Car of The Day
Out of context: Reply #1230
- Started
- Last post
- 2,169 Responses
- Muncher-3
Okay so I'm going to concede that there is an overlap between your point PR2 and my own. And I agree with Sofaking that older cars are not for everyone, because part of the deal with owning old cars is that you ought to really be able to take advantage of the fact you can do a lot of the ongoing maintenance work yourself, rather than paying out a tonne of money to specialists who do very simple things for you because you can't do them.
So I think the experience between old and new is simply that old means you should know what's going on yourself, and you need to maintain it yourself (and enjoy that as part of the experience), and new means you drive around without so much as lifting the hood even once (why bother... there's a big piece of logo-embellished plastic underneath that's shaped like the top of an engine, and it hides the engine below) and you drop it off once a year to specialists, and pay for other people do do simple maintenance and prevention work for you, without ever really understanding what they've done.
I get a little bit annoyed by the perception that old cars are unreliable though, because they are really quite the opposite. My car is 44 years old (or 45 going by PR2's estimate) and it has survived climate, hundreds of thousands of miles, and periods of neglect and is a turn key faultless driver.
That's not a definition of unreliable, that's the very definition of reliable. And sure, stuff will be wearing out, but how many of today's cars will still be on the road in 15 year's time...
... very few. Because there is so much more stuff that can become obsolete and un-replaceable on modern cars.
- I think my old vs new point is made adequately if you visit any forum that gathers modern car drivers together, because they are full of people...Muncher
- asking for help because they have a juddering clutch, a water leak, locked brakes, error codes that put their cars into limp mode, sensor problems....Muncher
- ... hard starting, overheating, weird noises, wobbly steering etc etc.Muncher
- But people say "Old cars are hard work"... it's bullshit. Looking after a car is hard work, full stop, and shit goes wrong on every age and every brand of car.Muncher
- 2013 BMW...
https://s26.postimg.…Muncher - 2017 Honda CRV...
https://s26.postimg.…Muncher - Car forums are populated by millions of people with modern car problems they can't solve themselves.Muncher
- new cars are plagued with either poor assembly years or faulty equipment. But thats not always the case, there's good new cars out there. Few, but there are.sofakingback
- I agree that older cars are just as reliable as new cars. But I'll say this, new cars tend to have a more comfortable daily driver experience.sofakingback
- I love my old cars, but daily driving them can be a pain some times. Not to mention the fear of having someone damage the car.
When I use a new car, I rest...sofakingback - a little easier. There's nothing cool about it though, its like brushing my teeth or doing laundry. ZZzzzzzz....sofakingback