Reasons why newer cars suck a$$...

[patrick66]

Reason #420:. Some engineers need to be shot. My wife has a very nice '08 Buick Enclave with 182K miles on it. I took it in for an oil change after I washed and gassed the car. I'd noticed the temp gauge was creeping up from 210° where it sits normally. Pointed that out to the mechanic, he'd check it out after the oil/filter change and wheel rotation...

The water pump is tits-up, as are both formed heater hoses (which are originals) were bulged and required replacing. Total is just over two grand. Yeah. Two thousand dollars! What in the left-handed **** is up with that?

I looked up both the hours and procedure for both. Holy $hit! I watched several YT videos and decided I was not gonna jack with it. The engineers who designed this need to be castrated, drawn and quartered, then set afire. WTF are they thinking? The heater hoses are a serious pita to access, and I don't have those tools. The water pump involves lifting the engine a bit,, turning the wheel full right (or removing the RF wheel/tire), and removing the right headlight assembly.

Screw that!

I called back and negotiated a final price. They wanted $2400! I negotiated down to two thousand. Their labor rate is $152.25 per hour. *******. Crazy!

I'm done with newer cars.

 

[Kern Dog]

Some people will say that the cars are designed so only the dealer can work on them.
I think that they are designed to be assembled as quickly as possible.....with zero regard to serviceability for the owner or a dealer mechanic.

 

[rumblefish360]

New cars also suck because not only the above prices for working asshole designers who never work on cars … but…

Parts are stupid expensive IF you can get them and have a decent mechanic to install them correctly.

Glad I left the biz sometimes!

 

[Photon440]

I'm done with newer cars.

While I feel for you, you do realize that it's a 15 year old car. It would be like saying a 1955 Buick Roadmaster was a newer car, in 1970.
I tend to invest in shop manuals for all my used vehicles. Even if I don't end up doing the work myself, at least I know what's involved with a repair when I let someone else do it.

 

[Sam69sat]

While I feel for you, you do realize that it's a 15 year old car. It would be like saying a 1955 Buick Roadmaster was a newer car, in 1970.
I tend to invest in shop manuals for all my used vehicles. Even if I don't end up doing the work myself, at least I know what's involved with a repair when I let someone else do it.

So what you're saying is newer cars like 2021 models won't have those issues because engineers saw the light?

 

[Tony Tee]

I agree! New cars are over engineered over priced pieces of junk.

 

[Photon440]

So what you're saying is newer cars like 2021 models won't have those issues because engineers saw the light?

Nope, they're probably engineered even worse. I'm saying that an '08 model isn't 'newer' any more.

 

[JR_Charger]

IMO the problem is more on the end of auto journalists who never work on cars, but they'll let you know that this year's Camry has .5 more cubic feet of interior volume than the Accord. I've never seen a car review cover the ease (or lack there of) of repair of a car. The average first owner of a car will cross shop vehicles based on things like interior volume and trunk volume and so the auto manufacturers take away engine bay volume and give it to the interior. If engine parts will last 10 years, that's a reasonable compromise for the first owner. They'll be out of the car before the maintenance has to be done.

I would argue that the car manufacturers should give consideration to the brand damage done by later owners of the car who can't afford to keep the vehicles up. A busted up Ford on the road is a bad advertisement for Ford. But apparently the manufacturers don't see it that way.

Things that bother me about modern cars - emissions systems that decide to turn off the AC, or limit the horsepower of the vehicle, if a non-critical sensor in the emissions system is malfunctioning. Electronic traces so small that a speck of dust will throw off the voltage. 9 speed (how many are they up to now?!) transmissions that are always hunting for a gear and are cost-prohibitive to rebuild. Direct injection engines that need to be carbon cleaned. Subscription models for heated seats. Never really being "off." I don't want any of that stuff. I'd rather hunt down an 80's grandma car and be slow.

 

[WileERobby]

I recently drove in my 43 year old Chrysler to the dealer to pick up parts (sensors) so I could repair my late model Dodge .

 

[Grabbergreendream]

I worked at my uncles auto repair shop as a 2nd job after my 1st shift job for about 8 years before I started evening classes for maintenance apprenticeship. We changed a water pump in a Chevy Traverse(same platform). I dont remember the specific year or engine, but do remember it a lot of things had to be removed to get it done. It took quite an unusual amount of time but we didn't have to use any special tools. Not saying I'd LOVE the opportunity to do it again, but I can think of 2400 reasons why I'd try.

 

[Hey-O]

This is the reason I buy new, with a 10 year, 100 thousand mile bumper to bumper warranty. I use to have two new cars at a time and my lake car or truck. Never get over 90 thousand miles on any given car in ten years, if it did, I'd get rid of it. With my discount on Chrysler vehicles and warranty, there were times I was rotating trucks every 15 to 20 months and only cost me 400 to 1000 dollars. On any vehicle that I didn't use the warranty, I would get the cash back and use it on the next vehicle. It made driving a protected car a no brainer. My 2019 Durango has 13,000 miles on it and when it's time comes, it's gone. I will say that out of all my vehicles this Durango is right there at the top. I buy white or silver and unlimited yearly car wash deals and they still look new in ten years, if they make it. Being an investment freak, you'd think I'd know better than to buy and sell new cars like I do. Some guys have many old classics, I like the smell of new leather, it my only vise and has worked for me my whole life.

