Technology taking over?

[Lincsbodger]

Yep - if the car can 'see' a space between 2 parked vehicles, you pull alongside the forward one.....press Parking Assist.....put into 'R' and the car steered itself in. Once in, put into 'D', car pulls forward.
The most eerie thing was watching the steering wheel spin (hands off) one way then the other
The car won't play if you want to park behind another car without a gap - if you follow -- it reckons you can do that yourself.
Believe me - well spooky! Its my brother in laws car, and I'll have another play with it in due course. I've no idea what its limitations are....but it seems to need a gap of 11/2 to 2 times its own length.
John

James May demonstrated a self driving car on TV the other day. Believe me, they are only a couple of years away from consumer production!!!

 

[Avocet]

I had five Sierras. Three of them got to 250k+ miles , and all got scrapped because of a combination of engine failure + rust. All of them were on there 3rd clutch. You cant knock them, they just went on and on. That what we need stuff to do, not die at 100k miles or 5 years. I dont see many modern cars making 250k miles.

Blimey! you did well! I once dealt with a few kit car companies who quite liked Sierra running gear because it was rear wheel drive and the scrapyards were full of Sierras with rotten bodies but some life in the mechanicals.

Consider, a modern washing machine last about five years, if you use it once a week for five years, thats only 250 hours operating time. 250 hours in a car at 40 mph is 10,000 miles. A washing machine only lasts 10,000 miles!!! Thats appalling!!!

I'll be sure to only use cars for driving and washing machines for washing from now on! Seriously, what the point you're making? I think we need to compare "apples with apples" here! We've had ours for more than 5 years and it's used every other day as we have a young family. The QE2 lasted about 40 years and did about 3 million miles. So I guess it's fair to say that ocean liners last longer than cars (but cost a bit more) and cars last longer than washing machines (but cost a bit more)!

 

[Lincsbodger]

I had five Sierras. Three of them got to 250k+ miles , and all got scrapped because of a combination of engine failure + rust. All of them were on there 3rd clutch. You cant knock them, they just went on and on. That what we need stuff to do, not die at 100k miles or 5 years. I dont see many modern cars making 250k miles.

Blimey! you did well! I once dealt with a few kit car companies who quite liked Sierra running gear because it was rear wheel drive and the scrapyards were full of Sierras with rotten bodies but some life in the mechanicals.

Consider, a modern washing machine last about five years, if you use it once a week for five years, thats only 250 hours operating time. 250 hours in a car at 40 mph is 10,000 miles. A washing machine only lasts 10,000 miles!!! Thats appalling!!!

I'll be sure to only use cars for driving and washing machines for washing from now on! Seriously, what the point you're making? I think we need to compare "apples with apples" here! We've had ours for more than 5 years and it's used every other day as we have a young family. The QE2 lasted about 40 years and did about 3 million miles. So I guess it's fair to say that ocean liners last longer than cars (but cost a bit more) and cars last longer than washing machines (but cost a bit more)!

Look at it in ratio then

Sierra cost £12k, did 250k miles, 20.8 miles per £
Rolls Royce £100k does 1,000,000 miles 10 miles per £
Washing machine £600, 10,000 miles = 16 miles per £
QE2 cost £29M did 3,000,000 miles = 0.1 mile per £


Big is not beautiful in this instance.

 

[Avocet]

Still not quite sure where you're going with this one! I've got a piano that's over 100 years old and was given to me, so it cost nothing. Does that mean it's better than an ocean liner, a Roller, a washing machine and a Sierra?

 

[Lincsbodger]

No, what im getting at is what we mentioned earlier, that modern cars are largely unfixable and do not do the mileage older cars used to do, c.f its uneconomic to put a new clutch in a Mondeo so it dies at 100k miles rather than being repairable until 250k miles like a Sierra. The same applies to all sorts of things, from washing machines, central heating boilers, even Rotavators!

Rather than building longevity and repairability into things, and thus getting better value for our resources, they are building unrepairability and disposal into things. Its utterly wrong. How can they go on about recycling household rubbish when they dont tackle the problem at its roots ? Make all cars last 1 million miles, Rolls Royce do - 95% of all Rolls ever built are still on the road!!

 

[Avocet]

I have a lot of time for that point of view (clearly as the owner of a 20 year old car that's just coming up to the quarter-million, I'm bound to)! However, I'm not sure that modern cars ARE less durable than older ones, and I most CERTAINLY don't see myself as doing the planet a favour as a result! I have a (remote) involvement with various taxi fleets and the Skoda Octavias typically seem to do about 300k before they go to the big taxi rank in the sky. There are plenty of reps out there doing 50k a year too. The official statisticts don't support your views either.

"The average age of the vehicle stock also continues to grow. In 2008, cars licensed in Great Britain had been registered for an average of 7 years each. In 2007, however, the average car was registered for 6.8 years while in 2003 the average stood at 6.6 years."

The idea that a Mondeo gets scrapped at 100k for want of a clutch could suggest a number of things other than Mondeo clutches are too expensive. As we become more affluent and cars (in real terms) get cheaper, the economics of ownership change. It becomes cheaper to get another car than to fix the clutch. If anything, this recession will probably address that. We've enjoyed a decade of increasing wealth combined with falling prices for most consumer goods (cars included). That has lead to a huge glut of vehicles and correspondingly depressed second hand prices. I think we'll see quite an abrupt rise in the lifespan of the typical car in the next few years - nothing to do with the cars themsleves getting more durable, just the fact that people don't have the money to replace them and are therefore obliged to keep fixing them!

Your example of the Rolls Royce longevity seems at odds with your previous post. Clearly, they are a special case. Most exotic and collectable cars have much longer lives than the "bread-and-butter" cars that you and I might drive. Again absolutely nothing to do with the quality of engineering or inherent durablility of the design, rather the fact that they lead cosseted lives with no-expense-spared maintenance and by nothing other than their rarity and kudos, command a high resale price that justifies higher expenditure on maintenance. Besides, if we DID all drive Rollers for a million miles, I don't think the planet would thank us!

 

[Biguns]

Well scary - but equally impressive! What ever next?
John

It was 1968, I had passed my test the previous week, and I was outside the house walking round my first car.A Triumph vitesse convertible. I can recall my thoughts at the time, which were " How on earth can they improve on this" aah the naivety of youth

 

[Burnerman]

They did - they put a straight six in and caused a few invalids
John

 

[Biguns]

This was a straight six, and when I got rid of it I bought another one. Unbelievable

 

[Burnerman]

Quite a flash motor at the time...I remember they had a turning circle that was so tight they could run up their own bottom.
My first car at 17 was a 1960 mini - handbrake cables merrily dragging along the road, single leading shoe drum brakes all round and a fibreglass front. If I had had a crash, they would have sent a dust pan and brush, not a recovery truck.
John

 

[Biguns]

2 years ago had an hankering to relive my youth,went on E bay for a Vitesse. Perfect! one in South Shields, up the road. Arranged a test drive. What a flipping experience. I had forgot how strong and durable I was in my youth. No power assisted brakes, no power steering. The gear stick was like stirring a pan of broth, and the noises coming from the transmission were deafening.I was aching and shell shocked when I got out.
to think in the 60s & 70s I drove all over The UK in them, London Cornwall Wales Inverness
My mate at the time had a Mini 850cc, we occaisionally swapped cars. Had fun with the Mini, throwing it about, which you couldn't do with the Vitesse

 

[Biguns]

Only good thing about the Vitesse. The bonnet was the whole front panelwork including the wings. when it was lifted it exposed everything.
Used to sit on the left wheel to do the plugs and points, sit on the right hand wheel to tune the twin strombergs