My car “told” me in a screen message it was shutting down power to the in-dash Information screen Sunday “to conserve” battery power as I went to turn on the ignition.

It is the first time I’ve ever had a car give me a heads up the battery was about to become history.

Adding to the surprise was the next day when I was able to call Manteca Ford at 8:35 a.m. and just five hours later have a replacement battery, oil change, new front brakes, and new lug nuts.

The damages were $1,023.72.

Forty years ago, if someone tried to charge me a “C” note for what I just listed, I would have had a massive coronary.

And they would have taken them four days to schedule an appointment and all day to do the work.

My experience Monday — or should I say for the 7 years and 8 months I’ve owned a 2017 Ford Focus — is indicative of how automobile quality has improved, longevity reflects the 1950s standards, an innovation has changed driving.

I need to be clear.

New car manufacturing isn’t perfect, not by a long shot.

There seems to be too many recalls in any given month.

And believe me, there are lemons out there, as my experience with a brand new 1985 Volvo 740 sedan taught me well when I drove it off the lot and discovered its main purpose was to keep Volvo mechanics employed full time.

Back to the battery message.

It’s the first time it has ever popped up.

It means I am now driving the Focus with its first ever replacement battery.

Not bad for almost 8 years and 77,309 miles.

As for the front brakes, I knew I needed them after my previous service when the back brakes were replaced for the first time ever.

It was also the first replacement for the front brakes since I drove the car off Manteca Ford’s lot during Thanksgiving weekend of 2017.

The Focus is my 10th new car. It would be my 12th but a 1976 Chevy Monza hatchback that was a dealer demo with 5,000 miles on it doesn’t count.

With the exception of a 2005 Ford Escape hybrid that my granddaughter is now driving, I used to replace brakes every 20,000 to 30,000 miles.

The technology has clearly improved.

As for the battery, I’ve never had one last beyond 60,000 miles and never more than four years.

I may have gotten a “winner” but I credit it more to a change in dealership protocol where they always check the battery when it’s in for service.

And when they do check them, as quick inspections under the hood afterwards by a non-mechanic Luddite like myself, duly noted they cleaned the corrosion off.

Do not misunderstand.

The Focus I drive didn’t come off the assembly line perfect. The transmission was replaced under warranty.

But by and large it has been a solid car complete with reasonable bells and whistles — Bluetooth capability, Sirius radio, voice commands on the steering wheel, and such.

They are things I realize have been expanded upon in every make and model almost a decade later.

But when it comes to basic functionality — given everything that we have come to expect with  rolling ergonomic safety cages — they’re light years ahead of the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, and  certainly the 1980s when Detroit seemed to be in self-destruct mode in terms of what they churned out.

Everything under the hood in gas-powered vehicles looks, and is, incredibly complicated.

That’s because it is.

The vastness around basic engines in the 1950s and 1960s was in an era before turbochargers, high fuel efficiency, cleaner burning engines, universal air conditioning, and more.

The two-seat 1980 Datsun 280 ZX I once owned was definitely more sports car than the 2017 Ford Focus in my driveway.

Yet, the specifications for the Focus I now drive reflects 160 horsepower and the ability to accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in 8.3 seconds compared to the 1980 Datsun ZX with 132 horsepower and the ability to go from 0 to 60 in 9.2 seconds.

It might not seem as that big of a gain, but in constant 1980 dollars the Ford Focus was just under $3,000 less in 2017.

And while the 1980 ZX was fully loaded with a stereo system that was top tier at the time, the sound system in the Focus plus all the tech touches are in a somewhat different class. The Focus has a power sunroof and the 1980 Datsun 280 ZX had T-tops.

If you don’t know what T-tops are, federal regulators felt a compulsion at the time to require a warning sticker on the passenger cabin’s headliner stating that one should not drive the car with your head above the roof line as if that were possible unless you were Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Then there is what you don’t see.

Crumple zones and  stepped up passenger compartment cages have significantly reduced the amount of carnage done to the bodies that count — the human driver and passengers — in accidents.

Damage is higher and costlier but there’s a caveat. It’s because cars today do what they are supposed to do which is reduce the chance of serious injury or deaths in collisions.

Yes, oil changes were once so simple and without risk of a $1,000 environmental fine if you inadvertently spilled what you drained in the wrong place that you could do it  yourself with ease.

And if you didn’t do it yourself, the cost typically came at under $15 complete with filter change 40 years ago as to the low end today that is somewhere around $60.

We all like to go on and on about prices today and the quality of products.

Cars, however, are like television sets.

The basic models, as long as you don’t opt for the mega-cinema experience, are reasonably priced and packed with a lot more tech advances than 40 years ago.

Also keep in mind the average lifespan — that’s not one person’s ownership — of a car in the United States is now at 17.1 years.

No one is happy, including myself, about forking over money unexpectedly for car repairs.

But in the general scheme of things measured against the test of time, most of us for the most part get more out of the cars we drive today than we did 25 years ago.

That said, I do kind of miss the 1980 Datsun ZX.