GOGS...Grumpy Old Gits Society..

Modern 1:1 cars.

I remember a time, back in the '70s, when a car would last 10 or so years - if you were lucky. By that time the engine would be smokey and/or rattly and the bodywork would be full of holes. If you got 100k miles out of a car, you were doing really well. Disc brakes were starting to become the norm, and unless you were a hard driver - or didn't change the pads in time - you never needed new discs until the car was into the last few years of its life.

Now, engines - especially diesels - will do well in excess of 250k miles without needing major work. IME, however bodywork hasn't kept up. My last car (a BMW) was still running well at 220+k miles and the body, whilst structurally sound, was very scabby. My current car, another BMW but 13 years newer, is going the same way. It really ticks me off that a car that continues to run so well is really not much more than scrap cosmetically. And it's not just my car, or BMWs in general, there are plenty of newer cars of various makes local to me that are already developing scabs.

What is it with brake discs these days? I can't remember the last time I replaced pads on their own. Now the discs warp, usually (IME) before the pads are half worn - and you don't refit old pads with new discs so you only get £25-worth out of a £50 set.

I have a Gamin that I used in my Mazda MX5, it needed new maps, £89 or buy a new Gamin with lifetime European + UK maps £99 from Halfords...

Bought the new one gave away the old.

The Gamin in my VW Up! has free map upgrades for 3 years then £???? to upgrade, same with my Mercedes, god knows how much MB will want for a map upgrade

Yes, cars are a lot different and, in most respects, greatly improved. I can recall 1000mile oil change intervals accompanied by attending to 16 - 20 chassis lubrication points, 10,000 mile spark plug renewal and it was not uncommon to pull the head and grind the valves at 20-25,000 miles. A good set of tires would last 15,000 miles and, in current $, cost 4X what one pays today.

On the other hand, you had a fuel gauge, water temp and oil pressure gauges and an ammeter to monitor engine status. My '08 Volvo has only a fuel gauge and while I resigned myself to the loss of oil pressure and charging status functions some time ago, the lack of a temperature gauge annoys me every time I start the car.

I think "touch screen" controls are a travesty designed solely to reduce manufacturing and increase repair costs. (One good outcome - built-in GPS functions have resulted in a glut of late model stand alone GPS units on the market. I recently bought 2 one or two year old Garmins with lifetime map updates and traffic monitoring for ~ $50 ea.)

Now the real killer in my mind: Fuel economy achieved by "stop-start" systems to shut down the engine when you stop and start it up again in response to pedal pressure. I know starter motors, drives and controls are durable (I have replaced only one in over 60 years of car ownership) but - when the cycling per (year, distance or whatever measure you choose) is increased 25,50,100 fold?

I recently drove a car so equipped. Upon inquiry, I was told that yes, the function could be disabled by a control selection each time the car was started!

EM

I do understand why some places insist on tracked and signed for post but it really is a total waste of time. I get fed up with extra and unnecessary cost.

The tracking runs out as soon as the Post Office hands it over the the French. It usually just says Paris and then which carrier it will go to and then.......nothing.

This arrived in my post box from Pendle without needing a signature as the packaging doesn't include anything the postie would recognise as requiring it and it had no paperwork to that effect. Basically it has arrived via the normal system in two days or so - as does everything else - and I've paid four times what was necessary for the privilege of paying for something that didn't happen.

Parking spaces.....

When you get to a certain age, like I have, it becomes bloody difficult to get into and out of cars even if you're lucky enough to be able to open the door to its fullest extent. It's got to the point where I have to find a space on the end of a row to be sure that even if I can get out of the car, there won't be someone parked so close that I can't get back in again.

Planners don't seem to take account of the fact that cars get bigger every time they evolve. The current Fiesta (a supermini, or B-segment) is physically bigger than a mk3 Escort (small family car, or C-segment). It's not just Fords, every car manufacturer does it. I am convinced that in the 30 years between those 2 designs parking spaces haven't grown 1mm.

In the car park of one of our local retail areas, something the size of a BMW X3 actually overlaps the lines of the space!

On a similar subject, the last single garage I had was barely wide enough for me to squeeze in/out of a 2010 Fiesta. .....And just down the road from us there are recently built houses where none of the residents can get their cars in the garages - they all have to park on the road.

Just park across two spaces. Sorted.

gus3049 said:

I do understand why some places insist on tracked and signed for post but it really is a total waste of time. I get fed up with extra and unnecessary cost.

The tracking runs out as soon as the Post Office hands it over the the French. It usually just says Paris and then which carrier it will go to and then.......nothing.

This arrived in my post box from Pendle without needing a signature as the packaging doesn't include anything the postie would recognise as requiring it and it had no paperwork to that effect. Basically it has arrived via the normal system in two days or so - as does everything else - and I've paid four times what was necessary for the privilege of paying for something that didn't happen.

Click to expand...

The underlined R is supposed to be an international recognised symbol for needing tracking/signatures. Only in France do they seem to ignore this...

btw tracker does seem to work in Canada, usa, Australia etc not just up to the uk border

I have more trouble sending stuff to France than to the other side of the world, it takes forever to arrive in France

RikoRocket said:

The underlined R is supposed to be an international recognised symbol for needing tracking/signatures. Only in France do they seem to ignore this...

btw tracker does seem to work in Canada, usa, Australia etc not just up to the uk border

I have more trouble sending stuff to France than to the other side of the world, it takes forever to arrive in France

Click to expand...

The package from Pendle and the one from my brother in law (normal post) were posted on the same day in the UK. The Pendle - tracked and signed in theory - took four days and the other one just three (said two previously but just checked the dates!). The only time I have ever had a package actually go missing, it was tracked and signed for - except it wasn't of course

The written word can sometimes be misleading