Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Last time I took my 1985 Toyota Supra to Jiffy Lube, and he recorded the mileage of 163,000, he all but guaranteed me that my car would easily hit 300,000 miles. Maybe more!
And, the tech told me: If this car should somehow die on you, please let me know, I'll buy it from you, just for the parts!
Don't let him get it. Give it to someone who will bring it back to life
I remember living at the mercy of car mechanics in the 1970s and 1980s. I couldn't believe anyone would sell such poorly built pieces of crap.
Today's cars are absolutely wonderful by comparison.
If you want soul, you'll have to learn how to restore antique vehicles. The closest to a vehicle with soul these days is BMW and Tesla, which are expensive. I'm happy to drive a reliable car and get soul in other aspects of my life.
I see people on here talking about cars were crap in 1970s and 80s.ainly American cars.
In those years they were "crap" because of the US government mandates with the emissions bullcrap
Saying that malaise era cars are slow (specifically gasoline American V8's) is one of the biggest automotive myths out there.
Trans Ams had a 6.6 V8 as did the Firebird Formula. The Camaro Z-28 had responsive 350 V8s. Ford's Mustang was a POS until the Fox body came out in the 80s and Chrysler, Dodge and Plymouth were pretty much done by the mid 70s.
A couple of great POS was the Ford Grenada and Fairmont of the 80s. If you hated cars you drove one. One of my GFs from the 80s came from a family who was well off but her old man was a tightwad who bought the cheapest cars available on the car lot - brand new. He would write a check and get an even better deal. It didn't matter what color or anything else; as long as it was cheap. They had a Grenada and Fairmont; both with 4 on the floor. The Grenada had a 302 and the Fairmont was a lethargic POS I6. The mom wrecked the Grenada really good and the boys pieced it back together with junkyard parts and painted it with off color spray paint. AM radio only.
Trans Ams had a 6.6 V8 as did the Firebird Formula. The Camaro Z-28 had responsive 350 V8s. Ford's Mustang was a POS until the Fox body came out in the 80s and Chrysler, Dodge and Plymouth were pretty much done by the mid 70s.
A couple of great POS was the Ford Grenada and Fairmont of the 80s. If you hated cars you drove one. One of my GFs from the 80s came from a family who was well off but her old man was a tightwad who bought the cheapest cars available on the car lot - brand new. He would write a check and get an even better deal. It didn't matter what color or anything else; as long as it was cheap. They had a Grenada and Fairmont; both with 4 on the floor. The Grenada had a 302 and the Fairmont was a lethargic POS I6. The mom wrecked the Grenada really good and the boys pieced it back together with junkyard parts and painted it with off color spray paint. AM radio only.
Yeah, they were rednecks from Alabama.
I wouldn't own a Mustang II, but I like them. I know of a 1978 Cobra II 302 4 speed sitting in a barn. Chrysler had it going on just like GM in the 80s with their turbos and Shelby models.
My 1973 Gran Torino station wagon that I bought in 1977 (and still have) has a 140 hp 302 and it wasn't slugglish in the slightest. AM radio. My '71 Maverick has a 200 I6 and 203,000 miles on it - still incredibly solid and no radio to speak of. You could say it's "break time" for it now.
Don't forget that the Fairmont is essentially a Fox Mustang in different clothes
I've been driving crap boxes for the last two vehicles and they've both thus far been great. The Mazda3 was completely reliable other than the A/C Compressor having to be replaced which was kind of a fluke. Other than that, bullet proof. If you got 7 years and 140k miles out of a car from the '80s at all it you were pretty far ahead in the game, especially if it was from an American manufacturer. Most people ditched them long before that because fixing them was costly. Maintenance is extremely minimal, gas mileage is good, handling is good, acceleration is good. Example, the 0-60 and 1/4 mile on the Mazda crap box is what you'd get on a 5.0 Mustang from the early '80s. Plus it handles better, safer, more reliable, gets better gas mileage. Not bad. Practical crap box does pony as well, sans the sound track, as a pony car from the '80s while being better in every other way. Compared to a crap box from the '80s ('87 Corsica my parents had), infinitely better. I mean, with crap boxes you mostly care about practical stuff not 0-60 and fun to drive so much. One step up from a crap box, but basically a crap box in a fancy wrapper (mostly just a Cavalier). Oh, the laundry list of things that either broke or wore out in the first few years of ownership.
