<VV> pushing my buttons

[djtcz at comcast.net]

I rented a 2015 Chrysler 200 for 2 weeks a few weeks back because I have a nostalgic attachment to Mopars. 

9 speed automatic with the basic shift control as a big knob in the console in amongst other poorly lit and marked large knobs for heater fan, radio volume, and radio tuning. 
I'm sure since everything is computer controlled with a can bus or whatever control via a knob makes the most sense. 
It took me about a week to get used to that. 
I think buttons on a lit keypad would have been a lot better 

It drove very poorly in the low gears at part throttle and at part throttle. Surging and lurching. Maybe the great and powerful master CPU behind the curtain had adapted some curious driving habits by the previous renter, although it had 200 something miles to adapt to me. Maybe the CPU needed a re-flash or something. 

I can only imagine what the self driving cars are going to be like. 
Consumer computer controlled products. Derisive snort. 

Dan T 

======================= 

From: "Steven J. Serenska" <corvair at serenska.com> 
To: virtualvairs at corvair.org 
Subject: <VV> Cursed by Pushbuttons 

> After 65 - no more pushbuttons for Chrysler. Aspen/Volares were way after 
> that. Edsel had the pushbuttons in the steering wheel. 
Here's why I cringe every time I see the word "pushbutton" anywhere near 
the word "Corvair".... 


Scene: 
~~~~~~ 
1) Me 
2) Standing next to my Corvair in a grocery store parking lot 
3) Usually with a bag of frozen food that I need to get home 
4) Accosted by some Blowhard, who's in the company of 2 women 
5) Both of whom are sheepish and hanging on the Blowhard's every word. 


Dialogue: 
~~~~~~~~~ 
Blowhard: Oh, a Corvair. That's the one with the pushbutton 
transmission. Am I right? 

Blowhard: (Turns to women to make sure they're drinking all this in. 
Women look at him, then at me.) 

Me (politely): No, I think you're thinking of the T-shaped shifter on 
the dash that came on Corvairs with automatic transmissions. 

Blowhard (puffing up): No, I'm tellin' you, the Corvair had the 
pushbutton transmission. 

Me (done being polite): No Corvair was ever manufactured with a 
pushbutton transmission. 

Blowhard: Whaddya mean they didn't? I'm tellin' you. My brudda had 
one. I remember it. 

Me: (Standing there with that stare of disbelief that I get when some 
moron who hasn't seen a Corvair in 40 years attempts to lecture a 
current Corvair owner on the finer points of Corvairs.) 

(Return to top and repeat endlessly.) 

Steven "wishes he had a nickel for every time this has happened" Serenska 




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