The Return of the Sedan?

[interstatefan990]

What are car companies going to do, release the same model year after year and keep everything optional?

You have no idea how happy that would make me.

Add that to the long, long, list of things that would make a consumer very happy but will never happen because of corporate profit margins.

Also, for what it's worth, you can still get a Ram 2500 or 3500 with manual window cranks in the base (Tradesman) model.

Voice activated air conditioning?! Is this Ram or Mercedes?

Depends on your arm and the car. I didn't have to bend over to crank the driver's window on my 1982 Accord. But that was a very small car.

Also: Not all crank windows are created equal. Some are harder to operate than others. I remember I was riding around in a base Nissan Versa once, and the knob was small and not super easy to grasp. It didn't help either that I have relatively large hands.

[Plutonic Panda]

Anyone have an E Tron GT Sedan? I'm seriously considering one.

[Takumi]

Anyone have an E Tron GT Sedan? I'm seriously considering one.

I'm also considering getting one, or possibly a Porsche Taycan which is the same chassis, in a few years once I'm done with nursing school and my truck is paid off.

[1995hoo]

Anyone have an E Tron GT Sedan? I'm seriously considering one.

My interest in that depends on whether it comes with deadly discs and a light cycle.

[kphoger]

You still have to lean down though.  I don't know if all cars were like this, but on the Ford Taurus my parents had when I was little, the crank would go practically all the way to the floor!

Even the power windows that didn't have the one click feature on my old Accord were annoying, but then, I drive a manual, so having to keep one hand on the window and the other on the wheel left none for the shifter.

Having grown up with cars that had both manual transmission and manual windows, I'm scratching my head at how you think this is an issue.

(My parents had an '85 Corolla hatchback and an '88 Camry sedan when I was a kid, both stick shift.  By the time I learned to drive, they traded the '85 for a '92 Camry wagon with an automatic.  I learned to drive in the '88.  They later traded the '88 for a '97 Camry stick shift, and I got a hand-me-down '95 Corolla stick shift from my sister around the same time.  As a young adult, I owned an '85 Corolla hatchback with a stick shift.  Out of all those cars, I think only one of the stick shift vehicles had automatic windows.)  (Also, can you tell that my dad used to be really big on Toyota?)

Leaning over to roll the window down is not a big deal.  Sure, maybe you have to lean over a little bit.  So what?  I just don't understand how this is a problem.

I wouldn't mind if car development had frozen at the level of the my 2014 Civic.  It's the perfect balance between modern convenience and avoiding all the techno-gizmos and surveillance of modern cars.

I'd be happy if it had frozen shortly after 2000.  My current vehicle, a 2002 Ford Focus with a stick shift, does me just fine.

[ZLoth]

While I live in Texas where owning a pickup seems to be a status symbol (and seeing some of those trucks, I'm wondering if the owner is making up for something), I much prefer my two sedans that are sitting in my garage. From what I can see, sedans get better mileage than pickups. Also, both of my sedans are paid off, but are at least ten years old. I'm figure I'm one major repair from retiring one of those vehicles.

[vdeane]

You still have to lean down though.  I don't know if all cars were like this, but on the Ford Taurus my parents had when I was little, the crank would go practically all the way to the floor!

Even the power windows that didn't have the one click feature on my old Accord were annoying, but then, I drive a manual, so having to keep one hand on the window and the other on the wheel left none for the shifter.

Having grown up with cars that had both manual transmission and manual windows, I'm scratching my head at how you think this is an issue.

(My parents had an '85 Corolla hatchback and an '88 Camry sedan when I was a kid, both stick shift.  By the time I learned to drive, they traded the '85 for a '92 Camry wagon with an automatic.  I learned to drive in the '88.  They later traded the '88 for a '97 Camry stick shift, and I got a hand-me-down '95 Corolla stick shift from my sister around the same time.  As a young adult, I owned an '85 Corolla hatchback with a stick shift.  Out of all those cars, I think only one of the stick shift vehicles had automatic windows.)  (Also, can you tell that my dad used to be really big on Toyota?)

Leaning over to roll the window down is not a big deal.  Sure, maybe you have to lean over a little bit.  So what?  I just don't understand how this is a problem.

I wouldn't mind if car development had frozen at the level of the my 2014 Civic.  It's the perfect balance between modern convenience and avoiding all the techno-gizmos and surveillance of modern cars.

I'd be happy if it had frozen shortly after 2000.  My current vehicle, a 2002 Ford Focus with a stick shift, does me just fine.

