Ever wonder what would happen if an automobile company introduced a model of car that was built to last forever - a model that over time only got better, more reliable and, most importantly, simpler to maintain - evey facet of the car designed so that the owner, if he wanted, could do all the maintenance himself?

Unlike the present automotive "puzzles", of course it would have all of the components clearly labelled by the manufacturer and, if it even had a dashboard, it would be simple and convenient for the owner to remove the nice-looking "skin" in order to get at the important stuff underneath.

"Keep it simple" would be the motto of the manufacturer.

Imagine how familiar you'd become with the car after 20 or 30 years of ownership.

I'd buy it, but would anyone else want such a mundane thing?

 

Would you be able to put a big **BUTT** turbo on it?

 

haha yeah, can you turbo it???

And does it get faster with age?

 

all cars are built to last a certain amount of time. There is no way around it. Some cars are built to a higher quality standard and therefore will by default last longer.......

 

I agree 100% that all cars are built to last a certain amount of time. I'm not talking about those cars. I'm talking about one built to last "forever" - say 50 years.

Let me describe it further.

Presumably, all of the "non-moving" parts of that car would be made out of SS or other materials which would last that period of time. The exterior skin could be SS, like the "old" DeLorean. I'm not sure if the frame and other body parts of that car were SS, but on this car they could be. A SS exhaust, too.

Like present vehicles on the road, wearing suspension or steering parts could either be replaced in whole, or parts like strut dampers would be designed to be taken apart, less-expensive seals, etc. replaced, and then re-installed. But, unlike present cars, easy removal of these parts would be designed into the car.

The original Volkswagen "bug" concept of engine maintenance may be applicable to this new car. I believe that the original engines were designed to last about 40K miles. At the end of that period of time, the owner would take the vehicle to any number of locations and the engine would be VERY quickly swapped for a re-built unit. Since these cars were so numerous, the fee for doing this was minimal. Again, that concept might be ideal for this car.

For example, I think it's quite possible that a combined engine/transmission/front suspension "unit" could be designed. And by removing just a few bolts, and unhooking only one electrical connector, one could then easily remove the unit from the vehicle for maintenance or quick replacement with a refurbished unit.

Anyway, I think that there's a built-in confilict between the manufacturers and consumers of cars. Manufacturers want to maximize their profit and consumers want to minimize their costs. (Maybe I'm wrong on that - maybe consumers want much more that mere comfortable transportation.)

Manufacturers have created a nice system which maximizes their profits, employs hundreds of thousands of people, and, through various means, has every consumer bamboozled into thinking that they must buy a new car every few years - cars which have a myriad of gizmos which themselves fail and require maintenance.

I think there are alternaitives to the present system and thought that I'd maybe stimulate some discussion of it here.

 

I agree with you Tony.

If everyone had the same type of passenger vehicle, the complexity would narrow down to what is needed.

If the 'family' car was in the family for a couple of generations, it probably wouldn't get tossed away like we do now.

Granted, there would need to be a mounumental shift in the way we perceive transportation by cars.

It's a business that started when the highway system got under way.

I'm not sure, and I'm hoping someone can enlighten me, but countires that have a better public transportation system(s) tend to have less value put upon their vehicles. like we do in America.

Or put another way, we, as Americans, feel like our vehicles are extensions of ourselves. Don't we like to have a car that's a certain color, have certain rims, have a certain stereo. We're vain when it comes to our personal vehicles.

O.K., enough about that...

But yeah, I think it would be much easier if I could plop myself down in a Minority-Report-like car and have it drive me where I want. Or if I wanted to change/fix something on my vehicle, it not costing and arm and a leg, or multiple volumes to figure out how to do it.

Don't get me wrong, I love my Accord, but I think there is a better way...


StevePhy

 

I'm sure a car could be built to be more user friendly but, the way business operates I doubt it will happen. A company certainly doesn't want to invest time and effort into making a car easy for the purchaser to fix, resulting in no future business for the dealership. Plus there would be a mass loss of jobs if it ever caught on. dunno

 

The propaganda machine claims that products are created because consumers demand them. I disagree. I say that big, invested manufacturers create products that will maximize their profit - even at the expense of consumers, and then they get the advertising and marketing gurus to "sell" them to the public via pretty women, movies, tv ads, newspapers, golf tournaments - you name it.

The other day I went with a visiting relative to a local Subaru dealer to look at a Tiburon, or some such name. The salesman touted the vehicle's attributes and lifted the hood. There was nothing under there that looked like an engine to me. Practically everything was covered by nice-looking plastic.

I asked the salesman where you would check the oil and transmission fluids and, after some searching, he was able to point out the oil dipstick. He couldn't find the tranny stick.

I asked about an owner maintaining his own vehicle and he just looked at me in amazement. "You need a lot of special tools", he said, chuckling at such a ridiculous question.

I think this kind of vehicle is now the rule, rather than the exception.

But consumers don't have to buy $25K vehicles they have no hope of repairing themselves and then discarding in 5 years .......... unless they are the only vehicles available.

I certainly won't do it.

Come to think of it, just maybe I already own an untra-car. If I do a bit of work to it and spend a few dollars, I figure there's another 14 good years left in our '92 Accord.

I have absolutely no guilt whatsoever about my decision's consequences for the economy or society.

In case a lot of other folks do the same thing, maybe manufacturers will wake up and the true ultra-car will miraculously appear.

I'll be the first one in line to buy.

 

don't let a dopey sales dude steer you wrong. You can still work on cars today with tools that are easily available.

Many car companies are sheilding the motors (like nissan and I guess hyundai too) with plastic so it looks like nothing "mechanical" is under there. Don't worry, under all the plastic is the engine and all that junk.