Anyone else enjoy older vehicles?

I bought my Jeep new in June 02. Still drive it often. My truck is an 87. It will do anything a new truck does with the exception of having a tv with Driving directions on the dash
 
It depends.
When you buy something new you can reasonably expect 150K of use with no more than a couple of sets of tires and brakes along with routine fluid changes and new plugs.
When you drive something older, you can expect to need to wrench on it on a somewhat regular basis.
When I was young, I had no problems with this and even enjoyed it.
Now that I've passed sixty, I no longer have any desire to do regular work on our cars.
Having written this, I did daily drive my old BMW and our old E350 not listed in my sig for two entire years as my work commuters, about twenty five miles each way.
The Ford was more trouble than the BMW, although its problems mainly involved bad brake lines, courtesy of the winters we see here while the BMW was pretty trouble free despite having double the van's miles.
There is a case to be made for using old cars as daily use vehicles, but mainly for those who understand how things work and are willing to get their hands dirty.
Nothing wrong with buying a new car if you can do so without any financial strain but there's also nothing wrong with using something old as long as you have the mechanical savvy and the willingness to do what needs to be done to keep in functional.
 
My idea of old cars is anything before 1970. After that things started to turn to Xxxx.

I love seeing old cars, their tank like build, overstuffed seating, and real chrome, not the fake plastic stuff.

After that though I enjoy getting into our 2017 Mazda and driving home.
 
Sometimes...but its more the other way around. I dislike new cars.

Hard to find old cars (apart from high price classics) these days though. Thought it was just a Chinese thing, but I saw very few bangers when I was back in The Yook recently, and none before my pre-cat cutoff.

Government scrappage schemes. Quite hard to believe there wasn't some payola involved, given that it was mostly foreign car production to benefit.
 
Originally Posted by Ducked
Sometimes...but its more the other way around. I dislike new cars.

Hard to find old cars (apart from high price classics) these days though. Thought it was just a Chinese thing, but I saw very few bangers when I was back in The Yook recently, and none before my pre-cat cutoff.

Government scrappage schemes. Quite hard to believe there wasn't some payola involved, given that it was mostly foreign car production to benefit.


It was a large government program, but small in the scheme of things, 3 billion. Of course as they say a billion here a billion there and soon you're talking real money. You may want to read a few articles about why people believe in conspiracy theories and adjust your thinking.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-do-some-people-believe-in-conspiracy-theories/

There was also a lot of data about it. Where was the payola? When you make accusations, you should be able to back them up. I'd chalk it'd up to poor legislation and execution.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car_Allowance_Rebate_System
 
I get bored of cars rather quickly and I drive a lot, 35k a year. That combo has left me upside down at trade in time more than a couple times when I was younger.

I've since wisened up and pay cash for vehicles now. Sure, I have to get under the hood more often than I probably used to when I owned 2-3 year old cars, but I enjoy the satisfaction of doing my own work and keeping a well maintained older vehicle on the road.

When I get bored with one, I sell it (sometimes for same or more than I paid for it) and get something else. My oldest vehicles are keepers (truck for the utility, car for the commute to work and back); I'll drive them until it no longer makes sense to repair them.
 
I've had my Club Sport for nearly 23 years and my Wrangler for 16 years. I love them both, but I also love my M235i. All three are a blast to drive- each in their own unique way.
 
My commuter car is a 2000 Mustang GT. Since I still like working on all things mechanical, I fixed it up from a wreck (low miles, though at 106,000 when I bought it) and it now has 117K miles on it now. I'll have to do a minor repair on it every now and again, but I like driving it and I don't worry so much about dinging it up like the new Mustang.
 
Originally Posted by Wolf359
Originally Posted by Ducked
Sometimes...but its more the other way around. I dislike new cars.

Hard to find old cars (apart from high price classics) these days though. Thought it was just a Chinese thing, but I saw very few bangers when I was back in The Yook recently, and none before my pre-cat cutoff.

Government scrappage schemes. Quite hard to believe there wasn't some payola involved, given that it was mostly foreign car production to benefit.


It was a large government program, but small in the scheme of things, 3 billion. Of course as they say a billion here a billion there and soon you're talking real money. You may want to read a few articles about why people believe in conspiracy theories and adjust your thinking.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-do-some-people-believe-in-conspiracy-theories/

There was also a lot of data about it. Where was the payola? When you make accusations, you should be able to back them up. I'd chalk it'd up to poor legislation and execution.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car_Allowance_Rebate_System


Nuttin to do wiv me, mate.

