4 ms·

> It is also crazy how unreliable cars actually are. 20 years old car means some surprise every 3rd or 4th drive Not so sure about that, petrol engines and car

> It is also crazy how unreliable cars actually are. 20 years old car means some surprise every 3rd or 4th drive Not so sure about that, petrol engines and cars matured a lot in the last decades. I'm driving a 2004 Ford Focus and it is still going strong, with no "surprises", which, granted, I remember having every drive in 1996 with a 1981 Renault 14. I would considering changing this old car for environmental impact, in-car entertainment or driving safety measures, but not for the reliability of it.

bryanlarsen 3y ago
Yes, I think hardware2win has it backwards. Old vehicles are very reliable, so there are lots of them on the road that are missing safety features like automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection.
- hardware2win 3y ago
  Hmm I wasnt referring to e.g just engine Ive been talking about electronics too. It feels like there is constant need to fix something. This shit is so annoying. >Old vehicles are very reliable Ive never witnessed a technology as unreliable as cars are. Especially that is relatively expensive piece of tech.
  - bryanlarsen 3y ago
    This is an example of "normalization of excellence". A modern car has several thousand moving parts, high temperatures, high pressures, an oxidizing environment, and is subjected to potholes and wide temperature swings. That it is expected to survive 200K miles is a miracle. Before the model T, a car that would last 20K miles was a considered a reliable car. The model T pushed those expectations up to 50K. Post-war expectations increased to 100K and the Japanese pushed expectations this millenia to 200K. At the same time that lifetimes went up, maintenance went down. You used to have to regularly inspect tune and replace stuff like timing chains, spark plugs and seals. A couple of comparisons: a computer fan has an expected lifetime of 10 years, and it's way simpler than a car. A fighter jet needs 16 hours of maintenance for every 1 in the sky.

bryanlarsen 3y ago

Yes, I think hardware2win has it backwards. Old vehicles are very reliable, so there are lots of them on the road that are missing safety features like automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection.

hardware2win 3y ago
Hmm I wasnt referring to e.g just engine Ive been talking about electronics too. It feels like there is constant need to fix something. This shit is so annoying. >Old vehicles are very reliable Ive never witnessed a technology as unreliable as cars are. Especially that is relatively expensive piece of tech.
- bryanlarsen 3y ago
  This is an example of "normalization of excellence". A modern car has several thousand moving parts, high temperatures, high pressures, an oxidizing environment, and is subjected to potholes and wide temperature swings. That it is expected to survive 200K miles is a miracle. Before the model T, a car that would last 20K miles was a considered a reliable car. The model T pushed those expectations up to 50K. Post-war expectations increased to 100K and the Japanese pushed expectations this millenia to 200K. At the same time that lifetimes went up, maintenance went down. You used to have to regularly inspect tune and replace stuff like timing chains, spark plugs and seals. A couple of comparisons: a computer fan has an expected lifetime of 10 years, and it's way simpler than a car. A fighter jet needs 16 hours of maintenance for every 1 in the sky.