26th Jan 2011, 10:45
Cars today are far and above better than most anything made in the 80's. Back then, EFI was still only available on some cars. Most cars still used carburetors. Due to the emission requirements of the day, those carbs had tons and tons of vacuum lines. If you've ever worked on an 80's carbureted vehicle, they are anything but simple. They're a nightmare. The fuel systems used today are far superior, and in many cases more simple. They are now using direct injection systems, which are even more simplistic. The result is better reliability, more power and better fuel efficiency.
Secondly, computers have revolutionized the way cars operate. All of those sensors ensure that fuel, air, ignition, temperature, acceleration, traction, emissions, and torque are all carefully managed. This helps engines run more efficiently and to run longer and more reliably. In the 80's, it was unheard of for a vehicle to make it to 200,000. Now it's a given and fully expected. Improvements in metallurgy, plastics, composites, welding, and overall engineering have also contributed to the vastly improved quality of cars across the board.
Body on frame cars are also not necessarily stronger. In a crash, you want to have structural rigidity throughout the entire vehicle. In older frame vehicles, that reliance was entirely on the frame, which meant that in many cases the frame would shear on impact. Engines and steering wheels were often pushed through the firewall and into the driver area. Side impacts were often deadly because there was no safety bars in the doors. With unibody construction, there is overall rigidity with built-in crumple zones that absorb impact. This is not dissimilar to how modern race cars work: the idea is to protect the driver in a cage while the area around the cage are sacrificial. Older cars lacked a lot of that in their designs.
Let me put it this way: I happen to own a '55 Ford. It's my weekend driver. It's a classic body on frame car. I've taken it apart and put it back together again. There is absolutely zero protection for the driver on the sides. The front of the car has almost no structural means to prevent the engine from being pushed into the front seat if I had a head-on collision. The frame has no crumple zones either. Given the choice, I'd choose a modern car hands-down over the '55 Ford if I were to choose which was safer in an accident.
25th Jan 2011, 12:25
It was a Mustang... no full frame. And yes I did care about it on a nice sports car. Had I purchased a Toyota Supra or something like that, you can bet the weld seams wouldn't have been showing through.
Also there is a major misconception that having a full frame means a safer vehicle. The designs of the later vehicles are much safer overall than any old full frame job... unless you like being impaled by the steering column or you don't mind your engine in your lap. Try doing a bit of research on the ratio of accidents to serious injuries and deaths in older cars vs. what is offered today. They didn't redesign every car for the fun of it!