The word Cars may bring to mind a few different images for people.

Firstly, the Gary Newman Band called Cars, secondly, trams and thirdly the tin boxes used to drive around in.

Whats this got to do with the heading “Gadgets”?

Well lets see then….

I can fondly remember my first few cars during the 80s and early 90s. My first was a Mini (original old school) and then a gold Vauxhal Viva and lastly a purple Ford Escort MK1.

They all had vinyl seats, rust in places where rust should never be or be seen and easy to work on engines. They also had character, charm and that 70s styling that made them fun and unique from other manufacturers.

Basic? Well yes. One was lucky to have a working heater or radio. No computer chips or anything automated. Even the choke was manual. The windows either slid open or needed a hand winder.

This  was quite the norm for  a decade or so and many a street would see young men tinkering with their tin cans and oily engines on a Saturday and or Sunday morning. Yes one could work on their loves with a bisic tool kit including the universal tool of a good stout hammer.

So what happened?

Technology happened thats what. Cars became the amatures nightmare. Specialised tools were needed, engine diagnostic kits had to be employed and suddenly a wiring loom the size of an earthworm became a plate of oversized spaghetti with no way of knowing what did what and how or why it worked.

Gradually the dashboard has grown its number of lights and warning symbols to the point where a thirty page book is needed to decode what they mean.

Scroll forward to 2016 and take a look a the gadgets and technology that adorns even the most basic cars on the road.

Electric windows, air conditioning, bluetooth radio, remote central locking trip computers, cameras, cruise control and speed limiters and the ever present satalite navigation system. These are but a few and they are all linked in to the central computer that in turn makes the car work.

Some of the higher end models can support the modern business man/woman in complete luxury having TVs, heated and massaging seats, computer WiFi and a plethora of other niceties at their manacured fingertips.

All very comfortable and desireable but a long way from the basics.

No more vinyl seats that took the skin off unsuspecting legs during the few hot days. Now its leather  or plush cloth. Wet carpets when it rains has become things in story books and the smell of petrol fumes and burning oil are rarely indulged.

Cars were fun to drive even at relatively low speed and one felt every bump and heard the whine of the gearbox and scream of the engine as they struggled from one destination to another. Breakdowns were often and bits rattled and wobbled where ever we went.

They also looked so different from each other.

Today we have machines that do the same things,  look almost identical (its only the badge that gives the away), drive with ease and are so quiet that its sometimes hard to know its working.

There is very little heart or soul in modern cars (yes there are exceptions but they tend to be higher end and costly models) and there are far too many on our roads in the UK to make driving fun.

In otherwords cars have become boring as manufacturers must use the same software and designers to come up with their latest offerings. I love the electric windows and remote locking and bluetooth radios but hanker after the uniqueness of yesteryear.