I guess we read different articles.

Right?? I don’t understand how it’s so bad. I have an old pickup that I slapped a budget head unit in and the bluetooth is 10x more reliable and much faster to connect. It’s not that hard, Mazda!

Yes, I’ll admit my Mazda is frustratingly finicky with Bluetooth, but that’s a shitty design / implementation, not something wrong with the concept / underlying technology. I use bluetooth headphones every day and have had exactly zero issues with them. I can’t count the number of wired headphones that have frayed or…

OK? But... it does work fine? And is easier to use than having wires everywhere, especially with modern phones doing away with wired connections? I understand embracing older / more tangible technologies, I really do, but at some point you just have to embrace something new rather than desperately trying to stop…

What year is this?  Bluetooth works fine, with or without a fancy infotainment system.  I find the bluetooth in newer cheap headunits works better than many new cars built-ins, to be honest.

Indeed! And I said elsewhere in this thread, having lived through a lot of shitty (but with lovable personalities?) old cars that would overheat when idling too long, there’s a bit of PTSD around idling for me :)

Yes.  While I would rather go a different way and move at a reasonable speed, you’re exactly right. 

Exactly! And I imagine a lot of it is holdover anxiety from having shitty cars when I was younger that would overheat when idling :)

I agree wiht things like using the off / on ramps as a go-around, but in general, I’d rather go ten minutes out of my way than sit in 5 minutes of traffic.  Yes I typed that right.  I’d rather be moving for 10 minutes than sitting still for 5.  I realize it’s silly but traffic is infuriating.

I took my driving test in my mother’s brand new (like, 100 miles) Sentra, circa... 1996?  I remember it being a huge deal -- my mom worked her ass off and getting a new car, even a meh-mobile, was a huge thing, and I felt pretty good being allowed to use it for my test.

My cousin and I watched it so many times when we were kids that I’m pretty sure even now, 30 years later, I can recite at least 80% from memory.  I regret nothing.

A real man likes the feel of nature on his face... and a wise man has enough sense to get in our of the rain :)

I understand you’re still buying from the dealer. My point was that you’re not limited to their stock. As far as the weird configuration limitations, those are set by the manufacturer, not the dealer. I’ll admit I’ve never looked to configure a Japanese car so maybe, as you say, they are different, but for all the…

I’m not saying you can avoid the dealer, just that you’re not forced to take the dealer stock. Even if you order a custom build of a car you’ll have to do it through a dealer in most cases.

The thing about car dealerships is if you REALLY want a specific car, most of the time you CAN order it from the factory, just like a Tesla. You’ll also have to wait, just like a Tesla. Americans don’t like to wait, and aren’t willing to pay extra to do it just so their car can be bright orange, so we take whatever…

I assume Italian men account for the bulk of that growth. DIS FUCKIN’ GUY!!!!

“Le Car.”

As a recent purchaser of an MG B, I disagree with the low placement of number 6.

That idea did occur to me.... I would hope that if someone was making these things up from whole cloth they could imagine something better....

Stupid was overly aggressive, I more meant trivial. Either way unnecessary editorializing on my part.