What Car Option Is Absolutely Worth The Money?

Photo: Steve DaSilva / Jalopnik

Cars cost too much these days. Used cars, new cars — they all demand too much from our increasingly beleaguered wallets. Sure, new cars offer more features, tech, and safety than every, but how much are those worth to you in real, actual dollars?

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That’s a tough question to answer. How do you quantify that kind of progress, tie it all back down to a single line on a balance sheet? No, we’re not going to make you develop the formulas to figure out which features are worth what. Instead, today, we’re asking a simple question: What car features will you pay for?

This applies to buyers of both new and used cars. Whether you’re ordering from an automaker, shopping around from dealers, or scrolling used listings, it’s easy enough to keep an eye out for specific features. No matter how you buy, what will you pay extra for?

My pick for an option that’s truly worth the money is Apple CarPlay. Sure, it’s less commonly an option nowadays — it’s easy to find it included in even base-model cars by now — but even when shopping used, I’ll always take the car with CarPlay over the one that lacks it. I even went so far as to swap the head unit in my own FR-S, all just to add a bit more phone compatibility.

Changing playlists on a long drive, getting directions while you’re on the road, placing a phone call — phone integration with a head unit makes all these tasks actually possible, rather than forcing you to pull over in order to execute them safely. I like to have audio on my long drives, and CarPlay makes it convenient.

That’s my pick for a car option that’s worth the money, but what’s yours? Leave your answers in the comments below, and we’ll compile our favorites later in the week.