The Dark Wob

DodgeRover wrote: ↑Sun Jul 14, 2019 10:51 am

bub2006 wrote: ↑Sun Jul 14, 2019 10:43 am My Hyundai is a middle of the range model but has radar guided smart cruise,active grill shutters,active lane keeping and numerous other shite.

All that money spent on unnecessary crap and they couldn't afford a hose clip!

In all fairness, I use all that stuff every day.

Radar cruise is fucking awesome, especially in the fog and it's ability to steer itself is something my passengers never get bored of seeing.

I will admit that I'm really craving an analog car right now. I'll compromise and accept fuel injection but deffo no power steering or ABS.

Nothing wrong with power steering per say. It's the over assisted and electrically driven systems that destroy the feel and experience. This is what I really like about the Boxster, hydraulic power steering that has a nice weighty feel, no traction control so you have to respect it, enough power to have fun but not too much that you're in prison territory all the time and a slightly flimsy feel that is lost on the heavily refined modern cars.

Warren t claim wrote: ↑Mon Jul 15, 2019 10:40 pm

DodgeRover wrote: ↑Sun Jul 14, 2019 10:51 am

bub2006 wrote: ↑Sun Jul 14, 2019 10:43 am My Hyundai is a middle of the range model but has radar guided smart cruise,active grill shutters,active lane keeping and numerous other shite.

All that money spent on unnecessary crap and they couldn't afford a hose clip!

In all fairness, I use all that stuff every day.

Radar cruise is fucking awesome, especially in the fog and it's ability to steer itself is something my passengers never get bored of seeing.

The radar cruise is fantastic I agree. Especially with speed cameras as there's hardly any engine noise to gauge speed it's so easy to creep over 30. Much better than the limiter. I can't quite get used to active steering just yet!

I think what we are seeing here is an acceptance of all these helpful things in the context of a leased, brand new or otherwise paid-for modern where the technology remains reliable. I'm not knocking any of that, it is just not for me but I remain in absolute gratitude that none of these vehicles will appeal to me when they become cheap to buy outright. Passive up-grades like discs on my Minor, electronic dizzies etc are fine with me and I embrace them but only with the caveat that it can be unbolted, flung in a hedge and replaced (with old or new) the minute it gives me gyp. I've had cars with cruise, air-con and the like but didn't miss it when it inevitably shat.

I think the kind of thing that really baffles me is the likes of my mate's Mazda 6. Coming home from a gig one night it got a bit warm in the car and rather than open a window (because it has air-con!) he decided to cool us all down. Fuck me - I have never seen so many buttons and menus just to do a simple adjustment that in my whole life has only required a slider or a rotary knob. Probably he could have had it set on some kind of default, I dunno but what an arse-ache. No wonder nobody is looking at the road any more and need to have cars that swerve and brake by themselves....

Nope still don't get your point to be honest, most of my cars have had things like aircon/cruise/electric windows/remote locking/abs/traction control etc for the last 20 years and I have had zero failures that I haven't been able to fix by replacing a sensor or solenoid easily and cheaply by myself with few specialist tools, I generally buy top of the range high spec cars for around 2-3k with 100k or so on the clock and run them for a year or two, so obviously no warranty, my biggest bill has been £800 for a clutch and DMF on my wife's Peugeot, which I knew needed doing so negotiated the cost off the purchase price.

Modern cars are so much more reliable than old shit and 200k with basic servicing and maintenance is easily achievable in pretty much any car, diagnostic kits are cheap and easy to use.

I'd rather drive a well specced top of the range model than a misery spec base model, buying a car without Aircon (for example) because it might break is fucking mental if you ask me, there's nothing worse than being stuck in a traffic jam on a hot summers day with no Aircon, or having to have the windows open at 70mph to try and cool the car down and suffer horrendous tiring wind noise, likewise a long journey is made easier with cruise control, these are simple things that to me are essential as I want to arrive fresh and alert, not knackered and hot and sweaty.

Cruise control is good, aircon I can live without. A lot depends on how well things are designed, for example with the organ accelerator pedals I can go all day but others leave me aching after a few hours.

It isn't just that shit breaks (and it has in my experience). It is just in the way and not wanted. Air con rads and compressors have got in the way of other tasks, the aforementioned ABS light is just a pain in the arse. I don't want all this stuff, don't need it or use it and don't want to be faffed when it either breaks or gets in the way of something else that is broken.

I hate air conditioned temperature, sooner have a window open, I dislike power steering but accept it when it is there and I certainly don't want any more buttons other than those necessary to switch lights, wipers and heater fan on and off. Most of all I do not want any feature to interfere with my control of the car or my expectations of its behaviour.

I drive old shit because I like old shit but it also saves me from having features I don't need or want. Furthermore, my cars need to last me more than a year or two. It's the same indoors, I still spin vinyl when I want sounds, stir a pot when I am hungry and turn old fashioned taps and light fittings on and off.


We are not all wired the same way, so neither are our vehicles....

I must admit I do like a basic car with no frills but I do like AC. Now if I could find an old automatic base trim car with air con then that would be grand! If such a thing existed though I doubt if afford it!

Get yourself to Canada! Practically everything has air, even my sister's basic Sentra. They spend all winter being freezing cold so feel the need to replicate it in the summer....