You Know You Are Old When

[Jstpssng]

I don't mind the second or two it takes to disable it, as much as the $1500 I spent on adding that option I didn't really want, just because it was part of some option group that contained one other option I did want.

Or because you simply can't find a vehicle without that option.

Speaking of HVAC, my Mazda 3 automatically turns on the AC compressor if I have the temperature set to the lowest setting and turn on the fan. I have to turn the AC off if I just want fan on. What a PITA.

I believe that's to make sure that the compressor is run occasionally.

My Colorado has the old fashioned knobs for temperature control... but it can take up to 30 seconds to respond. When you hit a temperature inversion at 50mph causing your windows to fog up, 30 seconds is a long time.

 

[NoTrespassing]

Or because you simply can't find a vehicle without that option.


I believe that's to make sure that the compressor is run occasionally.

My Colorado has the old fashioned knobs for temperature control... but it can take up to 30 seconds to respond. When you hit a temperature inversion at 50mph causing your windows to fog up, 30 seconds is a long time.

I doubt the compressor exercise hypothesis. It runs every time the windshield vent/defog/defrost is used.

Just my thoughts, my guess would be that most people don't care that the compressor is running when they have the "vent" on but it cuts my mileage by about 2 mpg.

 

[LouNY]

What I find irritating is the placement of the various controls. Especially the cruise controls. Both of our current vehicles have the adaptive cruise which I actually like quite abit.
I can look at fields and equipment without having to worry about the speed limit. My wifes Equinox and my Laramie both ride so quite and have good acceleration that it is easy to get past the speed limit without even realizing it, especially if I'm looking at livestock and fences or such. I do wish the adaptive cruise would keep a bit more distance between vehicles.
However what I find irritating is that the RAM and or Jeeps controls for the cruise are on the right side of the steering wheel with the voice control and audio on the left side and the Chevy 's are opposite.

 

[bigtiller]

Recently bought a new subcompact I call my tiny tractor it has hydrostatic drive in my almost 15 yrs of owning and operating my other tractors that are gear drive with either a conventional shuttle and clutch or my favorite is my 4150 with hydraulic shuttle no pressing clutch pedal to change direction. On my new subcompact when I use I'm Constantly trying to either apply clutch which it doesnt have and reach for a non-existent column shuttle shift lever to change direction. Is this a sign of getting old or just being ignorant and fighting a new to me drive mechanism. Btw I do like mowing my hills with it despite constantly reaching for a direction change column shifter that isn't there. On my older tractors the left side pedal is the clutch now it's a brake on the new hydrostatic tractor.

That's muscle memory,
it explains why the windshield wipers come on when I try to change gears in our Malibu.

But it has lane-assist and I like that. It makes road farming much safer.

 

[WinterDeere]

Both of our current vehicles have the adaptive cruise which I actually like quite abit.

Adaptive cruise can be quite fun in a 500 hp car, when the car ahead of you turns off the road at low speed.

My local Dodge dealer was telling me of playing with adaptive cruise on the Charger SRT 392's, when it first came out, and using it to follow another car up the expressway, off an exit ramp, and up to a stop light. The Charger behaved perfectly, following the car ahead and stopping at the light.

But when the light turned green and the car ahead turned right, the adaptive cruise in the Charger tried to accellerate right back up to 60 mph, with a guard rail straight ahead (no thru path at intersection). I suppose they must have had the forward collision avoidance turned off, or that the distance from them to the guardrail was too great for it to activate right away. Either that, or I found the "one salesman on earth who is full of sh*t."

 

[Engineer42]

However what I find irritating is that the RAM and or Jeeps controls for the cruise are on the right side of the steering wheel with the voice control and audio on the left side and the Chevy 's are opposite.

It's quite annoying. I've been looking at my Ram steering wheel and I believe the buttons would fit swapped side to side.

 

[Runner]

However what I find irritating is that the RAM and or Jeeps controls for the cruise are on the right side of the steering wheel with the voice control and audio on the left side and the Chevy 's are opposite.

While I was performing the hocus pocus required to change some of this stuff, I accidentally turned on the voice command. I was cussing at the car and the female voice came on and said "I'm sorry, I don't understand that command".

 

[jjeff]

That's muscle memory,
it explains why the windshield wipers come on when I try to change gears in out Malibu.

But it has lane-assist and I like that. It makes road farming much safer.

Muscle memory blinds other drivers under unfortunate circumstances I'm driving my wife's tech filled contraption cuz her car has auto dimming high beams out of "muscle memory" I automatically manually flip the high beam dimmer on the console unfortunately the car Automatically dimmed for me flipping the stick overrides the auto dimmer and I'm brighting passing cars unintentionally. Seriously wonder when morons driving non self driving cars start taking advantage of the self driving cars. I mean what's the point of following traffic laws if the majority of self driving cars automatically do. For example Run a red light, no worries the auto driving car will stop anyway. And is it so hard to turn your head and look over your shoulder occasionally when changing lanes? I have a few fused neck vertebrae and I still do and probably always will. Rants over.

 

[not2old]

While I was performing the hocus pocus required to change some of this stuff, I accidentally turned on the voice command. I was cussing at the car and the female voice came on and said "I'm sorry, I don't understand that command".