That's the American scheme.

My post (as the reference to The Yook, and the lack of a local car industry, and me not being an American indicated) was about the UK.

American politicians may be completely uncorrupt and not subject to any undue influence by lobbyists, in any shape, fashion or form.

Could be.

Not too relevant to me since they aren't using MY money to scrap My cars, and I don't get to vote for (or against) them anyway.

Our lot, OTOH, tend to suck.

I didn't say there was payola involved, that would indeed have been an accusation and would require some evidence. I just said it was hard to believe there wasn't.

Not the same thing, since if there wasn't, the alternative is incredible (see how that = hard-to-believe?) stupidity.
 
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The UK has long had its MOT inspections scheme which has helped to take old bangers off the road. Part of the intent of this was to support new car sales since at the time this program was implemented there was still a local car industry.
The American Cash for Clunkers program was more about getting some money flowing toward new car purchases in the depths of a terrible economic contraction. While this had some marginal effect in reducing the supply of beaters, a more significant factor was the sharp reduction in new car sales as people lost their jobs, suffered reductions in income or were simply too fearful to buy a new car. They thus kept their old ones so the supply of used cars contracted sharply. After some years of recovery and greatly increased US new vehicle sales, the supply of used cars is once again plentiful here.
WRT the notion of pols getting paid, this happens openly and transparently every day in the form of campaign contributions needed to fund our ever more expensive electoral races.
Money is, after all, the mother's milk of politics, as a wise Californian pol once said.
 
I drove a 1991 Acura NSX recently and realized I love old cars.

My parents 2000 Subaru Forester was absolutely abhorrent vehicle compared to something built in last 5 years.
 
Almost all of my cars are older with the 2014 Mustang GT being the newest. I've been driving my 1970 Monte Carlo quite a bit for the past few weeks after not driving it at all for the previous 2 years and probably less than 200 miles a year for many years before that. I have really been enjoying driving it other than it's a gas hog(396 big block).

I also like new cars but they are getting to the point that they are so expensive that I don't know if I want to pay the asking price.
 
Originally Posted by madRiver
I drove a 1991 Acura NSX recently and realized I love old cars.

My parents 2000 Subaru Forester was absolutely abhorrent vehicle compared to something built in last 5 years.


This is like saying that your drove an old Ferrari and realized that you like old cars.
WRT the Subie, we have a '99 Legacy 2.2 Wagon AWD and it's quite pleasant to drive.
 
Originally Posted by aquariuscsm
I think sweetest cars came to an end in the 90s:


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Well for me, older means 90s cars, since those are the ones I grew up with. If I'm honest, newer cars are better in most every way. Power, efficiency, safety, even reliability has improved. But I get certain nostalgia from driving older cars. There's an irreplaceable charm from an "old faithful" car that stilll lives today, decades later. Do I prefer older cars? For nostalgia and fun, yes. For practicality and reliability, No.
 
No comparison.

On an inflation-adjusted basis, my 2012 F-150 is actually a bit cheaper than Dad's 1970 model, if you take into account things like AT and air conditioning.

It's more reliable, handles better (not at risk of turning over at any minute) more powerful with much better mileage. If you could go back in time and offer each to consumers, my 2012 would have at least a 95% market share.


The 1970 was nice looking. I'll give you that.
 
I'm still driving my bought new 1996 Contour with the 2.0L Zetec, 5 speed manual transmission and factory aluminum wide rims and tires, 205 60 15. I ordered the car with the few options I wanted
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. Except for my near fatal factory engine wiring harness problem, which my great mechanic fixed for very reasonable it's been a great car. If he couldn't fix it would have been scrapped due to the cost of a replacement wiring harness, $2,000++
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. Overall it's been cheap to maintain, runs great and is an absolute blast to drive. It's my "poor man's BMW". I'm 64 and can't appreciate or operate all these fancy features on today's vehicles. I just want a basic, reliable, FUN to drive vehicle, my Contour is all that to me! My wife has a 2017 Explorer with so much electronics and "dodads" I'm totally lost and don't feel comfortable driving it unless she is with me. I'm "lost" in the past, I admit it
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.

Whimsey
 
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