Despite having a car with a phone app, I tend to agree. Mine has the first 3 years free and then there’s a €4.99 per month subscription for it and I don’t expect to be paying it.
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Agreed, but I suspect that ship has sailed - cars are so packed with electronics nowadays that you might as well have an app for convenience, given that the thing is basically a computer on wheels anyway.
Otherwise see if you can find a nice 1949 Citröen 2CV in decent nick. 
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Interesting, but scary multi-dimensional investigation of Musk’s computers on wheels in this morning’s Guardian. See:-
Even the retractable door handles are potential death traps!
Edit: See the above story is now also on a separate thread,
See also:
My smug score has just gone through the roof. I had no idea there was a law about running the engine just for the a/c and just as well, waiting with my dog Jules for 2 and a half hours for some numpty woman who had forgotten to charge her EV I had the engine ticking over for all that time with the a/c on full blast. The temp was 38c even though I managed to find a tree to shelter under.
Happily my car, a 13 year old Peugeot Partner, does not need an app (or a paper clip) to perform its life saving task, it just chugged away and we came out alive. Didn’t even need a smartphone. 
There seems to be a certain irony in using an ICE A/C to cool down the air that has been heated by global warming.
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Yes but if you forgot to fuel your vehicle it would be no different the lady was stupid nothing will cure that🙃
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Nope by the sun, 1.5c is not enough to require AC.
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OK. I should have said “changes caused by global warming”
My previous car was a mini countryman, and I described it shortly after acquisition as “a car for the iPhone generation”. That’s not a complement. Overall it was an excellent and inspiring vehicle to drive, but some aspects seemed designed to cope with the know-nothing uninvolved owner and about ensuring they didn’t need to acquire understanding. The present Skoda, now 5 years in my possession, takes that a notch higher, and it’s just a little frustration to be even more disconnected from the goings on under the bonnet.
Yet the now usual summer heatwaves and wildfires are certainly exacerbated by global warming. The 1.5° is an average - as I am sure you are aware.
It’s the modern way, unfortunately. A car is just a commodity like any other and, I suspect, for the vast majority that’s just how they like it.
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Indeed, but also here by the guy who does barbecue food at markets and doesn’t properly put his barbecue out and proceeds to drive home causing seven seperate wildfires along the way. You couldn’t make it up, but I guess he’s in for a roasting
I think a better word is “appliance”, like a fridge or washing machine. One must remember though that there is still a hierarchy even in that segment. Do you want to drive an ill handling Zanussi or a road hugging Neff 
I think it’s the death knell of Porsche one way or the other.
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Tongue in cheek, 1.5c extra doesnt cause wild fire combustion, humans do.
I think you are talking Siemen
Yes, just like VW and British Leyland (and we al know how that ended) badge engineering all the way.
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That is an interesting concept. What sort of expert is needed to service an EV? Is it a mechanic, IT expert or electrician?
My recent “problem” was tackled by the head of servicing, two mechanics and a much younger (compared to me) salesman. The problem was eventually solved by the latter.
Definitely different skills required, and I wonder if one person can encompass them all.
Probably not just yet, but the Chinese will be building someone 
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