New car

[Black Sheep]

Joolstacho, you are living in the past. Car design for a long time has concentrated on the safety of the occupants - crush zones, inbuilt roll cages etc. Finally, there is some thought as to the safety of the people outside of the cars - and not before time. Drivers are fallable. Don't forget 50% are below average driving ability. So the technology is there to step in when they get it wrong. And it's not marketing. It's legislation.
Off to talk to my fairies.

[Greybeard]

My Land Rover has none of these things - not even an interior light. You need a torch after dark to find where to put the ignition key. Not much electrickery to go wrong!

Been there, got the tee-shirt.

[BSARGS650]

Mmmm...I don't think British Leyland can ever be beat as a bench mark when it comes to green environment issues.  Yes, they were making bio-degradable cars long before the Green Party or Greta Thunberg ever existed,  Not only that, but, they were the first to make wheel removal easy and automatic without a jack and wheel nut spanner, unfortunately, the wheel could only be removed whilst the car is running - the Austin Allegro will be fondly remembered.

[RDfella]

Too much electriccery on modern cars to go wrong. And it does. I want to drive a car, not have it driven by some computer programmed by a tree-hugging boffin in a lab. Automatic headlights, wipers etc? Don't want the car. As for cars trying to decide for me whether I should brake or where I should be lane-wise - that's about as safe as a drunk driver. I've noticed visibility in modern cars is severely restricted too, as pillars get bigger and (clear) glass area smaller. So we now pull out HOPING the road is clear, because we can't actually see it. Ain't progress wonderful? Which is why I buy older cars, give them a major service then dump them when something expensive is needed.  Present daily driver is a tidy 15yr old lowish mileage Focus I bought for £600.

[Butch (cb)]

Don't forget 50% are below average driving ability.

I reckon I could drive drunk better than most folks out there these days, and I don't even rate myself as a driver.

[KiwiGF]

My Land Rover has none of these things - not even an interior light. You need a torch after dark to find where to put the ignition key. Not much electrickery to go wrong!

My “96 Land Rover Discovery’s worst attribute is it’s wiring and electrics, the harness is massive even tho its filled with small diameter wires (that break) to keep it manageable. I love the car (its great on the back roads of NZ) but in my opinion Land Rover completely over estimated their ability on this car to make reliable electrics  .

Thankfully its a diesel so the engine generally keeps going even when mayhem is occurring with the electrics 

What sort of car designer would put a crash sensor just above the front passengers feet, where it could be accidentally kicked by a wife wearing wellies? (Thus causing the hazards to come on and the engine to cut, and me to wonder WTF this time).

[berger]

wow greybeard you were lucky with the DIY oil change, 15 years ago I changed the oil on a Toyota mini bus thing and took it for an mot with the engine management light glaring at me. the light was on because I drained the sump and the management thing had to be reset. it was that clever it knew there was no oil but not clever enough to know there was new oil. he reset things for nothing but these gizmos are there so you have to take it to your dealer. another trip up I had was taking the battery of a 90's rover and couldn't stop the alarm until I took the log book to the dealer for a code. I had to enter this by using the door key and turning it back and forth so many times I also think there is proof these gadgets have a shelf life engineered into them just like some mobile phones that packed up after 5 years, just as the upgrade was on the market. 

[Greybeard]

Mmmm...I don't think British Leyland can ever be beat as a bench mark when it comes to green environment issues.  Yes, they were making bio-degradable cars long before the Green Party or Greta Thunberg ever existed, 

Our Series 2 Land Rover had a really pretty growth of moss on the inside of the window frames.

Not only that, but, they were the first to make wheel removal easy and automatic without a jack and wheel nut spanner, unfortunately, the wheel could only be removed whilst the car is running - the Austin Allegro will be fondly remembered.

The 1960's Ford Cortina and co. relied on friction between the bearing inner and the half-shaft to keep the half-shaft in the axle. If/when the wheel bearing seized and got hot, vehicles could be seen with the wheel on the end of 2 feet of protruding half-shaft! Very comical to see.

Back then rust was the enemy. Now, maybe it's data processors.

[Greybeard]

Yep, I think the electronics will cause the death of modern cars, even my 2000 beemer has an engine ecu that is uneconomic to replace should it go wrong

But the car is 20 years old. I think you've cheated the consumer culture quite well so far. 

[Greybeard]

Let's celebrate the fact that car management systems don't use a  Windows OS. 

[Rex]

Sadly people always seem to remember incidents where the car was unreliable or failed in some way. I drove those cars when I was younger because that's what we did; there was no spare money for HP on a new car, so old A40s, Anglias, Cortinas Minis and the rest were the every-day transport.
Despite all the latter-day horror stories which surface on the Net the only real problems was rust and the yearly MoT. Outside of that they just kept chugging on until they failed, then it was scan the local paper classifieds time and spend another fifty quid on a replacement.

[Black Sheep]

What we are ignoring is the accident stats. Deaths per 1000 kms are way down on what they were. Cars that will automatically brake before rear ending me have got to be a good thing. Look at the motorway pile ups - so many drivers not paying the slightest attention driving straight into the back of stationary traffic.
What worries me a bit is people who think thay are so superior that they can never benefit from these aids. Ain't no-one infallable. Not even the Pope.

[muskrat]

G'day GB
[/quote]
The 1960's Ford Cortina and co. relied on friction between the bearing inner and the half-shaft to keep the half-shaft in the axle. If/when the wheel bearing seized and got hot, vehicles could be seen with the wheel on the end of 2 feet of protruding half-shaft! Very comical to see.[/quote]
I had a couple of those (a 4 door and a 2 door). The trick was to replace the bearings as son as you heard them. People hard of hearing or younguns with loud stereo's suffered that fate.
Cheers

[bsa-bill]

Ain't no-one infallible. Not even the Pope.

Thinking of the Popemobil  guided by satnav or divine intervention ?

I'm quite happy with most of the modern stuff, having had a good schooling before retirement in the use of satnav guided tractors, the savings in seed, fertilizer and time is more than significant plus the satisfaction of accurate, straight, efficient work .
I'll admit the auto stop start feature of my Fiesta took some getting used to (it can be switched off tho) but in stop start traffic it's brilliant and contibutes to the 50+ mpg (appeals to my Scots half)
 

[Rex]

I always turn my stop start off. It offends my engineering sensibilities when extra unnecessary wear is put on the starter motor and ring gear. I'll happily more for fuel mileage if it puts off the inevitable garage bill for a new starter etc.