i think he's right on this one.

[basite]

I think Jeremy clarckson is partially right on this one

http://www.topgear.com/content/featu...ries/13/1.html

some things are just better of being simple, not all of them but certainly alot.

[topspeed]

Clarkson is always good for a laugh ! Great article, although it's painfully clear the man is clueless when it comes to home entertainment. I wish DirecTV would get off their arses and start the new season already! I have to go to the internet just to get my TopGear fix! TopGear in HD and DD would be perfect!

Jamie Kitman from Automobile mag coined a phrase a few years ago that has always stuck with me: Crapulent Luxury. This is what he calls all of the garbage the auto manufacturers, German in particular, seem hellbent on dumping into our cars. iDrive, COMAND, MMI, Bluetooth, DVD players, mobile e-mail, laser guided cruise control, et. al. Would you believe the new Lexus LS will actually park itself ?!? Seriously. For parallel parking you simply watch your nav screen, pull up to the car in front of the space you want, and the system will back the car in and perfectly park it. They call this progress.

I call it scary.

[Woochifer]

Clarkson is always good for a laugh ! Great article, although it's painfully clear the man is clueless when it comes to home entertainment. I wish DirecTV would get off their arses and start the new season already! I have to go to the internet just to get my TopGear fix! TopGear in HD and DD would be perfect!

Yeah, the author's comments about plasma TV is pretty much in line with what I hear when people watch analog cable channels using the 16x9 stretch mode on their new plasma screens, and wonder what the big deal with HDTV is! My wife and I just stayed in a boutique hotel over in New York that had plasma sets in the rooms, and the picture looked like crap because they were playing analog standard def in the stretch mode. I think LG and the other companies should totally refrain from selling their widescreen HDTVs to hotel chains unless they agree to set those things up properly -- the picture quality on that plasma screen in my hotel room was terrible advertising.

Jamie Kitman from Automobile mag coined a phrase a few years ago that has always stuck with me: Crapulent Luxury. This is what he calls all of the garbage the auto manufacturers, German in particular, seem hellbent on dumping into our cars. iDrive, COMAND, MMI, Bluetooth, DVD players, mobile e-mail, laser guided cruise control, et. al. Would you believe the new Lexus LS will actually park itself ?!? Seriously. For parallel parking you simply watch your nav screen, pull up to the car in front of the space you want, and the system will back the car in and perfectly park it. They call this progress.

I call it scary.

That's a very appropriate term! I agree, anything that does not directly enhance the driving experience and provide a utilitarian level of comfort and convenience does not belong in cars. Everytime I rent a car, I'm actually hoping that the midsize or compact vehicles that I reserve are available. Because otherwise I might get "upgraded" into a luxury/sport model that requires me to bump around the display screen controls for half an hour just to figure out how to turn on the radio or work the ventilation! Even after I figure out how to work the controls, I just don't like the amount of attention that those systems divert from the road ahead. Do these car designers actually think that drivers aren't distracted enough as it is?

A Lexus that parks itself?! Great, as if the trend towards turning luxury vehicles into glorified sensory deprivation chambers wasn't bad enough, we now got more excuses for bad drivers to continue driving badly!

Funny thing about all these questionable gizmos getting packed into new cars, my wife is simply looking for a car that has hand cranked windows! I guess that's why she's got her eye on that Scion xB.

[JoeE SP9]

Woochifer, you say your wife wants a car with hand cranked windows. I still miss vent windows!

[basite]

Would you believe the new Lexus LS will actually park itself ?!? Seriously. For parallel parking you simply watch your nav screen, pull up to the car in front of the space you want, and the system will back the car in and perfectly park it. They call this progress.

I call it scary.

yup, you're right on the term "scary"

for two reasons,
first: it is kind of creepy that your car is going to park itselves, i mean, come one, next step is that you'll get a remote control that will say: go shopping, do laundry, come here, ...
that is creepy.

reason 2: it means that lexus thinks that people can't drive anymore, that would be a disgrace to the majority of the people, cuz they... can drive.

Greetz,
Basite.

[Woochifer]

Woochifer, you say your wife wants a car with hand cranked windows. I still miss vent windows!

Yup, my wife is from the old school: more fancy features and options = more things adding weight to the car waiting to break down. Both of us used to drive VW Bugs, so I would not be surprised if my wife goes gaga over a car that includes vent windows. Must be that nostalgia thing, but then again I don't think she'd want a car that has a climate control similar to the old Bugs (i.e., constantly vascillating between nonfunctional and dysfunctional)!

[paul_pci]

Aren't all manufacturers now discontinuing hand crank windows? I had to replace the gear on one once: $150!

[JoeE SP9]

Yup, my wife is from the old school: more fancy features and options = more things adding weight to the car waiting to break down. Both of us used to drive VW Bugs, so I would not be surprised if my wife goes gaga over a car that includes vent windows. Must be that nostalgia thing, but then again I don't think she'd want a car that has a climate control similar to the old Bugs (i.e., constantly vascillating between nonfunctional and dysfunctional)!

I had a Kharman Ghia once. In the winter I kept windshield defroster inside the car for defrosting purposes.