I really liked the interior on the Mazda though aside from the piano black scratch-tastic trim. But hey, whatever they used for seat fabric while not the most comfortable say if you were a girl and wearing shorts/skirt and contacting the seat directly more than made up for it. Seriously, my filthy dogs covered in mud and dirt were all over that car and you just wiped it down with a wet towel when you got home. Fantastic stuff for a car geared towards someone with either dogs or children which are even messier than my dogs after running around the Delta. The headliner wasn't falling down after 7 years instead of after the first summer with the Corsica, no cracks in the dash board after 7 years versus maybe 3 in the Corsica, no fading in the interior. Paint fading limited to the spoiler and scuff plate on the hatch versus the entire car on the Corsica. But really, you care more about things like the water pump, oil pump, brakes, and shocks not all wearing out in the first three years and not having the ignition switch disintegrate after three months shifter linkage shearing in half at six months and so on. You know, does it do A to B is what matters in crap boxes. If the paint all fades in two years and the plastic interior starts fading and cracking after three... well, you might not be too happy about it but as long as it gets you A to B it's still doing the job a crab box is supposed to do. Corsica wasn't. It broke down multiple times in the first year and was the last domestic car my family ever owned. Now the VW Passat ('92) that replaced it was pretty unreliable too but not even in the same realm. It was good up until the electrical gremlins hit when it was around seven years old.
Saying that malaise era cars are slow (specifically gasoline American V8's) is one of the biggest automotive myths out there.
Hardly. It wasn't universal but largely completely true. Mustang II or your Torino, for example. My Prius is faster. Personally, I find the car sluggish but it gets 50 mpg so there's your trade off. I mean, it sold well so it's hard to really begrudge Ford for making it so damn slow. It certainly was very slow though. I'd guess most people didn't care that much since they bought them in droves anyway. Likewise with the Prius. I find it sluggish and I bought it anyway for the same reason, gas mileage.
Of course almost all the malaise era cars were slower so it's not like you really had a choice in any of it like you do today, some more than others but they all got neutered, American V8s just got neutered much harder. Dad had a Series 3 E-type, malaise there wasn't all that bad although it still didn't make anymore power with the V12 than the Series 1 I6 did. That's not American V8 but there's your difference. A Series 1 wasn't all that fast, a small block C2 Corvette would kill it in a straight line. Corvette went through the same thing as well though so the Series 3 was much faster than a malaise era small block Vette. Cut the power a car makes in about half compared to the pre-malaise engines and it's slower. Jag only had an about 25% reduction rather than 50% reduction in specific output the Corvette had and it offset it by adding about 25% more engine... of course the Series 3 V12 never handled as well, too much weight out front. Charger didn't fair as badly. Engines were overrated previously and the stated drop wasn't nearly as much as Ford or GM products. They were still slower though, although not bread truck slow like the Mustang was.
very true, people get nostalgic for junk from the 80's and prior. look at all those tv shows about "valuable junk", and what people are willing to pay for it.
however, i would say the cars of 90's were superior to those sold today tho before toyota and honda moved their operations to usa and poor quality control, recalls and accidents. i've owned a 92 corolla that went 212k miles till i junked it during cash for clunkers. it would have probably gone another 50k.
my bmw's from the mid 90's are great..
my lexus suv and bmw's from 2005 and on are always being serviced for computer errors. aesthetically speaking, cars built from 2005 look more generic and plasticky. i put my 97 e36 bmw m3 side to side with my 2012 330i.. the 97 looks more solid, and less mass produced.
i believe 1990-2001 was a kind of golden era for vehicles in modern car history.
+1
The mid-late 90s vehicles were certainly making strides.
I noticed at least a few spots where my '08 SuperCrew came up short compared to my '03 F150. If I jinx it, so be it, but AFAIK, the '03 still has the factory AC blower and I know that alternator is quiet at 230,600 miles. The '08 needed a new blower around 62,200 miles and the alternator always whined when I goosed the gas pedal. The cosmetic stuff was crap on the '08, too. The Ford emblems were fading and the plastics all around were, too. The cowl up front was parting when I sold it and I had to replace the rubber ends on both sides since they had long since rotted away. The '03 has none of these issues. Oh, the '03 for being a lowly XL (though actually well-equipped aside from PWs and PLs) has a bench seat that hugs me way better and a lumbar support that could bruise my kidneys compared to the flat seats and lumbar that I can barely feel on MAX in the '08.
I wish I could find a square body Vortec Suburban or Tahoe clone with rear discs--they don't exist. That would be sweet. Might just have to find one and convert. Then again, an older Navigator might do for a camping type vehicle. That DOHC 5.4L looks easier to work on than the Tritons, especially for pulling plugs and ignition coils and tow package is standard on them, too.
My friend bought a '14 SuperCrew a while back. Midget-sized oil dipstick, shrimpy trans cooler for the tow package (about half the size of my '08), no underhood lighting and what got to him was no auto headlamps. I guess that's how it works for the type that has to buy new to avoid repairs. The '03 hasn't had me turning too many wrenches too often, thankfully.
Look at the exterior design of cars compared to 20 years ago. All cars, especially Asian, look angry for some reason. Chevy and Ford took it to another level of angry. That Corvair or a Karman-Ghia are refreshing in comparison.
Corvair and Karman-Ghia? You probably could have pointed out some better examples!
Like these:
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Give it to someone who will bring it back to life 
