3 ms·

Sorry to burst bubbles, but I've been in a few: The new cars really do drive better. Smoother shifts, better engines, effective climate control, better seats, j

Sorry to burst bubbles, but I've been in a few: The new cars really do drive better. Smoother shifts, better engines, effective climate control, better seats, just more comfy, more driveable, more responsive, even feel better. This isn't like vintage pens I'm afraid, where old meant high quality materials. Old cars are mostly just crappy (barring a very small set of outliers). I think it boils down to the fact that cars represent the pinnacle of engineering for that time period. Engineering only gets better with time.

grapesodaaaaa 1y ago
I don’t think people are buying vintage cars for the ride quality. The owners I’ve seen with them see it as a passion. Much like the McLaren F1 has a cult following, yet no traction control or turbo.
- glitchc 1y ago
  So great that you picked one of those rare outliers. There's nothing quite like the McLaren F1, not then, not now.
  - grapesodaaaaa 1y ago
    How about an older Porsche or Mercedes? I stand by my original statement. I had a friend who collected and restored very old BMWs. He certainly wasn’t doing it for the ride quality or features vs a modern car. I just picked the F1, because it’s a shining example of a car people love that is impractical compared to modern cars of equivalent specs.
thrown-0825 1y ago
I love classics, but they are not safe to drive at all and a 65 v8 mustang performs worse than a 90’s civic in just about every way.
wizee 1y ago
In general, I agree. However, many older cars were small, light, simple, and raw - characteristics that have largely disappeared from modern cars. Automatic transmissions from the mid-90s and earlier generally sucked, though good old manual transmissions are not much different from good modern ones. As an example, I owned a W126 S class from the late 80s, and it was fun in its unique way and no modern cars replicate its experience. It had somewhat heavy and very feedback rich steering feel, and Porsche-like firm and tactile pedal feel, while having a super supple ride over the most awful roads with SUV-like ground clearance and tremendous suspension travel. The car was also super simple and reliable; my 300SE had nearly 400k km with all original powertrain when I sold it, it never let me down, and it weighed less than a modern A class or CLA. While not as safe as modern cars, it was exceptionally safe for its era and comparable to normal cars of the early 2000s for crash structure safety. The W140 (I used to own one too) had a much better powertrain, but it lost the raw tactile scrappy nature of its predecessor, and nor could it handle super awful potholed roads as well as the W126. There are no modern cars that combine the rich raw tactile control feel and super supple ride the W126 had. Look at cars like the BMW E30, or Mercedes-Benz 190E (W201), or the superbly engineered workhorses that the W123 and W124 were. There are no modern cars that replicate the genuinely delightful driving experience of those.
- sonofhans 1y ago
  Oh yes, preach the gospel of the W126. I had a 1986 300SD for a while, and I’d own one again in a heartbeat. I’ve never felt safer, or cooler, driving a car. You had a gasser, which I bet was faster than mine, but the sound of that diesel spinning up the turbo was something else. I agree about the W123 as well. I’ve owned half a dozen of those. For a couple generations there it seemed that Mercedes had cars just about solved.
- makeitdouble 1y ago
  > However, many older cars were small, light, simple, and raw - characteristics that have largely disappeared from modern cars. I feel parent's point still stands. Sure, you won't be able to go to a random Ford dealership and go home with a small light and simple car, but there are plenty of modern car accessible through a modicum of effort. Even buying something new abroad and bring it back home will probably be less hassle than restoring an old car. I wonder if buying a kit car would still be simpler, for still better results.
asdff 1y ago
Mid 90s acura transmissions were great for me. Shifts really solid and stiff. Stiff clutch with clear engagement point. I drove 2015ish era manual transmissions too (nissan and vw) and they were jokes in comparison. Gear shifter felt like a toy, like it was plastic or something even though I know it couldn't be. Clutch was way too light with engagement point not as crisp and a lot lower in the pedal travel too. Worst of all you couldn't feel the rpm of the engine at all in your hands or feet like in the 20 year older acura.
- M95D 1y ago
  Stiff clutch with high engagement point is a sign of wear and should be replaced.
  - asdff 1y ago
    I actually had the master and slave cylinder replaced after a leak so it was a little firmer than when it started but still pretty high. I think the clutch was fine, it had enough bite to start in second gear at least.
userbinator 1y ago
Take a ride in an early 70s "land yacht" and you'll get an idea what "comfy" really means. All newer cars regardless of actual type somehow seem to be converging on a "sporty" feel, which is very different.
- labcomputer 1y ago
  Land yachts still exist. We just call them by "SUV" today.
  - euroderf 1y ago
    Can an SUV be a "yacht" if it doesn't have fender skirts ?
  - userbinator 1y ago
    SUVs have a very different roadfeel, not to mention they've also gone in the "sporty" direction. Perhaps an old Suburban would be close.
helloworlddd 1y ago
I bought a new car and have since decided I would prefer an older car. * The features are annoying and you can't disable everything you don't need. I had to download an app and by a connector to disable the warning message that told me not to crash everytime I turned the car on. There's still plenty of things that I can't disable. If I want to turn off the centre console (which is most of the time), it's several clicks through a clunky ui. * It only looks nice when it's clean and keeping a car clean is not something I want to invest my time in. * It's too powerful, so I can't really give it a bit of a push without going well over the speed limit. * it aluminates the logo onto the sidewalk when I park. Very embarrassing. * it's heavy which you can feel (despite it being a tiny new gen car). I preferred my old beater that I could just thrash around. It's worth having to deal with some sort of mechanical problem every now and then.
herbst 1y ago
I don't agree. I was in the market for a European offroad SUV just recently and the most looked after models are between 1995 and 2005. The gear, the V6 boxing motors, the massive steal frames, the actual pulling power and that all on 13 litres. Newer models have 3 thousand sensors I haven't asked for, can't even reach common repair things without special tools, effektive usage hasn't changed or depends on hybrid (which is a joke for pulling), repair parts are 5-10 times as expensive, you loose half of the cars worth first time you visit a forest ...

