No touch screens, no telemetry, no cellular modems, no wifi, no apps, no subscriptions, no infotainment.
Honda-san I beg of you, revist your classic designs and drop an electric motor in to them. You will become more rich
Bonus points if you can make it so that all the aftermarket suspension parts that already exist for those classic designs still fit. Ultra-bonus points if the body is externally identical so aero and body mods still fit.
The Smart ForTwo EV was just what you asked for. It did have a cellular modem. But you could just unplug it very easily.
And make it small on the outside and as big as possible on the inside, with the back seats level with the trunk when folded down
My first car was a 2003 Suzuki Ignis and the way the rear seats folded down was the absolute best. It made it act like a small van!
Fully open hardware and software would be nice. I don’t plan to tinker with it. But it would give peace of mind to know that it can’t be enshittified and that discontinuation of the model will not leave me out of luck for spare parts.
Hitting the gas in an EV is like filming with a digital camera.
Yeah. Gas [pedal] is used here in the same way the “save” icon is still a floppy disk.
It’s a skeuomorph!
What a fucked up word
it’s easy and convenient?
My phone has a system app known as a “dialer” despite not having a round dial.
On a broader note, this is a failure of capitalism in which products can never be perfected.
There are sooo many technologies that we fully figured out years ago but they can’t just make it optimal and move on.
This is why we have washing machines using internet for whatever reason.
The flip side is the kind of stagnation where you get a soviet-era hunk of junk that’s still in operation, but horribly inefficient.
Associating the soviet union, which before china was the fastest country to ever industrialize, modernize, and innovate past its competition, with stagnation is kinda wild.
They won the space race with 1/10th the budget and more efficient rocket motors. If they saw computers for what the actual potential was like Chile did with project cybersyn, the wall wouldn’t have fallen and a lot of countries would be speaking Russian right now.
I wouldn’t really take the soviet union as example for the flip side tbh
I just meant, “60-year-old rust bucket held together by duct tape and prayers,” but soviet-era was shorter.
Backed by amazon? LOL if you think it won’t still have a cellular radio and full tracking suite installed.
Slate has stated that they will not have a cellular or other type of connection. It does need some type of connection to do software updates, and that will be from your phone using their app to the truck via USB.
They’ve also stated they won’t track your driving data. You can opt in to share data about the truck’s health through the app for servicing purposes, but that’s all. They’ve also promised not to sell any kind of data to third parties.
That could always change, but I’m on the wait list for one and there are people on the slate forums who are serious about privacy and are watching this and seem pretty happy for now.
Software updates via the phone app 😒
That’s better than ICE cars having to go to the dealer to update their software, which is the current industry standard.
I don’t recall the last time my Saturn Ion needed a software update
Given they stopped making them before smart phones were a thing I imagine not, but that’s also why your SiriusXM no longer works if you’re not a brokie and got a level 3 trim.
There’s a reason I said ‘current industry standard,’ things from almost the last century barely qualify as vehicles by modern standards, and your car couldn’t pass a safety inspect for sale in almost any country today.
Think I’d be driving a car that’s old enough to smoke if I wasn’t a brokie?
I was more poking fun at the idea of a car needing software updates in general. It’s like a toaster or a television needing an update. It’s a machine that should be able to perform its functions entirely offline
Slate is the 2nd best choice rn.
First best is buying an older car for cheap and spending some money to repair/upgrade
Not exactly a choice, they don’t actually exist yet.
I’m quite excited for the Slate to be released. Electric truck, optional SUV conversion, decent price, minimum frills, customize it yourself if that’s your thing. That sounds so much better than wheeled tank with built-in privacy concerns.
I just wish there was a version with a full size bed. Not that any of the other light truck options are any better in that regard.
Yeah, I’ve been watching that. It is supposed to start fulfilling orders this year (last I read anyway), but it’ll be at least next year before I can probably look into one. And even then, I’d want to let some other/braver people test them out for reliability and repair-ability.
Cars also need to be smaller for the sustainable transition. We need to disconnect ego from car. Consider it’s spending about 95% of its life parked.
Smaller cars or busses. Or trains. Or trams. Or electric bikes. Or push bikes.
Basically there’s lots of options that don’t make it look like you’re going to war.
And it’s only
$20,000…$25000…$30000. soon I’ll have one parked next to my Aptera, and Tesla Roadster.This exactly. Slate sounds nice until you realize they’re asking $30K for a vehicle with manual locks/windows, no fucking radio, and 150 miles of range.