I rarely use profanity but almost all of it is directed at the voices in my three newer vehicles.

 

[airbiscuit]

I rarely use profanity but almost all of it is directed at the voices in my head

 

[Topzide]

It's quite annoying. I've been looking at my Ram steering wheel and I believe the buttons would fit swapped side to side.

The problem would be the wiring harness. I've been in the steering wheel of my 2014 3500 and don't think the way the harness is made that you could swap them. Connectors are similar, but you could leave the harness in place and just switch the pads. The pads are the same size, but the mount points are different! I had to replace one of the pads that quit working.

 

[WinterDeere]

Speaking of vehicles, I'm about to hop into the RAM to take my daughter to an evening activity. First words out of my mouth are going to be "Play album: ... and Justice for All."

It's going to drive her nuts... she hates metal. Not all technology is bad.

 

[newbury]

It makes road farming much safer.

I've only done "road farming" once.
I was towing a Honda Civic on a U-Haul tow dolly from northern Va. to Mississippi. Using my dually F350. Got about 50 miles from my destination, wheel fell off the tow dolly. Hardly felt it in the truck cab. Plowed about 50 yards of asphalt.

 

[bigtiller]

I have heard farmers say...
I go "road farming" every time I leave the house.
I drive slow so I can check out the neighbors corn/beans.
If his is doing better than mine, I might think about switching next year.

 

[jjeff]

When I was younger road farming had a completely different meaning to me. Id "harvest" other people's free or discarded intentional or unintentional deep sixed junk, I occasionally envisioned a use for off the side of the road.got pretty bad when I plowed for the county and non plowing off time responsibility was to pick up junk off the side of the free way I acquired quite the collection of tools, trailer straps, both semi and consumer, chain, a few binders, semi mudflaps even a old damaged sign board trailer. Lucky I had quite the arsenal of strobes on those trucks. Saw the remains of the remnants of the worst fatal traffic accident I've ever seen when an individual in a full size pick up stopped in the middle of freeway to pick something up and was rear ended by a 80k pound semi. Pushed the truck box thru the cab to the dash. They temporarily stored that truck in our county garage. It was grizzly with lots of blood and and few human remnants still left in truck for investigation I guess.

 

[jjeff]

When I was younger road farming had a completely different meaning to me. Id "harvest" other people's free or discarded intentional or unintentional deep sixed junk, I occasionally envisioned a use for off the side of the road.got pretty bad when I plowed for the county and non plowing off time responsibility was to pick up junk off the side of the free way I acquired quite the collection of tools, trailer straps for both semi trailers and consumer, chain a few binders, semi mudflaps even a old damaged sign board trailer. Lucky I had quite the arsenal of strobes on those trucks. Saw the remains of the remnants of the worst fatal accident I've ever seen when an individual in a full size truck stopped in the middle of freeway to pick something up and was rear ended by a 80k pound semi. Pushed the truck box thru the cab to the dash. They temporarily stored that truck in our county garage. It was grizzly with lots of blood and and few human remnants still left in truck for investigation I guess.

 

[Oaktree]

I don't mind the second or two it takes to disable it, as much as the $1500 I spent on adding that option I didn't really want, just because it was part of some option group that contained one other option I did want.

That's been a peeve of mine for MANY years, decades even...options that are only available as part of a package, where to get one feature you want you also have to get a bunch of stuff you don't.

What I find irritating is the placement of the various controls. Especially the cruise controls. Both of our current vehicles have the adaptive cruise which I actually like quite abit.

I rarely use cruise control, but both of my vehicles have radio control buttons on the back of the steering wheel...volume up/down on the right, station tuning/track # on the left. I typically drive left-handed, and am forever bumping the track buttons on the wheel, changing either the station I'm listening to or whatever's playing on the flashdrive.
I really have to rig up some sort of guard to prevent accidentally hitting them.

Inconsistent placement of controls has long been a complaint of mine. Back when I traveled for work and drove a lot of rental cars, it'd sometimes take 5 minutes to figure out where they "hid" various functions. Onetime had some toyota product, and actually had to go in and ask someone at the agency where the headlight switch was (it was on the turn signal stalk). It was late at night, and I never would have thought to look there. Same car required you to manually lock the trunk lid, it didn't lock automatically. Didn't know about that little quirk either.

 

[oldballs]

One of my kids told me...."Dad, I'm glad that you didn't buy a new truck. You'd go nuts trying to operate it" Now, that makes me happy with my 1999 Super Duty XL.
Cheers,
Mike

 

[WinterDeere]

One of my kids told me...."Dad, I'm glad that you didn't buy a new truck. You'd go nuts trying to operate it" Now, that makes me happy with my 1999 Super Duty XL.

If rust weren't such a problem where we live, I'd still be driving my 2005 Dodge Ram with manual transmission. I think that truck cost me all of $26k new, and was the best truck I ever owned... until the door corners and fenders started rusting badly enough it was deemed "cosmetically unacceptable".

Now my 2015 is rusting inside the bed, in the corners. It's already bulging out the spray-on bedliner.

 

[scootr]

When I was young we lived in a rural place without trash service so I made a trailer from an old pickup and put plywood sides on it. When It filled up I would go to the dump. My then wife would accuse me of coming home with more than I left with... not my fault people were throwing good stuff away