I’m losing interest in cars these days

General Discussion
41

Advantages of new cars

  • Well-made, go for many miles without needing a lot of scheduled maintenance.
  • Very clean emissions

Disadvantages

  • Diy’er less friendly
  • High sales prices
  • Difficult to diagnose
  • High repair costs
  • Unusual amount of emissions related symptoms, esp expensive to set the readiness monitors in their “complete” state in order to pass emissions testing
  • Indistinct, unappealing styling.

No worries, if disadvantages outweigh the advantages for the car buyer, plenty of older cars available.

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42

Maybe not so much. But it has everything to do with following instructions, which many of you clearly demonstrated your desire not to, and keep pressure at least close to spec.

43

It sounds as if you have absolutely ZERO plans of buying a newer car :smirk:

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44

No plans, but I wouldn’t turn down a good deal of course. It would depend on the car for sale, and the price it is offered at.

45

There are a lot of automotive problems which have nothing to do with inflation pressures, despite your obsession with that single issue.

46

I like this car’s dashboard design. Any newer cars have something like this? … lol …

47

Yeah not much of a dashboard at all actually but it did have a red light the came on if your generator went kaput. Another feature was the radio that stayed on when the engine was off. The heater was nice for parking in the wintertime too.

Generally though I think people don’t just knock on your door with hood car deals. You have to go looking for them. I found my corvair in a farm field on a sales stop.

48

Forget which country, people will back over pedestrian if hit to make sure they are dead, as it it cheaper than an injury lawsuit.

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49

I remember the Car Show's late, great Len Frank, responding to a caller who wanted a car that lasted forever, telling her that, if she knows a blacksmith, she can keep a Model T running forever .

50

I have a rental car I despise, It is a new Buick Envision. It is particularly bad as a rental car. iI has a push button (well really mote of a pull button ) low on the console so until you are very familiar with it you have to take your eyes off the road/ The climate control system has a mind of its own and frequently changing the te,[ settings and randomly blasting you with high speed hot air in your face.the buttons and climate control;s are too low, too dark and two small. The usual GM ergonomics prevent me from getting a good seating position. If you move the seat back it drops like a rock, if it movr up, it moves forward. I can’t be the on;y one in the world who wants a seat ip and back at the same tome.

I am down to 6’’ tall and 210 lb and I cannot fasten the seat belt unless I open the door and lean to the left to fasten the seat belt because I can’t otherwise get my hand down it.

In typical Buick fashion it is quiet and good riding on a smooth road but any bumps it wallows and bangs,

One last quirk, something under the seat kicks you when you shift it.

51

Car makers are pulling back on ev plans and Tesla stock still rises. If none is going to build evs why would Tesla even consider making cheaper models?

52

Tesla saw a loss in sales to newer EV brands and their response was to decrease prices. I bought mine after a price drop and there was another price drop later. IMO that’s why the resale value dropped a lot. Why buy a one year old used Tesla for 10% less when a new one is already 10% less than last year’s new one?

53

Read today that Tesla is likely going the subscription model for options; heated seats etc…

I just have dislike for charging extra for things already installed and delivered with the car. Do not like this trend at all…

4 Likes
54

Bullcrap. I only know of one idiot in this forum who doesn’t follow the tire specs. He drastically overinflates his tires. 1-2lbs is well within specs. It’s always best to be a little over then a little under. 1-2lbs will NOT hurt the tires or handling. I’ve been keeping tires on my vehicles 1-2lbs over for 40+ years and well over 1,000,000 total miles with no ill-effects. Most of the tires last at least the rating (except the OEM tires). No difference in ride or handling. That 1-2lbs

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55

I read that too. BMW is starting to do that…and I heard that GM is also going that way.

56

I am just as guilty, if not more so, of getting off track on the subject, but just to take a side trip back to “Losing Interest In Cars…” for a moment, please… L :smiley: L . . .

Getting a driver’s license used to be a rite of passage for teens, now many teens are choosing to wait longer to hit the roads.

Here I am in my '70s and I still cherish my driver’s license… And I love to drive and it does not matter if I have a destination or not… As I like to say, “It’s not the destination, it’s the journey…”

I lived in New York State and when I turned 16 (1966), I took my learner’s permit test on my birthday. I had to wait a week before I could take the road test and it was the longest week of my young life…

As of 2023, the Federal Highway Administration says teens with licenses at 16 years old is down across the nation. They say 16-year-olds with licenses has dropped roughly 20% in the past 40 years.

Here in Virginia, drivers are able to get a learner’s permit at age 15 and a half. Some high schools even offer the driving permit test. The local Public Schools spokesperson say that teen driving interest is hard to track because their courses remain full amid a need for more driving instructors; however, once the teen gets their learner’s permit, they seem to lose interest in getting the license.

“Experts” here in Virginia point to a myriad of reasons for the trend including rising costs of cars, car insurance, and gas, decreased need to travel due to virtual social opportunities, increased instances of road rage and aggressive driving, and increased ride-share opportunities.

However, during an interview with several teenagers, one teen kept banging away on his phone all the time the interviewer was talking and when asked about this, the teen responded that having to drive a car was a distraction and it interfered with his “social presence…”

I do not know if he was joking or not, but he never took his eyes off his phone while speaking to the interviewer…

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57

How does that work? You pay per month for a sunroof, then if your subscription is up, they remove it?

58

This is age-revealing, but with the financial wherewithal, I would be driving a 68-69 Chevy Suburban 4X4. Considering I only drive about 2K per year, it would be highly cost effective. Yes, for those climbing on your horse, I know they are not as safe as today’s vehicles, not as economical and have many other substandard features. They are also very easy to maintain, repair and have a reliability I’ve yet to find in anything built with computers.

59

Good luck finding one that didn’t rust-out 20–or more–years ago.
:wink:

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60

It’s like satellite radio. If you don’t pay for it the feature is turned off. It requires software to control the feature they want to turn into a subscription.