Reasons why newer cars suck a$$...

[Hey-O]

" I think when I take a piss in the morning my dick and balls are still intact ", you lost me. Dick and balls have very little to do with cars. Are you saying you hold your dick when you think about the real men that built your old car. Have you ever worked in a car factory, didn't think so. I love cars, old and new, I buy what I want, I do what I want. Lets get one thing clear, I never talk down about another mans car. Maybe one day I'll have enough money to be like you. I think it's time for me to take a break.

 

[patrick66]

Swerving away from that nonsense, I picked the Buick up this morning. My less-than-helpful service writer called this morning and said "Sir, your Buick is ready, it comes to $2,200!". "Uh, not so fast, Chris,. I talked to your manager Chad on Saturday. $1,700 is what the bill is!". After stammering and jammering, he puts me on hold while he talks with Chad for about four seconds, and comes back "Oh, OK, I see it here, $1,700"...

I get it, people need to make a living. But when they try to be as shady as they can get away with, I get a bit pissed off.

 

[RemCharger]

Currently in the shop. 2017 escape, eco-turbo-whatever, engine took a dump @ 80k miles.
Day 3.
I won't do another ever. Ok, maybe for 5 grand.

 

[1968cuda415]

Currently in the shop. 2017 escape, eco-turbo-whatever, engine took a dump @ 80k miles.
Day 3.
I won't do another ever. Ok, maybe for 5 grand.View attachment 1325894View attachment 1325895View attachment 1325894View attachment 1325895View attachment 1325896

Learn your lesson?

 

[Thrashingcows]

I was selling my mother 2015 Jeep renegade and had to replace the T-stat....comes as a complete T--state housing/sensor unit and thankfully on the 2.4 it was not tucked in a horrible place, but there was no coolant drain on the radiator or block that I could find...spent at least an hour looking! So just had to pull hoses and let it all drain out.

Then the AC stopped working so took it to the dealer to have it checked out...they hooked it up and tested it and told me they couldn't find anything wrong with it! I said the A/C compressor isn't working or turning on, they responded with "How could you know that?" I told them I popped the hood, looked at the A/C compressor with my eyes and saw that it was not engaging. They again tried to imply I didn't know what I was talking about so I informed them I'd been working on cars for 35 years and then proceeded to explain how the basic A/C system works with hi/lo pressor sensors, energizing the AC coil, expansion valves etc. Well they went back and looked at it and sure enough it was just low on refrigerant.

And lets not talk about having to change a friggin headlight bulb in modern vehicles! I've had to remove half the front end and waste 2 hours to replace one bulb!

 

[yella71]

I asked my wife on Friday if she wanted to trade the Enclave in on Friday, after hearing the initial repair estimate. She doesn't drive a whole lot; maybe 6K miles per year, if that. I drive my Passat about 11K per year. Figuring a replacement used car in the $10K-$15K range may well have pricey problems of its own, and she likes her Buick a lot, we figured we'd be better off fixing a paid-for car and roll until 200K. That's three more years. The AC blows cold and the heater will toast you very well. Runs good, gets 22 mpg, doesn't smoke or leak.

sorry to say you own two **** cars....a GM product and a VW. expect the worst. I fix cars for a living and they all suck *** but GM and Any German car is at the top of the list, you get what you get and that is a piece of ****. sorry. If you left them parked in the driveway they would still break down. Don't ever complain what it cost to fix unless you are willing to do it yourself.

 

[1968cuda415]

sorry to say you own two **** cars....a GM product and a VW. expect the worst. I fix cars for a living and they all suck *** but GM and Any German car is at the top of the list, you get what you get and that is a piece of ****. sorry. If you left them parked in the driveway they would still break down. Don't ever complain what it cost to fix unless you are willing to do it yourself.

You just served up some truth serum....LOL

 

[Hey-O]

There is no perfect answer when it comes to a carefree car, even the best of them have their problems. I was told by a guy driving a Honda that they were the best. I asked him if the service department that was full at the Honda dealership, was full of fords, he just looked at me and walked off.........

 

[1968cuda415]

There is no perfect answer when it comes to a carefree car, even the best of them have their problems. I was told by a guy driving a Honda that they were the best. I asked him if the service department that was full at the Honda dealership, was full of fords, he just looked at me and walked off.........

It's called oil changes

 

[patrick66]

sorry to say you own two **** cars....a GM product and a VW. expect the worst. I fix cars for a living and they all suck *** but GM and Any German car is at the top of the list, you get what you get and that is a piece of ****. sorry. If you left them parked in the driveway they would still break down. Don't ever complain what it cost to fix unless you are willing to do it yourself.

Well, the Buick has lasted 180K+ miles with no issues other than the transmission. And a water pump IS a consumable item, they don't last forever. The price to fix is what pissed me off. "Don't ever complain about what it cost to fix"...Piss off! My car, I'll piss and moan about it when I please, thank you. Oh, BTW, the Passat has been one of the most trouble-free cars I've ever owned, and at 43 MPG freeway, **** yeah, I'll drive that one all day long. And yeah, I know what CAN happen with them.

******* new Mopars are no better. The local Dodge emporium charges $165.00 an hour - higher than the GM crooks. A friend has had his '18 Charger in the shop for over six months, total time, spread over two years. Guess his car is doing just fine, right?

