Hello internet users. Someone in my family is looking to buy a car and wanted some recommendations for a private one. They are looking to buy new, and need Android Auto and CarPlay. I know all new cars suck for privacy by default, but I was hoping someone here could offer some insight as to which cars can be made better and what cars offer the best experience with minimal compromises on privacy and no subscription bs. I also have a Home Assistant instance that they can access remotely if there are any cars that can work well with that.

Edit: Android auto and CarPlay aren’t as important as I thought.

  • BearOfaTime@lemm.ee
    1·
    7 months ago

    Unlikely to find a new car without a calling home function.

    Definitely not one with car play.

    Best you can do is find the cell antenna port and put an RF sink on it (they’re used for testing radio output).

      • potatopotato@sh.itjust.works
        1·
        7 months ago

        The technical term is “dummy load”, most antennas are around 50ohm “impedance” which in an incredibly roundabout way means the antenna is indistinguishable from a 50ohm resistor at whatever frequency it’s tuned to…which means you can replace the antenna with a 50ohm resistor.

        This all assumes you care about leaving the radio functional (radio amplifiers will burn up if they can’t dissipate the energy they’re creating) and in most cases it’s probably fine to just cut the trace as close to the source chip as possible. That said, if the system is especially evil and well engineered it’ll throw errors in some cases so better to leave everything functional but unable to hear or transmit.

  • rekabis@lemmy.ca
    1·
    7 months ago

    A lot of vehicles prior to 2005 will not have a black box that records everything (and for which you will not have the encryption key for), nor will it phone home in any capacity.

    Pretty much 100% of vehicles prior to 1995 will definitely lack these features.

    If you want a vehicle that you control 100%, get a vintage vehicle.

  • ExLisper@linux.communityEnglish
    0·
    7 months ago

    Privacy and cars are mutually exclusive. If you want privacy use public transport and pay in cash. With cars you have licence plate scanner, cameras and tollbooths everywhere (no to mention that most people drive with their phones on them). “They” will know where were you driving no matter what car you use. The question really is what data are you trying to hide and from who? The obvious thing to do is not to give your data to advertisers. Selling you shit is the whole point of most of the data collection. Just get extra phone and use some fake google account for android auto and you should be fine here. As for car companies all they will gather is some generic data about your driving habits but guess what? Everyone knows this already because driving is not private (again, if you want to hide this use public transport). So yeah, it would be nice for car companies to be more transparent about the data they gather and how they use it but it’s really not a big issue. If you’re paranoid about it then don’t drive. If you’re driving the data your car is leaking though analytics is not your biggest problem.

    • lud@lemm.ee
      1·
      7 months ago

      Maybe they really want or need a car? They asked for the best car not for the most privacy friendly option in the world.

      You don’t have to go out and live on a farm in the mountains just because you care about privacy. There are degrees of privacy.

  • joewilliams007@kbin.melroy.org
    0·
    7 months ago

    Just buy a used car. Look for low KM and good climate rating.

    Why care for privacy when in the end your using android auto or apple play?

    And a home assistant breaks the point even further.