Pleased with the new car
Jul. 14th, 2022 08:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mtbcHaving now had more opportunity to drive around, including out to Dyce, I am pleased indeed with my fourth-generation Honda Jazz, and look forward to heading to Dundee on Sunday to spend some hours with my children. The being pleased grew markedly one morning:
The car was chiming at me when I exceeded 30mph and I found this rather annoying, especially in 40mph zones. On the way to a more distant errand, I thought I'd drop into the local Honda dealership on the way and seek their help. First, getting there was difficult because I don't know Aberdeen and Google Maps' help was dreadful. Eventually I determined that it somehow appeared to be in
As I approached one of the dealership's staff, they saw my mask and donned their own. To determine what was going on with my car needed a couple of tries and a couple of people but it turned out that there were speed alerts set for 30mph and 50mph and these were easily disabled once found. Those speed alerts were buried inside yet another set of menus I had not yet discovered and were unrelated to the speed limiter that one can set and to the speed limit warnings that the car can issue on the basis of reading traffic signs along one's journey.
I am surprised to have a car that can read road signs but that does not offer a rear-view camera for reversing, though it offers various proximity alerting. It makes a curious noise while reversing, I shall try to remember to decide if it sounds a bit like one of the noises on Cylon basestars in the reimagined series.
The car is much improved by the lack of a beep on reaching 30mph. I love the adaptive cruise control. It is good at speeding up out of roundabouts then keeping a good distance from the car in front. I may learn to like other features, like the automatic rain sensing for the windscreen wipers, once I have more control and experience of them; it has a large user manual and I am busy mostly with non-car errands. I shall get around to figuring more of it out as I plan to own the car for many years. I liked the rain sensing in a European-branded car that I rented years ago.
The complication of the features and user interface is not ideal for me. Especially if wanting a modern hybrid, I figure that I don't have any choice in the matter. Simplicity is not much valued and I am limited to what the market offers so I make peace with that accordingly. My favourite car, the sports car I had, gave me direct control over plenty, not only the gear shifting. For example, there were lights on if and only if I had turned them on. However, much as I loved that car, I can't now buy a normal petrol car in good conscience, even without a charging point at home. The saving grace for me of my new car is that, where it does do things automatically, so far it makes decent choices. It doesn't even beep at me for starting the engine before putting my seat-belt on.
My car's registration plate and service record indicate that it started its life out down in England near where my aunt lives. I shall mention that to her when I next write, perhaps she saw it before I did, not that it would have drawn notice.
A longer-term concern is the cost of insuring wider family to drive my car. The obvious other candidates would be either new drivers or under-25's or both, none an existing policyholder, and I fear difficulty in finding any affordable means of enabling them to drive it.
The car was chiming at me when I exceeded 30mph and I found this rather annoying, especially in 40mph zones. On the way to a more distant errand, I thought I'd drop into the local Honda dealership on the way and seek their help. First, getting there was difficult because I don't know Aberdeen and Google Maps' help was dreadful. Eventually I determined that it somehow appeared to be in
on footmode, rather than
carmode, but that doesn't explain why its directions were clearly getting my location very wrong, nor why it again became so keen on having
upbe neither due north nor my direction of travel. In
carmode, Maps then did far better.
As I approached one of the dealership's staff, they saw my mask and donned their own. To determine what was going on with my car needed a couple of tries and a couple of people but it turned out that there were speed alerts set for 30mph and 50mph and these were easily disabled once found. Those speed alerts were buried inside yet another set of menus I had not yet discovered and were unrelated to the speed limiter that one can set and to the speed limit warnings that the car can issue on the basis of reading traffic signs along one's journey.
I am surprised to have a car that can read road signs but that does not offer a rear-view camera for reversing, though it offers various proximity alerting. It makes a curious noise while reversing, I shall try to remember to decide if it sounds a bit like one of the noises on Cylon basestars in the reimagined series.
The car is much improved by the lack of a beep on reaching 30mph. I love the adaptive cruise control. It is good at speeding up out of roundabouts then keeping a good distance from the car in front. I may learn to like other features, like the automatic rain sensing for the windscreen wipers, once I have more control and experience of them; it has a large user manual and I am busy mostly with non-car errands. I shall get around to figuring more of it out as I plan to own the car for many years. I liked the rain sensing in a European-branded car that I rented years ago.
