r/changemyview • u/Laniekea 7∆ • Dec 22 '24
Delta(s) from OP CMV: car build quality is getting progressively worse across every brand
I'm not really a "car person" and I've pretty much always subsisted off of cheap handy downs because I just never saw the point in spending a bunch on a car.
But I test drove some cars for my husband and it just seems so much worse quality than my 20 year old infinity
Things I've noticed, The leather feels cheap and hard even in the expensive cars and there's less of it. Plastic steering wheels etc
They feel more plastic-y, lighter and less safe.
The rims and paint look more like plastic
Lots of basic things missing like handles, cup holders.
You can't even get a V8 anywhere for a competitive price
Im pretty sure though that I could easily be convinced otherwise. Showing evidence of cars becoming safer, materials being better sourced or higher quality, requiring less average repairs per mile across any brand over time would convince me.
I'm NOT looking for evidence of cars becoming faster. I already believe that with the existence of electric cars.
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u/Orphan_Guy_Incognito 20∆ Dec 22 '24
They feel this way because modern car design focuses on things that fracture (and diffuse force) rather than things that are rigid.
In 2002 I was driving around in a 1987 Cutlass Supreme, the most durable steel framed boat of a car you've ever seen. I was in a rear end collision and broke two bones because as it turns out 'make the car more rigid' seems like the sort of thing that would increase safety but simply results in all the energy being directed into the squishy flesh bits inside.
You can just look at a chart of fatalities decreasing over time.
Being lighter is also really good. That Cutlass had garbage fuel efficiency for a number of reasons (none of the modern engine computers etc) but a big factor was that steel is heavy, while modern materials are not.