Team-BHP
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https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/)
Inspired by Jalopnik thread
For those of us who've driven in the 90s (and before), today's cars are relatively fuss-free to drive & own! But things weren't so simple a couple of decades ago.
The old car problems I don't miss at all:
- My Padmini, Ambassador, 118NE & Jeep overheating when climbing the Lonavla & Mahabaleshwar ghats. Today, even a little Santro will do 10 climbs without breaking into a sweat :).
- Stocking up on hose pipes & belts because the quality of those in my 118NE was so poor, they'd always break. Ditto for the Jeep.
- Rust was a major, major problem with the Ambassadors, Contessas, 118NEs etc. Doing body work every 3 years was usual stuff for us as we live right next to the beach.
- Servicing every 3 months / 5000 km was a royal pain. Today, 1-year services with 10000 - 15000 km are standard-fare.
- Short 6 - 12 month warranties. Extended warranties of 7 years were a dream then.
- No safety. No crash testing. No airbags. No ESP.
- While budget hatchbacks have 90 BHP today, we used to roam around in ~40 BHP cars which were simply underpowered. It was a common practice to switch off the a/c when going up an incline.
- I don't miss those dangerous two-lane highways at all. There were no dividers and to overtake, you had to go over on the opposite side. Heck, I remember so many 1-lane roads then. If even a tempo came from the opposite side, you had to throw half your car off the road.
- Today, the service advisor is expected to go out of the way for you, treat you well, you will fill up forms to rate their service and so on. Back in the day, it was you who had to schmooze the service advisor for "good service", treating your car well and getting stuff approved in warranty. We used to send Diwali gifts to them rl:.
Mirrors!
Although this might not constitute as a really old car problem but having 3 mirrors on/in the car was something quite rare and often restricted to the top variants of cars. It is truly astonishing how such simple things were given a toss those days.
I cannot be more thankful that we are getting passenger side mirrors as standard these days. Absolutely cannot imagine driving without them these daysrl:
I have always been a great admirer of some of the old cars which carry timeless design elements. Sure, all these cars come with great set backs but somehow everything dies down with just a look at them. If however there are somethings to complain about, this would be my list-
1) Smoke from the exhaust- Most classy cars have a habit of drinking a lot of fuel and leaving behind a lot of smoke.
2) Poor suspension setups- I'm pretty sure automakers weren't familiar with the concept of bending metal in a helical way so as to make it compressible then. I've been in the Ambassador and Padmini quite a few times in my life (Was brought back home for the first time when I was born in an Amby :) ) and though the experiences were memorable, rides were painful. Trust me, spend a few hours in these cars over bad stretches of roads and you either fix your back ache or suffer from it for the next few weeks. lol:
3) Poor drivers' cars- This point doesn't apply to some but dad tells me how the cars pulled towards different directions even on a plain, straight road. Apart from that, though the manual steering sounds fun to hear, they sure were a pain to handle.
Even though they have many drawbacks, I find them beautiful as I age. Maybe it's their charm that one can only understand once they're gone.
While old cars make us nostalgic and forget the pains but I don't miss the following :
- Overheating post a ghat section : aptly explained in the OP
- Unreliability : whether it was Ambassadors or Fiats the "car not starting" and us pushing it up and down was a acceptable practice.
Our current car has started without fail for the past 5+ years 6-7 days/week, an unbelievable thought back in the days.
1. Gear synchros. Don't need no double clutching.
2. Power brakes and front discs minimum. No more scary braking moments.
3. Power steering as standard. My shoulders aren't as tired.
4. OBD2 ports. Can do some troubleshooting myself.
Manually sucking fuel for the old 1969 Fiat 1100 carburretor when the pump would not work. I have consumed petrol and burped petrol fumes so many times :crying
Not sure how many in the forum have done this, but thank god we do not have to face this situation now!!!:Cheering:
Poor leg room for cars with huge footprint like the Padmini!
The metal bumpers, which should have been renamed as Pedestrian Knee cap hunters. (Bolero had this until 2017 I think).
Weak AC which was completely useless in cars like 800 and Zen.
Cold start idling in carb engines. With fuel injection, no need to touch the gas pedal and the engine will idle smoothly on the first crank.
I remember starting my dads 800 every morning and later when I started using it, keeping the revs a bit above idle after a cold start just to get rid of the annoying vibrations.
1) "Dhukka starts" (push starts) for when the battery was low. Lots of people pushing the car, each one shouting "uthao, uthao" (for releasing the clutch) and then all cheering when the car finally started. :)
2) Repairs costing a few hundred rupees rather than lakhs
3) Simplicity of cars. I remember repairing my dads Fiat Padmini literally overnight after bashing in the side (dad never found out till much later when i confessed. lol
Air conditioning as a standard on all variants.
Back in the days, AC used be to offered only on top trims.
The same is the case for rear wash and wipe currently for hatch backs. Hope this problem gets resolved in near future.
- I am happy that we don't have to paint upper half of the headlamp black.
- No bench seat for the driver/co-passenger, which means no kids sitting in-between and cramping you to operate the gear lever
- No need to give hand signals
- I don't have to hand over the keys to the guys at petrol bunk to open the fuel lid cap
Power steering leakage from the old hyrdraulic type steerings. I had overhauled the steering rack twice and the power steering pump thrice on my old Civic. Modern cars have electric power steering and touchwood these should not throw such tantrums.
Thank God we got rid of tubed tyres.
Tubeless tyres + Portable Tyre Inflators = No sweaty, dirty tyre changes.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GTO
(Post 5249008)
I don't miss those dangerous two-lane highways at all. There were no dividers and to overtake, you had to go over on the opposite side. Heck, I remember so many 1-lane roads then. If even a tempo came from the opposite side, you had to throw half your car off the road.
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This I would not classify as a problem we don't have anymore. At least for those of us unfortunate enough to drive a lot in Kerala, divided 4 Lane Roads are still a major luxury. Plenty of 1-1.5 lanes too. :), and in general, in the south, apart from the major national highways, all roads are still 2 lane with a good amount of traffic.
Having said that, what I don't miss is the average quality of roads of the past. Today, in general, whether it is 2 lane or 4 lane, the quality of roads are much much better(again from the areas where I drive regularly).
Having music system (casette player) in Car was not common. If u had one, then am sure you would have experienced theft of same at some point. Also you had to keep so many casettes in the car & then the pain of removing the jammed tapes.
I remember music system from our Fiat was stolen multiple times.
Now music is all synced up with your phone, online content, no stress. Also, believe the theft rate of music systems has gone down.
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