21–30 of 340 posts
Between privacy risks and road safety, I made my choice very easily. I can understand the nostalgia of old cars with very little electronics, a carburator, a starter with a battery, a mechanical dashboard,... But on a daily basis they are dangerous, smelly, expensive, and not that reliable.
> For those of us who are "old-school" and prefer their cars without fancy digital gimmicks, which cars would you recommend? Old cars. The problem is the lack of modern safety features which really makes me do a double take before considering them. I wish cannibalizing a new car and ripping out all of the useless electronics was common enough for there to be tutorials for some brands
That's certainly true, but I do feel like there's a sweet spot in the 2005-2010 area where most "critical" safety features (improved airbags, traction control, ABS brakes) are almost certainly present, but none of the modern safety features that fall more into the "augmented sensory" category (merge/blindspot detection, early braking), which I'm happy to compromise on. I drive a 2007 SUV which does everything I need…
I drive a 2007 base model Porsche 911. No GPS, manual transmission, built to crash with ABS, traction, airbags, cage.
> For those of us who are "old-school" and prefer their cars without fancy digital gimmicks, which cars would you recommend? Old cars. The problem is the lack of modern safety features which really makes me do a double take before considering them. I wish cannibalizing a new car and ripping out all of the useless electronics was common enough for there to be tutorials for some brands
That's certainly true, but I do feel like there's a sweet spot in the 2005-2010 area where most "critical" safety features (improved airbags, traction control, ABS brakes) are almost certainly present, but none of the modern safety features that fall more into the "augmented sensory" category (merge/blindspot detection, early braking), which I'm happy to compromise on. I drive a 2007 SUV which does everything I need…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's certainly true, but I do feel like there's a sweet spot in the 2005-2010 area where most "critical" safety features (improved airbags, traction control, ABS brakes) are almost certainly present, but none of the modern safety features that fall more into the "augmented sensory" category (merge/blindspot detection, early braking), which I'm happy to compromise on. I drive a 2007 SUV which does everything I need…
Panther platform, extremely safe still is a very solid choice. Though most people don't particularly enjoy driving land yachts - a grand marquee is a fantastic choice. Late 90's saab 9000's have TCS, ABS, Dual Air Bag, so your standard set of 2000's features, and are also very safe. Unfortunately there seems to be a lack of good crash test data publically on older (older than 2004) cars.
Between privacy risks and road safety, I made my choice very easily. I can understand the nostalgia of old cars with very little electronics, a carburator, a starter with a battery, a mechanical dashboard,... But on a daily basis they are dangerous, smelly, expensive, and not that reliable.
> For those of us who are "old-school" and prefer their cars without fancy digital gimmicks, which cars would you recommend? Old cars. The problem is the lack of modern safety features which really makes me do a double take before considering them. I wish cannibalizing a new car and ripping out all of the useless electronics was common enough for there to be tutorials for some brands
Personally I like physical UI controls (touch screens are hard to hit precisely, and don't give feedback when you're not looking) and definitely not baked-in AAA junk, but the rest I'm fine with. Lane-keeping often sucks so I disable it, but... it's disable-able, so meh. I almost never use the main UI for anything (my phone is infinitely more capable), so I don't particularly care how many features it has as long as I don't have to use it at all for most trips. My phone auto-connects, I hit play on Spotify and maybe start a navigation app, and I'm good. I'd probably deeply hate something that required button taps to start the car or shift out of park or something.
They don't sell them in the US anymore, but I drive a 2019 Honda Fit and it's great. Very versatile (holds four adults, 8ft lumber, 36" doors, etc). The base trim is very tech-lite: bluetooth radio but nothing fancier than that, physically controlled hvac and chair controls, traditional key, basic LTMS (no dedicated chips in the tires, just a calculation based on different angular velocity across the wheels), etc. It…
I’ve recently decided I want a classic muscle car. 30 years old or older, in good condition, depending on make, model, and miles can be had easily for under $10k
You could probably get an 80's Camaro or something, but that's not really a "muscle car". That term is generally applied to models from the 60's and 70's.
I’ve recently decided I want a classic muscle car. 30 years old or older, in good condition, depending on make, model, and miles can be had easily for under $10k
I remedied some of that by adding a modern 5-speed, hydraulic clutch actuator, front disc brakes, dual circuit brakes, relocated upper control arms, traction bars, limited slip diff, a modern alternator, and modern H4 headlights to the convertible (which I bought already non-original). But it’s still a flexible, leaf-sprung, solid rear axle car with poor sealing and weak environmentals.
$10K isn’t going to happen and was unlikely 5 years ago, but way off the market for even a good driver-quality car today. (Odometer reading is not a major driver of pricing in the low [driver] end of the market. Many of the cars have a 5-digit odometer of questionable reliability anyway, so a car reading 25000 miles could have 25K, 125K, 225K, or 47K miles. It’s condition-based way more than miles-based.)