I would get a late-model Toyota and call in via the SOS button to disable the telematics. It’s a documented process and isn’t like pulling teeth. A company that respects through-and-through doesn’t really exist.

Find a model that has what you want and doesn’t use any phone apps.

The car itself is more important. You can trade powertrain dependability for a nicer interior with a Kia, you can get superior packaging in a Honda, etc. Options also vary between trims, etc.

excellent, glad to hear

Does RCS work reliably on Graphene? I thought Google was fucking with RCS quietly for those on custom ROMs or other things.

Sorry to be the one but the privacy and freedom issue is independent of powertrain. Some earlier models before the automakers went upmarket with EVs were perfectly normal. Now the tablet-on-dash, telematics and other data collection has become pervasive in EVs but now it’s in full-force on ICE vehicles for quite some time. A Mach E and Colorado can both be, and have been, bricked by a bad OTA update.

Practicality though also will vary. If people were used to charging at home all the time, telling people that they have to visit a business to refuel every X days or Y miles would seem odd just because it’s quite different than people think is normal.

See what kind of radio you have in there - if it’s 3G then you’re already set since it’s likely been sunsetted.

This applies to 4Runner’s but the gist may apply.

2019 and earlier MY have a 3G radio and that’s gone. 2020+ have a 4G radio that should be disconnected via phone call first before hardware mods.

Disconnecting the antenna on that vehicle only reduces cellular range but there is also a fuse that can be pulled but that will be very model specific so checking your manual/fusebox/online documentation may help. (in Toyota’s the only side effect is loss of microphone use for in-car calls)

There’s no easy one-stop solution since it can vary widely.

I would look at subreddits (yuck, reddit!), or dedicated forums for your model if they exist, you’d probably be surprised what’s out there. (Example, there’s Piloteers (Honda Pilot), Kia-Forums (Kia), 4Runners and Toyota-4Runner, etc. But information may be scattered.

First objective is figuring out if it’s even on your vehicle or applicable. Older 3G radios are done since the networks that connected to them are gone now. My '16 Kia had no cellular radio. Maybe you have an SOS button or they advertise a phone app to control your vehicle remotely?

Edit: And if you can’t find specific model/year information for your vehicle, you can look for information for related vehicles and see if it’s relevant. Ex: Honda Passport, Pilot, Ridgeline sharing a lot of engineering.

in this case that’s Toyota specific and it means likely loss of phone calls on the go (but nothing else) even though the data can’t leave your vehicle anymore. It all depends on how they wire up the system. Maybe it’s easier, maybe it’s tied to something random.

The antennae only likely won’t reduce range enough. Check for an opt-out procedure prior to purchase since that’s easiest, then look for what fuse powers the connection (also easy), but worse case, lay eyes on the module itself and evaluate.

I’m sure it varies widely. In Toyota’s you can call in to disconnect (I did it while waiting for a tire pressure machine) but to do it physically you pull a single fuse and the trade off is losing the microphone.

Others have pulled the dash and disconnected antennae but it just reduces the range of the box since it’s a cellular radio like a phone.

In Toyota’s there’s a red sticker on the dash talking about it and how to opt-out. (or at least I’ve seen it in a rental and a new car - but it might also be yanked by dealer’s PDI)

Varies widely. In Toyota’s you call via the SOS button, have your VIN and they can do it. There are also other direct ways like pulling the Mayday fuse to disconnect the “Data Connection Module” (DCM) but that takes the microphone with it.

Some older vehicles that have 3G radios might not have been disconnected explicitly but are as good as dead because 3G as they knew it is gone.

It does not report via Android Auto since these vehicles have their own cellular radios, but not to say Google has its own metrics.

Your best bet is looking for a car/make-specific forum or subreddit and see if anyone’s asked the questions before while ignoring the “nothing to hide, you have a phone lol” clowns.

When you say “couch” my first thought is a recent-ish Celeron or Pentium Silver fanless laptop. Performance akin to a Core 2 Duo but no fan to get blocked sitting on the couch. Like the Latitude 3210(?)

Laptops that appeal to me are often bottom breathers so it’s one thing I miss from my old MB Air.

[cries in seeing how people treat ROM maintainers]

You’d have to check, my personal X1 Extreme Gen 4 has the toggle but my new work T14 Gen 3 does not.

I’m sure you tried but the definitive option would be a BIOS switch to change it. Sometimes is says S3, sometimes it says Linux sleep (like my personal ThinkPad)

But if you don’t have that toggle at all, the firmware probably dumped S3 entirely - especially if it’s a relatively new machine and you’ll have to lean much more on Hibernate like my new work ThinkPad.

I would investigate whether an older BIOS version still has the S3 toggle since some BIOS updates have removed S3 I believe but a search of forums would probably turn up enough complaints to hit your radar.

Results may vary but you can always plug it back in after testing.

Toyota’s have no negative effects beyond obviously no cellular functions and the microphone ceasing to work.

I recommend figuring out what the opt-out procedure is too. If I ended up with a Toyota, calling in via the SOS button will start the process of disconnecting the system.

Also note that some may have 3G radios, etc. which are already defunct.

Edit: Fixed typo

My favorite is that their seeming takeaway from the success of Barbie is to go heads deep into TOY MOVIES.

Now that’s something absurd I want to see in a space exploration game. No preparation of the player, just that dropped right into the galaxy.

Netflix’s crackdown affected me (I was the moocher) and I canned Hulu before some price hikes (I was the provider) and put the money towards a VPN.

I spend the computing power converting some media to play on my PS4 (plus finagling with subtitles) but once it’s done it’s done.

I think about that sometimes, I’m already cringing at new slang like “X is giving me Y” replacing “X is giving me Y vibes” since I’m old and keep wondering “X is giving you Y what?”

I’ve been deleting a lot of the old time-specific ones too in my photo library here and there - I imagine those like the Boat-Stuck-in-Canal or OceanGate memes - assuming the internet kinda survives - will be thought of like that Mesopotamia joke(?) that has lost its context except by super history buffs.