The auto industry is so predictable and boring and linear it almost seems like a cartel at times.

The auto industry is so predictable and boring and linear it almost seems like a cartel at times.


I wish cars were just made more reliable, rather than have new fancy features. I don't need wifi, satellite radio, automatically adjusting temperature controlled seats. I don't even want power windows. Give me the crank thing for windows so it doesn't break. Give me space for an actual tire, not a donut.

Don't come out with boring looking cars that look different from the boring looking cars of previous years. Might as well go full steam ahead for the sake of cheapness and don't change the design at all for 25 years at a time, and paint them all the same color. Would sure makes parts cheap. Or don't even have a body. Some models of Lotus and other cars are stock engines &/or frames from a manufacturer like Toyota and custom bodies. That way the cost of the functional parts would be lower and people could customize however they'd like. More of a motorcycle feel to it, I think. I don't mean the Scion model where you can choose rims and bumpers. Not even close.







Having standardized parts might mean that you could easily get books that would document how to fix things. I'm not mechanically inclined, so maybe this is just me, but I find those Chilton books very confusing, particularly when they show you a photo and it may have a ton of differences from what you have based on different years and models.  Here's a crazy thought, you could even put labels on parts in the car, so if I look under the hood I'd see what's the head gasket and what the serpentine belt and what not are.

I know it seems hugely controversial for some reason to have a car that can get all it's power from an outlet. But how about if I could just plug my car in so that my regular battery could be fully charged every morning.

And if a car were standardized, I think mods to it that didn't just apply to the exterior or aesthetic elements would be easier to do and more importantly, to repeat. This might allow people to switch out how their car gets its power, for instance. Why is it anyone's business how you power your car? I don't think we need some national referendum if you want to make your car powered by charcoal and you can car-b-que while you drive. And if there was some consistency in cars, better documentation, tons of cheap parts, this would be possible. Encourage dealerships to do it, if you want to try to keep it in the family.

There are a million computers in cars now? How about a USB cord so I could plug it into a laptop, run some diagnostic program, and I could be told what's not working properly?