Whether it be electronics, automobiles or medical equipment, the manufacturers should not be able to horde “oem” parts, render your stuff useless if you repair it with aftermarket parts, or hide schematics of their products.
Summary video by Marques Brownlee
Great channel covering and advocating right to repair, Lewis Rossman
Late to the party but I used to work in the Auto industry.
The brands I trust in order: Toyota, Honda, Volkswagen, Mazda, Subaru.
That's the whole list. Brands outside this list tend to produce dogshit cars, IMHO.
Brands on the list are known for being fairly reliable and easy to maintain. Buy the lowest trim options for the least amount of tech if that's your prerogative.
Look for a used luxury car being sold by the first owner.
The car was probably garaged and well maintained.
Unless it's a Lexus, do not do that.
I don't know much about cars so I thought Lexus is Toyota's high end brand? Is there something wrong with them? Do they use Ford parts or something?
From what I know, they are just very expensive to repair/ work on. Also difficult to work on which requires a well trained mechanic
Just buy a used Honda, Mazda, or Toyota that is pre-2016. None of those will have telemetry, subscription features, etc. They do collect data, which is stored locally, but that is required for accident investigations and to adjust the engine control systems.
I hope they keep making those pre 2016 cars!
2nd buy used. I've never bought a new car and I never intended to. One time I bought a used car from a dealership and they were dishonest about the financing (I already had financing lined up from my Credit Union, they said they would be at the rate, they didn't but signed me up anyway). That, plus the fact that driving a car off a lot loses you 10-20% value new to used.
looses
releases, sets free.
loses
depreciates, something is LOST
Used is cheaper, but sometimes if you break it down to price per expected mile, new is cheaper. For example a new $30,000 car that you expect to last for 160,000 miles is $0.1875 per mile.
A used car that's $20,000 with 55,000 miles already, that will also last 160,000 miles, is $0.19 per mile.
Take into account lower interest on new cars and, well, I'm not willing to do that math right now.
I just made those numbers up as an example, so of course it depends on what's available.
Meh, get an old Toyota or Honda. Those things are bulletproof. Basic maintenance isn't typically that spendy.
Buy a 1980s mercedes diesel
I currently drive my parents diesel car so if I buy one it would not be too hard to adjust to :D
Every single modern car tracks what you do in it and where.
I have a 2024 Mitsubishi Mirage, which is really a 2012 Mirage with new body panels. It has a screen but no functions without plugging in a phone, and practically everything is implemented as non-computerized as possible.
Oh wow that sounds too good to be true, I'll take a look at it :O
Better to just pick a car from before they started doing all that shit. Dont buy anything after 2020. I had a 2019 Honda Civic it was amazing but then some asshat running a stop sign totalled it.
Like everyone else here, I say buy used. Pretty much all of them spy on you or require some kind of subscription to use all of the hardware you already paid for.
Something pre-00's, but I'm a weird masochist.
In the US, you're probably best off with an older Nissan Leaf. It's got a big community behind it for mods and upgrades.
Don't buy a Tesla, or an ICE car, for obvious reasons.
What if they need to drive further than 60 miles. I follow the old leaf community and it's not where you want to start with cars.
A far better option will be the 1st gen hyundai kona electric (2018 model i think). If memory serves me right, the 1st gen did not have connected tech features because it had no inbuilt connectivity. It is also a proper modern EV with a ~40kWh and 64kWh battery options which will give much more usable range (200-400km depending on the battery size and usage pattern)