Quality of new vehicles in US declining on more tech use

True, I meant brands like GM, Ford, Chevy, etc. Brands that people like Steve Lehtho can make a living doing lemon law with.

 

I've never had interior issues on any domestic vehicle I've owned built in the last 20 years Even my old 2nd gen Ram at 15 years old had no dash cracks and those trucks apparently were notorious for that.

I don't mind the Tundra, nice looking trucks but they are hard on fuel.

 

I'm still sold on the GM LS platform. Bulletproof. I took an LS engine to over 200k miles with almost zero issues. -30° cold starts every winter day, never plugged in. Burned no oil, not even so much as an oil or coolant seep anywhere on the engine the day I sold it. Bone dry, all original gaskets/seals.

 

When i say cheap interiors, im talking not so much about dash etc, im talking about the parts when theyre non-functional, they make everything else a nightmare, so the electronic components. To be fair, the physical interior of the malibu probably held up better than an old lesabre, BUT the electronics worked... maybe, if theu feel like it, and EVERYTHING was electronic

 

What’s worse is how many people have to read an article online to realize it.

 

'87 F150 with ~360k

Still the original engine and trans, third alternator and water pump

 

Not bad. Sounds like you look after it though. People these days just drive until something starts banging or leaking.

 

Meanwhile. They charge so much for them as well i can literally get a slightly used semi much cheaper then a new 1 ton and a new semi for near the same price....god help you for a luxury truck. Cars aint much better either. Ill keep my 2012, its paid off and out performs most of this new garbage.

 

Just about any GM TBI 350/454. You can’t kill them.

 

You know we used to run them to zero then drive an additional 70k and sell them as 70 k original miles to the uninformed. The ones that didn’t make it were abused constantly. Me personally I used to love buying that pristine 50 to 70 k mile car that some one was selling cheep before it caused them issues. A few small repairs and drive it for years, for pennies on the dollar as they say.

I honestly don’t know of many cars today that will make 200k on plugs and oil changes just as days gone by they all need some type of repair. Those standard tune ups of yesteryear like points, distributor cap, plug wires, belts hoses and filters has gotten shorter but in the long run a coil pack costs more than replacing the plugs, points and caps multiple times and in reality actually costs more on a mile to dollar basis than those old ignition parts. A timing chain was changed in an hour in the driveway now you have to pay to pull the entire engine and your not getting many more miles for your trouble or cost. Other parts that require repair or maintenance have changed in my opinion for the worst. I never had to replace steering bushing, ball joints and suspension parts on those old cars without excessive abuse but it seems today people confuse that stuff as normal maintenance.
On par with what you are saying more manufactures have figured out how to prevent premature oil burning, with better rings and cylendar tech but they still have oil leaks left and right and different from years ago you don’t just get to replace the valve cover gasget, it’s always some weird part in some obscure location that takes too much time or costs too much to get at.
Also consider the difference in driving time/miles today compared to then and the cars we opted for when buying used. That around town stop and go when everytown had everything you needed or the car that was running a constant out on the highways. Seemed even back then that that highway car was always the better one providing it wasn’t rusted and it was around for years when all the others were long gone. Now we have many more highway cars then ever dreamed of back then.
I am not saying there is no truth to what your saying but I am saying your looking at it with a lopsided view and not clearly defining what things are better and what isn’t.
If I add coil packs to my 64 dodge and change my tune up interval from once every 99 to 100k at quadruple the cost of 4 point and cap changes did it really last longer when dollar per mile is considered or is it about the same?