. However some of the changes are hard to get used to. It has advanced safety features? that for the most part I don't get. Lane keeping- you turn it on and the display in the dash shows the profile of your car with green dashed lines on either side. If you wander out of your lane the lines change color to yellow then red and your car shakes the steering wheel and steers the car back into the lane. Impressive!, except if the road is such that the car can't pick up boundaries it just turns off, the lines turn gray, no noise no beep. So you are spend a lot of your time looking down at the dash to see if it's still on.  Not a great idea. Pre collision warning/ braking. Our car says we have it. it's turned on, But I can't test it. I've driven at our boat, house, trees , can't get it to activate, so I guess I just trust it works?

 I can talk to our car, I can tell it to turn the radio on, change channels. Turn the heat or AC on, change the temperature. sounds great right, but apparently I can't tell it to turn anything off. If I tell it to turn the climate control off, it turns it on high, tell it to turn the radio off, it changes channels. Thats kinda dumb!

 And my favorite. Our car has a power lift gate! we love it. push a button, it opens or closes, stick your foot under the rear bumper, it open or closes, genius

 However! did I mention we got the factory tow package. Well, guess where the lift gate sensor is. Right by the trailer light plug. I lean over to plug the lights in and it activates the lift gate. So far it has opened and hit me in the face twice, and closed and hit me in the head once. Really, not well thought out . So far as I can tell, a lot of there high tech. gizmos sound great on paper, not so much in real life. 

[Bird]

I just bought a brand new Ford Tremor and the salesman said he's never had a customer strip a truck down to this extent. 

 

I guess because of age and inability to except change maybe. 

 

Said no to heated seats, no to heated mirrors, no to backup cameras, no to sun roof, no to every additional option, give me simplicity with big knobs. Lol

 

Just needed a tow vehicle that sits up.

 

Hope you enjoy the Edge, nice vehicle. 

[slonezp]

The way I look at it, it is just more stuff to go wrong. I think I'd flip for the extended bumper to bumper warranty if I purchased a vehicle with all the bells and whistles. 

 

@Bird I've got a 2017 Super Duty. I've always had heated mirrors and wouldn't be without them. I love the back up camera. This is the first vehicle I've owned with a camera. While I've perfected backing up to line up the trailer hitch, it's so much easier to do it with the camera. I almost feel lazy...I got a sunroof. First time I've had a vehicle with a sunroof and first truck I've owned with a power sliding rear window. I love it. That's the extent of the bells and whistles. I buy my appliances the same way. Basic models. Less to go wrong.

[jimmyjoe]

2 hours ago, jbmaine said:

 . So far as I can tell, a lot of there high tech. gizmos sound great on paper, not so much in real life. 

 

   That's the way I feel about all high tech gizmos, not just automotive but appliances, fishing equipment, security devices, smartphones and more. Makes you wonder how our parents' generation accomplished all the things that they did, huh?       jj

[DanielG]

2015 f150. Mid level model xlt. Didn't need heated seats. We're in Maine. I've come to love them... the wife really does. motorized back window... really don't use it. Digital dashboard info. It's good. I use it. Voice calling..."Call home". It works good. Backup camera and backup warning sensors. I'll never have a vehicle without them. I do like all the buttons on the steering wheel. I trust the computer to keep things running smoothly much more than I did the mechanical mechanisms that did that on older vehicles.

 

The pedals rise up to meet your feet. I don't need tham but my five foot daughter could sure use them in a vehicle.

 

And has anyone noticed that we all have push button starting. Even if you don't have a button, turn the key and let it go. The car starts itself. No cranking needed. It's just a start switch that's not a button. I like that. No gear clashing while starting like previous vehicles.

 

That being said.... 80k miles. Parking brake cable is the only repairs beyond regular maintenance I've done on it. Aluminum body, Krown oil undercoating so no rust at all (Maine... salt too). Same brakes, same tires, pass inspection.

 

My first Ford. I've had chevy's since 1973. I now realize that the repairs and rust I encountered all those years wasn't necessary.

 

But as always with a car... fingers crossed. It's always a crap shoot.

[Bankbeater]

When I test drove a Toyota Rav4 a couple of years ago I asked the salesman how the suv knows it is going out of the lane.  He told me that it uses cameras and knows what the stripes in the road mean.  So unless I'm driving on the highway all the time, or on a Blvd. that is useless to me.

On the flip side of that I love the back up camera.  I got use to that real fast.

[TnRiver46]

I intentionally bought a truck with manual windows, manual locks, and manual transmission. Good luck with all your gadgets haha

[krisjack69]

I totally get where you're coming from with high-tech features. My last car had so many automated systems that I barely used half of them. Adaptive cruise control was nice, but things like lane assist just felt more annoying than helpful. I eventually traded it in for something simpler, and honestly, I don’t miss the extra tech at all.  
 

[Jig Man]

Sorry for your troubles.  I am a bells and whistles guy.  My truck and car have all of those things and I love it.  My boat also has lots of do dads.  That’s what keeps life interesting.

[Bird]

😆 we have this conversation often.

My youngest brother " 52 " is a fiber optic guy and is really into high tech, loves it.

His vehicles are robots.

 

Me at 64 wish I could still manually roll down my windows.

Bought a new truck in 2021 and found the main menu 😮....... disabled every auto feature on the truck, 

Auto high beam, windshield wipers, door locks, keyless entry, remote start and a bunch of alarms.

Call me crazy but have no problem multitasking.

[Darth-Baiter]

my new tacoma is relatively tech mild.

 

i still need a cord to connect my phone to the truck.   new headlights are a great modification.  i can see better.  

 

i am not a curmudgeon, that resists technology and change.  and i hope i never am.    i still remember needing help to adjust the passenger side mirror.  "up, no out a bit..no not that much..now down".  that was awful.  just awful.   

[TnRiver46]

Yeah but the person you are riding behind is totally blinded in all 3 mirrors 

[Darth-Baiter]

that's what the self dimming mirrors are for.

 

[gim]

On 3/31/2025 at 4:19 PM, krisjack69 said:

Adaptive cruise control was nice,

I can't stand this feature.  I disabled it on both vehicles.  Manual cruise for this guy.

[TnRiver46]

18 hours ago, Darth-Baiter said:

that's what the self dimming mirrors are for.