And What's GREAT About Today's Cars?

[daveamkrayoguy]

Thought we were talkin' NEW CARS! But these ARE--Were...

Hey, Phil, thanks for the info... Had no idea that there was any distinctive "feature" when it came to anything "Electrical"...  I mean, Chevy's Corvette has a gauge that reads: "Battery", while there are cars that say "Volts" or "Amps"...  So I thought that this was whatever came to mind to whoever designed instrument panels/lights/gauges, before the 'lighted Battery- or Lightning-shaped international picture-symbol or icon became common...

 

Funny how I've seen everything from the actual words spelled out to abbreviated stuff like "Tank", "Temp", (TEMPER? Really, Temperature, which I would see & knew it was an anabbreviation) "Alt" (which I used to think was ALTITUDE if your car was AIRBORN! But, then I took 'Alternator' for Accelerator', which I mistook as what would be 'Vacuum', and took that as in--you guessed it--your vehicle having/being a Vacuum CLEANER!) "Gen", "Hi Beam" (equating it w/ driving on something like a Balance Beam in Gym Class) and "Oil" I think was self-explanatory & the only thing I'd understood the significance of; this was in my youth--waaaayyyy before I actually learned to drive, picking up more o' what this stuff means along the way...

 

Might I say, the 'Rear Defog' light (when it's on) looks mighty unusual; forgot to mention that...  Maybe the toggle switch just didn't have the room for a simple LED to keep it uniform w/ the surrounding switches there--Buick sure gets mighty fancy, there, don't it?!

 

 

-- Dave

[this post was last edited: 1/24/2015-17:16]

 

[wayupnorth]

My 81 Corvette has a battery icon. My new Silverado has a battery icon along with a thermometer, gas pump etc. Rear defrost is a square icon and front is a wiper one, and it has tons of idiot lights too. I kept the 1000 page owners manual on my coffee table for reference and still have not figured out all the electronic stuff in it. But I do like all the features once you figure out how to use them.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Gettin back to Topic, 'NEW':

Unless you leave your key in the trunk or on one of the seats it's impossible to lock your keys in the car!

The doors do not lock, at least while the key's in the ignition...  At least the driver's door doesn't, anyway...  And can't you call your OnStar or whatever, and the car might get automatically unlocked, too?  Something that cars when remote entry seldom had during the infancy of that, 20-years-ago...

 

Fold-down seats, too... Just about every non-hatchback offers that (given what few hatch back cars are left)...  ("But where will WE sit?", asks the kids in a MAD Magazine Dave Berg Lighter Side, when the creator parodies himself and his family loading up the family wagon, taking advantage of making extra space in the family SUV to make room for more cargo on a family vacation...)

 

 

 

-- Dave

 

 

 

[countryford]

Dave:

My 1969 Ford F-100, is impossible to lock the keys in it. The only way to lock it with the doors are closed are, if you are inside you can push down the button, if you are outside you have to use the key. If you try to push the button down before closing the door, it will pop back up(Unlock).

 

[aeoliandave]

My 2006 Subaru Outback XT has ONE manual key lock, on the drivers door. No other keyhole on the 3 other doors or the tailgate, all electric. Key fob has lock/unlock/security toggles as well as keyless remote start. One press is driver door, two presses are all doors and three presses sets the security and a brief horn blow. I have disabled the other chirps and the seatbelt warning chirps. If either battery dies I can get in and start the car, at least. It is possible to lock keys in the car.
Thus, I carry a spare key in my coat's cellphone pocket (as well as one securely hidden in the bodywork accessible with a penknife) at all times so that I can leave the car running, lock & unlock the door from outside and go in the coffee shop or something for a few minutes, while the car & seat heaters stay warm. Especially useful in winter and handy other times when traveling.
I like this system.

 

[oliveoiltinfoil]

New cars are simply better than older ones, model for model. What new cars have that older cars don't is character. Most new cars look the same. They try to copy each other, loosing originality, although this was also done during the 60's.

Cars are no doubt better quality now than they used to be, by a long shot, despite some BS that enthusiasts will tell you. How often did you see sub 2.0 cars reaching 200,000 miles with few issues. Cars use less oil these days, a lot of engine don't consume oil at all. My first car, an Audi A3 1.9TDI had 155k and didn't use a drop of oil, largely this shows there is no wear in the engine, or goes someway to proving that.

Jeremy Clarkson said on a top gear a couple of years ago when he drove a Shelby GT Mustang through southern Europe against Hammond and May in the train, he said that the biggest advance in cars during the last 50 years isn't as much about fuel economy, speed or safety, although they have improved Hughley, the biggest improvement is refinement. You can now take a Fiesta at 70 mph and it is quiet stable and safe. Try doing that to a Cortina and it would rattle and fall apart and the engine would b prematurely worn out especially if you did it regularly.

