Are we in the 1980s era of cars right now?

Posted by science-stuff@reddit | askcarguys | View on Reddit | 196 comments

It seems like the 2010s were pretty cool. Cars had some decent looks, gained a ton of power and efficiency, fit and finish was paramount on the brands that required it, and economy cars worked simply and intuitively. Now it seems like cars are managing to get less reliable, the fit and finish on the main consumer luxury cars are going plastic and squeaky, the knobs have been replaced with touchscreen, the aesthetics of the 2010s just became exaggerated, and doors and whatnot are being replaced with buttons and other gimmicks. I have to imagine a lot of this will be ironed out in the next several years, but I really feel the industry has taken a step back. Cost savings has always been a thing, that doesn’t excuse the lot. Are gimmicks selling people, do they like adjusting their ac with a laggy touch screen interface with no way to do it with muscle memory alone? I think we will look back on the 2020s as we did the late 70s and well into the 80s. Maybe I’m just an old guy yelling at the clouds?