Awesome Car Features From the ’80s That We Miss

If you’re an ’80s kid, you probably remember the family car feeling like a Jetson’s space vehicle.

Your dad’s Chevy Impala had a dashboard that rivaled mission control with an array of toggles for everything from the rear defroster to the overhead light (which you swore to never turn on during night drives, so Dad wouldn’t be thrown in the slammer).

When Did Driving Get So Complicated?

Your mom’s wood-panelled station wagon had a hand-cranked window that would allow you to calibrate the most perfect breeze, not the one the car’s computer system decided for you. And if you were lucky enough to have pop-up headlights? Then your dad was probably Cameron’s dad from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

READ MORE: Old-School Ways We Listened to Music (and Why We Miss Them)

Fast-forward to today, and, well, you’re driving an iPad. Needing a computer science degree (or help from the Geek Squad) is increasingly the theme these days, with many options buried deep within menus and settings.

Are Buttons In Cars Making a Comeback?

Sadly, buttons have gone the way of a good road atlas. But are buttons making a comeback? Button-loving Gen X-ers may be happy to know that a report in Wired says some car companies are finally acknowledging the universal love for buttons after years of touchscreen exhaustion, leaving drivers frustrated — and even dangerously distracted.

Get Ready for Some 1980s Car Nostalgia

It got us thinking about all those satisfying little features that used to make driving genuinely fun — the ones that slowly disappeared, sacrificed for the sake of dreaded “convenience.” Because when you’re flying down the highway at 70 mph, nothing beats the feeling that you’re the one driving the car. Not an algorithm.