27th Sep 2011, 21:23
"The height of reliable, durable, and comfortable motoring was based mostly on 1950s technology, refined a bit through the 60s, 70s, and 80"
Most people would probably say the total opposite. The truth is that back in the 50's-70's, you'd be awfully lucky to have a car make it to 100,000 miles. If it did, chances are the engine needed an overhaul. I know because that was most definitely the case with us. To be sure, parts were dirt-cheap and an engine could be overhauled in a good weekend. But to say that cars back then were more reliable and refined is a bit of an overstatement.
The fact that most any car will last 200,000 miles with absolutely minimal maintenance is testament to the fact that today's cars are vast improvements over yesterday's cars. Technology advances, and this applies to cars.
27th Sep 2011, 14:13
My family was pretty poor when we grew up, we always had used 80's Chevys and they always treated us well.
Eventually they would rust out, as we live in north east Canada, otherwise they would last forever.
We had a Chevy Celebrity with over 350000 miles on it, and we sold it still running and not burning oil.
Also a Pontiac Parisienne with over 400k kilometres on it, original 305 not burning any oil, regret selling it.
I have tried a few other brands (Ford, Subaru, Dodge, Honda, Mitsubishi), but none have been as reliable and well built as the GM products. GM is not as good as they used to after about 2000, but the same can be said for Honda and Toyota. Rare to see any newer car get to high mileage without replacing a transmission or engine.
I will say it again "they don't make them like they used to".