I don't want to sound biased, but Audi and more recently VW have been using stainless steel nuts bolts and screws in their cars, they pioneered laser seem welding in production cars with the mk1 TT and have used it on all other models ever since.

Recently, during the last 6 or 7 years, car manufacturers have tried to make their cars simpler. During the late 90's and early 2000's, cars were very complicated, and they still are, but using things like electric steering and electric brakes means less moving parts, electric gearboxes now as well are simplifying cars, less moving components and less wear. VW warranty claims in Europe have gone down 45% since 2009, the year in which they used all of this technology.

I am glad to see engines going back to chain cams. There is little excuse for rubber belts, other than for noise with is debatable, but mainly it is cheaper and is a source of income for the dealerships ! But thanks to company cars reps looking to spend as little as possible on there cars maintenance, manufactures have had rethinks.

All in all, I would say cars last longer these days but require more maintenance. It is now more important than ever to have your car serviced when it should be.

 

[washer111]

For many years, cars have been produced very strong. It seems the 1980's is the real cutoff point.
Plenty of Japanese cars from that time still go quite strong, and around here most people drive 70-series Land-cruisers from that time. I think smog regulations killed some of these cars prematurely, people should be given rebates to repair the minor issues that end up putting these cars out of service, rather than being forced into "newer, better cars."

We have 2 cars from the 90's, a Land-Cruiser with 450,000km and my Bimmer with 192,000km on the clock. The Bimmer's engine can last every bit as long as the Toyotas, but will require some more care, simply due to their obsession with "plastic fantastic" in the cooling system back then, and even today still. The engines in the models proceeding mine, back to the 1970's have been known to go this far with no trouble. (And back then those were the "sub 2.0" cars!)

The lower oil consumption is definitely something, I think lots of what appears as consumption is eliminated through centrifugal separators in the PCV/CCV system, tighter tolerances, thinner oils and very small sumps (often less than 5qts) that must last through the long 10-15k service interval. Into the future, we'll be seeing more "sludged engines" as manufacturers continue to really push the limits of oil use, particularly on turbocharged vehicles.

 

[askolover]

Again, safety features

My hubby Tony used to work for a heart doctor in Nashville and they provided company cars...brand new Volvo S80's at that. He was in one of them one day on Charlotte Ave sitting at a light waiting to turn left into Centennial Medical Center when all of a sudden he thought a bomb exploded....a full size cargo van loaded with stuff plowed into his rear end going at least 50mph and not even trying to brake. Every airbag blew, all the windows popped out, the rear windshield exploded, the trunk was in the back seat, and I think the sunroof shattered too....Tony opened the door and just got out of the car to see what happened. When the cops got there and looked at the all the devastation they expected injuries...until they saw it was a Volvo. They all told him that was the only reason he didn't even have a bruise anywhere. He didn't even have whiplash!

Our new Lincoln MKS is pretty awesome too...a couple weeks ago it was pouring rain. He had left Vanderbilt and was driving on I65 when he came around a curve and there were two cars that had just collided...I mean they were still rocking from the impact...he didn't even have time to look beside him but still whipped over to dodge them...he hit water and the car started to hydroplane...and then...the car said, "Emergency mode activated"...the VSC took over, engaged the AWD and the ABS to regain traction, the SYNC automatically engaged emergency mode and turned the radio off and had 911 on standby pending a crash, the steering wheel pulled away from him, his seat moved back, the sunroof shade closed, and the back shade came up...he said some other messages popped up on the display and before he knew it, he was back in control. The car said, "full power restored" and the 911 link went off. That's pretty impressive to me!

 

[super32]

I did have a similar experience to askolovers hubby. Actually 2 situations. The first, a semi just started coming over in our lane as we were passing. (side by side). It forced us in the grassy median which was a "V" shape. It was not sharp or steep but enough that water would run to the middle and away from the road surface. It was a situation of jam on the brakes, coast, or try to steer out of it. The gut said FLOOR IT! "traction engaged" came across the dash board. The car climbed out and back onto the road. That was a 99' DeVille.  

 

The next situation was rain and hydroplaning. We hit standing water on the highway in the night. The car tried to go sideways but this time "stabilitrac engaged" came across the dash. My eyes blinked and the car was back in a straight line. This was in a 99' STS. 

 

I do agree with many about other improvements like, not using oil, better fuel econ, automatic 4x4, traction/stability control on trucks, cars in general are smarter, and more user friendly.

 

We are currently driving an 03' Honda Element, 12' Ford F150, and 13' Chrysler Town&Country, all 3 of them have different personalties.