h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

New cars have no soul. The best car I ever drove was my 76 Volvo 245 DL. A Close second would be my parent's 83 Mercedes 300 D Turbo Deisel (The independant I-Beam suspention was absolutly incredible on winding mountain roads). The car I hate the most (aside from a freing's chrystler mini van) is my current ride, a 98 Camery. It has no power, no controll, and so many gizmos and computers that I can't drive a block with out the damn car thinking it is smarter than I am. I'm sorry, but if I don't want the tires to skid, then I won't let them, and if I want to pop the clutch and lay some rubber, then, by god, I want a clutch and a 4 on the floor!

A 98 Camry? Ooh - does the light come on when you open the door (my old fridge joke that no-one gets).

Sadly a lot of modern cars are reflective of the lowest common denominator pedalling around on the roads (who
somewhat ironically are still driving the beat-up piles of the mid 70's).

There were some great old cars from the old design school, but let's undertake a little comparison, between my
1998 Holden Vectra and my late father's 1976 Ford Falcon (which I learnt to drive in and somehow miraculously
survived).

Performance:
Despite a capacity of only 2 litres compared to the Falcon's 4.1, the manual Vectra will acheive 100 kmh around
two seconds quicker, and reach a top speed of around 200 kmh, while the Falcon thanks to a three speed auto
(I would not wish a manual version of the old Falc on my worst enemy) can manage around 165 kmh.

Fuel Economy:
Around town and on the highway the Vectra will use less than half the fuel of the Falcon.

Accomodation and Comfort:
The Vectra employs firm but supportive bucket seats up front, with lumbar support available on both the driver
and passenger seats. The front seats, as well as the comfortable rear bench, are covered in a lovely velour.
Their comfort over long trips has been well proven. The Falcon employs bench seats at front and back, employing
the hide of the endangered 'vinyl'. Whilst the Vectra employs pre-tensioned seats belts, the combination of
slippery vinyl and slack belts enabled a free hug of unsuspecting female passengers during energetic cornering
to the left (we drive on the left here).

Safety:
The Vectra employs twin airbags, which due to high seatbelt usage in Australia have not caused any fatalities.
Drivers crashing my father's Falcon will enjoy the pillowy response of a compressed plastic steering wheel
impacting their forehead, provided they did not submarine under the slack seatbelt into the footwell.
Modern crumple zones mean that whilst the Vectra will fold quite severely during impacts, the human bodies
within need not suffer such severe deceleration, whilst the Falcon's steel bumpers mean that whilst the car
will probably be OK to use after the accident, they sadly had to hose Mum and Dad out after their bodies took
the full impact of the accident.
The Vectra's ABS brakes enable lock free braking over Sydney's notoriously patchy roads, particularly when the
city's notorious 'black ice' strikes. The four wheel discs provide powerful emergency braking without fade time
and time again. The Falcon's disc/drum combination enables drivers to enjoy locking wheels with little effort,
and they will enjoy brake fade after using the brakes to impede the vehicle's progress down steep hills.

I could go on about cruise control, decent headlights, space efficiency, vision out of the car, ease of parking,
but I think I made my point. I wouldn't even rate the Vectra that highly in terms of new cars, although it's pretty
good value for the price.

Are new cars better? Ooh yes, and by some margin. Do I still lust after some old cars? Ooh yes, and how!
One day, that straight and clean BMW Bavarian will go past with the 'For Sale' sign on it...a nice 3.0 manual...

But that's it isn't it?
Technically superior and safer but zero style!!!

Not all new cars are safer. I would like to point out that my 76 Volvo could rip through anything on the road including Hondas (and any other Econo-box). Also older cars sustain less damage in low-speed accidents, like those that occur in parking lots. New cars have plastic bumper shrouds to make them more sleek, these are easily broken at the points of anchorage to the body. My cousin has a Maxima, when he got into a minor wreck it cost him almost $3,000 to fix all the plastic crap that broke. His bumper shroud had to be replaced because all the screw-holes were ripped apart. No thank you, I would rather have my Volvo back with it's 1/8 inch steel bumpers with the rubber pads and shock-absorbing mounts. At least then when the bumper gets pushed in all I have to do is loosten two resitance bolts, reposition the bumper and tighten it up. I can do that in my garage in 20 minutes. Also, I doubt Honda or any other Econo-Box has the engine mounted on rails to drop it under the car so it does not end up in your lap. I think I will stick to good old fasioned steel, not plastic.

Don't confuse safety with economics...
New cars are built to absorb impacts before anything nasty gets to the occupants. If this means more damage and big repair bills, so be it...
All very scientific but whether it has had any significant impact on injuries is questionable.