Interesting factiod about new cars vs old cars...….As you compare the two, you find that the new car does EVERYTHING better. The new car is faster. The new car is quieter. The new car , in most cases, has more trunk space. The new car stops better. The new car gets better gas mileage. The new car rides better, and can hold the road better. The new car has a better stereo. The new car's lumbar support seats are more comfortable on a long drive. The new car's A/C works better. The new car doesn't scare away mechanics, should you need roadside assistance. Speaking of roadside assistance, the new car's tires are more likely in stock than the old car's tire sizes. The new car's headlights and dash lighting is better than the old car's. I can go on and on...………...But really, NOBODY CARES! No one sees a new whatever going down the street and says, "..Oh look!......that's a new_________. For the owner, ( not a lessee ), there's a real pride in owning and driving your old car. Darned near everyone who sees you driving down the street likes to see the old ( er ) car. Old cars are a tangible link to better times, maybe for some, their youth, and for some others maybe a bit of nostalgia.
My Wife and I bought a new car, for her, and it's just what she wanted. I drive her car now and again, and it does everything well. So, I have a new car in the family as well....but my main driver, the car I'm most happy driving, is my old Mustang. I think I'm normal, insomuch as a "car guy" can be....
I've owned a lot of cars since 1982 when I first got my drivers licence. A snot nosed spotty faced rookie. :whistling:
I now find ALL new cars somewhat depressing.
Why do I throw tools around when doing my XK8 and I don't get that mad with my big 351c Mustang????
It's not just that new cars are less than perfect than the look of them on the new sales lot implies. A lot of older cars I've had have less problems and have been less expensive to run.
It's also not the usual peev... which is, you have to go way up the $$$$$$ price tag to get something that doesn't look like the inside of a wheelie bin. An unremitting sea of boring, dead grey plastic with body styling done by the least imaginative person in the corporation. :-/
I HATE ... and I mean "HATE"
with every fiber of my existence - the "over the years closing door of self repair"... Taking as much as they can and confining it to "dealer service only"... to scare the customer away from the dealer mechanics domain. A domain now fenced with razor wire, booby traps and landmines.
Things like; sealing the transmission fluid so you cant replace it, the crammed working spaces filled with unnecessary over complicated components that don't even make the vehicle run FFS (plastic shrouds etc)... Sometimes you have to break your arm in 3 places in order to undo the nuts holding the F**king thing together. :thankyouyellow:
The limitless amount of stupid sensors that stop the car from working when there is no actual problem with it mechanically ... IT'S BECAUSE THE SENSOR DIED" ... ARRRRGHHHH!! ! :bravo:
And the one that gets me riled beyond becoming incandescent with rage, to the point that makes me want to get all the geeky, nerdy coders on the planet and have them melted down for glue.... the need to rock up to your old Victorian internal combustion engine with a LAPTOP and a interface to get codes out. :bs:
A fighter jet has 25 million lines of code
The space shuttle had 35 million lines of code
With all the modules in most luxury cars today ...a whopping 100 million lines of code.
For that alone ...I now HATE modern cars ...yet I'm a technologist.
I am so happy now and feel better off having less cars with computers. With non ECU cars they're less problematic, more reliable, easier and cheaper to fix, ::thumb::
Here's an example
My XK8 fuel pump change ...like working on a car through a letterbox because the spaces are so small. ...took a day + £320 + had to link the sensor with CANBus addressing to make the car ECU find it.
Fuel pump replacement on 351 C in my green beast... £29, Half hour of my time... and I had fun doing it....
I cannot take pride in the, made by nerds XK8 and modern examples....not like I can to a car that was styled by geniuses and made by Dearborn line guys with big arms that ate sandwiches the size of my desk, like real men.
Talk about how to get noticed - I went to a show last year that had young Ferrari's Lambo's etc. ... but one observation caught my attention... the crowds of people were mingling around the Chevelle SS's, Mustangs, Dusters, Pantera, Challengers and Chargers etc...even step-side trucks ...no one, I mean no one was interested in the new Lambos and Ferrari's.