Modern car makers have gone too far... way too far!
Over the years, they steadily introduced more and more tech. Granted, some of it is driven by safety standards and legislation, but much of it is about staying ahead in the tech arms race.
Systems nag and prod, they whinge and whine, and they'll even shut you down if they don't like your driving style. In fact, I'd go as far as to say they're more intrusive than my wife.
Lane assist grabs the wheel when you try to overtake, dragging you back like a school hall monitor. Concentration monitoring keeps bonging if your eyes stray, even just to glance at the mirror or a roadside sunset. Trigger a panic stop and the seatbelts tighten, making you feel like a test dummy instead of a driver.
Then there’s real-world nonsense. My Porsche reliably locked my wife out every time she jumped out to close the drive gate. Maybe Porsche should realise many owners have long drives and live behind gates.
Surely someone tested this in the real world? There were so many bongs coming at me from every angle that I wrote to Porsche suggesting they build a mute button for the bong engineers.
My Mercedes ute proved just as controlling. Take it off-road—because that’s what a ute is for—and the onboard systems went into limp-home mode. What self-respecting utility vehicle goes soft at the first sign of mud?
All these supposed safety features simply breed distraction. Instead of focusing on driving, motorists are fighting with lane keepers, warnings, tight seatbelts, and interlocks. In pursuit of autonomy, car makers even say the driver is optional. What’s left for those who love the connection between themselves and the machine?
That’s why I’m restoring my old Land Rover. No automatic lane corrections, no focus checks, no mystery chirps. Just an engine, a clutch, a manual shift, and all the fun that made driving worth loving in the first place. Call it nostalgia or stubbornness—but sometimes, tech just needs to get out of the way and let drivers drive.
