Your World of Tomorrow fascinates me!

So, I've been driving the same car for thirteen years, a roadster whose dashboard amenities were deliberately retro even when it was introduced. And the "new" car I bought for emergency winter transportation dates from the last year of the previous millennium and isn't overly laden with options, either.

For the past couple weeks I had the use of a 2014 Jeep Cherokee, and it was Future Shock on wheels. Bear in mind, this is not some kind of ultra luxo mobile; it's intended to compete with little crossover utes of the RAV4 and Forester class, and base models start only a few Gs over the twenty long mark.

Not boxy at all.

This one, though, was well-optioned, and by "well", I mean that it had the 271 horse 3.2L V6. Sure, it's nearly double the weight of the Z3, but it's got almost another hundred ponies to haul the avoirdupois around. When you booted it, the nine speed slushbox (NINE speed) would drop down a gear or three and it would make splendid motorboat noises as the digits on the speedo scrolled upwards. It was not long ago that a sub-7.5 second 0-60 time was respectable for a sports car, now it's the province of moderately potent family buses.

It may say "Cherokee" on the nameplate, but this reboot of the iconic label isn't a ladder-framed, leaf-sprung rock crawler made civilized for pavement, but rather a transverse-engined FWD floorpan with optional 4WD. Handling had some inevitable wallow from putting over two and a half tons up on stilts (it's surprisingly heavy for its size) but like most crossovers, it's more sedan than pickup truck when it comes to steering responsiveness and ability to change directions or velocities abruptly without winding up backwards or upside down. The winter-tortured asphalt of rural New Hamphire was absorbed with aplomb by the suspension, as were the washboards and bumps of the dirt roads.

In the future, one does not bother with anything so plebeian as a key, apparently. You just wander up to the car with the RFID fob in your pocket, it lets you in, you punch the start button and drive off. Meanwhile, the Bluetooth-enhanced entertainment system starts playing the music on your iPad, all without you having to do a thing.

Clouseau could run a slalom in reverse with this baby.

The backup camera, with your path illustrated by colored lines that bend appropriately as you turn the wheel, is the neatest geegaw I have ever seen in an automobile. I don't think I've had as much fun with anything on a car dashboard since I drove a Sprint Turbo that had a little green light that said "BOOST" come on when the turbo was spooled up.
.