Early 2000s jap cars are unkillable, surplus of parts, and are not tracker spyware nests. Great little things for sure. My 90s turboed volvo is a far more temperamental beast, but I cherish her quirks :)
Right now my car is an 84. With a back up 86 truck. I used to have a 2011 subaru, but hit an prairie antelope with it. If I had my pick I think 1990-2008 Japanese cars are the sweet spot.
No, The issue is with conceptions of auto safety becoming a selling point. For example look at the single biggest invention in reducing crash fatality? You would think maybe airbags, seat belts or ABS brakes… But nope, collapsible steering columns. But we are now sold “death proof” SUVs that are not really safer, in some ways worse. The issue is that safety devices have a diminishing return but fear is a great selling point, I would say there are old things that are death traps (like square body chevys) and things like saabs that I would say are to this day built safer then new cars. If we look at the data for auto fatalities per capita we can see that car safety has not had some magical jump since the late 80s but a more expected gradual change.
As a side note I do and have done a lot of driving and from what I have seen in the last 20 plus years is a slide into cars that are:
Top heavy (bigger is not safer)
Have little to no visibility (that then try to make up for with back up cameras)
Are built not to avoid crashing but to make crashing more comfortable
Have limited to no driving feed back and over reliance on things like traction control
Make driving on the same road with them more dangerous (just look at north american headlights)
At the end of the day I would rather drive a car that I can see out of and has a degree of safety devices (seat belts, collapsible steering column, working brakes) then something that is built like a living room on low profile tires that I will at some point crash. Bonus points if it does not explode or catch fire easily (think pintos or teslas).
Yes, But this is my point. You are sharing a video from “CAR TV” who’s tag line is “Watch New Model Cars With Pleasure 🎬” Its very much selling the idea that newer is safer, but the data only shows a slight increase in safety (and nothing on rate of crashes old vs new). In the video they show the two cars crashing but no data at all, the 1998 one from what I can see looks non fatal (seatbelt held, engine block not in lap, steering wheel not impaling chest) but not only do they say “The test showed the driver of the older Corolla would likely have died as a result of the 64km/h collision” they also don’t show that data. Even when looking for sources I get almost no where, this stinks.
Oh and in the little write up they say “ROAD safety experts have renewed calls for drivers to get behind the wheel of newer cars after an unprecedented crash test revealed shocking results.” Why do they write ROAD in all caps? Is this a special interest group? A lobbyist? No idea I can’t even check since there are no sources!
I am not saying newer cars don’t have more safety built in, I am saying its a matter of finding what level you are comfortable in and to not get suckered into needless fear over your cars safety rating while the average driver does not even maintain their car’s brakes.
Might I suggest instead of spending money on a car payment, spend less then a car payments worth of money on maintance? I am shocked at how many bald tyre, brakes fucked, window washer fluid depleted cars are sliding around in winter.
Might I suggest instead of spending money on a car payment, spend less money on maintance? I am shocked at how many bald tyre, brakes fucked, window washer fluid depleted cars are sliding around in winter.
I fail to see how spending less on maintenance would fix that.
Early 2000s jap cars are unkillable, surplus of parts, and are not tracker spyware nests. Great little things for sure. My 90s turboed volvo is a far more temperamental beast, but I cherish her quirks :)
Right now my car is an 84. With a back up 86 truck. I used to have a 2011 subaru, but hit an prairie antelope with it. If I had my pick I think 1990-2008 Japanese cars are the sweet spot.
Aren’t those older cars absolute death traps in collisions compared to the newer ones?
No, The issue is with conceptions of auto safety becoming a selling point. For example look at the single biggest invention in reducing crash fatality? You would think maybe airbags, seat belts or ABS brakes… But nope, collapsible steering columns. But we are now sold “death proof” SUVs that are not really safer, in some ways worse. The issue is that safety devices have a diminishing return but fear is a great selling point, I would say there are old things that are death traps (like square body chevys) and things like saabs that I would say are to this day built safer then new cars. If we look at the data for auto fatalities per capita we can see that car safety has not had some magical jump since the late 80s but a more expected gradual change.
As a side note I do and have done a lot of driving and from what I have seen in the last 20 plus years is a slide into cars that are:
At the end of the day I would rather drive a car that I can see out of and has a degree of safety devices (seat belts, collapsible steering column, working brakes) then something that is built like a living room on low profile tires that I will at some point crash. Bonus points if it does not explode or catch fire easily (think pintos or teslas).
1998 Toyota Corolla vs 2015 Toyota Corolla
Yes, But this is my point. You are sharing a video from “CAR TV” who’s tag line is “Watch New Model Cars With Pleasure 🎬” Its very much selling the idea that newer is safer, but the data only shows a slight increase in safety (and nothing on rate of crashes old vs new). In the video they show the two cars crashing but no data at all, the 1998 one from what I can see looks non fatal (seatbelt held, engine block not in lap, steering wheel not impaling chest) but not only do they say “The test showed the driver of the older Corolla would likely have died as a result of the 64km/h collision” they also don’t show that data. Even when looking for sources I get almost no where, this stinks.
Oh and in the little write up they say “ROAD safety experts have renewed calls for drivers to get behind the wheel of newer cars after an unprecedented crash test revealed shocking results.” Why do they write ROAD in all caps? Is this a special interest group? A lobbyist? No idea I can’t even check since there are no sources!
I am not saying newer cars don’t have more safety built in, I am saying its a matter of finding what level you are comfortable in and to not get suckered into needless fear over your cars safety rating while the average driver does not even maintain their car’s brakes.
Personally if my brakes are fucked I want all the other safety features I can get.
Might I suggest instead of spending money on a car payment, spend less then a car payments worth of money on maintance? I am shocked at how many bald tyre, brakes fucked, window washer fluid depleted cars are sliding around in winter.
I fail to see how spending less on maintenance would fix that.