New cars...yuck.

Homesteading & Country Living Forum

Help Support Homesteading & Country Living Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
If she used that many, they likely acted as insulation to prevent the under-hood high temps from soaking into the metal tubes.
Imagine in the last 2 decades how few people have heard their mechanic say:
"I'm sorry, but your engine is going to need a new crankshaft", or "it needs a valve job", or "your driveshaft universal joints are worn out and must be replaced"
Today the main customer panics are:
"OMG! The Bluetooth stopped working!":cry:
"I forgot my mobile WiFi password!"gaah
Oh, the poor little things.:rolleyes:
Walk back up the highway and pick up a twisted piece of metal that used to be your driveshaft and email me about it.:LOL:
What gets me the most is what all has taken place to make engines, trannies, ujoints etc last so long. I think its probably a combination of things. Metallurgy had came up with metals that don't wear as quickly. CNC machining gives much tighter tolerances nd exact duplicates (pistons all same size), lubricants are much better, bearings so much improved. I'm sure there is more I'm not thinking about
 
I read that people are suffering more leg trama because the cars are designed to crumble when hit in the front. As a result, their legs get crushed. They see more leg trama is because in old cars the driver would have been killed so no one worried about their legs.
My F150 and my wife's Toyota both have airbags everywhere. It's almost like the Stallone movie Demolition Man where he crashes a police car and it is instantly filled with foam to protect him.

This is true. Back in '98 my parents were in a wreck in Kansas. They were driving a Chevy Lumina. A lady in a Dodge Ram dually truck tried to cross a 4 lane road in front of them and never even looked to see if they were coming. They T-boned her, the speedo got stuck at impact, 48 mph. The force drove the frame of that dually clear over to the driveshaft and buckled it upward into the passenger compartment. Mom got a cracked collarbone from the seat belt, and a broken ankle from the firewall getting pushed back. Pops got a broken nose and two black eyes from the airbag.

Imagine that impact in a 1970 car. Crap seat belts, no bags, no crumple zones, all the kinetic energy of the wreck getting transmitted directly into the passenger compartment. I don't even want to think about what the results would have been...
 
That's the feature I hate the most!! I'll be doing 75 and next thing you know your being passed, look down and your doing 60.
Luckily, it's easily disabled, at least it is on my vehicle. Hold the cruise button in for two seconds, and it's off - until you shut off the car. Then you have to do it again the next time you drive it...
 
If she used that many, they likely acted as insulation to prevent the under-hood high temps from soaking into the metal tubes.
Imagine in the last 2 decades how few people have heard their mechanic say:
"I'm sorry, but your engine is going to need a new crankshaft", or "it needs a valve job", or "your driveshaft universal joints are worn out and must be replaced"
Today the main customer panics are:
"OMG! The Bluetooth stopped working!":cry:
"I forgot my mobile WiFi password!"gaah
Oh, the poor little things.:rolleyes:
Walk back up the highway and pick up a twisted piece of metal that used to be your driveshaft and email me about it.:LOL:

The difference is, I know exactly how to replace a driveshaft. I would have no idea what to do if the bluetooth in my car stoped working. If my car had bluetooth.

This is a recent example my neighbor told me about, it sounds like something out of a horror movie.

He bought a 2015? Colorado from a police auction. When he got it, the passenger side window wouldn't run up or down. He put jumper wires on the motor and it worked fine, so he deduced that the switch had gone bad. He placed the switch but no joy.

So a few years later he is too busy with school so he takes it to a mechanic, who hooks up a multi-thousand dollar proprietary machine, which finds out that yes, the switch failed years ago, so the computer turned off that window and had to be TOLD that the switch was replaced in order to work again.
 
Luckily, it's easily disabled, at least it is on my vehicle. Hold the cruise button in for two seconds, and it's off - until you shut off the car. Then you have to do it again the next time you drive it...

That sounds god awful. I hope someone kills me before I have to live in a world like that.
 
It's really not that bad. When you first activate the cruise, you hold it in for two seconds. That's all there is to it.

