According to You: New Technology You Like
Asking the Hagerty Community about new technology could have gone the wrong way, as we clearly skew to older vehicles with a more universal appeal. Modern technology is just that, a new idea aimed at addressing a problem for intenders and outsiders alike. These ideas work in theory and pass muster in many an American zip code, but do they stand the test of time?
Such a query was the underlying yet driving force behind last’s week According To You question. While I still believe that all technology over time is misused, it’s clear that some new items in “newer” vehicles are worth having. Perhaps even worth desiring, and motivating to want in your next vehicle. So let’s see what we came up with!
LED lights
DUB6: Are LEDs considered new tech? I certainly can see LED taillights and brake lights much better (especially in daylight) with my tired old eyes than the old 1157s used to provide.
TG: I would tend to agree with LEDs—except in the headlight application. They just don’t look right.
Sajeev Mehta: that’s because more people need to put LEDs (H4 sized) in Hella E-code headlights. But I am not using this forum to go down that wormhole, again.
Ray: I have improved my 61 year old car with the following: LED headlights, LED brake/turn signal lights, LED parking lights , electronic turn signal flasher, fully electronic ignition. These are all safety related items that can be easily reversed for originality. I also see a need for a back up side view camera. Do not see a real need for disc brakes. Drum for street use are very adequate. Track use I would upgrade. I have mixed feelings about fuel injection. Carburetors work fine if you or someone you know has the skill set to set them up and maintain them. The problem with this and a lot of old school equipment is that the expertise is disappearing. This opens up the door for more new technology, whether it’s better or not. My car has been at the dealership for three weeks with a no start issue. No where to plug their computer into. Its not a repair issue, its a project. I have to admit that OBD is a good new technology.
Bluetooth Transmitters
Jeepcj5: I really like the cheap bluetooth cigarette lighter FM transmitters. I don’t know how new they are, but I only found out about them in the last couple of years. Now any of my old beaters can play music from my phone as long as they have a cigarette lighter and an FM radio. For the ones that don’t, and don’t even have an FM radio, I use a bluetooth speaker.
Heated and Cooled Components
hyperv6: The best thing I like is the heated steering wheel. I hate gloves so they are great.
Sajeev Mehta: Good point. That reminds me how much I love air conditioned seats in the summertime, especially since it gets in the high 90s a lot earlier than it used to before A/C seats were common place. Not a big deal with cloth seats, but absolutely mandatory with leather thrones where I live.
Joe: Heads up display and ventilated seats.
Cameras/Blind Spot sensors
PerpetuallyUnimpressed: Blind spot monitors and backup cameras (I’m one of these blasted millennials, so ABS, traction control, and fuel injection are all a given.) Having those two is like having extra eyes without having the intrusion of “driver assistance” features.
02 original owner: Agree 100%. Every time I back my 2007 Frontier with a cap, I worry there’s something back there I can’t see with my mirrors. Same with blind spot warning: despite having all 3 mirrors adjusted properly, there are still hiding spots, especially for small, low cars and motorcycles.
Loren: When my wife died in 2020 I inherited her 2014 Honda Minivan. I swore years ago I would never own a foreign car! But my son in law said this Honda van was made in Ohio. The Ford Fusions you like are made in Mexico! It is a nice van, rides nice, handles nice, at 248 hp. It moves nice. I love the reverse camera, I leave it on when driving so I have my blind spot in view.
Powertrain Advancements
audiobycarmine: Not much for me, but engine design and fuel-delivery systems are certainly far better. Today’s efficiency and power outputs continue to amaze.
hyperv6: I also love direct injection as this was the key to unleash great power in N/A and Turbo engines. It has pushed up compression and boost levels.
Screens (In Moderation!)
kevin: I love a screen for navigation and display. No other functions.
Ross: As for NEW technology, it has to be CarPlay. First thing I want on a rental car.
Marilyn: I like the GPS systems, plus I love cruise control.
USB Ports
TG: My newest is a ’12, so I am not exactly a subject matter expert on new technology. As far as those I’m familiar with, heated seats and LEDs are definitely on the list, but the greatest is the ability to plug USB thumb drives into radios.
