discussion Your feeling about previous / older cars

[evnmopwr]

I dont even know what ID7 and ID8 are...

E34, E39, E46 are the sweet spot for BWMs...if you want tech, install a apple car play/android radio. They have ABS, airbags, traction control, xonons (ok, not on the E34, but easily retrofitted) what more do you need?

I dont want a seatbelt beeper, I dont want lane keep assist, I dont want pretensioned seatbelts or seat occupant sensors. I dont want driver monitoring systems and electric this and electric that. I want leather, quality interiors, well engineered suspension, unstressed "large" capacity motors, comfortable seats and an engaged driving experience.

Personally, E28 is just a bit too old school for me to be daily useable, but that isnt the role those cars play anymore

Not forgetting, You have the ability to Work on them yourself, Like checking oil with a dipstick (lol), while the newer stuff are just little to complicated.

 

[Mytfine]

In addition to all of the above the assembly methodology has changed to clip on components where should you be unlucky enough for your car needing "stripping" of interior or exterior components the covers disintegrate either during strip down or assembly.
This started with the E9x series having cheap plastics and is by now in full use with all the models.

Don't forget they now build a timing chain and tensioner with cheese.

 

[TurboLlew]

Don't forget they now build a timing chain and tensioner with cheese.

There was a time where there was so much anxiety around a timing belt and a chain was such a positive. One of the reasons we bought my wife's Elantra from many years back was that the engine had a chain which was not all that common on inexpensive cars at the time.

Nowadays basically all the manufacturers have had their woes with timing chains to the degree that you may end up changing them around the same mileage/time interval as a belt and at much greater expense. Enshittification intensifies...

 

[Mytfine]

There was a time where there was so much anxiety around a timing belt and a chain was such a positive. One of the reasons we bought my wife's Elantra from many years back was that the engine had a chain which was not all that common on inexpensive cars at the time.

Nowadays basically all the manufacturers have had their woes with timing chains to the degree that you may end up changing them around the same mileage/time interval as a belt and at much greater expense. Enshittification intensifies...

Lexus stills knows how to make timing chains

 

[individj]

There was a time where there was so much anxiety around a timing belt and a chain was such a positive. One of the reasons we bought my wife's Elantra from many years back was that the engine had a chain which was not all that common on inexpensive cars at the time.

Nowadays basically all the manufacturers have had their woes with timing chains to the degree that you may end up changing them around the same mileage/time interval as a belt and at much greater expense. Enshittification intensifies...

wet belts

 

[Holiman]

Lexus stills knows how to make timing chains

I have never owned a Lexus but somehow I feel every1 should own one once in their lifetime

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[Budleigh]

I have never owned a Lexus but somehow I feel every1 should own one once in their lifetime

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Lexus are a lesson to everyone else. The ownership experience defines luxury, and the build quality (both in subjective "perceived quality" and in the deeper way) on my GS350 was a revelation.

Re the older cars, I do think your sweet spot will depend on how old you are and what you're used to. There are people for whom anything without a screen is "too dated" and anything with fewer than 7 ratios is like commuting in Noah's ark. When I was dailying an E34 540, I loved it, because a better car is still a better car when it's old, but it felt like an anachronism. The E60 550i I replaced it with was perfection- it felt ageless (at the time) and I'd have another in a heart beat because it's the perfect intersection of safety/reliability/modernity/old-car build quality.

My current dailies are a 1998 Volvo wagon and a 1991 MX5. The Volvo does fundamentally everything a more modern car would do while drinking 14l per hundred km. It and the Miata are slow but charming and I wouldn't swap them for anything.

I had an F54 Cooper S Clubman to try something more modern on the commute. It was fine in all sorts of ways - light on fuel, safe, and it had all the mod cons. But the HK sound system was objectively worse than on our 20 year old C30 T5, which also felt like a muscle car compared to the bland little B48 in the MINI. Didn't last 6 months with us before we swapped it for something that was 8 years older, but a much nicer experience all round.

From this, I'd conclude that I prefer things from a decade ago, with >4 cylinders, but there are exceptions to everyone rule.

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[AshG108]

I have never owned a Lexus but somehow I feel every1 should own one once in their lifetime

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I considered a Lexus recently and finding an IS-F is like a diamond in a haystack and when you do fine one, then getting it with low mileage is another challenge.
But damn, i have a heard a few recently and the sound out of that car is very nice!

 

[Mytfine]

I have never owned a Lexus but somehow I feel every1 should own one once in their lifetime

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My non urgent car hunt has a gs450h on the list. Waiting for the right one

 

[PsyCLown]

So the oldest car I have owned has been my 2010 E90... Also the only car I have owned which did not have bluetooth, not that it bothered me but it certainly did not help make the E90 interior feel less dated.

The E90 is a lovely car to drive, IMO it is a basic car with little to no frills. The tech it has is minimal as far as modern cars go.
The handling and the steering feel are great, albeit the harder steering did catch me off guard the first time I drove it and I even had to Google to see if something was maybe wrong with the power steering. lol

I can confidently say that I would happily pick a more modern car with the tech as an everyday commuter. Unfortunately this week I have had to sit in more stand still traffic than I usually would and the driver assist features my G30 has make it a more comfortable and relaxed commute and help make the traffic a bit more bearable.

Similar to Llew and his F90, I feel the G30 platform has a good amount of tech without taking it that bit over the top with the "trading desk" screens. The digital dash which looks like analogue dials is fine and does not make me yearn for actual analogue dials. The interior has a modern feel but it still looks and feels like a car, unlike some of these newer atrocities.

I feel an older car may be better suited as a weekend car. I personally enjoy the tech in a daily, especially if the drive is a boring commute with lots of traffic.
If you are fortunate enough to be flexible with your travel times and can avoid traffic and actually enjoy driving your car to work and back then it might change things a bit.

One thing though, looking at some older vehicles the exterior is 🤤 but the interior is 😕 and really makes it feel like an old car. Although looks are only part of the experience, driving counts for more.

 

[Red Line]

Cars are no longer about driver intuition and feedback and response. I find today's cars more centered around tech and convenience. They are all fast as F but for me they just lack soul.

I feel the same. Newer cars will always have the tech advantage over older models but these way out there massive screens and colourful lights all over the places makes the car look “cheap” in a sense. Don’t get me wrong the new cars are fast but just like the electric cars are most of the time very boring to drive but its a personal preference and each to its own. The normal person who uses a car to commute from a to b will enjoy the newer model every few years and the benefits electric cars bring but recently i have seen most car enthusiasts going the other way (probably a reason why we are seeing these older classics and modern classics in such high demand). Cars with soul wins everyday for me 😀