grapesodaaaaa 1y ago

I don’t think people are buying vintage cars for the ride quality. The owners I’ve seen with them see it as a passion. Much like the McLaren F1 has a cult following, yet no traction control or turbo.

glitchc 1y ago
So great that you picked one of those rare outliers. There's nothing quite like the McLaren F1, not then, not now.
- grapesodaaaaa 1y ago
  How about an older Porsche or Mercedes? I stand by my original statement. I had a friend who collected and restored very old BMWs. He certainly wasn’t doing it for the ride quality or features vs a modern car. I just picked the F1, because it’s a shining example of a car people love that is impractical compared to modern cars of equivalent specs.

thrown-0825 1y ago

I love classics, but they are not safe to drive at all and a 65 v8 mustang performs worse than a 90’s civic in just about every way.

wizee 1y ago

In general, I agree. However, many older cars were small, light, simple, and raw - characteristics that have largely disappeared from modern cars. Automatic transmissions from the mid-90s and earlier generally sucked, though good old manual transmissions are not much different from good modern ones. As an example, I owned a W126 S class from the late 80s, and it was fun in its unique way and no modern cars replicate its experience. It had somewhat heavy and very feedback rich steering feel, and Porsche-like firm and tactile pedal feel, while having a super supple ride over the most awful roads with SUV-like ground clearance and tremendous suspension travel. The car was also super simple and reliable; my 300SE had nearly 400k km with all original powertrain when I sold it, it never let me down, and it weighed less than a modern A class or CLA. While not as safe as modern cars, it was exceptionally safe for its era and comparable to normal cars of the early 2000s for crash structure safety. The W140 (I used to own one too) had a much better powertrain, but it lost the raw tactile scrappy nature of its predecessor, and nor could it handle super awful potholed roads as well as the W126. There are no modern cars that combine the rich raw tactile control feel and super supple ride the W126 had. Look at cars like the BMW E30, or Mercedes-Benz 190E (W201), or the superbly engineered workhorses that the W123 and W124 were. There are no modern cars that replicate the genuinely delightful driving experience of those.

sonofhans 1y ago
Oh yes, preach the gospel of the W126. I had a 1986 300SD for a while, and I’d own one again in a heartbeat. I’ve never felt safer, or cooler, driving a car. You had a gasser, which I bet was faster than mine, but the sound of that diesel spinning up the turbo was something else. I agree about the W123 as well. I’ve owned half a dozen of those. For a couple generations there it seemed that Mercedes had cars just about solved.
makeitdouble 1y ago
> However, many older cars were small, light, simple, and raw - characteristics that have largely disappeared from modern cars. I feel parent's point still stands. Sure, you won't be able to go to a random Ford dealership and go home with a small light and simple car, but there are plenty of modern car accessible through a modicum of effort. Even buying something new abroad and bring it back home will probably be less hassle than restoring an old car. I wonder if buying a kit car would still be simpler, for still better results.

asdff 1y ago

Mid 90s acura transmissions were great for me. Shifts really solid and stiff. Stiff clutch with clear engagement point. I drove 2015ish era manual transmissions too (nissan and vw) and they were jokes in comparison. Gear shifter felt like a toy, like it was plastic or something even though I know it couldn't be. Clutch was way too light with engagement point not as crisp and a lot lower in the pedal travel too. Worst of all you couldn't feel the rpm of the engine at all in your hands or feet like in the 20 year older acura.

M95D 1y ago
Stiff clutch with high engagement point is a sign of wear and should be replaced.
- asdff 1y ago
  I actually had the master and slave cylinder replaced after a leak so it was a little firmer than when it started but still pretty high. I think the clutch was fine, it had enough bite to start in second gear at least.

userbinator 1y ago

Take a ride in an early 70s "land yacht" and you'll get an idea what "comfy" really means. All newer cars regardless of actual type somehow seem to be converging on a "sporty" feel, which is very different.

labcomputer 1y ago
Land yachts still exist. We just call them by "SUV" today.
- euroderf 1y ago
  Can an SUV be a "yacht" if it doesn't have fender skirts ?
- userbinator 1y ago
  SUVs have a very different roadfeel, not to mention they've also gone in the "sporty" direction. Perhaps an old Suburban would be close.

helloworlddd 1y ago

I bought a new car and have since decided I would prefer an older car. * The features are annoying and you can't disable everything you don't need. I had to download an app and by a connector to disable the warning message that told me not to crash everytime I turned the car on. There's still plenty of things that I can't disable. If I want to turn off the centre console (which is most of the time), it's several clicks through a clunky ui. * It only looks nice when it's clean and keeping a car clean is not something I want to invest my time in. * It's too powerful, so I can't really give it a bit of a push without going well over the speed limit. * it aluminates the logo onto the sidewalk when I park. Very embarrassing. * it's heavy which you can feel (despite it being a tiny new gen car). I preferred my old beater that I could just thrash around. It's worth having to deal with some sort of mechanical problem every now and then.

herbst 1y ago

I don't agree. I was in the market for a European offroad SUV just recently and the most looked after models are between 1995 and 2005. The gear, the V6 boxing motors, the massive steal frames, the actual pulling power and that all on 13 litres. Newer models have 3 thousand sensors I haven't asked for, can't even reach common repair things without special tools, effektive usage hasn't changed or depends on hybrid (which is a joke for pulling), repair parts are 5-10 times as expensive, you loose half of the cars worth first time you visit a forest ...