pipesgt Loc: Central Florida

They say that you are getting old when your new car costs more than your first house.

Picture Taker Loc: Michigan Thumb

Not getting old---- Got old and it was not my 1st house. I have owned 3 houses and it's true of all of them.

charles tabb Loc: Richmond VA.

My wife & I bought a 2019 Chevy Blazer and love it. If you have 3 people sitting in the back seat, you flip a switch on the rear view mirror and the mirror turns into a rear view monitor and there is no blockage by people in the back seat.

Charles

whatdat Loc: Del Valle, Tx.

Range rovers reliability rrcord is not that good. Especially for what you pay.

berchman Loc: South Central PA

I have a year 2000 BMW M Coupe with only 85,000 miles on it and a 2005 Honda Minivan with 124,000 miles and I plan to keep them until I am no longer able to drive. I had hoped that by then self-driving vehicles would be available, but I realize that will not happen. (I'm 82.) I cannot afford to both buy a new car and to travel. I get a lot more out of traveling since my life is otherwise routine. Besides, I really like the BMW even though the heater is either on full or not at all and the same goes for the air conditioner. It's been like that since it was new. But when I detail it, the Imola Red paint just glows and looks fantastic. And the manual shift gives my right arm and left foot some exercise.

amyinsparta Loc: White county, TN

I can relate. Hubby insisted I buy a new-2019- Rav4. It has things on it I dont even know about! What I do like is the automatic emergency brake and great gas mileage. But really, some of the stuff is just annoying. I've turned off a lot of it. My first car was a '65 Nash Rambler that my father chose for me. It didn't even have a radio! It would go from zero to sixty in a couple of minutes! Lol. I traded it in on a beautiful '67 Olds. I put a 100,000 on it, gave it to my stepson. He drove it another 50,000, then gave it to his buddy. You could see the ground through the floorboards when it finally gave out. They dont make them that way anymore. 'sigh'

jaycoffman Loc: San Diego

Excellent rant--I'm with you all the way. Of course I still drive a '95 Toyota P/U with power-nothing and I love it. Also since I've been driving for over 57 years now I've pretty much adapted to most of my body changes. I personally think many of the add ons are merely a PITA that simply add to the cost but that's mostly just me. While we're ranting--even though they put in all of these cameras, mirrors and whatnot--they can't make a car with any decent visibility behind the driver. For years I've driven either my p/u, a BMW 2002 or a Subaru Forrester all of which had great 360 degree visibility. My wife's Prius may as well be a panel truck with no windows as far as visibility is concerned.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

I completely agree about the visibility. A ‘71 BMW 2002 was my first new car - bought it off the showroom floor for $3995, and it had great visibility from that big, tall “greenhouse”. Great car - wish I still had it. My current car, a 2006 MB E350 also has a tall greenhouse and excellent visibility, but my wife’s 2008 Lexus ES350 is like sitting in a tunnel - it needs park assist. It’s a solid, very reliable car (and not slow), but I hate the rear visibility.

Bill Emmett Loc: Bow, New Hampshire

Last year, my wife and I decided to replace our 2005 Dodge Durango. On the way South, from New Hampshire, to Gulfport, Mississippi, it developed a electrical problem. I studied, Ford, 150s, Chevy, and GMC. I took a look at Ram 1500, and was astounded by the way the truck handled, even with 4 wheel drive. Plus, during my studies of the trucks I checked all the trucks forums on the net. I looked for engine, and suspension problem, and ride comfort. The Ram had no real problems that could turn into nagging serious problems. We finally decided on the Ram 1500, Limited. We purchased one that is fully loaded, with both comfort, and safety electronics. I still check the forums for problems, and have not found much there. The one we bought is the 2019 model, with towing too. I do tow a car hauler, with my 2009 BMW Z4. The truck tows it like it's not there.

S

skylinefirepest Loc: Southern Pines, N.C.

