When I got my drivers license in 1990 the first car I drove was a 1984 Chevy Caprice Classic. It had automatic transmission. And that was about it. No frills. No bells. No whistles. Twenty one years later I tried to examine the biggest in-car developments that have made our driving experience better, easier and more enjoyable. Below you will find my Top 10 list of vehicle improvements over the last two decades. I'd love to hear what you think and some suggestions on things that I've left off.
10. Blue tooth -- the newest innovation on this list. With the explosion of cell phone use and more and more states making it illegal to talk on the phone while driving, the built-in blue tooth has become a must-have for commuters who need to talk on the phone.
9. Key-less starters -- If we lived in New England this might top the list. The ability to start and warm up our vehicles while we are still inside is truly a remarkable innovation. As it is, this invention is still utilized gratefully by Atlanta drivers during the winter months.
8. Cruise control -- The closest thing we have to an auto-pilot function. Anyone that's ever driven I-16 to Savannah or I-75 to Macon knows the value of cruise control both in making driving easier and avoiding speeding tickets.
7. Side view mirror adjusters -- Remember when you'd have to get out of your car or lean out the window to adjust your side view mirrors? We take this little advance for granted, but when you think about it, in terms of safety and ease, this was a big development.
6. Intermittent wipers -- I could make a strong case for this being number one on this list. Windshield wipers used to have two settings: on and off. Driving through a light drizzle was a maddening experience. Turn wipers on. Turn wipers off. Repeat every five seconds. Ughhh. I hated that. God bless intermittent wipers.
5. Power windows -- Clark Howard won't agree, but considering how often we roll our windows up and down, power windows are a no-brainer. Mix in the ability to have child locks for these and the old hand cranked windows are as antiquated as typewriters.
4. Entertainment -- Back in the day if you had an AM/FM radio you were living the high life. Fast forward to 2011 and in car entertainment options are mind boggling. From the 8-track to cassette and CD players the evolution of driving entertainment shows no signs of stopping. Vehicles today can contain satellite radio, televisions, MP3 players, DVD players and even video game consoles.
3. Three-point seat belts -- Remember when cars only had lap seat belts? The invention of the three-point belt, or shoulder harness, has saved countless lives. From a safety standpoint, the three-point belt might be more important than the airbag.
2. Cup holders -- They may seem less important than some of the other things on this list, but ask yourself this: would you consider buying a car that didn't have a cup holder? I didn't think so. The first cup holder was invented in 1950 as an attachment that people could attach to the dashboard. It took the auto industry almost 40 years to finally start building them into cars.
1. GPS -- Try explaining the Global Positioning System to the 1990 version of me and I would have thought you were crazy. I grew up using maps. I always had maps in my car. I used to take great pains to make sure I knew where I was going and how to get there. Now I can get into my car and in a few seconds have directions to any address in the country. It's truly remarkable. There are drawbacks to the GPS, most notably that people that use them are often absolutely dependant on them, but I think we can all agree that it's worth the trade off.
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