New vehicles are boring

[In The Ten Ring]

Originally Posted by 71CHEVYSHORTBED402

My mother bought a new 2012ish Cadillac CTS. Lots and lots of gadgets - tells you how & what to think. Only 20K miles and always garaged, but she just had lot of tech. repairs done. Good thing she had an extended warranty.

Anyway, my step-dad and I pointed toward my 72 Chevy.


Back to that Cadillac. It has some emergency brake system. I backed her car up in the dark. I knew what I was doing, but the car "saw" an embankment well beyond it's brain and locked up. The next day it got excited over repairs needed. What a piece of &*(%.

That's what you get. The more complicated anything is, the more likely it will break. There is a reason the T 34 was voted "top tank of WW2" and not the Tiger.

[68Timber]

Originally Posted by Coley

The term I like to use is 'silver potato' syndrome.
It seems every vehicle built within the last 10+ years tends to look like a potato...and most are painted 1 of 3 colours, silver, white or black....this is pretty much 80% of traffic these days.
Give this the 'traffic light test'.....the next time you are stopped at an intersection and look around the vehicles....they will probably fall immediately into this category of commonality.
As well, I think if you removed the badges from the vehicles and put them in a parking lot and asked people to go identify a ford or a honda or a mercedes or a kia or a toyota.....they literally couldn't.

That said, vehicles have never been safer, more reliable and more efficient than they are today.....so something's lost and somethings gained.

All good
Coley

I've been saying the same thing for years but calling them jelly beans. You could remove the badging from 90% of them and nobody would know what make or model it was. They all look the same, down to their jelly bean colors.

I know they're all good cars, so much better than the consumer cars we grew up with. They just don't have any style anymore.

[In The Ten Ring]

That said, vehicles have never been safer, more reliable and more efficient than they are today.....so something's lost and somethings gained.

And yet, here each of us is, spending thousands fixing, buying, and/or driving at least one old vehicle that is not safer, more reliable, or more efficient.

If safer, more reliable, and more efficient was all that mattered, we'd all move to a large city, live in an apartment, and take the subway everywhere.

[68bowtie]

I never thought I’d buy a new truck because they cost so much. And I hate all the “gadgets”. When I was looking for a used truck last fall I was shocked to see how well full size trucks are holding their value. Maybe because new trucks are so expensive now the demand is up for used. Anyhow I am in a unique situation where I live close to work and only drive the truck about 3k miles/year. When Chevy put the 2017 1500’s $10k below msrp I did some number crunching and figured out I can make it work for me. Based on the miles I will drive, when it’s paid off in 6 years it will be worth over 80% of what I paid for it new. So I get the “boring“ safety, comfort, and convenience for my family, and when it’s paid off I can either keep it forever or cash out and do it again. I prefer a 3/4-ton but the tow rating on the new 1500’s is about the same as my 2002 k2500 was. Like someone else said, my truck is a tool. I’m not a huge fan of the styling, but it does clean up nicely.

[special-K]

Yep, a whole lot of vehicles with same shape, panels all assembled the same, same general color range, and pretty much the same performance as well as comfort and convenience feature... just like back in the '60s. The fact is, auto makers all follow the same construction techniques as one another and their cars only vary in smaller details.

But same as back then (they weren't all 6 cyl/3spd economy models), there are models to knock your socks off. Like I said, why not use this thread to show what excitement is available out there today (thought quite expensive...like everything else).

Is this boring?

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...jnsiwSAuxr5E6n

[CG]

We have newer (2015) cars. SUV and a Scion. I suppose they are boring, but its nice just hopping in and going to wherever we want without a worry.

[FleetsidePaul]

New cars are like ugly girls... You don't have to pay much attention to them and they'll still do what you want.

Old cars are like a hot girl... Looks better, but you're liable to have some trouble with them.

[Hubscrub]

Boring or not I will not buy new(95% are boring / ugly), i cant see paying $$$$ for new when i get the job done paid for. My daily is a 97 c1500 290,000 miles that I drive everywhere it drives great and the Ac works so I'm good. I was rearended 1yr 1/2 ago insurance totaled it and and I bought it back bought a used bumper and back glass kept the rest and kept driving. I am however looking for a square body suburban for a family vehicle currently.

