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I have some thoughts on the current state of cars which I stumbled upon in my analysis of the McLaren P1. In short, I think we have hit a plateau in everything but quality.
there was a huge leap forward from the cars of the late 80's to the cars of the late 90's/early 2000's. There has not been a huge leap from the cars of the late 90's/early 2000's to the cars of today.
The lower segments seem to be much better than they were in the late '90's and early 2000's. Back then, a non-performance economy car was not even close to comparable to the economy cars of today, which, IMO, are decent little cars. A person can go buy a decent new car for under $25,000. The "performance" economy cars of today have not progressed as far as their lesser counterparts.
the same goes for mid market cars. they are all more comfortable, reliable and technologically advanced, but they are not leaps and bounds ahead of 90's cars like the 90's cars were vs the 80's cars.
Supercars are head and shoulders above the supercars of the 90's but hypercars are not.
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[quote=roosterjuicer;993071]I have some thoughts on the current state of cars which I stumbled upon in my analysis of the McLaren P1. In short, I think we have hit a plateau in everything but quality.
there was a huge leap forward from the cars of the late 80's to the cars of the late 90's/early 2000's. There has not been a huge leap from the cars of the late 90's/early 2000's to the cars of today.
The lower segments seem to be much better than they were in the late '90's and early 2000's. Back then, a non-performance economy car was not even close to comparable to the economy cars of today, which, IMO, are decent little cars. A person can go buy a decent new car for under $25,000. The "performance" economy cars of today have not progressed as far as their lesser counterparts.
the same goes for mid market cars. they are all more comfortable, reliable and technologically advanced, but they are not leaps and bounds ahead of 90's cars like the 90's cars were vs the 80's cars.
Supercars are head and shoulders above the supercars of the 90's but hypercars are not.[/quote]
Hello? Bugatti Veyron?
And I would disagree. In america at least, just about every single car comes standard with heat, air conditioning, and a radio with cd or mp3 jack, and more and more are coming standard with automatics. And fewer people know why we ssy "roll the windows down" because all cars have power windows. And the price remains just about the same, despite the increased costs of all that fun stuff. Maybe not necessarily quality, but features have dramatically improved.
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Define improved.
I prefer a poverty car. Give me the option of omitting those things and lowering my base price and ongoing costs if I so choose.
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[quote=Magnum9987;993072]Hello? Bugatti Veyron?
And I would disagree. In america at least, just about every single car comes standard with heat, air conditioning, and a radio with cd or mp3 jack, and more and more are coming standard with automatics. And fewer people know why we ssy "roll the windows down" because all cars have power windows. And the price remains just about the same, despite the increased costs of all that fun stuff. Maybe not necessarily quality, but features have dramatically improved.[/quote]
Touche on the Veyron.
I agree with you on the other stuff. I said cars are better now, but not a huge leap compared to the leap between late 80's and late 90's.
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[quote=Magnum9987;993072]Hello? Bugatti Veyron?
And I would disagree. In america at least, just about every single car comes standard with heat, air conditioning, and a radio with cd or mp3 jack, and more and more are coming standard with automatics. And fewer people know why we ssy "roll the windows down" because all cars have power windows. And the price remains just about the same, despite the increased costs of all that fun stuff. Maybe not necessarily quality, but features have dramatically improved.[/quote]
I don't quite agree with the price. Price relatively speaking has gone up- I remember Integras used to be at around $16,000. Honda Civics used to start at around $15,000. Now you can't really walk off the dealership without paying $18,000. It's true that cars are better equipped, but I feel like they're more complicated now than they need to be.
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[quote=jcp123;993073]Define improved.
I prefer a poverty car. Give me the option of omitting those things and lowering my base price and ongoing costs if I so choose.[/quote]
Indeed.
And not only that, but I'd like to spend the money I saved on other things (like better brakes, lightweight parts, etc.)
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If car makers catered to women, they would handle better, use less fuel, be lighter and... have more space for purses.
[url="http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2013/03/car_ads_for_women_does_the_industry_get_it_all_wrong.single.html"]Car ads for women: Does the industry get it all wrong? - Slate Magazine[/url]
Discuss.
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A buncha good points.. but I still want a car that looks good.
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[url="http://www.carscoops.com/2013/03/seat-official-says-hidden-rear-door.html"]Seat Official Says Hidden Rear Door Handles Hurt Sales of Previous Leon - Carscoops[/url]
He is wrong. It was the squashed Altea styling.
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If it's true, I would question people who can't recognize a door - are they really intelligent enough to be driving to begin with?
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[quote=jcp123;993842]If it's true, I would question people who can't recognize a door - are they really intelligent enough to be driving to begin with?[/quote]
I think you know the answer to that...
[IMG]http://images.wikia.com/dragonball/images/0/0a/I_don't_want_to_live_on_this_planet_anymore.jpg[/IMG]
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[quote=Clivey;993846]I think you know the answer to that...
[IMG]http://images.wikia.com/dragonball/images/0/0a/I_don't_want_to_live_on_this_planet_anymore.jpg[/IMG][/quote]
Or, if you ever watched Absolutely Fabulous...they should just pay a stupid tax.
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[quote=roosterjuicer;993071]there was a huge leap forward from the cars of the late 80's to the cars of the late 90's/early 2000's.[/quote]
In terms of emissions and safety, absolutely. But the fun factor, not so much. Especially in this very [I]current[/I] state of the car; I'm just not interested.
My daily driver is old and outdated... Yeah, so? At least it's engaging and fun to drive. Can't say the same of what's being put on the market today. It's so bland, in my eyes at least.
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Find my post from earlier. I think automakers are short on genuinely new ideas, and are tweaking old ones in the post-cheap-fuel era.
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[quote=LTSmash;993893]In terms of emissions and safety, absolutely. But the fun factor, not so much. Especially in this very [I]current[/I] state of the car; I'm just not interested.
My daily driver is old and outdated... Yeah, so? At least it's engaging and fun to drive. Can't say the same of what's being put on the market today. It's so bland, in my eyes at least.[/quote]
[quote=jcp123;993894]Find my post from earlier. I think automakers are short on genuinely new ideas, and are tweaking old ones in the post-cheap-fuel era.[/quote]
Two letters and two numbers.
G, T, 8 and 6.
So it's not all lost yet.