Board:   [WWIVnet] General Chat
Subject: Re: Vacation spots
From:    Bob Worm #81 @137
To:      Weatherman #1 @1 (Mark)
Date:    Thu Nov 20, 2025 12:38

Hi, Mark.

M> One could make a point that older cars are more safe, because they are
M> solidmetal and built like a tank.  The tiny cars these days could get
M> crushed bylarge trucks.

I'd strongly suggest watching some crash tests on pre-90s cars. It turns out
being solid isn't great for the occupants, especially if you don't have any
seat belts. Modern cars have *much* stronger A&B  pillars if you're worried about
rolling / getting crushed by trucks. They're a pain in the ass and block your
vision but they are stronger.

M> Also, you can't find a vehicle these days that isn't connected to
M> something.Many people hate that and the fact they all look the same.
M> The old vehcilesare just engine and transmission and have personality.
M> No extra crap that canbreak and cause extra issues.

We're definitely on the same page here. When we looked at cars for my son
there was a checklist of crap we didn't want - keyless entry was a flat no as
they get relayed and stolen all the time. Manual handbrake (surprisingly hard
to find these days) rather than electric. Annoyingly because we got something
recent (like within the last 5 years) it's full of "driver aid" junk nobody
wants and just costs a fortune to repair. Currently cars need start-stop
(proven to knacker the engine), lane departure warning (great, I really wanted
my mirrors to cost 600GBP each and require coding in) and I believe crash
warning cameras are required. Either way it has one and after a minor nudge
from behind in stationary traffic it needed resetting by a dealer-level
computer to get rid of a spurious fault which would make it fail the MOT
(inspection equivalent) test. Oh and it's a 3 pot with a wet belt. Thankfully
at least not turbo'd up within an inch of its life.

Everything's a computer, it's awful. One day the blower fans wouldn't work -
booked it into the garage, two days later just worked again. Even that's not a
direct control :(

BobW

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