Yeah..... I REALLY don't care for the newer vehicles..... well, not once they are out of warranty..... I remember the days when switches actually CONTROLLED something, instead of merely suggesting to a computer somewhere that you wanted to lock the doors, or roll down a window..... The level of complexity in new vehicles is orders of magnitude greater than when I first started working on them.... (back in the day of points and condensers..... nary a computer to be found....) I think my favorite car that I ever owned was my volkswagen Scirocco..... just getting into electronic ignition, mechanical fuel injection, 5 spd trans (manual).... easy to work on, fun to drive, great gas mileage. I could change the clutch in 45 minutes...... Trouble was, the steel used wasn't the best quality, and they rusted out DARN quick.....

 

I thought electronic ignition and fuel injection was a real nice improvement too. Was so happy to say goodbye to carburetors. Even the OBD1 wasn't too bad because it was just monitoring the drivetrain, not the entire vehicle. It actually had its positive uses. And yes, standard transmissions were very simple and so very few are made these days. My wife's Jeep is a standard tranny. Anytime anyone hops in it they say, "Gee, a manual transmission". Only see them in tiny sports cars anymore. And yes, rustproofing has improved dramatically too...especially on the Japanese cars. Being from MI, that's a prime concern for you. Not so much here in NC. If I were to buy a brand new car it would be a Honda or Toyota...a naturally aspirated one, no turbo chargers or superchargers or any of that crap. And probably a 4-cylinder or 6 if it were an SUV. Those things last for fricking ever! Civics, Corollas, Camry, Accord, RAV4, CR-Vs, Highlanders, etc.. They just do not die and require just basic maintenance. And the gas mileage is another plus. The Tundra were the best pickup you could buy but now they downgraded the engine. Only V6s now, most turbo charged. The V8s were the bomb but they quit offering them a year or two back. Hate to be so gung ho on Jap cars but the truth is the truth. Honda and Toyota simply make the best vehicles.

 

When the Japanese cars first came to market, they were junk. Unreliable, rusted so fast you could sit and watch it happen.... You needed to have two, so you could drive one, while the other was in the shop. (kinda like Jaguar...... ) But they were CHEAP. The Japanese learned though, and their cars got MUCH better, fairly quickly. Today, they are some of the most reliable cars on the road..... The domestics had some wins as well though... (not nearly on the scale as the Japanese though.) I had a 91 AWD Astro, with the 4.3 auto, that had just rolled over 300K when I traded it for another, newer one. It still ran great, drive nice, shifted just fine, but, there was little left of the body. I paid 600 bucks for it, did some work on it, and when I traded it, I got..... 600 bucks for it. We drove it for seven years.

Gal I used to date, won't buy anything else. Toyota, or Honda. She drives a good distance to work and back every day, so, in a few short years, can but a couple hundred thousand miles on a car with no trouble at all. The only trouble she ever had, was locking her keys in the car. And then it was just a phone call, to have them unlock it over the air for her. She wasn't even late for work.

today though, what constitutes a "foreign" car? Chrysler is now Stelantis..... An Italian company..... Japanese cars are built right here in the US, and have more US content than a fair few "domestic" manufacturers.....

Gotta admit though, I LOVE forced induction..... Had a dodge Conquest for a while. (Mitsubishi Starion) Four wheel disc brakes, independent suspension front and rear, a turbo-four that was at least adequate. VERY fun to drive. Except in winter, when it got really cold.... You could see out the windshield, or, your feet could be warm, but, not both at the same time. Only problem I ever had with that, was leaky injectors..... Replaced 'em, and it was good to go.

I think the most I have EVER spent on a car, was 4200 bucks, for my 72 Challenger, that I bought in 79..... I actually paid more for one of my garden tractors than I have EVER paid for a car...... Made me wonder about my priorities.

 

I'm not keen on stuff made after 2000 myself. Toyota and Honda have had issues in recent years. They had trouble with engine sludging back around 2000 and both are still riding their reputations. According to the Powers survey, Mazda has passed them in reliability.

I don't need all the stuff being ladled onto new cars. The backup camera does help when parallel parking, but few people can do that anymore. I also like the blind spot monitoring feature as my neck barely moves. Lane keeping and such I turn off. When I can't drive anymore, I'll quit. Until then, I'm a driver, not a steering wheel holder.

 

I go by mechanics. Not dealer mechanics, but the local neighborhood shops that work on all kinds of cars. I also look around the parking lots. Seems half the automobiles today are either Honda or Toyota. Add that every mechanic I've talked to (which are many) tell me the Hondas and Toyotas last forever. I have no doubt they have their problems though (all vehicles do). For example, H & T went with those timing belts for a while. Not a big problem on the non-interference engines but a big problem on the interference ones. For the most part, they went back to timing chains some time ago. They also had some trouble with their CVT trannies for awhile too. But now they added a launch gear and those trannies are the bomb these days. They make their own. Not sure where Mazda gets their trannies. Yes, Toyota had the sludging issues but that problem is long gone. And it wasn't on all their engines. I hope you're right about Mazda. We could use more than two reliable automakers. I wish it were American but in this country we gave up any notion of being a quality auto producer. Them days are long, long, long over.

 

The Japs don't give up easily. They have a problem with an engine they don't just throw the whole thing out and start over. They figure out what the problem is and fix it. The platform stays constant and they make incremental improvements over the years. They're doing the same thing with their CVT trannies. Just keep making them better. They take a long term view whereas Americans (and others) are looking at the next quarter P&L statement.

 

From what I understand with the Toyota engines that were sludging is they used softer piston rings that provided better fuel economy. The softer rings wore quickly and caused the sludging. I think we'll probably find much of what goes wrong or much of what we don't like about new vehicles is based in automakers trying to meet fuel economy standards that are unrealistic.

 

Want to see EVERY car on the road today instantly get 10 to 15% better gas mileage? Get rid of the alcohol mandate....... Gas is instantly cheaper, burns cleaner, and your car uses less fuel. It's a win all the way around. Well, except for the farmers that grow corn..... and they have a POWERFUL lobby, so, instead of getting rid of it, the government is making noises about making E15 standard..... so, cars will get WORSE gas mileage, won't run as well, and will have even more problems with their fuel systems, due to the alcohol content of the fuel.

Welcome to America, where logic and reason don't exist.

 

There is a day of reckoning coming where all of these green dreamers will see their dreams crash and burn. They are setting themelves up for massive disappointment. We simply cannot achieve what they want. And we wont even come close.

 

Unfortunately, ALL of us will be victims that day..... Currently, I question the wisdom of the environmentalists/government pushing electric cars so hard, when we have infrastructure problems NOW. What's going to happen as EV's become more common, and the load on the grid increases dramatically? It will be years, if not decades, before we can add significant generation capacity to our severely overloading system, and solar/wind is NOT going to be adequate to the task. Not holding my breath on nuclear, as too many greenies are terrified of it. Add to that, california wanting to remove several hydroelectric dams... shut down their nuke plant, (though, they recently reversed course on that, at least temporarily) etc.

Remember the blackout in the early 2000's? When pretty much the entire east coast went dark? I do..... one substation failed, and the whole house of cards collapsed.......

Just proves to me the folks in government are uniformly retarded.