Old cars were more fun

[Calaber]

Yesterday, the bloody airbag warning started honking at me. Now I have to find the fault, fix it and have the message cleared from the computer.

Lots of other guys have similar probs with their cars, for all sorts of stupid electrical glitches. Often, nothing's wrong - the system just has a hiccup and you have to spend money to get rid of the warning. My son's VZ had the SVS warning for months until we replaced the oil switch.

Years ago, you didn't have to put up with all this crap - you got in and drove and watched the gauges - that was it. These days, you start the car and get your choice of bloody tunes to sit through while the computer analyses everything then tells you this or that is stuffed.

Is this really progress?

[stocky]

thats why a fair few people i know seem to drive older cars, when they could easily afford a newer one. some people just like to be in more control of everything, and not have a computer deciding every action for the car to make

[fuzzy2308]

no its just not doing your research before you buy a car. sorry

[TVR-190]

i partly agree. things like trac and computer controlled throttle would drive me up the wall, my foot does the job quite well. however things like ABS i would be happy having

[Calaber]

no its just not doing your research before you buy a car. sorry

Don't really understand your point. If you're suggesting that I failed to look into the purchase carefully, you're quite wrong. Cars, regardless of brand, all have this electronic management built in, and purchasing a new vehicle without it would be impossible. Even VL's had engine management systems. My point relates more to the fact that modern cars have all these warning systems built in and I don't know that they are all that necessary.

[wildss]

i hear ya calaber, i sometimes feel like i should sell the vs and get my ass into a valiant or something but the thing is id have to buy the car then throw another 10-15k at it till i was happy with it.

[ClairBear]

Calaber you are right.

I miss the days I used to sit on the radiator of my old EH facing the car with my legs dangling down inside the engine bay while I stripped whatever part was stuffed and replaced it. You could see every part quite clearly.

These days you open the bonnet and can't see the road as there are no gaps. If you want to pull out and check a spark plug for instance, forget it as you have to remove a hundred parts first.

Even a simple oil change was a giant drama in my VT, the sump plug is on the stupidest angle and was on tight. Had to go up on a hoist in the end to be undone.

[vlv8vic]

no its just not doing your research before you buy a car. sorry

way to look like a douchebag kiddo. 50 posts per dumb response remember..... oh dear.


Back to topic, i like to 'know' my cars and while i understand the systems which keep the new car afloat it isn't really "fiddle friendly" which is why i tend always to have a project car on the go. My Mercedes is by no means new but even that old barge has some systems that took some brain power to learn.

[fuzzy2308]

way to look like a douchebag kiddo. 50 posts per dumb response remember..... oh dear.


Back to topic, i like to 'know' my cars and while i understand the systems which keep the new car afloat it isn't really "fiddle friendly" which is why i tend always to have a project car on the go. My Mercedes is by no means new but even that old barge has some systems that took some brain power to learn.

i didn't think before i replied. now i look like a tool serves me right i suppose

[cewing]

for you guys who know cars inside out, and are happy to manage everything yourself, i can see it being annoying. I guess im the same with computers, i dislike macs because it wants to look after everything for me, i like mucking round in windows, even if it means destroying it sometimes lol.
But for the average motorist, its good. Although the seatbelt beeper warning can go to hell

[nemesis_adrasteia]

older cars are heaps of fun, much more simple and you can do alot of work on them your self

[S2_VR_]

I miss the days I used to sit on the radiator of my old EH facing the car with my legs dangling down inside the engine bay while I stripped whatever part was stuffed and replaced it. You could see every part quite clearly.

I do this in my VR! hahah it's so good.. lol..

[acarmody]

All this computer controlled stuff is to compensate for the fact that humanity is becoming stupider. Most people have trouble differentiating the accelerator from the brake, and have no idea what to do in an emergency, so we add all this electronic stuff to compensate.

If you took away the seatbelt alarm, handbrake alarm, ABS, traction/stability control, etc, half the population would be statistics.

Maybe the reason we are all getting dumber is because we have all this electronic stuff to wipe our rear ends for us, but lets face it, now we need it.

[pjdm1980]

hold on their anti tec cowboys do you actually think that driver are actually concentrating on the road 100% of the time! There safety gizmo's are there for public safety. Even something as simple (NOW) as ABS would have saved lives many times, and not to mention what it's done for power and economy rates. All i know is that i have great memories of my times spent in my older cars like my VH's but to get in and drive as a daily driver again, no thanks! But just my opinion, with the over heating and 200klm's to the tank.

[STEALTHY™]

If you took away the seatbelt alarm, handbrake alarm, ABS, traction/stability control, etc, half the population would be statistics.

Holy shit. If your guaranteeing that, please take the all away now. Natural selection at its finest.


(For the record, lol)

[stocky]

All this computer controlled stuff is to compensate for the fact that humanity is becoming stupider. Most people have trouble differentiating the accelerator from the brake, and have no idea what to do in an emergency, so we add all this electronic stuff to compensate.

If you took away the seatbelt alarm, handbrake alarm, ABS, traction/stability control, etc, half the population would be statistics.

