So, the new Ghostbusters trailer is out… and it hasn’t gone down too well with film fans. But why is that? Maybe it’s because the 1984 Ghostbusters was such a classic – or maybe it’s down to the all-female line-up? As we boggle at the many differences between the remake and the original, we got to thinking, what’s the deal with the new car?
From what we’ve seen so far, we feel the iconic ECTO-1 has been a tad overlooked with the new film. The creators have decided to keep its design quite classic, utilising a 1983 Cadillac hearse (the original featured a 1959 Cadillac). And we get it. These scientists are a paranormal start-up. All their car really needs is somewhere to store their proton packs, a large flashing siren and an intimidating logo painted on it.
But as this Ghostbusters reboot is set in modern day, we couldn’t help but wonder: how would the team utilise today’s automotive technology? We could go on forever about what car they could use – Dacia Logan (affordable and looks like a hearse), Volvo XC90 (gadget heavy), but we wanted to look at all the best car technology currently on offer and imagine the ultimate contemporary, ghoul-catching machine.
Driverless tech (As seen in the Ford Mondeo)
If you are blazing down Broadway, lights flashing, siren going ‘WAHHHHH’ then you are going to stick out. So, why not fool the ghosts into thinking you are one of them by having the car drive for you?
This is still a relatively new technology, so you would be limited as to how much driving the car would be able to do for you. But even a ghost would be pretty freaked out if they saw a car parking itself, or if they saw the steering wheel edging you left and right, keeping you in your lane.
Intelligent sat-nav (As seen in the Skoda Superb)
I don’t care how much the Ghostbusters claim to know the streets of New York, nobody can predict the traffic.
Go for a fancy sat-nav however and you don’t have to. Most sat-navs are capable of re-routing nowadays, some better than others. But if there is ‘something strange and it don’t look good’ across the other side of the city – like a giant marshmallow man – then time is of the essence.
Ludicrous Mode (As seen in the Tesla Model S)
‘Ludicrous Mode’ is exactly what it sounds like. Push this button in a Tesla Model S and it can be catapulted from 0-60mph in just 2.8 seconds. A more appropriate driving mode for ECTO-1 may be ‘Nightmare Mode’, but regardless of its name, punchier performance would definitely be welcome.
Remote Vehicle Shutdown (As seen in the Vauxhall Astra)
Imagine if a ghost stole your car… embarrassing, right? Well, go for Vauxhall’s OnStar system and you can control and monitor a range of features on the car via an app. These features include sounding the horn and, most impressively, requesting to have the engine turned off all-together.
They may be able to walk through walls, but hopefully if the engine isn’t running, a ghost wouldn’t be able to get very far. Although in Ghostbusters 2 a spirit did possess a car…
OnStar (As seen in the Vauxhall Astra)
It’s always useful to have an eye in the sky to help you out. Enter OnStar. Whether it is finding a nearby fast food joint or asking for assistance when a warning light is blinking on the dashboard, OnStar connects you to a call centre of people waiting to give you a hand.
In the case of the Ghostbusters, I guess they could ask OnStar to search nearby strange happenings and hauntings – “Oh hey OnStar, I’m bored, please direct me to the nearest terrifying apparition please. Thanks!”
Night Vision (As seen in the Mercedes S-Class)
A combination of advanced LED lights and a Night View Assist Plus system would make ECTO-1 as comfortable in the shadows as the ghosts it is hunting. This system utilises night vision to identify pedestrians, animals – and probably even ghosts – on the road by highlighting them with a red triangle.
If a human is detected, the headlights will aim at them and flash in a strobe effect to warn them. It’s so intelligent in fact, that if it detects an animal it will still shine a light on it but refrain from flashing as animal behaviour can be unpredictable. As you can imagine, this tech would be very useful down dark alley ways.
In car coffee maker (As seen in the Fiat 500L)
Late nights. Ghosts. Need I say more?
