I recently bought the final year GenII Toyota Tundra. It has the last V8 and a mere six speed transmission as opposed to a dual turbo V6 with an eight or more transmission. The reason was reparability. I traded in a V6 dual turbo truck where every failure, regardless of how small, a leaking rubber seal, for example, cost well over $1000. I paid the full 2021 MSRP, $39,000, for that Tundra. It had 40k miles on it. They’re worth that much because the replacement trucks are ludicrously expensive and the repair cost is ridiculous. Very quickly in the life of the new trucks, any repair costs as much as the truck is worth.
As for electric vehicles, a friend recently leased a new Toyota hybrid. At first, he loved it. But it wanted to drive instead of him. Then, he pulled out into cross traffic and accidentally touched the brake. The car stopped instantly and the dash turned red. Cross traffic in both directions screeched to a halt. The car displayed, “It is unsafe to brake and accelerate at the same time.” It took it several painful moments while people yelled and honked to give him control again. He’s finished with it and looking for a used, older ICE car.
What bloody moron saw that response as anything resembling a good idea???? A personal injury lawyer would just LOVE showing that to a jury.
How does that happen?
I knew a pro rally driver, he taught me how to hit the brake while on full throttle around corners to help bring the rear end around. It is especially fun in the we or snow because you can modulate the slide far better than a hand brake.
I guess I won’t be getting a toy hybrid anytime soon
Modern cars are damn near impractical.
Too proprietary with parts which can be hard to get once the vehicle is older, if traveling, and are often extremely expensive.
Too complex mechanically and in electronics, making the vehicle susceptible to problems and possibly difficult to trouble shoot.
New vehicles are disposable. May it be batteries, parts availability, the excessive use of plastic, rubber and adhesives which all break down over time, these cars are pretty new but basically go to the dump after 12 - 14 years.
I need something I put my keys in and it starts.
Not some complex POS that needs a mechanical and electrical engineer living in my garage to keep it in the road.
Unfortunately, all Toyotas now have the “Break override system”, including the Tundra. It is because of lawsuits around unintended acceleration. They built a system that kills power to the engine if you press the break and accelerator at the same time. Blame the lawyers.
Cars are too complex, too nannying, and salt in the wound is that it makes them less fun and more expensive.