Too Simple To Figure Out Dept...!?!
The more smart or automatic an appliance becomes the more time and money you'll spend trying to make it work. Net result: You lose time and you lose a ton of money. Great for technician's income...
Forum Discussion
Even as an engineer, I'd have to say newer is not always better. My 1977 MG Midget wasn't a reliable car in its day by any measure. It also needed lots of routine maintenance that would never have to be done on a modern car. However, it's easy to work on, and the factory service manual is a tiny book compared to a modern car.
Modern cars aren't tremendously better though. I had to offload a 2010 Traverse at 170,000 miles. Why? Timing chains had worn to the point where it was throwing check engine lights, a common problem on this model no matter how well you maintain it. It would have cost thousands to repair it because in a masterpiece of poor design, the entire engine has to come out to replace the THREE timing chains and all the timing gears, and the engine comes out through the bottom of the car by dropping the entire front frame. That means disconnecting brake lines, the steering shaft, the air conditioning lines, transmission cooler lines, propeller shaft, and a whole lot of wires and hoses. I couldn't renew it with the check engine light on, and I wasn't going to spend $3000+ on something that was only worth about $1500 in trade-in.
Give me my MG any day, except in winter :D. Ironically, the Lucas electrical system on my MG, despite being notoriously unreliable, was actually much more reliable than the Traverse's electrical system. That thing had radio speakers failing, dashboard lights going out, electrical connectors corroding, and the odometer display couldn't be read anymore because it had failed.
Modern cars aren't tremendously better though. I had to offload a 2010 Traverse at 170,000 miles. Why? Timing chains had worn to the point where it was throwing check engine lights, a common problem on this model no matter how well you maintain it. It would have cost thousands to repair it because in a masterpiece of poor design, the entire engine has to come out to replace the THREE timing chains and all the timing gears, and the engine comes out through the bottom of the car by dropping the entire front frame. That means disconnecting brake lines, the steering shaft, the air conditioning lines, transmission cooler lines, propeller shaft, and a whole lot of wires and hoses. I couldn't renew it with the check engine light on, and I wasn't going to spend $3000+ on something that was only worth about $1500 in trade-in.
Give me my MG any day, except in winter :D. Ironically, the Lucas electrical system on my MG, despite being notoriously unreliable, was actually much more reliable than the Traverse's electrical system. That thing had radio speakers failing, dashboard lights going out, electrical connectors corroding, and the odometer display couldn't be read anymore because it had failed.
