New stuff is too tech loaded - curmudgeon here
 

I've officially transitioned to curmudgeon... You may have more examples.

We're had a rash of breakage of old appliances lately and I think the new stuff is stupid, with tech for tech's sake, not for durability.

New fridge a while back wanted to be put on the internet..Why? So that some hacker one day can defrost it when I'm on holiday? Broke twice first year... Same with new dishwasher - silent, but always broken..

New washer today (wanted no frills but in that size we had 1 choice) - glass top door (why? it's foggy the minute it runs. Before you wash, it spins back and forth for 2 minutes to sense if that's a balanced load. then it'll spin hard to make it so.. If you are lucky within 10 minutes it'll accept to wash your load.. Jeez, old machines was like "is the door closed? Yihhaaa, we good" and also was fixable for 15 years with simple parts...

Cars are the same. I have an electric daily which I like a lot, to be fair, but the damn thing needs a monthly update like an iphone, a reboot once a month, and the entertainment/camera screen needs a reboot every week or 2 because glitches...sometimes the speakers sound blown, reboot -> fine.. WTH ?

Anecdotally - My non electric BMW had a defective light switch. I procured another and fixed the issue but got a tamper light on the odometer. Why? Cause BMW encodes a friggin' light switch with VIN and odometer mileage. A light switch, seriously?!!!

Same vein, listening to a podcast I also learned why auto insurance is so costly nowadays (heard +81% since covid !!).. Repair costs soared.. Not body/mechanical, you see.. the extra cost of all the factory camera and brainy doodads that cannot be bought elsewhere for less for fear of lawsuits, and control the "stay in lane" or auto brake feature that I turn off immediately, and the day it takes a technician to reprogram and realign all those doodads post body work... all gov't mandated for your safety...

I resisted as long as I could but 2024 is the year I've turned curmudgeony, modern stuff is crap with planned obsolescence built in, and too many doo-dads. I have never rebooted my 1972 911.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1729018813.jpg

I don't mind some tech, just make turning it off as simple as, oh, I know, a light switch.

My wife hated all the "assists" in her 2020 4Runner...it took me (ok, her) an hour reading the Toyota Dead Sea Scrolls Owners Manual to find the on/off menu.

I don't even like simple light switches any more .... too binary :D

Currently we have a refrigerator we bought when we moved in to this house 26 years ago. It works great. The Maytag washer we bought about the same time. The dryer is a Maytag my wife bought several years before we were married, and we have been married 32 years. I had to replace the board that senses the lid is closed on the washer. It was like 25 bucks, and took 10 minutes to replace. Other than that, the washer and driver work as designed. The fridge ice maker woks like new, and never has had an issue.

I do not want to spend several thousand dollars on a fridge that lasts just a few years before it is needing repairs. I had to replace the heater for the defrost in the freezer and that was $100 and took a hour to do.

I am a tech fan, but I see no possible reason to give my appliances internet access. My wife bought a mixer back when she was in college, and it still is fine. She bought some stainless steel cookware at the same time, and it all looks and functions like new.

My daily driver is from 1986 and has 385,000 miles and my 911 is a 85 model with 196,000 miles. There is no new car on the market that I really want. The new Porsches are insane priced. Our local dealer has a new 911 GT3 RS on the floor for $302,000. Neat car but insane price.

My wife's 2017 Macan is a spaceship compared to my cars and it has been flawless. Just maintenance items.

The fact that a new BMW comes with heated seats but you need a "subscription" to use them has soured me on any new tech.

Everything is subscription based or based on "the razor blade" theory of marketing.

And I when I see anyone buying one of those refrigerators with the iPad built into the door, they're just asking for trouble.

Getting into my 2020 Ram Truck it takes what seems like minutes to simply turn on the radio and connect to phone.

Wow. That's surprisingly cheap for that car. (See thread about the guy who sold his 110-mile 3RS back to the dealer for $390K on BaT.)

Let me add my latest tech irritation. We have an Electrolux front loading washer. The Electrolux dryer called it quits last year and I replaced it with a basic Amana. So, anyways, last week, the door latch broke. No big deal I thought, I’ll jerry rig things by sticking a piece of plastic inside the frame part of the latch and tape the door shut while I run the washer. Oh, no, can’t do that, there are three internal latches that hold the door shut and tell the washer it can wash. So for four days I had to wait for another latch to appear in the mail just so I could run my washer. When this washer dies, I’m going to buy either a basic, Maytag, whirlpool, or Amana.

After speaking with a few repair people, they told me that the best way to go is buying a machine that is top load, impeller vs agitator, and with the least amount of "touch panels" as possible.

Some of those computerized panels can equal 60-80% of the cost of a new washer to replace. I went with this one and after 7 years it's still going strong (and my Wife washes EVERYTHING). Curtains, rugs, you name it. Probably 8-12 loads a week:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Maytag-4-8-cu-ft-Top-Load-Washer-in-White-with-Extra-Power-MVW5430MW/322117741#overlay

https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/...69/350/60f.png

Yup, this is me. On top of that, I don't do non-Free software by choice. I hate phone apps that don't need to be an app - if I do it from a browser on my desktop, I should be able to do it from a browser on my phone.

The list goes on....

Welcome to the club. Everything has to mimic $***ty smartphones and online.

Can't wait until we get our first major hack for WWIII. Watch the sheeple freak out the toilet is offline.

THIS. I hold a CISSP. and no online home appliances in my house, no entertainment apps on the phone- only mandatory banking and access token apps. Simply don't want to be monitored.

Oh and everything (FB) is surfed thru web browsers that have ad-blockers on them including phone.


rjp

Just installed a new Bosch dishwasher for mom yesterday with smart-connected technology. So she can start it from the living room or something. Dunno.:rolleyes:

New appliances are crap. I’ve built five or six houses for myself over past 25 years and it seems like every house had an appliance issue.

I’m a homebuilder, and it seems like every house has an appliance go down as well. Then it takes a week to get an appointment to have it looked at and then a week or two to get the part to fix it.

I've got the same dishwasher. If my phone would load the dishwasher and empty it I'd be interested. But I'm quite capable of pressing the start button myself.

Earlier this week, my wife’s 16 y/o Lexus left us stranded on the freeway so we had it towed to the nearest dealership. While they were repairing it, they gave us a free loaner for a few days. It was a 2024 Lexus RX350h. Good thing we got so frustrated with the nanny features because that car beautiful. I couldn’t park it in my tight garage because the dashboard kept beeping warning me of the close quarters. I had at least a foot all around though!

We have the top loader too with the glass. it doesn't clean very well. The old nosy ones were great and uses a bit more water and shakes the building that when I know it cleaning the brown stains off my underwear.

Well, you guys wanted to save the world and be green and here we are. Quiet? Wel plastic or nylon gear that will strip in due time and sure the drive train is light and it uses a motor that's light enough that it bearly turns with little torque to save power.

So you can start her dishwasher during a set break at Red Rocks? ... Yer a good son :).

They discontinued support for the "normal" text messaging app on Samsungs. It "suggests" using emojis. Now every emoji is some GIF waving or moving. Just give me a plain old text messaging app.

And get of my lawn!