On one of the forums that I frequent (obviously an E46 forum ), this was one of the topics in the general section. It kind of triggered me as it seems the guy is talking with sentimental feelings of older, "simpler" cars versus what cars really are today. In short, I came up with a rebuttal to each of his disagreements which most are superficial, imo. The only one I really agree with is touchscreens in cars...I can't stand them, especially when it's the tablet-slapped-on-the-dash style.
I believe the majority of modern cars are awesome. The power, refinement, materials, technology...everything has been improved, but sometimes they just feel bland. They actually feel mass produced, like you're driving a product. Older cars have a certain feel to them that a new car cannot reproduce. You tend to, bond better with an older car...that's the best I can describe it.
What do you guys think? Do modern cars really suck?
Post quoted here:
I believe the majority of modern cars are awesome. The power, refinement, materials, technology...everything has been improved, but sometimes they just feel bland. They actually feel mass produced, like you're driving a product. Older cars have a certain feel to them that a new car cannot reproduce. You tend to, bond better with an older car...that's the best I can describe it.
What do you guys think? Do modern cars really suck?
Post quoted here:
Seriously, what the fuck is going on...
BMW hit the nail on the head with the e46 3-series, and since then they, along with everyone else, have gone, nay, are running backwards. (except Mercedes, they managed that in the late 90s)
Nothing new in the car industry excites me. I don't care about self-driving headlights or eco-efficient connected cupholders.
The basic ideas of what constitutes a good car is being usurped by fluffy disposable bullshit.
Nobody fundamentally believes a good car must include google maps connectivity, or a key-fob remote starting, or plasmonic headlights. Neither on an emotional level, nor on a rational level.
Yet this is what the industry is giving us as a replacement or even distraction from the fundamental criteria of:
price, performance, economy (not efficiency!), luxury, quality, style, utility, and safety.
Here's a list I've compiled of car technologies I completely disagree with:
Start/Stop
LED lights (for anything except brake lights)
Xenon Lights
Laser Lights
Pulse Width Modulated LED lights EVERYWHERE (SERIOUSLY WHO NEEDS TO SAVE 5 WATTS?!)
massive front bumpers (Beluga Whale) to protect pedestrians
cars connected to the internet
google maps in cars
self driving cars
“4 cylinder performs like a v8” yeah right
overcharged microscopic engines (suicide-bomber engines, since you know they're going to explode)
"fly-by-wire” (cpu processing) for everything
any perceptible delay between pushing a button —> action
triple click blinkers
automatic transmissions with > 5 gears
plastic chrome
shitty plastic interiors as replacement for leather
Touch Screens (whoever thought this was a good idea I genuinely believe should be executed)
stupidly complicated vehicle functions (i.e. HVAC)
massive a-pillars and:
visibility being replaced by ding dong electronics (The irony here is this is to increase safety. How about avoiding accidents in the first place?)
SUVs that don't drive offroad (women to blame for this)
Electric power steering (start stop crap?)
electric AC
Artificial engine noise
electronic parking brake (again, an execution is in order)
car models not offering manual transmissions (kill)
speedometers intentionally wrong
single points of failure stranding cars (camshaft position sensor)
automatic transmissions “sealed for life” without a dipstick
No engine oil dipsticks
I'm not naïve to the reason this is happening. Manufacturers know what they're doing, and are laughing all the way to the bank. Electronic gadgets while expensive to develop are cheap to mass produce. Disposable cars are good for their bottom line. Regulators have their heads up their asses, and their balls in the hands of the car industry.
What's really tragic, and where the insanity lies: the customers, the ones that should keep all the bull in check in a good free market, seem blissfully complacent with all of it, except for maybe a slight tingle in the back of their mind that something just ain't right, and I'm not sure how this can be changed. I've seen very little literature, or journalism on the topic.
Here's one video I found that just scratches the surface of the problem:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3FDu8KvXOg
In my ideal fantasy reality, we should be able to buy a brand new ZHP that's absolutely bullet proof. No faulty window regulators, fading paint, shitty shift knobs, subframes that eat themselves, etc. But this doesn't exist, and really can't exist for ding-dong regulatory reasons. Not just for a ZHP, but for any type of car, with the only exception being pickup trucks.