I despise broadcast radios for 2 key reasons: They only play three genres, and only the most popular songs in those genres, and 40% of the content is commercials or DJs talking. (I don’t have stats for that 40%, but I would bet a dozen donuts that’s not far off from the real number.)
I plug my thumb drive in and play MY music with no interruptions!
Grab Bag
Peter: Fuel injection, ABS, stability control, auto up/down power window switches, torque vectoring, regenerative braking on EVs (when blended well with physical brakes), and (if we ever get it in the USA) matrix LED headlights.
Marc: The first thing that comes to mind is the hardware/software bridge that enables Carplay and Android Auto. I can’t imagine a daily driver without those any more. Second is modern engine technologies. Direct injection, software, modern turbo-charged engines, etc. Third is the engineering that goes into modern car unibody structures.
I don’t love the increase in mass but cars are both hugely strong and stiff which benefits safety, handling and the solid feeling of cars today. I’m not a fan of modern car complexity and feature creep. Cars have become far too expensive and heavy as a result.
Push-To-Start
Prof+X: I like the push button start, but my 1940 Cadillac has that too.
***
Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.
My late wife was born with a problem right eye, and numerous surgeries to correct it were unsuccessful. She could see light, but actual vision was out of the question. We had a Camry hybrid that didn’t have a backup camera, and that was always annoying to her, and finally we started looking for a car more fully equipped. In order to change lanes to the right, and physically verify safely accomplishing right turns. She had to turn her whole body to the right to actually see if it were safe. In my research for a car that would facilitate not having to turn her whole body around, I wound up with a Ford Fusion hybrid and a Honda Accord hybrid. The Fusion had a little orange dot the lit up in the right side mirror if there were a car alongside, but no idea of where or how close the vehicle would be. The Accord on the other hand had a camera in the right side mirror and activated when the right turn signal was activated, with the picture in the screen on the “dash” where she did not have to turn to see what was there. Needless to say, Ford lost the sale to the Honda. I had wanted an “American” car, but it lost out to better technology. This was in 2015.
Honda Accord made in Ohio is more american than ford fusion made in mexico.
HoustonNurse and others above make good point(s). Modern cars are outrageously heavy. Even a mid-sized “crossover” can weigh 4,800 lbs. unladen, half a ton more than a mid-range car of the ’40s through early ’50s. Some of that is increased structure to protect you in an accident, but much of it is nonsense like butt warmers for each seat.
But Jim, one of the posters on the first page of these comments, mentions ’40s/’50s Cads having gas pedal starting switch. Cad never did, but Buick had this 1934-60, Packard 1941-54.
Couldn’t agree more with the posters decrying all the gadgetry. But neither do some of us care for music while driving. Our cars provide that, as well as escape from…..everything. We can play on computers and listen to music at home.
People are being lulled into dangerous sloth with cameras, touch screens, et al. It is also too easy to get a driver’s license.
Believe it or not, My grandfathers Car a ( 1946 Ford Coupe ) had a button on the floor that would change Radio Channels.
Remember when high beams were a switch on the floor?
Nobody said keyless entry? That’s not exactly brand new, but compared to classics, it’s new tech. And it falls in line with other things mentioned.
Great till it stops working, esp. on a Mercedes.
I like the old and the new I like all of the new adaptive cruise control and lane keeping blind spot and emergency stop. My last Acura had a feature that when you shifted in reverse the right mirror would angle down to see the curb.
As noted, expertise in tuning carbs and even drum brakes (amongst other things) is quickly disappearing! One reason I do disc brake swaps is because of maintenance, not stopping power. Well maintained and adjusted drum brakes work fine, but it’s just easier to take two bolts off a caliper, push the piston(s) in, and pop in new pads. Most rotors now are hat type, so they pull right off too. No springs or adjusters to worry with. Easier maintenance usually means better maintenance!
I do love my EFI. I have a 4.0L EFI Jeep engine in my 63 Rambler. Hit the starter and go! Last carbed vehicle I had (not counting my motorcycle) was a 84 Jeep J-10. Man I hated that thing in the winter! Had to let it warm up 10-15 minutes (or drive real gingerly for as long) before it ran right! Used to have to do that all the time, but after eight years of not having to (put the 4.0L in my car in late 1999, one of the first dozen or less in a Rambler, bought the Jeep in 2008) I quickly realized how spoiled I’d become! I don’t care for all the screens and multi function dash controls. I can get distracted when trying to look at something on my wife’s 2014 Escape (Titanium) due to all the different things right in front of the driver! I typically just leave most of them alone, still don’t know what some do!
