Looking beyond that ‘new car’ shine
“Come outside and see what Trump bought me,” a friend of mine said.
We had just finished our meals at a monthly club luncheon meeting. Parked in front of the building was a brand new silvercolored luxury sedan.
“I bought it with profits made in the stock market over the last few months,” boasted Jack.
His Detroit-assembled machine was a beauty, and full of electronic gadgets and gizmos that made the Starship Enterprise look like yesterday’s technology.
A few weeks later, I saw Jack again.
“Well, how are the new wheels?” I enquired.
“I hate that car!” shouted my friend of 45 years. “Really? What’s wrong?” “Well for one thing, it almost got me killed merging into traffic!”
It seems that EPA demands are forcing car companies to come up with all kinds of tricks to meet arbitrary fuel efficiency standards. One is an engine that shuts off after a few seconds of idle. There is an abnormal delay when the car automatically starts up again.
“And another thing,” complained Jack. “The door wants to close on me as I’m trying to get out of the vehicle.”
A “feature” of this car is doors that quietly close by themselves. Problem is they want to move before passengers have exited and according to Jack, that forces people to extend their feet into the side interior panels and kick them back open!
My unhappy friend went on to bemoan the fact that his car has no CD player. It has no accessory plug in the front seat area. If he wants to charge his phone, he must stop, get into the back seat and find its inconvenient location there.
“But the craziest thing of all,” Jack continued,” is the other day, I was driving along, minding my own business and watching my speed, when suddenly, the speedometer turned into a radio station frequency number! I have no idea what I did or didn’t do to make that happen!”
So I asked my friend the next logical question as to whether the dealership can do anything to correct these irritants?
“The service manager just throws up his hands and says there is nothing he can do,” said Jack. “Everything is programmed at the factory and nothing can be changed permanently. The mechanic told me everybody is complaining about the same things.”
At that point, I asked my buddy if he were going to keep the car?
Jack replied, “I don’t want to, but I know if I get rid of it, I’ll lose thousands of dollars in depreciation.”
But as a psychotherapist, I told him that one’s peace of mind may be worth far more than some capital gains profits earned during the last few months. Jack, being a psychologist, reluctantly agreed.
“Next time, I’ll test a car far more than a trip around the block before I put my money on it,” he said.
Jack’s experience made me think about how intimidating modern technology can be. I remember the days when I could easily service my vehicles under an almond tree, using simple tools, along with a quick trip to the auto parts store. Now I’m not sure I would know how to raise the hood, let alone understand the workings of what lie beneath.
So, I can only conclude the following from Jack’s despairing story:
I just don’t need the frustration. There’s really no doubt about it. My next “new” car will be a restored ‘57 Chevy — equipped with a suction cup cell phone windshield mount and a glove box CD player.