 

[Cranky]

My vehicles are....95 and 96 Dakota and a 97 2500 Dodge diesel. So far the Dakotas have been fairly easy to repair and the only thing I've done to the diesel is replace the water pump and T-stat since I was already in there to fix the KDP and replaced the rear end gears a couple of years ago. Did the work myself.

 

[AR67GTX]

I need to change the spark plugs in my daily driver Toyo Highlander. But on the firewall side you have to remove all sorts of crap including the upper cowl and the windshield wiper linkage. So far I’m proceeding on the principal that if it runs good and gets good mileage - leave well enough alone.

 

[Dennis H]

Wow!

 

[JackR]

Some repairs that used to be minutes in the garage aren’t that anymore on the newer cars. My biggest hurt lately was on my 200,000 mile grand Cherokee. Engine mounts $1100.00. My Jeep tech buddy warned me not to even attempt to do that job.

 

[Cheapsunglasses]

Yeah new cars suck, especially the 700hp, 20mpg, heated/cool leather seats and steering wheel cars. Who wants all that power, and drivability

 

[patrick66]

While I feel for you, you do realize that it's a 15 year old car. It would be like saying a 1955 Buick Roadmaster was a newer car, in 1970.
I tend to invest in shop manuals for all my used vehicles. Even if I don't end up doing the work myself, at least I know what's involved with a repair when I let someone else do it.

To me, anything newer than 2005 is a "newer car". The Enclave has had one makeover from 2008-2022.

 

[68BabyBlue]

This is the reason I buy new, with a 10 year, 100 thousand mile bumper to bumper warranty. I use to have two new cars at a time and my lake car or truck. Never get over 90 thousand miles on any given car in ten years, if it did, I'd get rid of it. With my discount on Chrysler vehicles and warranty, there were times I was rotating trucks every 15 to 20 months and only cost me 400 to 1000 dollars. On any vehicle that I didn't use the warranty, I would get the cash back and use it on the next vehicle. It made driving a protected car a no brainer. My 2019 Durango has 13,000 miles on it and when it's time comes, it's gone. I will say that out of all my vehicles this Durango is right there at the top. I buy white or silver and unlimited yearly car wash deals and they still look new in ten years, if they make it. Being an investment freak, you'd think I'd know better than to buy and sell new cars like I do. Some guys have many old classics, I like the smell of new leather, it my only vise and has worked for me my whole life.

Wow, if I had your options for operating new at low cost, I would have owned more new. Had a few in my corporate days, with a generous mileage reimbursement, and up to 50k a year in business miles, I was better off to avoid maintenance costs. I did the opposite with my Peterbilt 379 - bought it used, and spent enough on maintenance in 16 years to buy two new trucks. The reason I made that choice was the reliability of the older pre-emission CAT engine, and the truck's minimal downtime, mechanic friendly configuration, designed to be quickly and easily repaired, a fluke in most of today's commercial vehicles. Like the OP, I detest most later vehicles for the nightmares of repairing.

 

[patrick66]

This is the reason I buy new, with a 10 year, 100 thousand mile bumper to bumper warranty. I use to have two new cars at a time and my lake car or truck. Never get over 90 thousand miles on any given car in ten years, if it did, I'd get rid of it. With my discount on Chrysler vehicles and warranty, there were times I was rotating trucks every 15 to 20 months and only cost me 400 to 1000 dollars. On any vehicle that I didn't use the warranty, I would get the cash back and use it on the next vehicle. It made driving a protected car a no brainer. My 2019 Durango has 13,000 miles on it and when it's time comes, it's gone. I will say that out of all my vehicles this Durango is right there at the top. I buy white or silver and unlimited yearly car wash deals and they still look new in ten years, if they make it. Being an investment freak, you'd think I'd know better than to buy and sell new cars like I do. Some guys have many old classics, I like the smell of new leather, it my only vise and has worked for me my whole life.

Well, if you're rolling in cash, I guess you can do that. Every time you go to license that new $60K hunk of sensors, it's 5% of the sticker you fess up to the state - $3,000 in this case plus 12 monthly payments until the next kick in the wallet, all to drive new. Screw that.

 

[Dave P]

I mostly won't work on my wife's newer vehicle and haven't really had to. She'll spend her money and replace them as the warranties run out and they start needing stuff. My daily driver is a 2004 Jeep Wrangler, there's nothing on it that's too bad to work on. Plan to drive it till it returns to the earth as rust which it's starting to do.
I've had two 928 Porsches for years and still have a 1985 that I bought in 1989. The shop manuals for those take up about two feet of width on a bookshelf. Anything semi-major becomes a long drawn out deal of taking half a car apart. Clutch job, motor mounts, water pump/timing belt replacement all maintenance type of things become a long multi-step process, ok as long as you're not in a hurry and have sufficient vocabulary to handle it. Keep in mine these are basically 40 year old cars.
Also had a 1985 Euro S model that I made into a track day car. Bought it cheap and stripped absolutely everything out of it that it didn't need to have. Sold all the stuff off it for more than i paid for the whole car. Fixed a few things on it and then just basically pounded the ever loving crap out of it for years. it was not bad to maintain after I got rid of all the "spare parts" that were bolted to it.
We already are at the point with new stuff that if you don't have specific training, tools and factory level tech support....you're screwed!
I'm convinced that about 75 percent of dealership mechanics already don't know enough about what they're working on to be any good at the job.
It's only going to get worse...........