 

[1968cuda415]

Well, the Buick has lasted 180K+ miles with no issues other than the transmission. And a water pump IS a consumable item, they don't last forever. The price to fix is what pissed me off. "Don't ever complain about what it cost to fix"...Piss off! My car, I'll piss and moan about it when I please, thank you. Oh, BTW, the Passat has been one of the most trouble-free cars I've ever owned, and at 43 MPG freeway, **** yeah, I'll drive that one all day long. And yeah, I know what CAN happen with them.

******* new Mopars are no better. The local Dodge emporium charges $165.00 an hour - higher than the GM crooks. A friend has had his '18 Charger in the shop for over six months, total time, spread over two years. Guess his car is doing just fine, right?

New Chrysler products are nothing to jump for joy about....I agree

 

[Hey-O]

It's called oil changes

All of them, sure.

 

[XS22J8R]

Living in the rust belt, I don't consider using an older car as a daily driver to be viable at all. I spent enough of my younger years crawling under cars getting rust in my eyes and fighting with rusted bolts, and changing rusted out brake lines and fuel lines, and have no desire to do that anymore. And even if I found a nice southern or west coast car, it would only take a couple winters before the underside started to corrode badly.
There are features on newer cars I really like and wondered how we did without a decade or two back, such as backup cameras, heated seats and heated mirrors.
On the other hand, working on newer cars is often no pleasure.
I have a 2014 Dart I use as a daily driver and it's been pretty reliable. I do oil changes and brakes and they are no more difficult to do than any older car. I had a headlight burn out and was impressed that the FCA engineers put a removable plug in each wheel well liner, just remove it and you can get at the back of the headlight assembly to replace the bulb. With all the complaints I hear from people about how hard it is to replace headlights, I question why all cars and trucks aren't engineered with access plugs or hatches for that common maintenance item?
The spark plug replacement was the easiest set of plugs to remove and replace that I've ever done.
Several things on the car that I haven't had to do but have seen videos that make me cringe at the work involved, are serpentine belt replacement and steering rack replacement. To do the serpentine belt, it appears you need to support the engine, then remove the passenger side engine mount, to get the old belt off and new belt on. That's ridiculous!
The steering rack assembly replacement doesn't look too bad, until you find that the racks are "married" to the car and if you get a replacement from a pick and pull, you get a steering trouble light on the dash after installing it. New racks at the dealer, which you can "marry" to the car, cost a fortune. The video I saw the guy finally figured out something to remove from the old rack to install on the used rack he was installing, that was the part of the assembly that is "married" to the car. That too seems pretty ridiculous that there is no way to program a used rack to "marry" it to a different car.
The automakers seem to have got a lot better and protecting cars from corrosion too. At least Mopar has it seems. A couple years ago there were some articles about people complaining about the amount of rust on the underside components of brand new Ford trucks. At the same time, I crawled under the Dart to change the oil, and noticed how even after a half dozen Chicago salty road winters and a car that gets parked outside, the underside was very clean with just a bit of surface rust on some bolts. I just did the rear brakes a couple months ago, and everything came apart easy with no fighting with anything or even a spritz of penetrating oil used. I can't say that about working on any car I had in the 80s or 90s!

 

[6PKRTSE]

I work on my own vehicles, along with all my family and friends vehicles because I could never afford to pay the ridiculous prices shops want to do the work. It is amazing how many newer cars need specialty tools. Can't tell you how many one time use tools I have purchased or I fabricated my own to do the job. What really sucks is how everything computer controlled needs a high dollar scan tool to either program, calibrate and even diagnose some things. It shouldn't have to be so difficult and expensive.

 

[yella71]

all junk....they all come thru my shop. they are all junk mopar included. im not biased I work on everything gas diesel euro jap domestic , etc they are all junk gm and ford mopar junk, the best are honda and toyota. all junk. sorry piss and moan to your hearts content, who am I to tell you not to. but I would NEVER own a VW

 

[Thrashingcows]

My daughter wanted an older car for her daily driver, I found her a one owner 1988 Aries K-car 4dr with 80K original Km's. She has put almost 40K km's on it and other then replacing a few things when she first started driving it that were causing issues it's been a darn reliable little car. Heck I just replaced the water pump last week and it was the original unit!

 

[Gus chiggins]

My 2011 Dodge Charger RT had to have the center stack replaced ( electronic component ) the part cost 2 grand!!

 

[Billccm]

My daughter wanted an older car for her daily driver, I found her a one owner 1988 Aries K-car 4dr with 80K original Km's. She has put almost 40K km's on it and other then replacing a few things when she first started driving it that were causing issues it's been a darn reliable little car. Heck I just replaced the water pump last week and it was the original unit!

These were reasonably reliable simple cars. Never understood why they were hated. The 2.5 EFI auto cars were bulletproof.

 

[Photon440]

These were reasonably reliable simple cars. Never understood why they were hated. The 2.5 EFI auto cars were bulletproof.

I don't think they were hated, so much as they were boring.

 

[tak419]

Some people will say that the cars are designed so only the dealer can work on them.
I think that they are designed to be assembled as quickly as possible.....with zero regard to serviceability for the owner or a dealer mechanic.

You're pretty much correct but the real reason cars are hard to work on is a car is designed from the outside in. They start with appearance, then built the sub body to meet safety. That makes unibody tubes thicker, etc. That shrinks the overall size of the engine compartment. No add all the extra crap onto an engine, extra wiring for all the sensors, evap systems. The engineers need to now fit that subassembly into the engine compartment. Just leaves no room. All mechanics bitch but ask them how to fix it without eliminating anything. It can't be done. It's not really about cost savings in manufacturing, it's just hard to put 10 pounds of **** in a 5lb package.