I could stop here, but I won't, because the same thing is happening everywhere. Appliances, computers, electronics, journalism, TVs, etc.
These are high dollar industries that are in the same vortex spiral of bullshit, and the customers are blissfully complacent except, again, for that nagging tingling feeling that something isn't quite right.
It seems only one edge, of the double-edged sword of the free market is doing any cutting right now.
Which brings me back to my original question:
What the fuck is going on?
BMW hit the nail on the head with the e46 3-series, and since then they, along with everyone else, have gone, nay, are running backwards. (except Mercedes, they managed that in the late 90s)
Nothing new in the car industry excites me. I don't care about self-driving headlights or eco-efficient connected cupholders.
The basic ideas of what constitutes a good car is being usurped by fluffy disposable bullshit.
Nobody fundamentally believes a good car must include google maps connectivity, or a key-fob remote starting, or plasmonic headlights. Neither on an emotional level, nor on a rational level.
Yet this is what the industry is giving us as a replacement or even distraction from the fundamental criteria of:
price, performance, economy (not efficiency!), luxury, quality, style, utility, and safety.
Here's a list I've compiled of car technologies I completely disagree with:
Start/Stop
LED lights (for anything except brake lights)
Xenon Lights
Laser Lights
Pulse Width Modulated LED lights EVERYWHERE (SERIOUSLY WHO NEEDS TO SAVE 5 WATTS?!)
massive front bumpers (Beluga Whale) to protect pedestrians
cars connected to the internet
google maps in cars
self driving cars
“4 cylinder performs like a v8” yeah right
overcharged microscopic engines (suicide-bomber engines, since you know they're going to explode)
"fly-by-wire” (cpu processing) for everything
any perceptible delay between pushing a button —> action
triple click blinkers
automatic transmissions with > 5 gears
plastic chrome
shitty plastic interiors as replacement for leather
Touch Screens (whoever thought this was a good idea I genuinely believe should be executed)
stupidly complicated vehicle functions (i.e. HVAC)
massive a-pillars and:
visibility being replaced by ding dong electronics (The irony here is this is to increase safety. How about avoiding accidents in the first place?)
SUVs that don't drive offroad (women to blame for this)
Electric power steering (start stop crap?)
electric AC
Artificial engine noise
electronic parking brake (again, an execution is in order)
car models not offering manual transmissions (kill)
speedometers intentionally wrong
single points of failure stranding cars (camshaft position sensor)
automatic transmissions “sealed for life” without a dipstick
No engine oil dipsticks
I'm not naïve to the reason this is happening. Manufacturers know what they're doing, and are laughing all the way to the bank. Electronic gadgets while expensive to develop are cheap to mass produce. Disposable cars are good for their bottom line. Regulators have their heads up their asses, and their balls in the hands of the car industry.
What's really tragic, and where the insanity lies: the customers, the ones that should keep all the bull in check in a good free market, seem blissfully complacent with all of it, except for maybe a slight tingle in the back of their mind that something just ain't right, and I'm not sure how this can be changed. I've seen very little literature, or journalism on the topic.
Here's one video I found that just scratches the surface of the problem:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3FDu8KvXOg
In my ideal fantasy reality, we should be able to buy a brand new ZHP that's absolutely bullet proof. No faulty window regulators, fading paint, shitty shift knobs, subframes that eat themselves, etc. But this doesn't exist, and really can't exist for ding-dong regulatory reasons. Not just for a ZHP, but for any type of car, with the only exception being pickup trucks.
I could stop here, but I won't, because the same thing is happening everywhere. Appliances, computers, electronics, journalism, TVs, etc.
These are high dollar industries that are in the same vortex spiral of bullshit, and the customers are blissfully complacent except, again, for that nagging tingling feeling that something isn't quite right.
It seems only one edge, of the double-edged sword of the free market is doing any cutting right now.
Which brings me back to my original question:
What the fuck is going on?
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