My 1990 Miata is as close to analog as I will ever get. I have four keys for it that cost me a total of six bucks. A key for either my 08 Miata and my 2014 Mazda 3 will set me back over 300.00 a key for each car.
The best thing or extra on “Old Red” is the decal on the Driver side wing window that tells all who see it that my Miata was Car of the Year in 1990, according to Automobile Magazine. Now that’s my kind of status accessory.
Is Automobile Magazine still in business?
PS: I still drive Red regularly, except in rain or snow. It gets plenty of compliments at Cars and Coffee.
Back up camera and better lighting both have actual utility.
The rest I can do without.
It would be nice to have a ‘delete’ option for some of this crap.
For my old eyes LED headlights coming at me are like people with incredibly white teeth: annoying!
I absolutely detest the start/stop feature that turns off the engine when at traffic lights. If you live in a rural area, it’s not going to save you much in the way of gas mileage, If you live in a dense city area, it’s probably going to cost you an expensive new starter, if you keep your car long enough. In fact, there is just way too much garbage on the new and loaded vehicles
Patrick, every time i hear a car restart at an intersection, i wonder the same thing. That stop/restart has to be the most pointless feature imaginable. If we’re serious about air quality, consider UN and other studies show animals raised for meat and dairy produce more greenhouse gas than all the world’s cars, trucks, buses, trains, planes, ships combined.
Reason #237 why every poll of scientists has them agreeing overpopulation by far our biggest problem, their words, “bigger than climate.” But we’re not supposed to discuss “politics” here, only Band Aids on the patient hemorrhaging in the ER, so back to the plethora of pricey gadgets on today’s cars for those who can’t go anywhere without their living room, den, bedroom, kitchen. Bidet?
This is a site for people who like to d r i v e, right? Aren’t automatic transmissioned, power braked, power steering “muscle cars” silly enough?
The disconnect between drivers and cars is greater each year. And how do do the family of someone killed by a software glitch in a self-driving car get closure?
Fewer people, more original, non-“retro rodded”/Frankencars. Harder driver’s license tests. Driving isn’t a right. It’s a privilege. And no, you can’t have it all.
Less is more. Fewer better still.
One thing good my MB has is a disable switch for the idiot stop/start that won’t work unless the car’s battery os fully charged. Should not have that ‘feature’ at all
For classics: LED lighting and a retro styled Sirius XM stereo. Electronic ignition need not apply.
For modern cars: panic brake assist, lane keeping assist, GPS navigation, Sirius XM and ventilated seats.
Sorry, but don’t want most of that stuff because I don’t need it. I drive cars, not trucks, not SUVs; they probably need all that stuff. I prefer to be an engaged performance car driver. I would like to know whose idea it was to graft distracting computer monitors into otherwise perfectly good dashboards. Abominable. Are we here to drive, or play computer games? Bad idea at any speed.
Amen squared and cubed, Smtguy.
I like LED lights all around, but if the headlights are misaligned or installed on a huge jacked-up pickup, they become a hazard to oncoming traffic. Backup cameras and proximity warnings are a necessity with thick A-pillars (airbags) and blind rear quarters. We also like heated front seats. I’ve grown to hate control-everything dashboard screens. Give me switched that I can control without taking my eyes off the road. And finally, get rid of plastic headlight covers that go opaque under ultraviolet light.
Make that “switches”!! Fat thumb.
No one mentioned cross-traffic warning system. In a parking lot, visibility is bad enough with the top up on my Miata, but the larger issue is being between 2 behemoth SUVs or full size pickup trucks. It helps immensely in those situations. I wish our 2016 Escape had this feature, as we have the same issue seeing around the busses they call SUVs in a parking lot.
Mike, my girl rues the same situations when driving her slick Miata in a world of rolling “Monolith Monsters,” to borrow from the 1957 sci-fi flick. Am sure many others driving sport cars share your laments.
That brings us back to mentality of those “needing” something half the size of a UPS truck.
Those of us who like a u t o m o b i l e s, sporting or not, have become outliers in this unbrave new world.