>Automakers like BMW and Mercedes-Benz spend too much time and money on unnecessary technology that customers don’t want, which he sees as being too complicated and prone to failure.
>Automakers are putting too much focus into media and marketing and not the actual product.
>Quality testing for German cars has slipped.
Is he right?
The first thing is correct, the other 2 are just him trying to get attention.
Gimmicks/techs we do not need, usually...
Navigation (This automatically makes the price of the car 2-3k more expensive, when Google Maps ((Free)) is better)
"20 trillion speakers at 2000 watts system"
Perfume dispenser
99 way memory seat
MASSAGE SEATS
Digital Clusters (Seriously though, doesn't look good nor functions well unless it is made for track purposes for multiple data)
Lane Departure Warning (most of the time this just beeps for no reason)
There might be more, but you get the idea...
The good techs are usually the apple car play or android auto. Techs that actually help/assist a driver such as adaptive cruise control (long ass drives), parking sensors (in tight places like shitty SF), rear view camera (mandatory in a few years in new cars anyways), Forward Collision/auto braking system, headlights that turn when you turn, etc.
I agree on gimmicks, digital clusters and navigation but i do enjoy a good audio system and memory seats are very useful if you let someone else drive your car once in a while
He's more than right.
Japanese make sure a lot of their shit isn't prone to failure before actually releasing it to the masses.
Germans like to slap their shit on before everyone else just to say they did it first.
He's right about the first point for sure. The technology fetish in the automotive market needs to stop because it gets in the way of actual worksmanship and simplicity. I think that manufacturers are finally moving away from needless complicated "features," but there is still a long way to go. As technology is refined, it will be come easier to use, more elegant and reliable. However, I am going to miss physical gauges and physical knobs and buttons. If I could, I would buy a new car with no LCD screens on it at all. I look at screens for work and for leisure throughout the day; I absolutely do not want to look at yet another screen while I am driving in the car. Driving a car should be primarily focused on the experience of driving-- stuff like visibility, steering feel, and engine and transmission performance should be what defines the car. The interior features should take a backseat.
Absolutely correct on all accounts, I mean look at the ridiculous amounts of models being produced. Mercedes-Benz alone makes 24 different vehicles, and that's not even considering the amount of variants of each model. Similar issues are with Audi, Volkswagen, BMW and to a lesser degree Porsche.
>Driving a car should be primarily focused on the experience of driving-- stuff like visibility, steering feel, and engine and transmission performance should be what defines the car. The interior features should take a backseat.
The problem is the average consumer has this backwards, most only care if it gets them to point A to B, and if it has all the shiny bells and whistles. For some cars, this approach is appropriate, my father just bought the new S-Class and its built around this premise, which seems reasonable for what it is. But I am in agreement that I wished they focused more on driving dynamics and performance over trying to turn it into a guasi-home entertainment system on wheels.
...
>rear view camera (mandatory in a few years in new cars anyways
thing is it wouldn't BE mandatory if there was proper rear visibility. THAT is what should be mandatory. Rear view cameras started as a luxury gimmick, along with self parallel parking.
but since the cameras became standard, automakers stopped feeling the need to care about rear visibility, creating a catch 22. there's poor rear visibility, so you need cameras. And since you need cameras anyway, you dont need to prioritize rear visibility. etc etc
>Quality testing for German cars has slipped.
Is that why Audi, BMW, and Mercedes are all very high now on dependability ratings?
hehe'd
>dependability ratings
>meaning anything
>any of those car awards
>meaning anything
fucking chevy makes a killing off of commercials that point out how many "WOW SO DEPENDABLE" awards they get. Doesnt actually make them dependable.
B-but muh JD power rod
Most people spend their time driving in shitty traffic, or on long straight boring highways. The experience of driving in those situations is something that people want to be distracted from, because it fucking sucks. I would be willing to bet that the automotive industry wants them to be distracted, too, as otherwise people would start demanding better forms of transport. It's why the demand for self-driving cars is so massive.
The Navigation systems aren't the issue, rather the entire infotainment system is. Consistently across the market these $2000+ abominations perform worse than a $300 Samsung tablet. They lag, the software is poor, and they change year to year, even between models.
Manufacturers need to make the entire Infotainment system optional, they need to make it modular, and they need to make it consistent across every single vehicle they sell. They should produced one single drop in unit for all their vehicles that the owner can install or replace at their leisure.
seems like you've only tested FCA infotainment systems
BMW infotainment is really good
on Mercedes it seems to change depending on the model - I've noticed the intofainment to be shittier on cheap models (like the CLA) and better on higher end models (E class, S class)
Hey, just stop buying them. Doesn't get any easier than that.
>tfw I'm a student with a 16 year old golf
>when I start earning enough money to buy a new car all cars will be soulless rolling infotainment bunkers
I am legitimately worried that I am gonna walk into my nearest dealership a few years from now only to discover that all their new cars are crossovers with 2000$ worth of screens, and with manual transmissions only being a distant memory...
To be fair, Ford SYNC is crap too.