The complication of the features and user interface is not ideal for me. Especially if wanting a modern hybrid, I figure that I don't have any choice in the matter. Simplicity is not much valued and I am limited to what the market offers so I make peace with that accordingly. My favourite car, the sports car I had, gave me direct control over plenty, not only the gear shifting. For example, there were lights on if and only if I had turned them on. However, much as I loved that car, I can't now buy a normal petrol car in good conscience, even without a charging point at home. The saving grace for me of my new car is that, where it does do things automatically, so far it makes decent choices. It doesn't even beep at me for starting the engine before putting my seat-belt on.
My car's registration plate and service record indicate that it started its life out down in England near where my aunt lives. I shall mention that to her when I next write, perhaps she saw it before I did, not that it would have drawn notice.
A longer-term concern is the cost of insuring wider family to drive my car. The obvious other candidates would be either new drivers or under-25's or both, none an existing policyholder, and I fear difficulty in finding any affordable means of enabling them to drive it.
no subject
Date: 2022-07-14 08:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-07-15 07:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-07-15 03:08 pm (UTC)I have adaptive cruise on my '15 Subaru Crosstrek, absolutely love it! I use cruise control everywhere I go, even if I'm crawling at 10 MPH. I want that extra safety cushion it gives me.
Nice to know someone besides me reads car manuals. :)
no subject
Date: 2022-07-15 06:28 pm (UTC)A pet peeve of mine is how, for many years now, I never find a car manual in a rental, or in a loaner from a dealership. I mean, I was just handed a random vehicle! I also get a weird look from the DMV when I move to a new state and change my license and ask also for the handbook of laws, they're clearly like, though they politely hand one over anyway.
no subject
Date: 2022-07-15 06:39 pm (UTC)One thing that just, no pun intended since we're talking motor laws, drives me up the wall, is I haven't had a driver's test in over 40 years! Laws have changed, I now live in a different state than where I got my first license, my skills have changed, I've had cataract surgery, I now have three fused vertebrae in my neck, and as far as records are concerned I'm an 18 y/o as that's how old I was when I got my license. Now, if I ever moved outside of the USA, I'd have to re-learn and re-test, but that's not required here! Just ridiculous. When it comes to rentals, I always spend a good 5-10 minutes learning all the controls since there's no manual, I also go and purge the radio of previous contacts before plugging my phone in as no one else seems to do that.
no subject
Date: 2022-07-15 08:38 pm (UTC)Absolutely: cars are heavy and fast and dangerous, and familiarity breeds contempt! I'd strongly be in favour of, say, five-yearly driving tests. One thing I admired about my mother is that, even as a senior, she still drove in a manner that a driving instructor would approve of, so it felt good to have her tell me that I was one of the people she actually felt safe to be driven by. At least I do occasionally get retested, e.g., when I moved to Eastern Tennessee, my Massachusetts license had expired, I was happy to get a compliment from the examiner afterward.
One reason I like simplicity, and need manuals, is that I really want to feel in control of the car and automation that's meant to be helpful may not be if it surprises me and makes evasive or defensive action not go to plan. I'm now reminded of being pleased not to drive off the road altogether when merging onto a highway in a rental car and being startled by a loud voice. It was some automated weather or traffic alert or something and the volume was turned up very far! So, for instance, with 2WD/4WD vehicles, I avoided ones that would switch automatically, because I did not want the handling suddenly changing while I was managing a skid. (Of course, Subarus have the advantage of the AWD being all-time and I understood a bit about how it decides how to split power between front and rear.)
I miss having a life that involved renting, I find it interesting to try out the different cars. And, yeah, for road trips, I'd check out the laws in the related states, and tend to drive to obey multiple at once. For instance, Pennsylvania wanted headlamps on in construction, New York wanted headlamps on if wipers were on, etc. (I may be misremembering at this point.) Though I admit I was surprised in Ontario when the green traffic light flashed at me.