I don’t like the idea of not having a decent screen for Carplay but I think the upside of this one compared to many other vehicles is that it won’t depreciate as badly. No infotainment to go out of date, etc.
I would also like “turn” please
That requires a premium subscription.
no telemetry
In 2026?
I’d settle for Android/Apple Auto and no cellular
One of the most appealing things about Slate motors is that they seem to lack all the telemetry bullshit.
The least appealing thing about them is that Jeff Bezos is a primary investor.
I’m skeptical they’ll actually come with no telemetry or other forms of anti-features. The investors, like Bezos, will likely push for it. They have a new CEO, who comes from Amazon. There is a federal mandate for all US vehicles to come with driver monitoring technology starting in 2027.
Yeah, I am skeptical about it too. We will have to wait and see I guess.
I’m also wondering how they are going to deal with the requirement for all new cars after 2018 to have a backup camera/screen. Maybe it will just go through the tiny little screen behind the steering wheel?
Edit: I just looked it up. Seems the backup camera will go through the instrument panel screen.
if you’re american isn’t that the chevy bolt?
The bolt has buttons and no real smart features but it also has an infotainment tablet. It also still has gps and Wi-Fi and whatever else as options, so I don’t particularly trust it not to be tracking everything. It’s certainly miles better than most of the competition but it’s still a modern car.
As I understand it, one of the other advantages of the bolt is that it’s fairly easy to disconnect. There’s a dedicated fuse you can pull which will disable the telemetry as well as the microphone and a lot of the related infotainment system functions like gps. Or for those who want more of those functions, you can open the panel behind the screen, unplug the antenna, and replace it with with a terminator so that it thinks it’s intact but has no signal.
Of course, it will still try to send data home through your phone if you let it. Apparently it can do that through android auto and carplay if they are connected via bluetooth but not over USB.
There are guides to disabling OnStar effectively which should assuage those concerns. Well, for the 23 and older models. Not sure about the new stuff.
A quick terminator on the cellular antenna makes it receive no cell signal - the other features that don’t rely on cellular all continue working.
No camera filming me please.
Manual Gears (5 speed)!
Do EVs even have transmissions? I ask this legitimately, I know shit for dick about cars beyond how to change oil
They have one drive reduction gear, just one speed, no shifting.
I’m gonna have to ask what that means. Cars are just something my autism just does not comprehend
Internal combustion engines are very picky about how fast they spin, since they get their power from burning fuel the rate at which fuel enters the cylinders to burn correlates strongly to the power they have available. And since each cycle of a cylinder burns about the same amount of fuel the faster the engine spins the more power it generates.
This is why internal combustion engine vehicles have gearboxes (transmission in the US?) to ensure that you can spin the engine fast even while the wheels are slow) or stopped) so you have enough power to start the car.
Electric motors by contrast generate power through the strength of their electromagnetic fields, which is just how much current gets pushed through the electromagnets. How fast the motor spins just changes how fast the electronics have to “move” the generated field without changing the strength, so you get similar power even at slow speeds.
So electric motors have enough torque at low speed that you can start your car without needing a gearbox.
Note: this post is a gross simplification and probably mis-uses some terminology but it should give a general understanding of why the transmissions are different.
Okay pretend they are trains without tracks
I’d honestly love this. I don’t even care if the stick doesn’t actually switch gears and it can just give me fake engine rev sounds. I just miss driving manual and paddle shifters just aren’t the same.
The Hyundai Ioniq 5 N wowed the cartubers crowd back in 2024/25 because it simulated a lot of the driving feel of gas cars.
Maybe keep an eye on Hyundai.
Edit: although I don’t think they have simulated stick shifting
They were doing paddle shifters in the Ioniq. Toyota was working on a car with a six speed shifter and a clutch. I don’t even care if it’s simulated shifting, I’d still get one.
This article is from 2023, but it has more info on it. The manual transmission from Toyota is expected to go to production this year I think.
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a45754176/toyota-manual-ev-prototype-drive/
I don’t know why they turned their station wagon into a sports EV, and then waited like 3 years to do it with their sedan.
There are no gears on an EV. They just go.
And man, do they go!
And a cool loud exhaust to attract women.
Essential for compensation.
No f off with manual gears. They are unnecessary and make driving complicated. I hat that in my country manual gear cars are the norm, especially for compact cars. That limits massively the options I have if I’m looking to change my car and also makes me comparatively pay more. Prolly one of the very few things the US has done right, namely the proliferation of cars with automatic gears. It is just so freakin more comfortable to drive an automatic than it is a manual, especially for driving within cities.
