Old cars,built better ?
Discussion
Keep seeing this, mainly in relation to old Fords, apparently MK2 Granadas are "built like tanks" and a MK1/2 Escort is far better built and higher quality than a current Focus is ? the new Focus has zero chance of surviving 40 years it is so poorly made.
Personally I was thinking that the modern stuff seems to be much better built, because,
It doesnt rot through in four years
You dont die if you crash it
The shell is much more rigid, built to tighter tolerances using more advanced techniques and materials
If you service the engine, it doesnt nee a rebuild before 100k
I had old cars and dont Remember them being massively well made, aside from the really expensive stuff, which still used to rot lavishly.
people didnt used to treat cars as so disposable, there were less about and harder to get hold of, i.e. you couldn't get a brand new car for the equivalent of £150 a month, hard won items people tended to look after despite being a lot less dependable.
Cars dont last now as they are end up worthless and uneconomic to keep on the road, when really they are a lot more viable than the old bangers people used to have to keep dragging themselves round in the sixties, seventies and eighties ?
I do concur that sometimes a daft fault in an expensive module will do for modern stuff quite easily as you cant get one from a scrappers as it needs coding first, otherwise, would take my chances now with a ten year old car before a ten year old one in say 1980.
Personally I was thinking that the modern stuff seems to be much better built, because,
It doesnt rot through in four years
You dont die if you crash it
The shell is much more rigid, built to tighter tolerances using more advanced techniques and materials
If you service the engine, it doesnt nee a rebuild before 100k
I had old cars and dont Remember them being massively well made, aside from the really expensive stuff, which still used to rot lavishly.
people didnt used to treat cars as so disposable, there were less about and harder to get hold of, i.e. you couldn't get a brand new car for the equivalent of £150 a month, hard won items people tended to look after despite being a lot less dependable.
Cars dont last now as they are end up worthless and uneconomic to keep on the road, when really they are a lot more viable than the old bangers people used to have to keep dragging themselves round in the sixties, seventies and eighties ?
I do concur that sometimes a daft fault in an expensive module will do for modern stuff quite easily as you cant get one from a scrappers as it needs coding first, otherwise, would take my chances now with a ten year old car before a ten year old one in say 1980.
Geekman said:
If by "built better", you mean built to last, I think the ideal car would be something designed a long time ago with no complex electronics, but with modern production methods and rust protection. Something like this perhaps:
https://www.nissan.com.mx/promociones/tsuru/2017/
It's an early 1990s Nissan Sunny which has only stopped being produced around a year ago, and can still be bought brand new today. They're often used as taxis and service vehicles, and most of the older ones have well over 1 million KM on the clock.
They're a terrible car in almost every way, but in terms of longevity and running costs, hard to beat I think.
Yeah, saw those in Mexico, good call but needs some modern crash safety adding in, as it hasnt got any.https://www.nissan.com.mx/promociones/tsuru/2017/
It's an early 1990s Nissan Sunny which has only stopped being produced around a year ago, and can still be bought brand new today. They're often used as taxis and service vehicles, and most of the older ones have well over 1 million KM on the clock.
They're a terrible car in almost every way, but in terms of longevity and running costs, hard to beat I think.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85OysZ_4lp0
the Mexicans love them as they are so dependable but scary if you crash them.
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