I was just thinking about this the other day.  I was in a parking lot, surrounded on both sides by a huge truck and an enormous SUV.I couldn't see around them to save my life.  So I had to entirely rely on the backup camera my car has to navigate my way out.  That thing stopped me from hitting a car that I had no way of seeing without it.

After I got home, I got to thinking about it. I've gotten spoiled.  I thought back to the other cars I've had in my life and the change is very drastic.  My first car was my grandmother's old tannish Oldsmobile, complete with tape deck and no power steering.  In high school I had a Volkswagen Cabriolet with no radio in it.  I was grateful, don't get me wrong.  It was pretty sweet otherwise.

One car I drove in college really reminds me of how spoiled I am and how easy I've got it now.  It was a 1984 Volkswagen Rabbit (my dad liked working on Volkswagens) with two doors and a hatchback.  There were pieces of metal sticking out of it. You couldn't open the passenger side door from the outside. You also couldn't lock the driver's side door, because the key wouldn't turn on that side. The sunroof was operated by crank, just like the windows.  There was no lining to the ceiling, so yellow bits of foam would sometimes fall down. You couldn't put gas in it without it clicking like it was full every five seconds.  It was a stick, and whenever you'd push in the clutch, the engine would cut out. The odometer stopped reading at 300,000 miles.  My friends called it "the lawnmower" because you could hear it coming two blocks away.  If you opened the hatch, be prepared to hold it, because it wouldn't stay up unless you did.

But I drove the wheels off of that thing, and I was super grateful to have it.

And now, now I have everything automated.  My windows? Automatic.  Four doors? Heck yeah, I've got four doors.  Sunroof? No crank necessary. Heater? Check.  A/C? You know that stuff WORKS.  I've got push button start, GPS, keyless entry, heated seats, automatic start, I can open my trunk with my key fob, AND I can put gas in it without interruption.  I've got it so good now.  And the thing is, I didn't think I had it bad back then.  I had friends who relied on me for transportation.  I had it GOOD, because some people didn't have any vehicle at all.  And now, I rely on the new features that I would have never imagined back then to keep me safe today.  90's me would have been blown AWAY by all this stuff.

How spoiled I've become.  And I'm still grateful for it.

What are some of the new features in vehicles you rely on now?  What was your first car?  Did it have any quirks?

Volkswagenly yours,
Behka

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