[marlinspike]

My mom's car is in the shop, and long story short as part of a way of satisfying me (their service at first was unsatisfactory, went it with a problem, came out with a new related problem, then they wanted to charge me $250 for a failed attempt at fixing this problem and then guessing that it needed an $1100 dashboard, a guess that turned out wrong once I pushed back btw) they had her swap her enterprise car for one of their new 3-series BMWs.

Am I the only one tired of technological advancements that take us two steps back? What good is a start button? It's an extra step, it requires me to put my foot on the brake to start the car, it's just another electronic to fail and immobilize the car, it looks cheesey.

What good is electronic throttle? Throttle cables do snap, but throttle linkages never break so that can't be it. All it's good for is getting rid of all pedal feel (BMW used to have the second best pedal feel, second only to Porsche IMHO...who has also gone to e-gas).

What good is an electronic turn signal stalk? All it does it counter my intuitions. Let's say I want to change lanes, so I turn on the left blinker, change, but it doesn't reset. Fine, so I hit it to the right to get it to cancel. Nope, that turns on the right blinker.

What good is "steptronic" or whatever name you want to give the auto "manual" mode? All it does is pretend to give me control, only to shift when it decides I don't actually want the gear I set it to. It also has a delay, unlike the mechanical linkage gear shift in my 1985 Benz (which also allows me to select each gear if I choose to go out of auto). I also have to tap it 3 times to go from 4 to 1, whereas is my 1985 Benz I just yank it back and to the right through the gated system in one fluid motion if I want to go from D to B (B is one for some reason I'll never understand).

I don't understand why they keep putting in more things to break that don't actually add any benefit.

These aren't one more thing to break, but what good are run flat tires? All they do is prevent your realizing you have a flat and make so much road noise that those of us used to decent tires get out of the car to make sure the pressures are correct. "But these make it so I can drive to the shop if I get a flat." GET OFF YOUR LAZY BUTT AND CHANGE THE &*#$#)(@* TIRE!