New Cars: I drove about sixty miles yesterday, and the traffic was awful. One thing I noticed was lots of new, expensive cars. That reminded me of going to college in Poughkeepsie many...

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I drove about sixty miles yesterday, and the traffic was awful. One thing I noticed was lots of new, expensive cars. That reminded me of going to college in Poughkeepsie many years ago. I didn't see many new cars in Poughkeepsie, but I saw lots of them when I went home to Long Island on weekends. Larger population, more rich people.

Yesterday, it was the same thing: much more traffic involving wealthy visitors from down-state. Many of these cars were so new that I hadn't seen them before, and I had to check the logo to see what they were. When we moved here almost sixty years ago, there was very light traffic. There was only one traffic light on the highway into town, and that light was used only on weekends. Now there is always heavy traffic, and there are four traffic lights. Ah, progress!

kpmac Loc: Ragley, La

When I was a kid you could identify every car by year and model. Now you'd have to be an automotive engineer just to get half of them correct. Is that progress? I don't know.

Scruples Loc: Brooklyn, New York

I’m still driving my horse drawn buggy. It saves on gas, eats grass and hay, and an occasional apple or orange. No Sugar! It ruins their teeth.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

kpmac wrote:

When I was a kid you could identify every car by year and model. Now you'd have to be an automotive engineer just to get half of them correct. Is that progress? I don't know.

Yes, there is a certain amount of similarity. Is it true that they all use the same design studio and pick one from Column A and one from Column B?

I can still identify year, make, and model of cars from the 1950s - 1960s.

I used to follow the Indy 500, but I've lost interest in that. Wow! I see that was run today! It must be over by now.

Burtzy Loc: Bronx N.Y. & Simi Valley, CA

jerryc41 wrote:

Yes, there is a certain amount of similarity. Is it true that they all use the same design studio and pick one from Column A and one from Column B?

I can still identify year, make, and model of cars from the 1950s - 1960s.

I used to follow the Indy 500, but I've lost interest in that. Wow! I see that was run today! It must be over by now.

You can blame the similarity of car design on "CD", the attempt to improve gas mileage through better co-efficient of drag. The less air resistance a car body encounters, the further it will go on a tank of gas. All car makers have been moving in that direction for more than a decade...maybe two. And the results of that endeavor is similar looking cars. And yes, I too could remember every make and model from my growing up years. And yes, today it's difficult to tell my Genesis from a Honda Accord. Individuality has been lost in the search for improved utility.

kvanhook Loc: Oriental, NC

Some of the cars not only "look" alike, they "are" alike. I saw a video sometime back which showed three different cars coming off of the same line. Then only difference was the logo. Two different named US cars and a Mitsubishi all from the same production line.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

kvanhook wrote:

Some of the cars not only "look" alike, they "are" alike. I saw a video sometime back which showed three different cars coming off of the same line. Then only difference was the logo. Two different named US cars and a Mitsubishi all from the same production line.

Ford and GM always had the same car with different trim, different model names, and different prices. Ford and Mercury; Olds, Pontiac, Buick, and Chevy. Remember the "scandal" when Cadillac owners saw that they had Chevy engines? They had GM engines, but they wanted to see "Cadillac" on those engines.

StanMac Loc: Tennessee

I’m so disappointed in the direction automobile design has taken here in America. There used to be some attention to body styling and design. Everything being produced these days is stubby, boxy and square. No more sleek, aerodynamic looks anymore.

Stan

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

StanMac wrote:

I’m so disappointed in the direction automobile design has taken here in America. There used to be some attention to body styling and design. Everything being produced these days is stubby, boxy and square. No more sleek, aerodynamic looks anymore.

Stan

josquin1 Loc: Massachusetts

kpmac wrote:

When I was a kid you could identify every car by year and model. Now you'd have to be an automotive engineer just to get half of them correct. Is that progress? I don't know.

Perhaps that's because they all look alike.

Drbobcameraguy Loc: Eaton Ohio

jerryc41 wrote:

Yes, there is a certain amount of similarity. Is it true that they all use the same design studio and pick one from Column A and one from Column B?

I can still identify year, make, and model of cars from the 1950s - 1960s.

I used to follow the Indy 500, but I've lost interest in that. Wow! I see that was run today! It must be over by now.

Reason cars look so similar is gas mileage. Wind resistance is a major factor and there is basically only one best resistance design. There is a guy on utube that tok an older Honda civic and cleaned up the dirty airflow. He gets amazing mileage.

JFP

Cars used to have personality now they don't cars used to have high quality body work now they don't

Valenta Loc: Top of NZ

I resemble your feelings. Everywhere is 'over-populated', but not one politician will admit it in public.

Solve it - is the challenge. Go on- do it....

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Drbobcameraguy wrote:

Reason cars look so similar is gas mileage. Wind resistance is a major factor and there is basically only one best resistance design. There is a guy on utube that tok an older Honda civic and cleaned up the dirty airflow. He gets amazing mileage.

Please, don't make excuses for them!

Streamlining is important, but they can still design a nice grill and front end - rear end, too. Some old cars had great-looking front ends.

As for gas mileage, yes! I remember when the VW bragged about getting 32 mpg. Now, small cars get 40 or more. Even large cars can get 30+. Electronics also had a lot to do with the increase. Years ago, we had a big Buick LeSabre. over the course of 40,000 miles, it averaged 27.4 mpg.

If you want to see real world mileage, take a look a fuelly.com. People enter their gas purchases, and you can see what kind of mileage various cars actually get. The average mpg for 3,770 Honda Fits is 34.5. My Fit has averaged 43.6 over 79,000 miles.

LXK0930 Loc: Souh Jersey

jerryc41 wrote:

Ford and GM always had the same car with different trim, different model names, and different prices. Ford and Mercury; Olds, Pontiac, Buick, and Chevy. Remember the "scandal" when Cadillac owners saw that they had Chevy engines? They had GM engines, but they wanted to see "Cadillac" on those engines.

I believe that it was Olds, not Cadillac.
Engine was (or was not) the Rocket 88.