I disabled the chime my 2000 truck made EVERY FREAKING time I opened he door with the key in the ignition. I disabled the day time running lights that wouldn't even let me run the engine with the lights off. I spent hours learning how to disable the automatic AC activation when you put the climate control in defrost. I haven't figured out how to KILL this 'feature' yet but every time I use the window washers and the wipers come on wether I want them to or not I want to put my fist through the dash.

I have no tolerance for any kind of 'smart' feature in a vehicle. I think vehicles peaked about 1995-99 and everything after that has been a slide towards utter nanny state garbage.

Driving a newer vehicle sounds like hell.
 
Ugh. This thread has me so worked up I'm going to go outside and work on the Doombuggy to calm down. The 'car' I'm building from scratch just so I can be sure I will always have something to drive. The most advanced piece of technology it has is the little black box that makes the blinkers blink.

Seriously. I see a looming transportation apocalypse in 20 years when all these 'new' vehicles are now $3,000 'junkers' which is the point when people here usually buy them because that is what we can afford and it doesn't matter whats wrong with them because you just fix it up....but nobody will be able to fix them without a $5000 computer interface console....that is proprietary to each brand and model.

The rural way of life is being assassinated on every front by a demonic alliance of climate change activists and capitalism. The urban SJWs don't think rural people should even have the right to drive are big old 4x4's 100 miles round trip just to go shopping, and the car manufactures just want to lease new cars every year and could care less what happens after the warranty is up.

We are head straight to a "Snowcrash" world where the only people who have vehicles are the urbanites with short range plastic bodied disposable 'bimbo boxes' that you can't even change the oil on, you just throw away every 50,000 miles, or millionaire criminals with armored computers on wheels.
 
What gets me the most is what all has taken place to make engines, trannies, ujoints etc last so long. I think its probably a combination of things. Metallurgy had came up with metals that don't wear as quickly. CNC machining gives much tighter tolerances nd exact duplicates (pistons all same size), lubricants are much better, bearings so much improved. I'm sure there is more I'm not thinking about
Probably the biggest part was removing 'human-error' from as much of the manufacturing process as possible.
Most people get the idea that I am anti-robot or anti-AI. Not so. They have their place.
You mentioned CNC; gone are the days of a person turning wheels on a lathe making parts.
I did lots of work in 2 plants that built Navistar diesel engines (~2008-2018). From raw metal castings all thru assembly, all done by computer controlled machines. They almost never made a mistake. And if they did, they would flash a red light and tattle on themselves.
Unbelievable quality and consistency! :thumbs:
The only thing humans did was put the wiring harness on the engines.
Most parts of current vehicles are made this way. And their quality shines thru.
Should robots build stuff for us humans to use?
Oh heck yeah!:D They are way better at it than we are.
 
Probably the biggest part was removing 'human-error' from as much of the manufacturing process as possible.
Most people get the idea that I am anti-robot or anti-AI. Not so. They have their place.
You mentioned CNC; gone are the days of a person turning wheels on a lathe making parts.
I did lots of work in 2 plants that built Navistar diesel engines (~2008-2018). From raw metal castings all thru assembly, all done by computer controlled machines. They almost never made a mistake. And if they did, they would flash a red light and tattle on themselves.
Unbelievable quality and consistency! :thumbs:
The only thing humans did was put the wiring harness on the engines.
Most parts of current vehicles are made this way. And their quality shines thru.
Should robots build stuff for us humans to use?
Oh heck yeah!:D They are way better at it than we are.
Yes but the context of prepping for an EMP no.

It will not be until only the most ancient of machinist will know when to engage the lead screw to cut a basic thread.

Confession time

If ever get around to upgrading my machine tools, I will get the DRO option but I will still have my analog micrometers.

Ben
 
Yep. The build QUALITY of vehicles these days is fantastic. It's all the unnecessary nanny 'features' of the DESIGN that is crap.

My ideal vehicle would be a 1985 era truck...built with 2000's tooling.
My pet peeve

Sent rant mode = true

The automotive industry should settle on a standard interface. No not for the diagnostic reader. For the operator!

If I know how to set the cruise control in one car it should be the same for other cars. I have driven rental cars and spent the first hour trying to figure out how the cruise control works in THIS car.

