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It's things like this that make me enjoy older cars from the 80's and 90's. I used to own an old Datsun truck. If anything went wrong, I knew that I'd most lik

It's things like this that make me enjoy older cars from the 80's and 90's. I used to own an old Datsun truck. If anything went wrong, I knew that I'd most likely be able to fix it myself, or if I couldn't my mechanic could. There was no software to break, no security vulnerabilities that would cause the brakes to fail, no DRM requiring Genuine Datsun© lightbulbs for the lights to work. Sure, the thing was a deathtrap, but I owned everything in that truck. Things are a bit more locked down in 90's cars with fuel injection, as the injection system is a bit more specialised than a carb and they have an ECU. But even the ECU on 90's cars is fairly open. Obviously there are a couple of fundamental flaws with older cars. The first is that older vehicles are a lot less safe than modern cars, the second being that they are a lot less reliable because they have usually done a lot of miles. They're also less fuel efficient. I don't want or need an entertainment system in my car, all I need is a aux in, and I'm happy. I don't need my car to be connected to the internet, I don't need GPS, or the weather forecast, or any other dumb tech gimmick. I have a phone for all of that, and when my phone gets old, I can replace it. I can't replace the entertainment system in a modern car. Luckily, there are still a lot of lower end cars that don't have all these "features". But what I would like is a higher end car, but without all the gimmicks, this is especially a problem with 4wd vehicles, they have too many electronic things in them. You can completely flood an old diesel Toyota Landcruiser or Hilux, and as long as your air intake is above the water, it will keep driving. You can't do that in a modern one.

gargravarr 9y ago
I own a Toyota Celica Supra from 1985. I love the car to pieces - not only is it amazing to drive (absolutely no electronic interference between the driver and wheels), it is maintainable. I can access everything in the engine bay, the radio is an aftermarket JVC which Just. Works, I have aftermarket parking sensors fitted, and absolutely no internet connection. The great thing about early fuel-injection vehicles is that they're phenomenally reliable. I have never heard of an ECU failing. The simple 8-bit microcontroller powering the Supra will just keep going and going and going. The brakes are purely hydraulic (no antilock, which okay, I accept is a bit of a problem when you drive cars that do have ABS). From the cylinder block to the wheels, it's purely mechanical transmission (stick-shift, clutch limited-slip diff). If something goes wrong, it's pretty obvious where the problem is, rather than chasing error codes that turn out to be a busted sensor buried deep in the engine and the thing it's monitoring is working fine. It has a beautiful, fancy electronic dashboard with VFDs for speed, fuel and temp, and LEDs for the rev counter, and it all works. I wouldn't say the car is necessarily less safe than a modern vehicle, provided you respect its limitations. I am an alert and responsive driver, and I know how hard I can hit the brakes before the wheels lock up. I keep the tyres inflated, the brake fluid fresh and all the electrical components in working order. There's even a reassuring scenario that I hope never to experience - a driver of one of these cars once fell asleep on cruise control and crashed into a concrete barrier at 70MPH. The car was obliterated. The driver walked away, every bone in his hand broken, but considering the nature of the crash, it was incredible to think a 30-year-old car could protect the driver. The long engine bay acts as a huge crumple zone. The space-economy nature of modern cars seems to require a lot of creativity to allow for crumple zones to be squashed around the engine. The reliability is also very subjective. Japanese engines and transmissions will long outlive the car they're fitted to. 300,000 miles and beyond is not unreachable. Bodywork suffers more, I have had to have lots of rust repaired on this car, and I'm struggling to source a few parts, but other than that, this 33-year-old car is fully working and starts first turn of the key. And on a long highway journey, I can get a good 500 miles out of the 60-litre fuel tank. My family owned a brand new Land Rover Freelander, which was a pathetic off-roader - as you mention, once water gets into the electronics, it's game over. This happened once in a major flood and the car was never the same again. The car stalled, but eventually restarted, but never developed the same power. We eventually sold it for a Hilux Surf, much older, but the truck was considerably more rugged. I have a real dislike for cars I'm not in full control of - my winter car is a Subaru Outback, and that has some annoying electronics. I'm constantly arguing with the automatic climate controls, which do what they like, and the electronic auto-box is sluggish and unresponsive in the extreme. It's a tough car, and a capable off-roader as I found out, but constantly second-guessing the driver is something I can't stand. I'm just thankful the car doesn't have OTA updates - I can imagine Subaru pushing new 'profiles' to the A/C and completely breaking it!

gargravarr 9y ago

I own a Toyota Celica Supra from 1985. I love the car to pieces - not only is it amazing to drive (absolutely no electronic interference between the driver and wheels), it is maintainable. I can access everything in the engine bay, the radio is an aftermarket JVC which Just. Works, I have aftermarket parking sensors fitted, and absolutely no internet connection. The great thing about early fuel-injection vehicles is that they're phenomenally reliable. I have never heard of an ECU failing. The simple 8-bit microcontroller powering the Supra will just keep going and going and going. The brakes are purely hydraulic (no antilock, which okay, I accept is a bit of a problem when you drive cars that do have ABS). From the cylinder block to the wheels, it's purely mechanical transmission (stick-shift, clutch limited-slip diff). If something goes wrong, it's pretty obvious where the problem is, rather than chasing error codes that turn out to be a busted sensor buried deep in the engine and the thing it's monitoring is working fine. It has a beautiful, fancy electronic dashboard with VFDs for speed, fuel and temp, and LEDs for the rev counter, and it all works. I wouldn't say the car is necessarily less safe than a modern vehicle, provided you respect its limitations. I am an alert and responsive driver, and I know how hard I can hit the brakes before the wheels lock up. I keep the tyres inflated, the brake fluid fresh and all the electrical components in working order. There's even a reassuring scenario that I hope never to experience - a driver of one of these cars once fell asleep on cruise control and crashed into a concrete barrier at 70MPH. The car was obliterated. The driver walked away, every bone in his hand broken, but considering the nature of the crash, it was incredible to think a 30-year-old car could protect the driver. The long engine bay acts as a huge crumple zone. The space-economy nature of modern cars seems to require a lot of creativity to allow for crumple zones to be squashed around the engine. The reliability is also very subjective. Japanese engines and transmissions will long outlive the car they're fitted to. 300,000 miles and beyond is not unreachable. Bodywork suffers more, I have had to have lots of rust repaired on this car, and I'm struggling to source a few parts, but other than that, this 33-year-old car is fully working and starts first turn of the key. And on a long highway journey, I can get a good 500 miles out of the 60-litre fuel tank. My family owned a brand new Land Rover Freelander, which was a pathetic off-roader - as you mention, once water gets into the electronics, it's game over. This happened once in a major flood and the car was never the same again. The car stalled, but eventually restarted, but never developed the same power. We eventually sold it for a Hilux Surf, much older, but the truck was considerably more rugged. I have a real dislike for cars I'm not in full control of - my winter car is a Subaru Outback, and that has some annoying electronics. I'm constantly arguing with the automatic climate controls, which do what they like, and the electronic auto-box is sluggish and unresponsive in the extreme. It's a tough car, and a capable off-roader as I found out, but constantly second-guessing the driver is something I can't stand. I'm just thankful the car doesn't have OTA updates - I can imagine Subaru pushing new 'profiles' to the A/C and completely breaking it!