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Did anything ever compare? Posted by Saana88 [Email]  (#207)  [Profile/Gallery]
(more from Saana88) on Sat, 16 Aug 2008 14:25:40
In Reply to: nothing compares really, Steven W, Fri, 15 Aug 2008 07:40:05 Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup |
Caveats against new cars in general: Everything is run by a computer with a fleet of onboard modules. When one overloads, it can kill the entire car for having intermittent contact with a door switch. You can't fix that yourself. You can't disconnect the battery and restart it. They've all got at least sixteen-inch wheels, so count on paying at least $150 a tire for anything that sticks to the road. Electrical connectors, bulb operating specs, and nearly everything else doesn't have the capacity to handle years on the road anymore. Notice how many cars are running around on one headlight or don't have all their brake lights (big safety item here) working. This is because the contacts are super small and they're handling 95-98% of the bulb's capacity. Moving along on the list, they use orange or blue instrument illumination, both of which I hate and cannot change. Switches don't have any kind of positive detent anymore, so forget about using them with gloves on your hands. The same applies to really, really small buttons spaced closely together. The ENTIRE interior is flimsy, cheap plastic, spray-painted in your favorite variety of colors with so little paint on them that brushing against the door handle or door sill turns it grey, brown, or orange. Side- and rearview mirrors are too small. Since bumpers don't line up anymore, you'd better hope you are moving slower than a turtle if you hit something. If you get rear-ended, plan on using your deductible and then going after the other driver because a molded plastic bumper cover (a piece of plastic, they don't even paint it) is $650. You can't get manual mirrors, manual windows, manual seats, or manual transmissions hardly at all anymore. If you want one or two extras, plan on paying $1500 for a premium package with 35 other things you don't need. If you get anything with leather on it, it will wear down and crack in about four years. What's left to love?
Yes, yes, I'm spoiled rotten with my two C900s, one of the a '92 S convertible. I also like to think that my hard work on both of them over the past three and six years has paid off. Also, I try to drive them gently so they last a long time and give me good fuel mileage.
I had a bit of an episode with my '88 back in February. Two of the bolts holding the alternator mounting bracket to the engine block broke off. I thought that may have been the straw. I spent an afternoon (wasted had it not been for the single-digit temperatures outside) looking at what new cars had to offer. I see through a lot of the glitter and flash and sales aids because I worked at a dealership for five and a half years. I was looking for a small, frills-removed, safe, economical car in which I can fit (six foot one). It also had to carry my bicycle(s) inside. It turned into a presidential election for me, narrowed down to trying to find the lesser of two evils. You see, I've adjusted to my 900s over the last six years to the point that nothing else comes close. Even without comparing convertibles, one wouldn't have all the safety stuff (side impact airbags should not be optional in my opinion) and another would force me to buy all-wheel drive (unnecessary, extra weight, unreliable, sucks gas, adds complexity), another (the second-place finisher) had a base engine that was WAY too big, the next had huge blind spots, another had the instruments in the middle of the dashboard, another was boring as hell to drive, another doesn't have any power until you've gone to sleep and the engine is running in excess of 5000 RPM, another had known transmission issues, another was so obscure that I know I won't be able to get replacement parts in eight years, another was BasicallyM Way too expensive, another (this one named "Saab") carried too many gadgets and cost about 15% more than I thought it should, (...) More or less, new cars suck. So do the brochures and web pages that try to sell them. They're all about making me, their target demographic, realize how the (insert product name here) helps me to achieve my active, outdoor lifestyle. I don't care! Tell me I can fit my bike inside and move on to actual facts! I don't want to hear how your car has more cargo space than the competition because it only has two tenths of a cubic foot more than the others, and that's nearly lying with statistics to me. I have trouble trusting websites that are trying to sucker-hoarde me into their ideal group against my will. Firing up the Pontiac site (to research the Solstice, which lasted for about a minute) meant blaring loud music out my speakers on top of New Wave Wednesday, the program I was trying to enjoy. Someone got a bonus for that.
Anyway, once the last C900s on the planet are someone else's property and not for sale, I'll probably stop driving.
Specific complaints (convertibles):
Samry Colara: Dorky name, awful visibilty **with the top down even***, can't get it with a clutch, 3.3 liter engine is WAY too big
Sebring: designed for short people who crank the seat all the way forward. The low, steeply-raked windshield ends too low. Try stopping thirty feet before the stop line next time. Also, my arch-nemesis every summer when I'm driving the 900, infesting everywhere, poor side- and rear-impact safety (it folds in half), engine too big, heavy, beyond heavy understeer, poor reliability, bland/boring, can't get it with a clutch
Audi: don't make anything with under 200 bhp, orange illumination, 'spensive, not enough ground clearance, and Heaven forbid I don't want all wheel drive
BMW: expensive to own, orange illumination, even more exspensive to insure, not enough ground clearance (it snows up here), ridiculously expensive parts, phenomenal chassis makes up for sub-par interior design, thirsty
Pontiac G8: rotten mileage, too heavy, orange illumination, plastic plastic everywhere, annoying website, gearbox has been reviewed as "rubbish"
VW: small, 3500 pounds, hecho en mexico? (this is for the Eos; I have a fundamental disagreement with the noob-eetle)
Swab: uses Audi tail lights, uses tacky clear-lens tail lights, woody trim, front-on looks like a cross between a Nissan and a Corrola, 'spensive, seat heaters are optional, steering wheel locks, too many computers, a little too much Grand Mothership influence to count on it being reliable, does nothing unique anymore except shut down the instrument illumination, and they make it that baby-sick green color, mileage so-so, fugly chrome inserts on grille and bumper make it look like a Saturn, 600 pounds more than my '92 (remind me again why the mileage isn't so hot)
Volvo: sadly more of a contender than the Swab (cheaper for the same thing), more reliable engine (shudder... Swab have fallen a long way), too many onboard computers, can't fit bike in trunk, $eventeen-inch wheel$ at lea$t, a little too much Fjord filtering into the mix, sub-par availability for manual transmission
Here's how it all boils down: the clueless have a stranglehold on new car specifications. Keep your older car (with class included at no charge) in good shape for as long as possible. Even as the Grand Mothership stops stocking parts and trying to obsolete the cars out of existence, make some contacts with people on the classifieds and junkyard owners so you can keep your classic Swede on the road until it really is time.
, Sat, 16 Aug 2008 14:25:40 <-- Viewing This Message, Sun, 17 Aug 2008 20:07:13
, Fri, 15 Aug 2008 08:29:04, Fri, 15 Aug 2008 15:18:12
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