Thank God I figured out how to turn on the windshield wipers when I drove into a sudden down pour.
.
Rant done

Ben
 
Luckily, it's easily disabled, at least it is on my vehicle. Hold the cruise button in for two seconds, and it's off - until you shut off the car. Then you have to do it again the next time you drive it...
Thanks. I'll try that next time. It's the neighbors car but she doesn't like driving.
 
Thanks. I'll try that next time. It's the neighbors car but she doesn't like driving.
That works for Toyotas. Not sure what way any other brand has for disabling it. Google how to disable it for whatever kind of car it is. That's what I did. It was faster than trying to find it in the manual...
 
My pet peeve

Sent rant mode = true

The automotive industry should settle on a standard interface. No not for the diagnostic reader. For the operator!

If I know how to set the cruise control in one car it should be the same for other cars. I have driven rental cars and spent the first hour trying to figure out how the cruise control works in THIS car.

Thank God I figured out how to turn on the windshield wipers when I drove into a sudden down pour.
.
Rant done

Ben

The first time I drove my sisters car I had to pull off the road in the dark in the rain and open the door so the interior light would come on so I could find the windshield wiper switch. 😂
 
I think everyone should have a earlier make of car, truck, if the grid ever failed.at least they have no chips. I heard that’s why the car lots here have very few cars, China could not make chips.
 
I have three cars that have points ignition, carburetors, no power brakes, windows or doors. All three have over 200,000 miles on them, one has had a valve job all three have new timing chains and sprockets. I rebuilt the front suspension and transmissions on all three. The oil gets changed every year and they get tuned up every two years. I had to replace the soft plugs on one.
They run fine, stop well - I did a brake job on all of them years ago and they will probably keep running for a lot longer.
My son buys new cars for the warranty and has owned more cars than I have in my lifetime. He got so far under water with trade-ins and balance transfers that he had to keep the same one for three years to get the balance down so he could buy another. In the last year he bought three new cars. He pays four times what I do for insurance.
 
@SheepDog That kind of trading and buying sounds almost like an addiction. I've gone through a lot of cars in the last ten years, but most of them had a lot of miles when I got them, and I drove a lot of miles and wore them out. Ironically the oldest one - '93 Saturn SL2 with hand crank windows and a mechanical cruise control - died from a computer module that went out...
 
I buy trucks new but keep them about 10 years. It's a secondary vehicle for me so it stays low mileage and clean condition. When I bought my last truck, the dealer took my existing truck that was 11 years old in on trade. I was very happy with their offer of $15K for my old truck. I got it 11 years prior for $25K so I lost less than $1K per year of ownership.

Our preferred approach for buying cars is to find cars that were owned by senior citizens. They're normally one-owner vehicles, dealer maintained, low miles and not abused. Four of our existing six vehicles were bought using this approach and all have worked out very well for us. Will probably pick up a Toyota Highlander next Spring using this same approach. They don't want to sell it now since there's very few pickings on the dealer lots and what is there is missing computer chips.
 
Anyone who has a GM product with a V-8 made from 2007 through 2018 and has the Active Fuel Management system is in for a shock.
Due to US government CAFE rules (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) manufacturers have to squeeze as many MPG's out of each vehicle they can.
GM did this with their gasoline V-8's by developing a system that switches to 4 cylinder power under low load conditions. It's complicated the way it works so I won't try to explain it.

I deliver auto parts for a large well known nationwide chain to mechanic shops. I kept seeing Chevy 5.3 and 6.0 V-8 engines in various stages of dismantlement. Since I have a high-zoot GMC pickup with a 5.3 that cost more than my house, I started paying attention.
It seems that the special valve lifters used as part of the AFM system fail. When, all depends on whether the owner kept up with proper oil changes, and did not let the oil level drop.
Cost to replace the lifters runs about $2,200.
I have 240,000 miles on mine, many don't make it that far. I have noticed my GM Performance high flow exhaust was making a different sound lately whern in 4 cylinder mode.
I took the advice of all the shops I deliver to and bought a computer chip that plugs into my diagnostic port and locks the engine in 8 cylinders at all time. The engine now runs as a V-8 should and runs great. Yes, my gas mileage dropped from 16.8 to 15.5, but the $2,200 repair savings will buy a lot of extra gas.

