Why are cars so complicated nowadays ?

[kevlray]

I bicycle to work most days (but it only about 1.5 miles away). I used to be in another office, it was about five miles away (thank goodness they had a shower at that office).

 

[Galaxiom]

Never have changed engine oil, simply topped it up when the oil level has got low...

Oil becomes contaminated over time and needs to be changed. Your engine consumes oil due to wear because it is not lubricated properly.

 

[scott-atkinson]

Oil becomes contaminated over time and needs to be changed. Your engine consumes oil due to wear because it is not lubricated properly.

75,000 miles on my clock so far, and have only topped up the oil never changed, car still runs fine..

Have done this continually with all previous cars I have owned and no issues...


The industry puts out these myths about how cars need to be serviced, on how they need to be used... it is mostly based around making them more money, more often the cars do not need this..

As I have said on a previous post, Cars are precision made pieces of equipment they should not be tampered with... as soon as you have somebody poking around it upsets this precision balance and then you continuously have to have them poked about to correct the last set of poking about...

Leave them alone and they will run just fine...

 

[Galaxiom]

75,000 miles on my clock so far, and have only topped up the oil never changed, car still runs fine..

Have done this continually with all previous cars I have owned and no issues...

Then you sell it to someone at relatively low mileage and they wonder why it doesn't last.

As I said, the engine is using oil because it is wearing faster than it would if it was properly serviced. Our cars are serviced regularly and the engines don't consume oil.

Cars are precision made pieces of equipment.

Yes. That is why they need to be properly lubricated. The oil is exposed to high temperatures and contaminated with fuel and products of combustion. It does need to be changed.

 

[scott-atkinson]

My cars are lasting just fine thanks...


I guess we can agree to disagree on the other points..

 

[kevlray]

A friend of my is an auto shop teacher at a high school. Several years ago when he got engaged to be married. He asked his wife to be when was the last time she had gotten the oil changed on her car. Her answer was "Change?". She too was just adding oil. When he did change the oil, he said it was very nasty. Apparently you can skip changing the oil (the oil filter will get pretty clogged), but you run the chance of permanent engine damage. Today's engines will easily last over 100,000 miles if they are maintained properly.

 

[Dick7Access]

Years ago I had a fairly new 1963 Chevy Impala. It had 68000 mile. It had an oil leak so I just added oil. One day it started coughing ad sputtering. If I remember correctly it was something like an oil pan breather or other that was clogged. Didn’t last much longer. I now have a Toyota pickup. Bought it new. Changed the oil at 800 miles, again at 1500 miles and faithfully every 3000 miles, runs great, and has 170,000.

 

[fortion]

changing oil is a must for car life....it aint that big a complication really...

 

[Marlin47]

It isn't just the oil change I'm talking about, amigo, it's everything else that is part of a service. I ceased to do my own servicing years ago when I stopped driving 1960s sportscars such as the Austin Healey 3000 and changed to a Jaguar E Type V12, which was much more complicated. Nowadays I drive a two year old Bentley Continental GTC , which has a W12 six litre engine, or an Alfa Romeo V6 3.2 litre, or my wife's BMW X5 V8 4.6 litre engine.
All of these cars are vastly more complicated than ever I was used to !

 

[Fifty2One]

There is public transit for those who can not afford to properly maintain or operate their vehicles. I do not understand what you are whining about when it should be the staff taking care of such trivial issues on the daily driven automobiles, its not like they are worthwhile antique autos or vintage motorbikes that would be interesting to tinker with as a hobby.

It isn't just the oil change I'm talking about, amigo, it's everything else that is part of a service. I ceased to do my own servicing years ago when I stopped driving 1960s sportscars such as the Austin Healey 3000 and changed to a Jaguar E Type V12, which was much more complicated. Nowadays I drive a two year old Bentley Continental GTC , which has a W12 six litre engine, or an Alfa Romeo V6 3.2 litre, or my wife's BMW X5 V8 4.6 litre engine.
All of these cars are vastly more complicated than ever I was used to !

 

[Marlin47]

There is public transit for those who can not afford to properly maintain or operate their vehicles. I do not understand what you are whining about when it should be the staff taking care of such trivial issues on the daily driven automobiles, its not like they are worthwhile antique autos or vintage motorbikes that would be interesting to tinker with as a hobby.

I am not "whining" about anything. I am just stating the fact that I regret not being able to service my own cars anymore due to the complexity of modern vehicles. I offer no opinion on who you are or what you drive/ride, but my feelings are shared by most people who drive today's cars. Insofar as the use of public transport is concerned, all of my friends and colleagues regard that as being suitable only for proles : as do I.

 

[scott-atkinson]

Insofar as the use of public transport is concerned, all of my friends and colleagues regard that as being suitable only for proles : as do I.

What exactly is a Prole

 

[Marlin47]

A prole is a member of the proletariat ie the great unwashed. They are the worker drones of life's beehive and count for little or nothing at all.

 

[scott-atkinson]

I guess that makes me an Upper Class Prole, as I don't use Public Transport, I do wash, but I am a worker drone...

But I'm happy with my lot... so am not bothered...

 

[scott-atkinson]

Welcome back by the way...

I thought you had driven off into the sunset in your Bentley...

 

[kevlray]

A prole is a member of the proletariat ie the great unwashed. They are the worker drones of life's beehive and count for little or nothing at all.

If I recall correctly, read '1984'

 

[Marlin47]

Welcome back by the way...

I thought you had driven off into the sunset in your Bentley...

Driven off into the Tuscan sunlight, more like it ! The Bentley did us proud -
18 miles per gallon and NO speeding tickets ............my Aston Martin DB9 generally returned about 15 miles per gallon and I normally got one or two speeding tickets.

.Not only that, but a female traffic warden in Pisa prevented a local in a nice Alfa Romeo from taking a parking space and guided me into it instead ! She was pig ugly but knows how to show respect when it is needed.

 

[Marlin47]

If I recall correctly, read '1984'

Yep, you've gotten that right, compadre. Good old George Orwell - one of the World's truly great authors.

 

[Fifty2One]

You were looking for a parking space? How odd. You need to travel in more upscale areas, or perhaps the traffic warden had you mistaken for a valet.

Driven off into the Tuscan sunlight, more like it ! The Bentley did us proud -
18 miles per gallon and NO speeding tickets ............my Aston Martin DB9 generally returned about 15 miles per gallon and I normally got one or two speeding tickets.

.Not only that, but a female traffic warden in Pisa prevented a local in a nice Alfa Romeo from taking a parking space and guided me into it instead ! She was pig ugly but knows how to show respect when it is needed.

 

[Marlin47]

I doubt that she would have mistaken me for my valet, who is an elderly Lithuanian blond
with a wooden leg, and I am not. Come to that, she couldn't have mistaken me for my chauffeur either, since he's a forty two year old ex Royal Marine commando and is built like a concrete block.

Insofar as my looking for a parking space, I take it that you are either incapable of driving a car or too poor to own one ?