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It seems like you have a more sensible car than many. I was recently in one with really dumb automatic AC that needed adjustment very often, the AC settings wer

by franga2000 3y ago

It seems like you have a more sensible car than many. I was recently in one with really dumb automatic AC that needed adjustment very often, the AC settings were in a menu behing two clicks, there was no convenient landmark to orient my hand without looking, the temperature slider was very small and dense needing high precision and the temperature text was rather small. And the steering wheel buttons are, of course, not remappable. I drive about a dozen different modern electric cars on a regular basis (carsharing) and all of them have at least a few of the above flaws (if not for AC then for something else that needs adjusting while driving).

l33tman 3y ago
Avoiding to get into a "which car brand is best", I'll just say that I think there is simply a difference in the "DNA" of the car brands for how they approach the driving experience. It takes many many years and iterations and care about driving a car to produce a good car UX and some brands you can just immediately conclude that the CEO or the product managers don't care about driving and probably have never driven the specific model themselves, while in some brands you really feel they are a "driver's car". This goes for tech in general and not just cars btw :)
PcChip 3y ago
What is carsharing, and how does it work insurance-wise?
- netsharc 3y ago
  Like rental, but per minute. Look up car2go, although maybe they're no longer in business in the US, i. Europe they changed their brand name. It's like those scooters you can hire and leave (almost) anywhere, the benefit with a car is, if you park it idiotically, they can check that you were the last driver and forward the parking ticket to you.
  - seltzered_ 3y ago
    Car2Go and Reachnow both ended in the US around 2020. There are some other carsharing services in the US in some major cities (e.g. gig car share in sf/seattle), but I would argue overall there's less carsharing now compared to 8-9 years ago. Partly the age demographics have changed, ridesharing (uber/lyft) rose in popularity, and carsharing in the us has had its share of profitability issues. Peak carsharing in the US to me was around 2017-2018 (car2go, reachnow, limepod, maven, ...)
    - cruffle_duffle 3y ago
      I think cheap uber/lyft ate their lunch originally but what sealed it was the introduction of dockless bikes & scooters. Of course those smart cars didn't really help either. They were great for parking and stuff but damn did it feel like driving a gocart. My foot was either at full throttle or no throttle. ...I do miss it though.
      - seltzered_ 3y ago
        I think another kicker for carsharing at the time (~2020) was this forecasted revolution of driverless cars and robotaxis, which has sortof continued (waymo) but also collapsed (argo, cruise / tesla safety issues, etc. ) over the past couple years. I liked carsharing from the stance that even if it didn't make me want to get rid of car ownership, it made me feel less inclined to invest as much into car ownership (i.e. keep an old used car with cheap insurance, use carsharing if my car needs maintenance or going on a trip where i dont want to worry about breaking down or if taking another mode of transit back.) This line of thought kinda gets into the predicament of carsharing (and arguably rideshare/robotaxi) services owned by automotive companies - they're fairly deep in the business of selling cars much more than attempting a service business.
  - Steltek 3y ago
    Zipcar is still around in Boston.
- franga2000 3y ago
  The kind of carsharing I use is company-run, so it's basically just rental, but billed by the minute and with parking spots scattered all over the city. I imagine they have a very expensive fleet insurance in the background. There are also a handful of "peer-peer" carsharing systems where you let other people use your car and I have no idea how insurance would work there.

l33tman 3y ago

Avoiding to get into a "which car brand is best", I'll just say that I think there is simply a difference in the "DNA" of the car brands for how they approach the driving experience. It takes many many years and iterations and care about driving a car to produce a good car UX and some brands you can just immediately conclude that the CEO or the product managers don't care about driving and probably have never driven the specific model themselves, while in some brands you really feel they are a "driver's car". This goes for tech in general and not just cars btw :)

PcChip 3y ago

What is carsharing, and how does it work insurance-wise?

netsharc 3y ago
Like rental, but per minute. Look up car2go, although maybe they're no longer in business in the US, i. Europe they changed their brand name. It's like those scooters you can hire and leave (almost) anywhere, the benefit with a car is, if you park it idiotically, they can check that you were the last driver and forward the parking ticket to you.
- seltzered_ 3y ago
  Car2Go and Reachnow both ended in the US around 2020. There are some other carsharing services in the US in some major cities (e.g. gig car share in sf/seattle), but I would argue overall there's less carsharing now compared to 8-9 years ago. Partly the age demographics have changed, ridesharing (uber/lyft) rose in popularity, and carsharing in the us has had its share of profitability issues. Peak carsharing in the US to me was around 2017-2018 (car2go, reachnow, limepod, maven, ...)
  - cruffle_duffle 3y ago
    I think cheap uber/lyft ate their lunch originally but what sealed it was the introduction of dockless bikes & scooters. Of course those smart cars didn't really help either. They were great for parking and stuff but damn did it feel like driving a gocart. My foot was either at full throttle or no throttle. ...I do miss it though.
    - seltzered_ 3y ago
      I think another kicker for carsharing at the time (~2020) was this forecasted revolution of driverless cars and robotaxis, which has sortof continued (waymo) but also collapsed (argo, cruise / tesla safety issues, etc. ) over the past couple years. I liked carsharing from the stance that even if it didn't make me want to get rid of car ownership, it made me feel less inclined to invest as much into car ownership (i.e. keep an old used car with cheap insurance, use carsharing if my car needs maintenance or going on a trip where i dont want to worry about breaking down or if taking another mode of transit back.) This line of thought kinda gets into the predicament of carsharing (and arguably rideshare/robotaxi) services owned by automotive companies - they're fairly deep in the business of selling cars much more than attempting a service business.
- Steltek 3y ago
  Zipcar is still around in Boston.
franga2000 3y ago
The kind of carsharing I use is company-run, so it's basically just rental, but billed by the minute and with parking spots scattered all over the city. I imagine they have a very expensive fleet insurance in the background. There are also a handful of "peer-peer" carsharing systems where you let other people use your car and I have no idea how insurance would work there.