I'm going to sound old here.... again,

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I'm going to sound old here.... again,

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But is anyone else starting to just lose all remaining hope and enthusiasm about modern cars? I think everyone knows my view on new Fiats especially... but all cars look the same now, inside and out, they are all heavy, tech laden, assist laden... to me it's just now what cars should be about.

I remember a few years back, forums like these would be about tuning, maintenance and basically enjoying your car. Nowadays we get "oh ****, help, i have an urgent, urgent life or death issue..... my phone won't pair up to my blue and me... HELP!!!!" or "My rain sensing wipers aren't working, i need to do them manually, sakes, HELP?" or best of all, i saw on FF tonight somebody say they hated their car and thought cars with analogue speedo's should be banned because they were dangerous as they took too much effort to read compared to a digital one.... wtf? holy ****, how did we survive all these years without crashing with the ticking time bomb of a deathtrap that is the analogue speedo!!

I'm aware that i'm definitely going to end up one of these beardy old classic car nerds drinking beer in the pub, but i see that as a good thing tbh, folk like that will be the last people to really enjoy proper driving anymore, i want to be in that club before all we have left is cars that folk can't drive because their seat massage has an intermittent fault.
 
I completely agree, and to do any maintenance you have to be a computer genius as well as a mecha... im mean fitter, too much emphasis on electronics nowadays imo
 
Electrical assistance is the worst thing to happen to cars, ever.

not only has it lumbered cars with loads of stuff we don't need, we end up with cars that go into limp home mode because of a faulty brake light or similar. Not that long ago you had cars that worked, even when broken until either the part fell off or you replaced the part...now you need an it lab to reset all the computers, a part that is 5x more expensive because it has more uneeded sensors and takes 3x longer to fit because of all the safety gubbins in the way....half of which we'd not even need if cars were lighter to start with because of less weight to disperse.

progress eh?
 
Absolutely agree...But I'm afraid pandora's box has well and truly opened on the binary input/output world. The thing is to have a bit of ying and yang in your life. I'm presently looking at purchasing a "modern" car for work...Lancia/ Chrysler Delta either the 1.6 M-jet diesel or the 1.4 M-air...I do like the petrol having driven both, but it has a distinct flat spot at low pick up...The fix, mess about with the I/O within the electronic joint box?

But out of hours is back to the analogue world of the Spider and Beta.
 
Completely agree. I hate playing Sensor lottery when trying to diagnose engine problems. FS yellow is a perfect example of this.

I love my GTV which Is one of the earliest sensor filled cars and still feel i can fix it with a set of spanners. The giulietta is a fantastic car but its complexity does worry me sometimes. If also staggers me how much difference in size there is. The GTV Feels tiny in comparison.
 
Sensor lottery is one reason im going standalone on the cav too, only 4 sensors to worry about
 
It's not just fixing them that's a problem, all the latest gadgets/driving aids etc are taking the fun out of driving.

I had a Note as a hire car when I was in Cornwall and it had way too many safety features/gadgets for my liking. When I get in an unfamiliar car I want to find the basics such as the lights, indicators, hazards and maybe the on-off switch for the radio and then drive off. I don't want to be faced with so many buttons and stalks it takes 10 minutes to out work what's what especially when I'm already pissed off because fog diverted us adding 3 hours to the journey.

The Note is one of many cars that now have the "eco" function of telling you when to change gear. Now I'm sure this works on straight, flat, boring roads but there's not many of them in Cornwall and in order to get anything out of the 1.2 engine it was a case of reading the road and listening to the engine to make sure you didn't find yourself suddenly going backwards when faced with a hill. If I'd paid any attention to the bloody gear change indicator thingy I doubt I'd have ever got the car to hit 40 mph never mind nsl

Problem is I just know these features are now going to be standard on most cars and it's really going to limit my choices when I go shopping for the next car. That bloody punto is going to have to last a long time or else
 
there's always the option of putting a sticker over the light that comes on telling you to change up??

Mine has it, and i usually ignore it, as it wants me to change at around 2.5, which as u say, is grand on lazy drive in to town on a flat road, but if u actually need to get somewhere, its nae use!

