It turns out that more technology in cars isn’t necessarily something customers want, and it’s not really improving their driving experience. We know my thoughts on the matter, but I’ll do my best to stay impartial on this latest survey from JD Power that shows most customers don’t appreciate technology in cars unless they can see a clear benefit to them.
JD Power’s 2024 U.S. Tech Experience Index Study evaluated over 81,000 drivers’ experience with “advanced vehicle technologies” in 2024 model year vehicles after 90 days of ownership, It turned out to be a pretty mixed bag when it came to what people liked using. There are a number of tech features that customers like using because they feels that it answers their needs, but at the same time there is a whole lot that don’t get used very often or are continually annoying, according to the survey.
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I had a model year 2002 as well, and it went through head gaskets pretty reliably every 30-35k miles. The failure mode wasn’t catastrophic damage every time, but it wasn’t pretty. I think exhaust gases would start getting into the coolant especially when the engine got hot, so I’d be maybe going uphill and notice the temperature spiking. Then I could pull off to the side of the freeway and wait for 30 minutes, start out again and drive home slowly.
Subaru admitted a gasket design fault for something like model years 1998 through 2000, but claimed for a while that everything was fine in 2001 and 2002, jerking me around and generally being awful.
It’s too bad. It was my second car and I was excited for the reputation of reliability and capability of Subaru, but it left such a sour taste in my mouth that I’ll never buy one again.