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If the engine-compartment is capacious, and the supporting-electronics are few, then removing an engine, tearing it down, taking the bits to a machine-shop, rebuilding and reassembly, aren't too onerous. And every engine rebuild is a chance for more overbore, maybe doing a little more cylinder head-porting, a camshaft change, and other increases in power.
Those are a lot of "if"s. Did my engine rebuilds (crank regrind, cylinder boring to remove taper etc.) in my younger years. No more. And most of the machine shops that did such work are gone. And it still took days to pull the engine, strip it of accessories like carb and starter, and get it ready for the shop. Not to mention re-assembly time.
Are you kidding? Cars don't come with tool kits anymore, as you don't need to fiddle with them all the time to keep them running right, like you used to do with carburetors and points. Electronics have made every system SIMPLER, and cars need very little in maintenance now to keep running regardless of climate or weather or age.
BTW, I've had over 30 custom aircooled VWs. Simple they were, and easy to customize, but they needed to be fiddled with all the time to keep them running right. from adjusting the points to tweaking the carb, to adjusting valves every 3000 miles!!!
Yeah, I have not fond memories of crawling on the back of a VW Bus on the side of the freeway to change points. Thanks but no thanks. My overly complicated Toyota is oil changes and filters, spark plugs at 120k. Yes, please although I did do a drain and fill on the transmission fluid at 60k.
"Cars are more advanced, but they're also much, much more reliable"
Quote:
Originally Posted by somebodyfromnc
I guess more expense, since cars are more expensive to buy than they used to be. Although, when you account for inflation, they aren't that much more expensive.
Complexity is much less. Cars are more advanced, but they're also much, much more reliable than they used to be. Just keep the oil and filters changed and that's about it for the first 100,000 miles on the vast majority of cars and light trucks. Maybe a set of tires and brakes, but that's to be expected and can easily be budgeted for.
"Cars are more advanced, but they're also much, much more reliable"
Survey Says! Maybe not. Here's a link to what car millions of car owners are saying about their cars.
How is all this automation, specialized software, and propitiatory tooling going effect rural America? Sixty million plus Americans are without public transportation.
How is all this automation, specialized software, and propitiatory tooling going effect rural America? Sixty million plus Americans are without public transportation.
Looks like cars might be getting complex without a lot of folks knowing the extent of the complexity.
Did you actually look at these links? None of them address reliability of modern cars. Fastcompany talks about self-driving. Insurance journal talks about independent repair shops vs authorized dealer repairs. Can't tell what carsurvey is about, but it's certainly not any kind of random sample.
But these added costs have not appeared in practice! Instead, repair costs are lower these days because cars are much more reliable. Show me what cars and what systems have your "very high maintenance costs"? I don't know of any/
Many modern vehicles have expensive auto start/stop systems to shut off the engine when you're at a stop light, and restart it once you take your foot off the brake to go.
The sole purpose of these systems is to save a few tablespoons of gasoline to satisfy increasingly stringent CAFE standards.
The long-term maintenance costs are much more significant than any hypothetical gasoline savings. The starter motor has to be beefier & have a much longer MTBF. Ditto for the automobile battery and alternator. A typical car battery might be $80-$100 for my vehicle if it didn't have the auto start/stop system, but $180 with the auto start/stop feature.
Here in Las Vegas, an automobile battery typically lasts 2 years - the weather takes its toll. Moreover, during the hot months, you do not want the vehicle to shut off at a stop light: you want the AC going non-stop in MAX COOL. So you disable the feature. My vehicle doesn't have a permanently off feature, so I have to push the disable button each time I start the car.
During ski season in Park City, the auto/start feature never kicks in because of the cold weather.
All the information referenced has to do with future cost and complexity of vehicles.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bigbear99
Did you actually look at these links? None of them address reliability of modern cars. Fastcompany talks about self-driving. Insurance journal talks about independent repair shops vs authorized dealer repairs. Can't tell what carsurvey is about, but it's certainly not any kind of random sample.
Geesh.
All the information referenced has to do with future cost and complexity of vehicles.
Insurance journal also talks about the (Propriety Data hardware and software) being prohibitively expensive for the independent car repair shops to own which is creating less competitive repair options for car owners.
Car survey is another available reference of owner experience of many models. Lots can be learned by reading of the experiences of a car owner and the pro's and cons of their ownership experience.
The CEO speaks for himself about his plans for the company's future and how technology has influenced those decisions.
Rural America link, is about (the number) people who depend on cars daily without mass transit options.
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"Cars are more advanced, but they're also much, much more reliable"