Maybe the reason we are all getting dumber is because we have all this electronic stuff to wipe our rear ends for us, but lets face it, now we need it.

thats just stupid. if anything, this electronic crap is what is causing people to become stupider in the first place. lets see women doing their makeup while driving when they have to deal with a heavy clutch and shifter, manual steering and no abs. if people dont know what to do in an emergency, then they should learn, instead of relying on some microchips to do all the work for them.
people not knowing how their cars work are causing plenty of accidents. recent case would be the kid that removed his keys to save fuel. people need to learn basics like that before they should even be allowed behind the wheel.

[ryno_vrx]

Holy shit. If your guaranteeing that, please take the all away now. Natural selection at its finest.

i'll second that

[Calaber]

Calaber you are right.

I miss the days I used to sit on the radiator of my old EH facing the car with my legs dangling down inside the engine bay while I stripped whatever part was stuffed and replaced it. You could see every part quite clearly.

These days you open the bonnet and can't see the road as there are no gaps. If you want to pull out and check a spark plug for instance, forget it as you have to remove a hundred parts first.

Even a simple oil change was a giant drama in my VT, the sump plug is on the stupidest angle and was on tight. Had to go up on a hoist in the end to be undone.

Hey Sash

I was always way too tall to ever sit within an engine bay (unless the engine was missing) but the space they used to have......think HQ - room for an ocean liner in there alongise the old 202.

I realise that cars need electronics to give their best these days, and many safety systems simply won't work if electronics weren't involved. It's more the bloody warning messages you get when something stuffs up. On my VY, there are so many error codes and warnings that I reckon all the computer memory is taken up by "what if" backups and warnings.

Obviously, some warning symbols are essential, but I don't know that we need warnings for handbrake (the light is good enough, surely), TRAC, SVS, (when its just a leaking switch that still works ok anyway)...the list goes on.

Someone at Holden must have a job just thinking up new tunes for each new warning message.

[BrAdAsS]

If you think commodores are bad then get in a new Mercedes C63! or a new Jaguar XK, now that is rediculous, I have trouble working out what the controls do, so I can imagine these rich people who buy them and have even less of an idea... Thats probably why that Merc was at the dump on the tv LOL

[DavidPartay]

This is part of the reason I'm skeptical about upgrading to a newer car in the years to come.

At least with my VX, while it does have all the electronics protecting me from myself, at least there are still *some* things I can do with it.

I've always been a fan of the hands on approach, doing things the 'old' ways. Drive by wire? Give me a cable throttle any day. What happens if you get an electronic glitch and it prevents your throttle working? I'm sure that's far more likely than snapping a cable.

I'm also interested in this 'natural selection' concept by removing safety features and electronics from cars Imagine how many people would be scared of driving! My commute would be awesome.

[excalibur]

i really do agree with you calaber all the beeps and whistles that come out of the wifes vz really make driving my vp so much more enjoyable

[ryno_vrx]

speaking of the warning tunes, the vt's air bag warning tune reminds me of a old tv show but i cant figure out which one and that irritates me more the the actually warning itself lol

[acarmody]

Holy shit. If your guaranteeing that, please take the all away now. Natural selection at its finest.


(For the record, lol)

And I would whole-heartedly supprt such selection, just tell me the date so I can be in the middle of the bush somewhere with the nearest road a long way off.

thats just stupid. if anything, this electronic crap is what is causing people to become stupider in the first place. lets see women doing their makeup while driving when they have to deal with a heavy clutch and shifter, manual steering and no abs. if people dont know what to do in an emergency, then they should learn, instead of relying on some microchips to do all the work for them.
people not knowing how their cars work are causing plenty of accidents. recent case would be the kid that removed his keys to save fuel. people need to learn basics like that before they should even be allowed behind the wheel.

I agree, read the last line of my post. Maybe they should make a car that really cheap to buy that has a modern day crumple-chassis but everything else old style, no electronic anything, and make everyone have to learn to drive in that. Also make people take a course in basic car knowledge, so they bloody well know what thier car does and how to work with it.
And I also agree that a defensive driving course should be a requirement for a licence, if they don't pass then they can bloody well keep sitting it till they do. But this raises a whole new topic that is getting off topic to the OP and will only go downhill so I think we should leave it here. My end statement is that I agree with you.

[Pete SS]

it's a bit biased asking this on a car enthusiast forum. Go down your local Coles (other supermarkets are available) and ask "do you agree with all the computer saftey devices and warnings on your car?" and the answer will be "yes" from 95% of the people. Car makers realise this and therefore make cars with the gadgetry on them. For a car with no bells and whistles you need a Westfield, Lotus, etc. They're not really daily drivers though.

I personally don't mind the warnings that are on my VU but there isn't that many. When I upgrade hopefully it'll be a car that has the ability to turn off things like traction controll etc.

[greenfoam]

I can't really agree with this because I tend to rather drive my wifes Fiesta than my VP it's much faster and more stealth for driving around fast as you can within the law. I can get across town right on the limits of grip with the traction control light flashing at me much much quicker than I could in the VP which would involve alot of sideways action and lots of noise trying to get anywhere near the same pace :P. So it's a pretty good thing. Plus just the lights being 5 times brigther, the chasis 10 times stiffer, twice as much grip, things like that. Despite not being able to destroy tyres at part throttle (or any throttle lol) In the end it's just better