Gas? No thanks.
I think they meant the pedal.
Yes that’s the joke.
Can’t even call it a throttle
I guess I’ll have to stick with “accelerator”
Dunno what it’ll be called when I trade in my motorbike for an electric one someday
An electric bike should be called a motorbike. Your motorbike should have been called an engine bike from the start. Motors are electric, engines use internal combustion.
In a perfect world, yes, but actually, no.
I just know what I learned in College when I earned an AA in automotive repair. Motor is used interchangeably in common parlance, but that is an incorrect usage.
But then we also need to call the brake the accelerator, too.
ohh sorry, i didn’t notice it was a joke I feel dumb lol.
I bought the Kona (2024) and it’s the best car I could ask for. It has some smart things of course, but I have no subscriptions, no phone requirement, I mostly just listen to FM radio. It’s been the best car I’ve ever owned.
Features look nice. I guess I’m just gonna have to get over my “crossover” hate and buy a car that looks like a low-top roller skate lol. Was hoping the industry would have moved on from that unfortunate design by now.
We tried to find a small EV everywhere. Bolt was sluggish and had weird controls, leat just hasn’t been updated in 10 years, and so we landed on the kona. Definitely larger than we wanted, but batteries are big. At least worth a test drive I’d suggest
I had the opposite experience between the bolt and the Kona! The smaller bolt is a bit faster and I found drove more on the car side of the car/SUV split than the kona, and while the button placement took getting used to it has one for almost everything. We also bought while the tax credits were in effect so it was $10k cheaper for 4 miles less range.
Renault 5, soon Twingo and VW ID.Polo. Hyundai Inster … at least in Europe. I guess in the US they’d rather sell you some oversized childcrusher instead of giving customers reasonably oriced compact options.
Yup, pretty much. Those were the only three “small” versions, everything else was giant SUV sized.
That’s dire. In Europe a lot of new compact EVs have been coming on the market in 2025 and 2026. Manufacturer’s finally got the message. They even started to bring prices down with no nonsense offers. I just had a look, not even VW wants to sell its new ID.Polo in the US. You know, finally VW is building good cars with good interior again, after having gotten rid of the remaining traces of the “copy all the Tesla nonsense” disease and then they don’t even attempt to sell them in the US.
Also no Hyundai Ioniq 3, no Opel Corsa Electric (or other Stellantis variants), Cupra Raval, Mini Cooper SE, or some of the Chinese offers (BYD Dolphin, Firefly Firefly, Dongfeng Box etc)? But there is the Fiat 500e on the market, isn’t it?
leat just hasn’t been updated in 10 years
I thought I read the Leaf got a fairly big update recently. I’ll have to check on that when I have some time.
I was searching a few years ago, so makes sense they’d update it right after I got mine
makes sense they’d update it right after I got mine
That’s how my life works too haha.
And also why I’m so hesitant to settle for a body style I dislike (seriously, crossovers: be a sedan, be an SUV, or be a station wagon; trying to be all 3 is just failing at everything…but I digress lol). As soon as I settle and buy one, I just know they’ll bring back sedans.
I would have loved a sedan, but none exist here. I figured that hopefully by buying a Kona it would show that at least one american is buying the smallest car he apparently can. It was a good tradeoff.
As for sedans making a comeback, I doubt it. Sadly, I think the industry has firmly moved away from them.
I think that was this year, so in 2024 it was super outdated but it’s better now. I think it’s also a crossover now unfortunately
There have been three generations of leaf, updated 2017 and 2025. Now 225 miles range with active temp control for battery.
Nissan has sold over 650,000 leaves.
The leaf JUST got updated finally after they made the Ariya (much bigger, already discontinued because it wasn’t profitable enough.)
But yeah I think if anyone wants ANY new car without any of those features, good luck. You’re required to have a screen for a backup camera for anything since I think 2012? So there’s gonna at minimum be something.
Nissan Leaf was updated three times last 10 years.
I like my Kia EV6. We were in the market for an EV and test drove all of the ones we could try. I liked the KIA because it had a lot of physical buttons for my regular things. There’s no real subscriptions except for things we don’t use. There’s a touchscreen for a lot but I can get by without using it mostly
Kia allows you to disable data acquiring in options.
Oh. I should do that in my car. Love that