I remember the days of "kick the tires and light the fire"...and since I was interested in performance as well as doodads I did exactly that. I had a 1968 Barracuda fastback, 340 automatic that did a hundred in fourteen seconds flat on street tires and through the muffler at Kinston, N.C., dragstrip. And it still got about 17 mpg when I'd stay out of the four barrel. Ahhhh, the days. I also lost my license TWICE driving that car and my wife drove me to Seymour Johnson AFB for thirty days so as to not let the Air Force find out that I was some kind of hotrod felon. I now photograph bad wrecks for the NCSHP as a fireman and drive a 2018 Tacoma, well equipped.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

I had a 2005 Prius. It did pretty well but after 12 years I thought I'd get something that had more safety features because I was getting older along with the car. Got a 2017 model. Had it 3 days and was tooling along in a 30mph zone along with the traffic when someone in the oncoming lane fell asleep and veered into me. Hit head on about 1 foot off center. All the airbags deployed. The car called the police to report the accident. No scratches on me but the car was totalled. There was even an airbag under the steering wheel to keep me from sliding under the dash. If I hadn't traded the car in I probably wouldn't have been on that road at that time, but still it was nice that I had up to date safety features.

Also the cruise control is adaptive. If the guy in front of you slows down, the cruise control slows down. It will follow the car ahead of you as it slows and speeds up. If you get down to 1mph the car will stop and you have to touch the accelerator to get started again. Big improvement on the 2005 model I was used to. I tried the autoparking feature once but I'm still able to do it myself. The lane change sensor is nice on long trips. It nudges the wheel to let you know you're moving across a lane marker. Not hard enough to actually steer back into the lane, but enough to get your attention.

I used to keep my vehicles until they wouldn't run any more but as I get older I think I'll have to go with improvements in safety features.

I would really like to see self-driving vehicles but I have my doubts about them. I went to a party a couple weeks ago. 3 hour drive each way. Nice party but it was snowing when I left. I drove 85 miles, local roads and interstates, before I was able to see a lane marker of any sort. The interstates, mostly 3 lanes, were effectively 2 lanes because you couldn't tell where the lanes were. You just had to guess (although you could find the edges of the road by the rumble strips). So I have my doubts about AI being able to navigate such a road. I suspect it would pull to something it estimated as the side of the road and tell me to take over.

clint f. Loc: Priest Lake Idaho, Spokane Wa

When Harley introduced fuel injection all the old school riders complained that they couldn’t work on it themselves. If you asked when they last worked on their carbs you generally got crickets.

BBurns Loc: South Bay, California

Great thread. I have been involved with Technology all of my life, Aerospace, automotive & consumer electronics.
Like the internet & cell phone, people & industry have become slaves to their own inventions.
The quality of good electronic design today is reflected by the fact that it will fail in the first 72 hours or it will work for 20+ years without a problem.
Electronic ignition & fuel injection made massive changes for auto reliability.
The world of tinkering with your car and basic maintenance is not the same as it was when we were young.
Cars now go 100K miles on a set on spark plugs & ignition wires.
Synthetic oils will go 8-10K miles between changes. It is not uncommon to see daily driven cars with well over 100K miles logged.

My wife was stopped at a signal last November in our 2012 Lexus CT200h. A guy feel asleep at the wheel and rear ended her at over 50mph.
He pushed her over 60 feet, rolled his car and totaled the Lexus. The car called the police and me.
My wife opened the door when the police arrived, within 2 minutes, stepped out and gave them her information. Not a Scratch on her.
Yes, she was very shaken up emotionally and had a few days of stiff and soreness but the car did its job, she walked away.

You know you have moved to the next level when your vehicle has its own IP address & phone number!

All that being said, there is still a lot of rolling junk on the road due to poor maintenance and shoddy workmanship by repair shops.
I just saw this online this morning.

J.D. Powers Names Most Dependable Auto Brands

rmorrison1116 Loc: Near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

They are really nice...!

DeanS Loc: Capital City area of North Carolina

“Kicking the tires” is Euphemism speak for “take if for a test drive.”