Hello! I have a very low mileage, but older car (about 33k miles and it’s a 2011 Chevy Cruze.) I have no real interest in purchasing a new car but I do kind of wish I had some of the bells and whistles of a newer car. We have an excellent local place who can do installations of electronics in cars; I’ve gotten a remote starter with them on my last car and it worked great.
Do you guys recommend after market upgrades in my situation at all? If so what kinds of things you would recommend (in general or brands of things.) If nothing else I really want another remote starter for the winter, but it’s been so long since the last one I had, I don’t know how different they are. (My old one had a fob!)
In terms of usage, I mostly just use my car to drive to appointments and get groceries, hence why the mileage is so low.
What are the new things you’re wanting? Apple CarPlay/Android Auto? I don’t think you can add things like blind spot monitoring/forward collision warning/adaptive cruise control.
Oh bummer, those latter things ARE what I was wanting. That’s too bad. I’m not very interested in Android Auto, I’m perfectly content with having my phone on a mount with an aux cord.
It looks like the remote starter and a rear/dash cam combo might be it!
I’ve seen dash cameras that claim to have features like lane departure but they’re absolute junk. To have those features work properly with a vehicle requires a lot of specific calibration and design work, and generally uses some small radar systems, which is why they need to come with the car from the factory. Even with a backup camera, an aftermarket is better than none, but an integrated camera with lines that help gauge distance and that turn with the steering wheel is so much nicer.
If those are the features you’re looking for you’ll probably be better off saving your money for a newer car with those features. None of them are necessary, but they can be a nice addition, and especially the safety features you hope to never need them but if you ever do and they save your life or save you from an accident at all, they’re really worth the money.
If you consider looking at a newer car, if you’re able to charge at home you might want to consider a Chevy Bolt EV or EUV. They stopped building them last year, but if you can still find one at a dealer they start under $30k with a lot of those features, and all are available for not much more. Like, the base model has forward collision warning, and if you get the higher trim it becomes forward collision warning with automatic emergency braking and adaptive cruise control. And now you can get the $7500 tax credit applied right there at the dealer. Even buying used you can still get a tax credit from the federal government, whether at a dealer or private sale, but you might have to wait until you file your taxes to get the money back. I wound up in one for several weeks while my wife’s car was in the shop and was surprised at how good it was, especially considering the price. And charging at home meant my city driving cost per mile was 2¢/mile, while my wife’s Kia Soul was 14¢/mile on gas. The only drawbacks it had was paying to fast charge was more expensive than gas and slow by current standards (an hour), and the cup holder was slightly smaller than most cars. But if you can charge at your home and don’t go on long road trips where you’d have to charge every couple hours it could be an ideal fit.
Wow thank you for the comprehensive write up! At this time we won’t be getting a new car–my husband and I are squirreling away our money for a down payment in the event we ever find a house, and since both our cars are still in fantastic condition, that takes precedence. But I will save your post, just in case!
I do recommend everyone get a dash cam, though. Getting one installed isn’t necessary but can make for a nicer experience. If the shop you like offers them and they fit your budget that’s probably a good option to go with. There are lots of models out there with different features, but really as long as they record reliably and you can get the footage relatively easy that’s the most important factor. They’re generally not going to be able to read license plates beyond a short distance, but if they show that you didn’t run a red light or that you stayed in your lane, that’s really the most important thing in an accident.
Thank you!
My car is older than yours and it hadn’t occurred to me to want any “upgrades”. It’s all regression and enshittification now. The only real recent development is electric cars but conversions aren’t all that practical.
I thought a rear/backup cam would be nice. I don’t know what other options there are that are worth going. If the answer is ‘none’ then I’m glad I asked :)
Hmm yeah maybe. I’ve gotten along ok without it but it could be useful sometimes. I don’t think I’ll worry about it as long as I can keep using my current car.
