Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire I'm fed the hell up with today's automobiles!

When I was a kid, you financed a car for three years and when you were done paying for it, your car was slap dab worn out with 50 or 60k on it and it was time to get another one. Now pretty much any car on any lot made by any maker will go 100k before you even have think about any kind of tune and you change the oil every 7 to 10k. The average age of the cars on the road today is eleven years and most of us simply get tired of our cars and get rid of them before we wear them out.

I remember when I was a kid that cars from the 50s and early 60s seemed like relics of an earlier age. You almost never saw one and when you did, you noticed because it was so rare. But, now? I’ll see half a dozen cars that old on my way home, just a few miles, from work.

The biggest problem I have with the new cars is they all look alike. They are designed in a wind tunnel to look like a turd and you can't tell a Subaru from a Lexus. I love the old classic designs, but if I was going to Florida, I would take the Thunderbird and not the MG. Comfort and reliability are not the same...

Awesome!!! I also loved my old Suburban at 9000' feet. Nothing better than wheezing along at 20 mph with a 24' travel trailer in tow.

I hear what most of you are saying. It's just frustrating that I have to pay someone else to (hopefully) fix my vehicles when they crap out.

Paying big money for a dream that does not exist anymore.

It's easy to look at the past through rose colored glasses. But 40 years ago one would have to pay Cadillac money to get a car that runs and drives like my base, 7 year old Toyota Camry,...and the Caddy would still come up short in many respects.

"Yep I miss mechanical brakes, motors using oil at about 30,000 miles, carb flooding out, mechanical windows stuck. And I hate my remote starting rigs with the heated seats and steering wheels that I can give voice commands to talk of the phone and such. Just terrible! We get on our computers constantly to complain about computers......."

Great post. I'm trying to remember, how often did manufacturers recommend tune-up (new plugs, points and condenser)? Wasn't it something like every 30,000 miles?

And the comment about people using their computers to complain about computers - right on!

A very extreme and useless comparison.

Talking about nearly 30 years of design changes.



Automotive technology in regards to usefulness peaked in the mid 2000's.

Gee whiz tech has increased. Warranty claims have increased.


Its getting harder and harder to HONESTLY say that cars and trucks are getting better.

More expensive yes, and much more generous financing terms.....like 72 months. Better!

My Dad owned a service station/mechanics shop. My '67, '68 and '71 Chevelle's got the oil changed every 1000 miles and plugs, points, and condenser every 10,000 miles. Maybe a bit of an overkill, but they still were using oil before I got rid of them at around 50,000 miles. Some of those miles might have been a bit hard though........mmm

With a 2017 350 Super Duty, and a 2018 Dodge Diesel 1500, I guess I will just happily check the oil once in a while.

A man has to know his limitations.

There is no bigger example of "not what the consumer wants, but what we want to sell him" than the auto industry.

There is probably some truth to that. The automatic ass wiper on my wife’s Cadillac is very nice, but it doesn’t really add much in terms of usefulness and would probably cost $27k to fix or replace when it breaks.

Spot on.

That financing of everything on earth is why everything costs more. Everyone pay cash and manufacturing/products would a lot different.

I plan on doing exactly that only with a pickup. I'm old enough to remember the work trucks we had in the mid 70's, and I prefer pre '69 GMC, Chevys, and Fords. Dodges were good and reliable for us even up to 1980 or so. So far I have a '51 Ford, but that's going a little too far back for what I need. I had to spend $4000 dollars on my newest F150 before it reached120,000 miles. I drove a 73 Dodge 4WD 350,000 miles with one engine replacement that was my own fault. .

Crap, my Kenworth sends me an email with the code while it's going down the road. When it pulls into the dealer, the dealer already knows what the computer says is wrong, and can start down the prescribed diagnostic tree without ever plugging in. Any dealer, anywhere.

None of these will make the "first start in 50 years" videos. But I do like not having to retard the spark going up Loveland Pass, wishing I could rejet at the same time. We get way more power from smaller engines and don't have to put up with a lumpy cam and no low end torque.
The anti lock brakes and handling stuff leaves me cold. My one car will growl for several hundred feet, but not stop on ice. I know how to let the snow pile up in fromt of the tires, and how to feather the brakes to steer.
But heaven forbid the fuel pump goes out way back in; you can't pump up the tank with a tire pump to get out, or fix any of the ignition stuff if it fails.

Whoever said about 2000 was the peak is right. Now we have drive by wire throttle, steering, brakes; lose your battery or a wire and who knows where you will go. Just wait until the self driving computer fails and all we can do is scream as we go off a cliff.

There is a Pontiac in the family with a computer that does what it damn well pleases, including going into "reduced power" half way through a left turn.

I am keeping my eyes peeled for an old naturally aspirated diesel Nissan or 'cruiser to belt around the scrub, for as nice as the new Toyota are to drive I just do not like all the doodads.

Well it sounds like I should be looking for an early to mid 2000's model instead, then.

Ahh....how I long for the good old days of getting in the car in the morning to go to work and wondering if it’ll start because the temp’s 30 degrees outside. Crank it for 20 seconds or so then pull out the emergency can of ether, disassemble the air cleaner, squirt some in then quickly run around & try to crank it again. Breathe a sigh of relief when it finally cranks then sit there revving the engine for a few minutes to keep it from dying.

I sure miss those days!

I remember when tires wore out after 10-12,000 miles.