Kev250R
Well-known member
Don't judge me but in addition to obscure MC's I also like odd or less-then-popular cars and trucks. Back in January I bought a 2008 Lexus SC430, partially because I'd never owned an actual 'car' before and was growing tired of having to drive a truck on long trips which didn't require me to drive a truck.
The car I bought is a low-mile cream puff. I actually moved my beloved classic VW from my garage to my GF's because I felt guilty leaving the Lexus outside. It's a nice car, in good shape and has all the bells and whistles that you'd expect a mid-2000's luxury car to have. Including a hidden in-dash GPS screen which hides in the dash until it's needed (or the phone rings since the BT runs through the Nav system and not the Stereo).
It's a neat feature but other then being something to play with in traffic or to marvel at when I travel to a part of my region which didn't exist when it was last updated (circa 2017) I really have no use for it (I only use the nav on my phone to see traffic). I live and work in an area I've lived in my entire life; I know the way to the beach LOL!
However yesterday I needed to venture to the Metropolis known as Los Angeles. I live ~40 miles south of LA and rarely go or even drive-through the place. Naturally I took the nicest car I own (to one of the roughest parts of town but that's a story for another time) so I thought I'd use the Nav system in my car to get me there.
My first sign that this was a bad idea should have been when I had to input my destination three times. It took ten minutes and eventually I shut the engine off. Finally programmed and navigating to my destination (probably) I re-started the car and promptly erased what I'd just programmed. F word.
Programmed and set-up again I set-off. Immediately it started bonging whenever I needed to make a turn which while annoying I've dealt with before. Soon I was on the Freeway which is when things started to go wrong.
Within five miles, for reasons which I still don't understand (I touched nothing) my car decided that maybe it didn't want to go to the East Hollywood area of LA on this particular day and for reasons which are still not clear started navigating me back to my house.
I ignored it at first thinking that eventually it would realize that I wasn't turning around and that it would re-route to my desired destination and be my friend and not my foe. However that didn't happen. Instead at every freeway exit it directed me to exit and turn-around. My friends there are a lot of freeway exits in ten miles of local freeway. It made the turn-around request a lot!
Eventually I tired of it so I attempted to turn it off. First, thinking it might be like a friends Parrot which shuts-up when it's cage is covered. I pressed the button on the dash which turns off and hides the nav screen deep into the dash. Success! I went nearly a minute before a now dis-embodied voice again directed me to exit and turn-around.
I now had to turn the nav screen back on and fumbled through menu after menu until I finally found the one which 'Suspends Navigation'. Virtual button on a vintage touch screen pressed the Nav mercifully stopped. It was quiet again (well I had music playing but the dis-embodied donging and voice had stopped). I drove in peace for the next 30 minutes (I may not go to LA often but I do know how to get there). Predictably I hit traffic in the Downtown slot (where like five freeways all come together) and took the opportunity to ask my I-Phone to guide me to my destination, which it did flawlessly.
Parking my Pseudo Luxury car on the street in a very rough part of town I pressed a button on the dash which covers the Nav system and Stereo with a piece of Maple making them disappear into the dashboard, which undoubtedly causes any bad guys who might want wander past to wonder who buys a car with no stereo ("This Schmuck probably spent so much money on his ride he couldn't afford a stereo! See, there's nothing there!") Thankfully my car remained un-molested while I was gone but had I returned and found my Nav system had been stolen, I wouldn't have been that upset LOL!
Just thought I'd share my frustration with 'Modern' technology.
The car I bought is a low-mile cream puff. I actually moved my beloved classic VW from my garage to my GF's because I felt guilty leaving the Lexus outside. It's a nice car, in good shape and has all the bells and whistles that you'd expect a mid-2000's luxury car to have. Including a hidden in-dash GPS screen which hides in the dash until it's needed (or the phone rings since the BT runs through the Nav system and not the Stereo).
It's a neat feature but other then being something to play with in traffic or to marvel at when I travel to a part of my region which didn't exist when it was last updated (circa 2017) I really have no use for it (I only use the nav on my phone to see traffic). I live and work in an area I've lived in my entire life; I know the way to the beach LOL!
However yesterday I needed to venture to the Metropolis known as Los Angeles. I live ~40 miles south of LA and rarely go or even drive-through the place. Naturally I took the nicest car I own (to one of the roughest parts of town but that's a story for another time) so I thought I'd use the Nav system in my car to get me there.
My first sign that this was a bad idea should have been when I had to input my destination three times. It took ten minutes and eventually I shut the engine off. Finally programmed and navigating to my destination (probably) I re-started the car and promptly erased what I'd just programmed. F word.
Programmed and set-up again I set-off. Immediately it started bonging whenever I needed to make a turn which while annoying I've dealt with before. Soon I was on the Freeway which is when things started to go wrong.
Within five miles, for reasons which I still don't understand (I touched nothing) my car decided that maybe it didn't want to go to the East Hollywood area of LA on this particular day and for reasons which are still not clear started navigating me back to my house.
I ignored it at first thinking that eventually it would realize that I wasn't turning around and that it would re-route to my desired destination and be my friend and not my foe. However that didn't happen. Instead at every freeway exit it directed me to exit and turn-around. My friends there are a lot of freeway exits in ten miles of local freeway. It made the turn-around request a lot!
Eventually I tired of it so I attempted to turn it off. First, thinking it might be like a friends Parrot which shuts-up when it's cage is covered. I pressed the button on the dash which turns off and hides the nav screen deep into the dash. Success! I went nearly a minute before a now dis-embodied voice again directed me to exit and turn-around.
I now had to turn the nav screen back on and fumbled through menu after menu until I finally found the one which 'Suspends Navigation'. Virtual button on a vintage touch screen pressed the Nav mercifully stopped. It was quiet again (well I had music playing but the dis-embodied donging and voice had stopped). I drove in peace for the next 30 minutes (I may not go to LA often but I do know how to get there). Predictably I hit traffic in the Downtown slot (where like five freeways all come together) and took the opportunity to ask my I-Phone to guide me to my destination, which it did flawlessly.
Parking my Pseudo Luxury car on the street in a very rough part of town I pressed a button on the dash which covers the Nav system and Stereo with a piece of Maple making them disappear into the dashboard, which undoubtedly causes any bad guys who might want wander past to wonder who buys a car with no stereo ("This Schmuck probably spent so much money on his ride he couldn't afford a stereo! See, there's nothing there!") Thankfully my car remained un-molested while I was gone but had I returned and found my Nav system had been stolen, I wouldn't have been that upset LOL!
Just thought I'd share my frustration with 'Modern' technology.