Well, any vehicle my parents had with crank windows was long gone by the time my age hit double digits, so I've never even contemplated it before this thread.  It also just occurred to me that there might be a gender difference here - I've noticed that men tend to sit much farther from the steering wheel than women, so there might be more margin for error to lean in before it would compromise the ability to steer.

As much as I loved my 1997 Accord (first generation hydraulic clutch aside), I'm too used to a digital speedometer (and the precision it allows) and the ability to switch to metric at the push of a button (no looking at the small numbers in Canada for me!) to want car design to be from back then.  I also used the aux jack occasionally.

[kphoger]

As much as I loved my 1997 Accord (first generation hydraulic clutch aside), I'm too used to a digital speedometer (and the precision it allows) and the ability to switch to metric at the push of a button (no looking at the small numbers in Canada for me!) to want car design to be from back then.  I also used the aux jack occasionally.

Huh.

I've driven one or two of those 1990s Hondas, and I found the clutch to be a really easy one to use.

I don't like digital speedometers.

I used to own a car with a needle speedometer that also allowed switching to metric by pushing a couple of buttons.  As soon as I'd select metric, the needle would immediately jump from, say, 50 (mph) to 80 (km/h).  I only drove that vehicle in Mexico on one trip, but it was really cool to be able to do that.

In general, I don't really look at the metric numbers when driving in Mexico.  If the speed limit is, say, 100 km/h, then I know off the top of my head that that's about 62 mph, so I just decide to drive a few mph over 62.  If it's 80 km/h, then I know off the top of my head that that's 50 mph, so I just decide to drive 55 or 60 mph.  When I did have that car that could toggle between mph and km/h, I actually found myself not really knowing as well how much over the speed limit I was going, because I'm used to judging that sort of thing in mph.

I've never used an aux jack in any vehicle.

[Max Rockatansky]

A digital layout isn't exactly a guarantee the unit conversion for speed is easy to find or switch.  I was driving some sort of rental Hyundai in British Columbia last year that I got at SeaTac.  I couldn't find how to switch to metric and spent the trip manually calculating my speed from Miles Per Hour to Kilometers Per Hour.  I finally figured out how to convert the layout to metric only at the border station line at the Peace Arch while crossing into Washington.

Down in Mexico our F150 and Suburban have older dial speedometers.  I don't recall off the top of my head what the Optra displays on the dash for speed.  Usually I only drive the Optra in town and I don't really get going fast enough to look down.

[kphoger]

Back to window cranks...  I'd love to have manual window cranks in our car.  It's annoying, if I'm getting ready to mow the lawn, but I realize I left the windows down, and I don't want to get grass clippings inside the car, that I have to go inside and get the car key and turn the ignition switch just to put the windows up.  I wish I could simply roll them up without going inside first.

[Plutonic Panda]

Anyone have an E Tron GT Sedan? I'm seriously considering one.

I'm also considering getting one, or possibly a Porsche Taycan which is the same chassis, in a few years once I'm done with nursing school and my truck is paid off.

Yeah, the Porsche is nice. It's a little expensive though. I think more than the GT. Even the GT is a little out of my price range and if I purchase it, it's gonna be probably one of the most irresponsible purchases of my life, but I really think it's a sexy looking sedan. I don't like the regular a A6 E Tron. Though the panoramic sunroof where you could make it opaque is pretty cool. Have you seen that?

[Plutonic Panda]

Anyone have an E Tron GT Sedan? I'm seriously considering one.

My interest in that depends on whether it comes with deadly discs and a light cycle.

That would be super cool if they had some sort of a lighting theme or some kind of startup sound where it sounds like you're going into the grid. I tell you I think Tron legacy is one of the best live action remakes I've ever seen.

[Takumi]

Anyone have an E Tron GT Sedan? I'm seriously considering one.

I'm also considering getting one, or possibly a Porsche Taycan which is the same chassis, in a few years once I'm done with nursing school and my truck is paid off.

Yeah, the Porsche is nice. It's a little expensive though. I think more than the GT. Even the GT is a little out of my price range and if I purchase it, it's gonna be probably one of the most irresponsible purchases of my life, but I really think it's a sexy looking sedan. I don't like the regular a A6 E Tron. Though the panoramic sunroof where you could make it opaque is pretty cool. Have you seen that?

I do think the GT is better looking. Ever since I saw one in a grocery store parking lot a few months ago it's been in the back of my mind as a possible future purchase. For a hybrid, I think the new Prelude is nice, but like its predecessors it's a bit overpriced for what you get.