The later Technology in vehicles, just leave older bangers for dead!!.

Hi Axle,

I think the same way, but I'd rather be driving an old diesel then a new diesel if I was doing a lot of river crossing. You start dunking all that electronics in muck and it wont last very long.

Cheers Wilko

Having just wasted a week with a European diesel sedan having diagnostsics as to why it loses power and then having the dealer say they cannot trace it, you can stick your modern electronics. I have it back, and just hope it does not lose power when I have a B Double bearing down on me.

As I told the boy genius and his service manager today, the Space Shuttle computers conducted close to two million diagnostics with a minute to lift off. His stuff cannot conduct 15 or 20 basic diagnostics within an hour. Computers in modern dumb down mechanics. They are now called 'service technicians'.

I got the car back and paid $40 for the privilege, so I went home and hugged my 1991 naturally aspirated, almost 400,000km Toyota Landcruiser.

Nope .. stick your computerised capsules. Mine goes everywhere every time I ask it. What more do you need?

Jack

The old Perkins in our OKA has ONE wire that makes it go or stop.
I know where that wire is :-)

Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 Motorhome.

Axle

New 4X4 are brilliant,
YES !
Smooth, quiet, powerfill
Yes ....BUT

Do not get dirty fuel in them.....Big $$$$$$$$$ to fix

Young fella next door got caught, $7,500 for the repair bill, and he could not prove where the dirty fuel came from. And even if he could, the Oil mobs do not care.


I have a 2001 4.2 TD Patrol, and it's a bit thirsty, but cant kill it, and I do not ant to kill it.

At $7,500 for repairs, my old thirsty Patrol, was heaps cheaper to run around for 1 year than his reasonably new 4X4 Hilux

Go the old vehicles, they just keep chuggin along

Cheers
Bucky

Have a 1997 troopy as own vehicle. Absoliutely goes anywhere, has never broken down and I can work on it myself. Simple, no fuss motoring.
The Nissan 3.0litre 4wds we have (several dozen of em), with all their electronics are a pain. Sensors coming on at any time...have to take it to a "service technician" immediately.

Joke...you can stick ya modern electronicy garbage. (mind you the car manufacturers are rubbing their hands together with glee at the extra income they make by putting another bloody sensor on something).

Its alright if you have the money to pay thousands to have some over compliocated piece of electronic gadget go caput (apparently they dont like moisture or water, but many connections are not totally sealed!!

I don,t mind technology, but not where it is over used to a point of stupidity.

As far as cars go, the good old days weren't that good if you ask me. I'll take the new ones any day. Still, I remember fixing an old Mitsubishi with a pair of tin snips and the lid off a can of dog food. It saved me a few hundred dollars when that was a weeks wages.

I was watching a current affairs program earlier this week. Not sure of the correct name. They were showing off what a dashboard user computer in a new car in the states can do. Limit speed for the teenanger, log where they drive, blue tooth and all that good stuff as well as control the car itself. And alcohol/drug detection. I don't think that they were going down the track of driverless cars. Just the niceties for the driver and occupants.

After the purchaser sat in the car for ages getting a run through of how to drive the computer, he said something lik this to the interviewer "I just want to drive to the shops and back and haven't the faintest idea how to start it".

Maybe a bit of journalistic license in there but it shows how stupid and downright confusing some manufacturers are like. Bad luck if you wanted a burst of speed for anything like getting out of the way of a runaway truck or to overtake. You have to remember which icon that was under. Not for me thanks.

And why do we all have to pay for the things that we not only don't want but will never use. I am not a fan of traction control. I prefer my way. Why then do I have to pay for it. And don't run off about how good traction control is. I do not want it. Nor blue tooth. I will NOT talk on the phone when mobile. So why do I have to pay for the stuff. Not for me thanks.

Motor tuning and monitoring and others - No worries. But not a total IBM mainframe full of crap.

Like the bloke above; "I just want to drive to the shops and back "

Then start on external rear vision mirrors....imagine the pain when knocking one off on a tree and paying $3-4ooo to replace it when the current crop fitted to cars get onto 4x4s. They are full of electronics from the common elecric adjustments to rear view cameras, blind spot alarms and so on.

Cheers Neil

A few years ago, my brother who was an owner driver in some you beaute all fangled up Kenworth, suddenly had his engine come to a complete stop, leaving him on the side of the road. Eight hours later, after a mechanic came out he was back on the road. A ten dollar part stopped him. (Not to mention labour).
My brother got his trade as a diesel mechanic before he started driving them. He commented that if it was not for the computer/electrical stuff, he would have been able to jury rig it enough to get to the next town.

I have to admit that I'm a great believer in the old KISS principle. If you put 3 or 4 ECU's in a vehicle, plus 20 or 30 sensors, then you're making a vehicle a lot more potentially unreliable - particularly as it ages.

The problem is also that many modern vehicles electronics are not protected enough or durable enough, and any repairs usually require a laptop and manufacturers technical programs.

Finally, the most infuriating part of electronics is that they often fail when hot, and work again when cold - or they fail intermittently.
When an intermittent electronic failure occurs, it's often not logged. This type of electronic fault is a nightmare to pin down.

I'd rather be 800kms out beyond the black stump with an old HJ75 than the current Sahara. At least you can fix the oldies with the bare minimum of tools and resources.

Hi Axle

I think most people end up comfortable with what they know and the knowledge base they have developed.

I do agree there are some amazing improvements in newer engines but along with that there are some disadvantages as well.

I like the better fuel economy, the more power, the comfortable ride, the low pollution emissions.

I don't like the excessive electronics some cars have now. I would rather the manufacturers kept electronics to a minimum and still gave most control to the driver. I feel dumbing down the driver control of a vehicle is sure way to create poorer quality drivers. ABS and traction control remove from the driver responsibility of managing a car. Try stopping in a hurry on a gravel road with ABS.

It will be interesting in the next years as the older cars become too uneconomical to maintain and most cars are the new breed. What then?

A great percentage of drivers out there could not fix their car out remote no mater whether it was old style or new electronics - just not enough base knowledge in the new generation.

If we keep voting with our pockets and only buying suitable cars manufacturers will have to comply or go broke.

My 2c worth

Cheers

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