High Tech For Your Low Tech Car

September 13, 2017

High Tech For Your Low Tech Car

Not all cars come with the latest, greatest tech, and many of us drive much older, pretech cars. For example, I love my 2004 Mazdaspeed Miata like she's my child, but she is woefully short on electronics: no back up camera, no Apple CarPlay, no adaptive cruise control and no tire-pressure monitoring system.Given the importance of tire pressure for safety and fuel economy, I gave the Zus Smart Tire Safety Monitor a try. This aftermarket system tracks tire pressures and temperatures using four Bluetooth-enabled valve caps, an app and a receiver. The valve caps send pressure information to the receiver, which then connects to the app.

The system took less than 10 minutes to install in the Miata. I just downloaded the app to my phone, twisted the caps onto my tires' valve stems, and plugged the rather large car-shaped receiver into the USB port (although my car is so old I had to get a 12V adapter). To calibrate the receiver I drove at 15 miles an hour for about 50 yards, after which the four lights on the receiver, each representing a single tire, turned green to indicate all was well.

What do you think about it? You think this it worth it?