New Cars

A quick one, while he’s away.   Err, a quick one before off to a viewing.   I’ll have more to say next week. 

Recently I had an accident, and had to rent a car (paid by the insurance company) while my own car was being fixed.  It was a Ford Fusion, relatively new.   Although I appreciate having something to drive instead of walking, riding a bike, or Ubering everywhere (including New Jersey), some things bugged me.

Let me start with the good things:

1)         Awesome brakes

2)         Decent acceleration

3)         No mechanical issues

Ok, done those.   Here are the features I did not like, relative to my 2009 Dodge Charger R/T, which has over 100k miles on it and isn’t exactly new.

1)         Push button ignition.   Call me Henry Ford, but I prefer putting a KEY into the ignition.   Then again, call me Freud.  

2)         AUX vs. USB.   I use an iPod and Spotify through my Smartphone (Galaxy S6).   If you plug in iPod into a stereo with a USB port, the stereo takes over.  The catch is that the interface is 10x slower than the wheel on the iPod.  Hooking it up through an AUX connector lets you keep control with the iPod.  Moreover, you need the AUX to access Spotify through the cell phone.

Now I’m hearing that some newer cars don’t even have CD players.   HUH?   Ok, that truly sucks.  

As of now, my priority means of listening to music is CD.   I use the iPod and Spotify, but mainly it’s CDs.  I have a vinyl player and if it’s Friday night I might listen to a record, but for the most part it’s CDs.  So I appreciate having a CD player in the dashboard.  

3)         No auto lights.  My Charger has a setting where the headlights come on and off automatically based on light conditions.  The car won’t run down, and the lights will come on when it’s night or a garage.   The Ford didn’t have that.

4)         Horrible dash.  Whoever designed the Fusion dash needs a new job.   Speedo front and center, OK, but the tach?  Right next to the fuel gauge, parallel thereto, really as an afterthought.  An up-down vertical indicator, which is OK for a fuel gauge but sucks as a tach. 

Here’s how that worked out back at Ford:

Manager:          “Dude, where’s the tach?”

Designer:          (Blank stare) “Tach?”

Manager:          (Facepalm) “Give me a damn tachometer.  Figure out what it is and do it.”

5 days later

Designer:          “Here it is.” 

Manager:          (Sees shitty tach but too late to fix it).  (Sigh). 

Charger, Firebirds, Honda Civic, all had round tachs.   No excuses, Ford.  Come on.