I often use cruise control on the long boring monotonous trips, but i finally got a proper "drive" this week, taking the back roads up to Inverness and back, it was amazing!! :)
 
I know I've mentioned in the past I'd use a sticker to hide any such nonsense but the idea of that pisses me off even more as it would ruin a new car. Gear change indicators should not be standard but optional and cost more. Like automatics
 
I would smash up any car that told me when was best to change gear

I decide when i want to change gear, not a ****ing computer. It's me that's paying for the petrol, i'll use it how i damn well want :laugh:
 
Gear change indicators arent the problem... its the eco setting that controls them, might get a shift light in the cav, but thatll be set to light at about 5500-6500 rpm lol
 
Stuart said:
Gear change indicators arent the problem... its the eco setting that controls them, might get a shift light in the cav, but thatll be set to light at about 5500-6500 rpm lol

That one is fine by me ;)

*puts hammer back into toolbox*
 
YOU ARE SOOOO RIGHT!!

I been saying this for a while too now!
Modern cars are now build that you replace a whole unit rather then individual parts. On many cars you open the bonnet and all you see is a giant cover split into boxed sections and all you can do is check oils and water levels that's it.... you CAN'T see the engine, you CAN'T touch any part of the engine unless you have special tools for the crazy screws/bolts that aren't normal torx/hex/Phillips. And worst of all if you have a BMW only a BMW garage can touch it, an AUDI can only go to an Audi as your local garage won't have the tools or computer software to access any part of the car.

It is just crazy that you have to now plug a computer into the car so the car can then tell you what it thinks is wrong with itself??? All that's missing is a speech software and the car will let you know: "My tire is only 1.8 bar inflated, please turn of at the petrol station on your left in 1.3 miles and inflate my front left tire"
"The 2nd left reversing camera sensor is not responding, would you like me to book you an appointment for Wednesday 12.40 at the Perth Ford Garage, Mr. Smith?"

My father in law had his Porche send to the garage the other day as one of the instrument panel lights had blown. £200+ pounds for a new instrument panel light bulb,..... a light bulb!!! Just because you can't replace the bulb but have to replace the whole instrument cluster/display panel now.. just nuts.
 
I think i've officially joined the beady classic car nerds... was talking to a member of the Tayside classic car club earlier at my garage whilst working on the cinq (he runs a morris minor) and we had this exact conversation

It's not even like the tech has made cars better... fly by wire throttles being an extreme example. It requires approx 3 seperate sensors, wiring and computer processing power to "work"...well when i say work, i mean via a pedal that has no real feel and a throttle response that has slowed down because of all the processing requited to translate your foot pressing the pedal into your throttle butterfly opening. approx £500 worth of parts plus £100 diagnostics to trace a fault if it breaks.

What the **** was wrong with a cable? y'know, one that attached to the pedal at one end and the throttle on the other that worked the millisecond you pressed it? approx £5 worth of parts, can be checked by looking at it.
 
Electric steering's great for pottering around town when you want it to light, but a nightmare when trying to park as you don't have much feedback from it.

Older cars without power steering, bit heavy for town driving but you got used to it, great for parking.

Having said that I never liked the steering on the Panda, far too light, the Grande's Steering's perfectly weighted I feel, but as I said not so brilliant when trying to park in a Multi Storey Car park & not as manoeuvrable as a Doblo.
 
This post confuses me, it's pretty much the exact opposite of what a driver would report.

Andi_F said:
Electric steering's great for pottering around town when you want it to light, but a nightmare when trying to park as you don't have much feedback from it.

Older cars without power steering, bit heavy for town driving but you got used to it, great for parking.

Electric steering is still generally a bit rubbish compared to a hydraulic system. Even the best ones aren't quite there and are inconsistent in feedback. The very best Hydraulic systems 10 years ago were vastly superior and damn near as good for feel as non pas cars. As for parking, you don't really need any kind of feedback... unless you're trying to park at 50mph, in which case you're doing it wrong.

No power steering great for parking? erm.... ok.

Andi_F said:
Having said that I never liked the steering on the Panda, far too light, the Grande's Steering's perfectly weighted I feel, but as I said not so brilliant when trying to park in a Multi Storey Car park & not as manoeuvrable as a Doblo.

that's steering lock (maybe even gearing), not feel. Feel is more how connected to how the car feels in your hands, telling you what the front wheels "feel", the road surface, the grip or lack of on corner entry through the weight, feel gives you confidence to drive a car how you want to drive it.
 
What I meant for the Panda is the steering feels too light when you turn the wheel.
The Sei had a much better feel to the steering than the panda I'd had before that.
The GP's steering's nice, but it could be the steering lock & lack of being able to see where the car ends that makes it hard to park in a Multi Storey.

I've only had 1 car without power steering & that was my little Citroen Saxo
 
Well theres no effing way I will ever have one of them
 
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