Bad News Bears movie is on tv.That great big Cadillac car that Walter Matthau drove, in the movie.Lots of room to stretch out and a car trunk big enough to haul a house.Take a look at the little egg shells on four little bitty wheels that people are shoe horned in nowadays.You can't even hardly get in and out of those little bitty new fangled cars nowadays either.
A buddy of mine, his mom is too ill to drive anymore.She owns one of those first model Dodge Neon cars.Last week, he was suggesting to me that I might be interested in buying that car.I just don't want to own a little bitty car. cuhulin
Probably a lot of people still feel that way. I think that the day of the large cars is gone forever.
(I wouldnt want a Neon myself)
We find our Avalon has as much space inside as, if not more than, our older Buick LeSabre. And, it is a much smoother ride and gets better gas mileage.
As long as I dont have to walk, I feel pretty privileged.
I think the Neon is a little large for my tastes and needs. The problem I have with it is that, at least the ones of 10 years ago or so, it looks/feels CHEAP. Drab cloth, blah plastics, so-so performance and handling, unnecessarily high seating position. When will mfgrs. figure out that there are people who may, for whatever reason, consider a small car but don't want to feel like they're being punished for making that decision? I had an '02 GTI 1.8T for a while and it was the exact opposite of the Neon. Felt like a luxury car trapped in a small body. Nice heated leather seats, quality-appearing plastic on the dash, and unique (well, not anymore) red/blue gauge lighting that really made the car look special from behind the driver's seat. Only real complaints I had about the car were a) same high seating position b) the uselessness of the factory fog lights in real fog (they were integrated into the headlamp clusters; I bought a set of Hella fogs to fit in the airdam but never installed them before I sold the car) and c) what VW calls a "MFA" (multi-function display; I primarily wanted it for the oil temp. readout and the outside temp. sensor) which I'd been accustomed to having in all my previous GTIs had apparently become optional for the '02 models, and I didn't find this out until I went to take delivery of my car (the cars that I test drove had all been equipped with the MFA and silly me didn't read the fine print on the window stickers.) Other than that I freaking loved the car; great power/torque and nice ride, handling was a little off but I deliberately did not get the sport suspension or 17" wheels as this was to be my daily driver not a racer.
Oh mannn,,, some of those old, old, old black and white movies from the teens and twenties and thirties.Those great big old cars, you could just walk right on into those cars and take a seat on big seats that were as big as my doggy's and my old worn out couch.Those were real cars back in those days. cuhulin
I still have the BMW Isetta owners manual that came with that car.It's sitting in a foot locker in my bedroom closet.I like all kinds of cars.The weirder they are, the better I like them. cuhulin
Today's cars are better in almost every way (with the possible exception of styling).
Today's large cars have the same or similar interior space as large cars of 30-40-50 years ago. The only difference is that designers didn't have to tack on two or three extra feet of exteriors to get there.
Today's cars get twice the gas mileage of vehicles 30-40 years ago, they have more power on average, and pollute 99% less. They're safer and more reliable. They're better equipped and, relatlively speaking, cheaper to buy and own.
I realize cars of today are safer and handle better and get better gas mileage and pollute much less than older cars.Those older cars had style and they were much easier to work on too.And usually, you could tell which car was which from a mile away.Gasoliine didn't cost as much as it does nowadays, but way back in those years a dollar bought much more that it does today. cuhulin
I once read somewhere a lot of years ago that if you are driving a fiberglass body car and if it catches fire, run far away from it as fast as you can.It gives of stuff that can kill you. I still think them old, old, old, cars are the best. cuhulin
As a transportation appliance, there's no doubt a new car is the way to go. I had the "pleasure" of driving a stock 1970 Buick as a daily driver in 1996, and I'd rather not go back.
Don't worry, I'm one of you - my daily summer driver is a 2001 Trans Am, so it's not like I _like_ automotive appliances. You wouldn't believe the weird looks I get when I tell them my family car is a stick shift ON PURPOSE...
I have arthritis in one hip. Makes getting in and out a pain. We bought our last car three years ago, and one of the requirements was a car that was easy to get in and out of. It's amazing how many automakers ignore that, and even before arthritis I had trouble getting into some vehicles. Chrysler's small cars were the worst. The Neon is hopeless. We bought a Cavalier, which was pretty good that way. I wanted the Mazda 626, which was the easiest by far, and ran and handled the best, but it cost too much. Next time... Newer cars are far more reliable than the old ones. They get far better mileage. They handle more safely. Some of them are more comfortable, some not. All of them are neither easy nor cheap to fix. The reliability/mileage/handling improvements come at the expense of extensive electronic automation, with tiny circuits that can't be repaired even if you understand electronics. Got to replace a whole circuit board or box. Plastic is used everywhere because it looks better and is quieter than sheet metal, and weighs a lot less. More mileage, see. And fancier architecture. Exterior plastics don't rust, and we demanded cars that don't rust. Now we need cars that don't shatter when a shopping cart bangs into them. So we have the Cavalier, but I have a 1951 International pickup. No plastic, no electronics, no comfort, and no mileage. Lots of bumps, rattles, road noise, rotten handling, easy repairs, and nostalgia. Gets lots of grins from the retired farmers around here.
About a month ago, my married Irish lady friend (married to that Irish guy, they are both Irish, she was born in Caherconlish, he was born in Fethard,
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in Bognor Regis,England, she got rid of that Vauxhall car (company car) and on the same day, she got a new Fiat Grande Punto 1.4 (company car) to drive around.Needless to say, she is very happy with her new Fiat car. cuhulin
Well, have you ever owned a Fiat? It might arguably be a step down from the Vauxhall for the longer term owner. Italian cars and Italian women have a similar reputation. At least the women dont rust away.
I have been to Bognor Regis. They claim the haystacks glow in the dark;>)
She bought a new Fiat Uno hatchback car in 1989.One of the email photos she emailed to me a few years ago, she is sitting in that 1989 Fiat Uno car at a shopping center parking lot in Bognor Regis,England.A Fiat or anything is a step up from a Vauxhall car. cuhulin
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