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2005 Honda Civic LX w/ under 100,000 KM on it. In Canada, but first (and only previous) owner spent winter in Arizona and there has been no previous winter driving.

Car is a champ. I can adjust everything via tactile controls. Sensors exist, but fewer sensors. (Note, this next sentence is me talking out of my ass) There is a whole industry built on replacing faulty sensors that are not detecting the fault they were designed to test for.

Folks may note that a car of this vintage lacks safety features. This car has airbags, ABS and seat-belts. It does not have most of these features [0] built in; the driver is responsible for these features where possible. I'm fine w/ that.

Regular maintenance includes oil change and inspection of components due to age. I've got a great mechanic who factors age into his maintenance recommendations. My annual operating cost, including fuel, insurance, maintenance and parking for 2023 YTD is CAD$1880.

Mobile phone is used via ear bud. That has its own tracking issues but at least does not correlate to car-based telemetry.

[0] https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/2012/04/guide-to-safety-...




There has been a smaller advance in actual crash safety since 2000 than there was between 1980 and 2000. The only big leap forward since then was rollover standards where vehicles above a certain weight must be able to support their entire gross weight on their roof. Essentially any car designed and certified after 1998 is safe enough in an actual impact to prevent death or major injury barring structural failure like rust that compromises the crash cell and crumple zones. Most modern safety features introduced since the early 1980s are actually proactive rather than reactive in that they aim to prevent errant behaviour rather than protect from dangerous situations. Blind spot monitoring, lane change assist, and backup cameras for example are all proactive versus seatbealts, airbags, and crumple zones which are reactive.

2004 is around the last time we had mechanically simple cars with majority reactive safety systems and cars made before that cutoff date are getting increasingly more expensive to both enthusiasts and used purchasers.




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