[special-K]

I don't like the fact that my '72 isn't something I can just park at a trail head and hike off to go camping overnight, or all day long. I won't leave it at a park & ride. I don't really want to take my '72 downtown in any city or around any beltways, park overnight at an airport, leave in a huge parking lot, hotel, park on the street, let other people drive, drive around all day here there and everywhere in and out of it doing a bunch of BS you'd rather not be doing, take my '87 year old mom somewhere, drive in some funeral processions (lumpy cam)... need I say more? In a perfect world I'd drive a classic car for all that. I'd love to find a clean low mile big GM car from 75-85 (old person car) for my distance driver (and some funerals). All that other stuff I avoid anyway, even if I did have a s4!+box car.

[boatpuller]

Originally Posted by CG

We have newer (2015) cars. SUV and a Scion. I suppose they are boring, but its nice just hopping in and going to wherever we want without a worry.

Exactly....Boring is good sometimes...Just keep a project rig around for when you get bored.

[71CHEVYSHORTBED402]

Originally Posted by boatpuller

Exactly....Boring is good sometimes...Just keep a project rig around for when you get bored.

"Boring" is why I buy Toyota. I bought a 2005 Tundra new. There's 80K on the odometer. Only problem was an A/C O-ring, and was $120 to have repaired.

In 2007 I bought a 97 Camry (80K miles) for my son. Best deal I've ever got. He abuses his stuff and it now sits at 160K, but it's needed just one oxygen sensor, and we're replacing the radiator on Friday.

Bought my wife a new 2011 Corolla. 60K on the odometer. Come to think of it, I don't recall even replacing the battery.

Bought a 2005 Corolla (100K) near two years ago for my daughter. No issues.


Project rig - That's exactly what my 72 C-20 is for. That said, I prefer driving it than my 05 Tundra, and usually do.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Originally Posted by 68bowtie

I never thought I’d buy a new truck because they cost so much. And I hate all the “gadgets”. When I was looking for a used truck last fall I was shocked to see how well full size trucks are holding their value. Maybe because new trucks are so expensive now the demand is up for used. Anyhow I am in a unique situation where I live close to work and only drive the truck about 3k miles/year. When Chevy put the 2017 1500’s $10k below msrp I did some number crunching and figured out I can make it work for me. Based on the miles I will drive, when it’s paid off in 6 years it will be worth over 80% of what I paid for it new. So I get the “boring“ safety, comfort, and convenience for my family, and when it’s paid off I can either keep it forever or cash out and do it again. I prefer a 3/4-ton but the tow rating on the new 1500’s is about the same as my 2002 k2500 was. Like someone else said, my truck is a tool. I’m not a huge fan of the styling, but it does clean up nicely.

Good taste in trucks, this one is mine: I wanted more bed and don't like the look (nor needed) the large crew cab. "My people" are small

I harped for years on "buy used, buy used, buy used" and I got a KILLER deal in early 2005 when I bought a 2000 LS, 5.3L ext cab Z71 with 67K miles on it for $15,999. Drove in until 2015 with +/-180K on it when I traded it in. I found out the same as you, to "replace" my truck with a 2010-12-ish truck, same configuration, were going for 25K+ with 80K+ miles on them. There were some out there cheaper, but they had 150K on them, or looked beat to hell. I'm not putting out over 20K for something with high mileage or has been abused. I didn't get quite as good a deal, but I got a little over 7K off on mine and i got them to go up $1,500 on my trade in to where i was happy. It's a pretty loaded 2LS. It just didn't have leather or Heated/cooled seats. I added a Katzkin kit last year and overall very happy. I paid mine off after 18 months, I hate payments (had a large down payment saved up + trade.)

[special-K]

332hp for $30k
http:////www.cheatsheet.com/wp-conte...2-1024x674.jpg

[71CHEVYSHORTBED402]

Originally Posted by special-K

332hp for $30k
http:////www.cheatsheet.com/wp-conte...2-1024x674.jpg

My parents have one. They never drive the thing. Nice car though.

[special-K]

Some tater bugs are more exciting than others. Some don't even look bring to me

https://www.googleadservices.com/pag...FqDZEQqyQIKygA
I don't remember too many station wagons this exciting back when I was a kid

[67ChevyRedneck]

Its a shame more people didn't bite on those. They got the axe, but that looks to be a new concept car? I like it.