Why our cars get heavier?
I stumbled on a thread asking how to get an E70 glove box open if you had no power/broke..... Glove boxes.... unlatch..it drops down... no we need to complex motors/mechanisms to open up the glove box. Do we really need this much stuff for a glove box???? Does anybody actually use their glove box.
http://www.bmwmotorsports.org/pdf/e7...20Glovebox.pdf |
I agree about the over fancification of the glove box (along with other things).
I however, use my glove box. Daily. |
nevermind.......
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Now, I remember my uncle's brand new '64 Chevy Impala Convertible (it is still in his garage - a beautiful car.) It had a simple switch on the dashboard. Press one direction for up and the other direction for down. Simple. But that doesn't fly anymore because the lawyers override the engineers and demand that the roof have multiple sensors in place to prevent fingers from getting pinched, little johnny's head from being crushed, and Joe Idiot from opening the roof while going 70 mph down the highway. All these features add weight. It's a shame you cannot sign a waiver and pass on some more useless features in a simple car. But I do have to say that for my luxury cruiser, I like having it all. |
Its not just complexity, its cost. Got this email on GM. Thought what the heck will
use there build it on a Cadillac and a GMC. ?? CTS-V a twin turbo V6. $75,000. Sorry but no GM product is worth that. $80 is picked some pkg. LOL. OK now a GMC SLT not a Denali. $54,000 after some discount. A Cadillac Yukon $81,000........ Now granted I haven't worked in years. But willing to bet even upper middle lower upper would find these prices hard to swallow. I know our X5 run in the same price bracket but feel quality is a little better than GM (nowdays). Still even $75,000 for a X5. Seems car are just getting out of range. Hard to believe there is that many in a income bracket affording 60K cars and in most cases two and something for the kids ??? Thinking at this rate, in 4 when warranty out on the x, better look at 80K In High School you could get a Smokey and the Bandit Trans Am for 6K a Vette not much more either. |
Texvette, me and a few others are the Geezer group on here, so we get to give lectures, opins and gripe, :rofl:
I bought a '76 Trans Am, 400, 4 speed, 8" wide wheels, Silver, for less than $4Gs out the door...my '73 Chevelle 454 4 speed was ~$3300, but back on ramble: The gizmos, electronics and other assorted 'stuff' on cars is increasingly complex, difficult to diagnose/repair, hugely expensive to fix out of warranty, etc. It is seemingly inexorable these days, as all the mfgers race to one up each other. I am not a total Luddite, but some of this stuff, even couched as 'safety/accident prevention', seems to cater to that ever larger 'NAV'/computer screen on the dash, just begging to be an on the move laptop or dashtop... not helpful for the increasingly bad driver skills or lack of, I see most days. Speaking of Vert tops: my '02 Vette Vert has a manual top. It takes all of 15 seconds to raise or lower it, even being careful not to pinch fingers. The C6 and now C7, all have electric tops, just like MB, et al. Not bad, just not fookin needed, but Biff & Buffy would look askance at a manual top. The E70 glove box is a very good example of overdone, and an answer to a question no one ever asked. Other unusual stuff: the new 'security' armored F15 that Sunil put up the other day. A so-so shooter can put rounds in tires in a NY min, and that car isn't going anywhere fast... Just early eve ramblings here. Gonna have a glass of bueno vino tinto and some grilled pollo. I may even go down in the garage and give my '75 Shovelhead a couple of kicks to hear it start and rumble. :D BR, mD |
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We have only ourselves to blame. As a group, we are stupid and easily captured by baubles, widgets and 'safety' features.... it is easy to say "its lawyers", but the truth is that a vanilla X5 with no "luxury" features, but 300 lbs less and the assurance of less sensors and troublesome electronics would be slaughtered in the market. It is a feature arms race, fueled by the buyers, that drives this... |
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But you realize, we are three old guys who remember a different era, and vehicle sales are driven by a different demographic. We are now driving a previous generation X3 over a current X5, because it is lighter, simpler, more reliable, and with better performance. I remember buying a new Volvo wagon in the mid '80's. It happily towed 3000 pounds on camping trips through the Canadian Rockies (3500 lb tow rating with OE hitch). It had 114 hp, IIRC. I suspect that people would be incredulous today, as many people seem to look to diesels to tow similar weight trailers. Heated seats and air conditioning. 4 speed manual with an electric overdrive 5th. And a radio. That was it for options. We had it for 11 years, and I know I put a water pump and a battery in it in that time, apart from regular maintenance. That was it. I don't remember feeling hard done by. /piningforthegoodolddays |
Got a good one here. Went to get the mail this afternoon in the X5d. Parked it, got
out was humming (like one of those small air pumps). So was standing there just looking at it. This guy about my age went, What's it doing. Told him I have no idea but a good bet when get back in will have a message for me. Told me his car will not let him in unless approaches it just at the right angle. We got to laughing about the days of putting a key in the door, than using it to start and go. Now almost like star wars to just run and get the mail. Oh on sound still no idea, it didn't leave me a message. Guess something it wanted to do and no business of mine. The noise was off when came back to the SUV. |
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Usually they make that noise right before they piddle. |
Hey we can't laugh, cars are so smart now they just might
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It's much published that the average car now has several millions of lines of code -- more than a space shuttle. Must all be safety related..
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Fwiw, from a 2009 Popular Science art on the web...
And, the Soyuz Space Station Capsule supposedly runs on 6 kB of ram. No techie, here. But my feeling is that 'computers' and their no weight code, don't necessarily make cars more complex or 'heavier'; its the gizmos added, along with better crash protection, often larger overall size, and more sound deadening material that make cars 'heavier'. No real beef on weight per se, (other than some handling give ups, but the suspension & 'computers' smooth that situ over), but still could do without some of the 'stuff' and 'features' they are packing in cars. The Space Shuttle is/was a truck that hauled stuff up, via rockets. It wasn't doing thousands of files, folders, docs, photos, et al... Back at the Safe Driving Ranch, the ubiquitous and bigger 'Nav' screen, and the urge to 'control one's toaster from their car', is an unnecessary distraction problem, imo. Add in the continual addiction to cell phone gabbing, the dangerous act of texting, net on the NAV, TV NAV, and the gizmos just keep adding fuel to the fire. Does the Space Shuttle GL, mD |
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I agree that a modern car has more computing power than the Space Shuttle. I would find it had to believe that the Space Shuttle has less power than cars of it's period. Mostly because the SS has not one, but alt least 5 computers that "vote" on issues. That voting software alone I would think is more complicated than the simple computers that were used to calculate engine management in a car (pretty much the only thing computers were used for back then.) |
Just wanted to say the soon to be released M4 has a dry weight of more than 250 pounds less than the e92 M3 and the next gen 7 series is reported to weigh in at current 5 series figures. Pretty sure the f15 is also lighter than the e70.
Carry on. |
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Meanwhile, on this board, the still-active thread asking when the long-rumoured X7 is going to be built now has over 12,000 views. Carry on. ;) |
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I was against the X7 for a long time, but after purchasing an e70 with the third row option, I can see that BMW is missing out financially by not offering a larger vehicle with more useable third row room. MB is killing it with the new GL right now. I agree regarding complexity though. Even though the cars are getting lighter, they are becomming more and more computerized, etc., which is nice, I guess. If everything is working, that is. |
Yes BMW is using expensive productS to curb weight when there are some simple items which if remove would do just as much without the cost.
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