Starting with the 2019 model year GM changed the lifter design.
But if you have an earlier one with AFM, you'd best use due dillgence and investigate this. Simply google "GM AFM" and prepare for eye opening reading.

Oh, and Toyota truck owners with Variable Valve Timing shouldn't be too smug about Japanese engineering either.
 
I am a truck man myself, but they are looking like clowns these days. All dressed up, to impress men who have something to
compensate for. I have been looking for a small pick up to get around in, but I not sure which one I should get, most cost as much as my house did when I bought it.
 
I am a truck man myself, but they are looking like clowns these days. All dressed up, to impress men who have something to
compensate for. I have been looking for a small pick up to get around in, but I not sure which one I should get, most cost as much as my house did when I bought it.
I just went through a pretty exhaustive search for a truck and settled on a Tacoma, because of the Toyota reputation for durability and resale value. It's really hard to know what to buy. I decided I wanted a 4x4 truck without a turbocharged engine, with decent power, and not a lot of bells and whistles. But it had to have a power driver's seat. The Colorado has a bad reputation for quality. The Ranger only comes with an Ecoboost turbo motor. The Frontier just got a new engine and transmission combo this year and I didn't want to get an untried motor. The Ridgeline is expensive and not as rugged. The Gladiator is built by Chrysler - no thanks! So that left me with the Tacoma. That's how I made my decision. YMMV. Good luck with your search...
 
I also do not like the new features on the new vehicles. If I ever get a chance I hope to get a late 70's Suburban and completely redo it with an old 12 valve Cummins diesel, new 4x4 drivetrain, and new interior. Shine it up with a new paint job and I will have a new truck to last my life time.
One thing to consider if anyone is contemplating a new vehicle, if you plan early enough during the new model year, say maybe November through maybe March, you can order what you want with the color, interior color and with or without leather seats, you can go with the base electronics or upgrade to the fancy crap,. Depending on the trim package, for instance LS, LT, Z-71, etc. you may be able to get it with or without running boards, with or without a roof rack, with or without several other options. When I bought my Avalanche when they first came out for 2002 I ordered it exactly how I wanted it. Several months later at a training day for work we were sitting in the parking lot eating lunch and a few others who also had a new Avalanche asked how I bought it without running boards, I said I ordered it that way. Someone else asked how I got it without a roof rack and I said I ordered it that way. Another person asked how I was able to get a sun roof and I said I ordered it that way and the sunroof was only available if you did not get the computer information gadget that is installed to the headliner over the rear view mirror. Finally, someone asked how I was able to get cloth seats because their leather seats were hotter than hell in the Las Vegas summer heat, I just looked at him and waited until his light bulb came on and said "You ordered it that way."
Sadly, it is more common for manufacturers to lump things together in various trim packages so you have to do a lot of research and compare the different packages. And, computers are overwhelming our lives so it may be very difficult, or impossible, to get a stereo that is not akin to a big screen TV in your dashboard. There was mention above about the many cameras on the vehicles recording everything, I think I would paint over the lens....... if that doesn't screw up the computer system.
 
Cars are so much safer today as well. The engineering is so much better now. There's still people who say, "Old cars were made of solid steel! They were safer!"...Uhh, no. Modern cars absorb and disperse energy so much better than the old ones. People died at a much higher rate per accident 50 years ago...
You are right, the old cars were designed to survive the crash at the expense of the people, steel dash, no seat belts, no air bags all the energy went from the impact point to the people.

Today, the cars are designed to save the people at the expense of the car, crush zones in the front and rear (usually non-repairable), air bags, 1 time use seat belts, and black boxes to record the event for the insurance company... Yep, old cars could out last several owners (who died on impact), but the new cars are 1 and done (crash wise) because it is just too expensive to repair them.
 
The problem is that new cars don't survive even fender benders without being totaled. It really seems like there should be some kind of middle ground between vehicle survival and occupant survival.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top