Posted on 11/03/2015 11:23:56 PM PST by Cowman
Not only are cars becoming more safe, feature-rich and efficient, but engines have never had more output, whether itâs an econobox Hyundai Sonata churning out a torque curve that would literally twist the swiss-cheese frame of a Mk. I Golf GTI, or the more insane Dodge Charger Hellcat, with its ticket-to-the-pearly-gates 707 HP supercharged V8.
*** However, as with anything in the known universe, thereâs no such thing as a free lunch, no matter what â80s John Travolta will tell you. With legislation putting forth mandates for increased complexity in cars over the last three decades, automobiles have become, on average, more than 800 pounds heavier than they were in the late â80s. In addition, car prices have drastically increased over the years, even when inflation is accounted for, fueled in no small part by the added cost of development and implementation of the systems that serve as layers in between the driver and an unfiltered driving experience. For example, A loaded 1983 Volkswagen Golf/Rabbit GTI cost around $8000 brand new, which translated to just over $19,000 in todayâs money. Fast forward to today, where a 2015 Golf GTI with all options ticked would set you back more than $31,000.
The model also gained over 1,100 pounds in curb weight over the same time, .
*** I canât help but wonder what wouldâve come out of a automakerâs factory when the company wouldnât have had to deal with the stringent regulations that tie the industry down to making cars that all look and feel relatively numb.***
(Excerpt) Read more at thegarage.jalopnik.com ...
And I just saw an ad for the new Chevy that says nothing about driving or reliability or horsepower or anything that you would expect to see in a car ad. But it did make a huge point about the car being fully compatible with BOTH Android and I phone. I can't help but think this is just another example of government regulations killing any kind of fun.
On a lot of these cars with amazing horsepower and torque figures out of four-hole engines, I’d like to know if they can actually hit and maintain those figures for more than five total minutes in the lifetimes of the engines. OTOH, my early 1980’s German car could hit numbers like that (with more than twice the displacement), and do it for a few hours at a crack on the Autobahn. And then do it again on the way home.
And be quiet.
Want to know what the cars of the future will look like? Just look at the cars of the Soviet Union. Once libs destroy the USA and capitalism, there won’t be any such thing as competition and Communist Party members will all be driving around in Ladas.
I can remember a day, not so long ago, when I could tune my own car - which had a float bowl carburetor and a distributer head and so on. It was fun.
Now it’s all solid-state computer boards and so on. No fun.
Puts me in mind of the difference between the Colt 1911, which I could also strip bare and tune, and all these new-fangled crunch-n-tickers with half a dozen levers and latches.
And now I can’t even figure out how to use the telephone, much less my television or... computer!
Thank goodness I’m a Certified Old Fart and on my way out the door.
And the result looked stupid, Could be considered an obscene act and wasn't nearly as much fun as the original.
I say to all the car makers out there “MAKE A VERSION OF THE 1971 DUSTER, Nova, or whatever with modern materials but the old, mechanical systems and without all the nonsense you put in the new stuff — and let us modify them according to our tastes. You'll sell them by the thousands
No, you will be driving the Lada -- if you're lucky. Otherwise you'll be jammed into a commuter train going to and from your office-block "general neighborhood" to your good Communist "worker's paradise" Corbusier-emulating apartment block "general neighborhood" (you need the exercise). Communist big shots didn't drive. They were chauffeured by KGB goons (from a special section highly trained), who drove their big ZIL's down the middle of the widest boulevards in special "nochalstvo" lanes that nobody else could drive, walk, or exist in. And they drove at 80 mph and didn't slow down or stop when they nailed an old babushka brooming up the street.
All this according to Hedrick Smith's The Russians, which was about how things were in the 80's.
Yes, they’d sell like hot cakes, but... guess what... that’s right, the effing government wouldn’t allow it.
I would pay $40k if VW retooled and offered the naturally aspirated 1.6L Diesel in a Mk. 2 Jetta body, 1991 vintage. Duplicate that car. Identical... no power heated seats, no power windows or airbags... just make the basic car the way it was made in 1990... and I will put 315,000 miles on that car and still be getting 38 MPG, and be able to work on it with a simple compliment of metric tools... just like the one I have.
The owner’s manual for my current car comes in at about 500 pages, with close to 100 in a supplement for the sound system.
Of course, if you edited out all the warnings (such as “Do not run into a wall, serious damage or personal injury could result”), that would reduce the page count by at least 100.
When I bought my first car, the full wiring diagram filled a single page in the manual, and the owner’s booklet was maybe 20 pages.
I had two Dodge vans with the real Chrysler small block in them and they both got over 300k with basic maintenance. I’d still be driving them if the springs hadn’t come through the floors.
I Don’t buy this line about the electronically regulated engines being more reliable. Perhaps they require less maintenance due to the systems but I could change a ballast resistor or set of points in a few minutes with very basic tools and less than five bucks.
It seems the mandates put on the auto makers are just to kill backyard tinkering and shade tree mechanics because their self sufficiency threatens government control of the individual — Or, even more disturbing, because they get more taxes from the sale of a $40000 vehicle than a $8000 vehicle.
“An Audi TDI made today would not only smoke your early 80’s car, it would get 40 mpg going a hundred.”
However, it will never go 250k miles+ like my 1987 BMW 535i.
And, I can work on it myself.
New cars will lose 1/2 of their value in three years!
It really doesn’t matter how many miles you get to the gallon when you pay that much for depreciation.
If the totalitarian collectivists have their way, we’ll all be driving the electric equivalent of the Lada Sputnik.
Yeah, and God help you if you didn’t keep a ballast resistor or 2 in the glove compartment or walking would be your default mode of travel. You see, I’ve owned a couple of Dodge vans too.
CC
A Saturday tune-up ... with or without friends and beer ... after setting the points and getting that timing light SO steady ...
a boy became a man.
Well, There is really nothing like getting a few friends together and sitting around a roaring Volt
Maybe that's what the policy is meant to stop
Why Do All New Cars Look Alike?
I would not buy one of these ugly things.
The reason they all have the same shape is partly pressure from the Federales to make "fuel efficient" cars that are "better for the environment." Hence, your Brave New World ugly turtle car - enjoy it comrade.
Whole Foods will charge you 20 times per pound for the price of fish, because they say their fish is not farm raised, but "sustainable, Eco-friendly" fish. Same with their "organic" produce. If you are a fool, you follow their orders. In the same way, I refuse to be a drone and waste money on these hideous things.
Screw them.
The only distinctive things about any of them is the 20’s on #4 and 20’s are just stupid.
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