Quote:
Originally Posted by Hugh R
I'm generally not for regulations, but with the CAFE standards and stricter tail pipe emissions, cars ARE more efficient and require less tuneups than they did three decades ago. Remember when a complete tuneup, points, plugs, rotor, condensor, plug wires was every 10K miles? And cars then got like 12-14 mpg at best, and LA was absolutely choked with smog. Haven't had a Stage I smog alert in about 15 years, nor a Stage II in 25 or 30 years.
What about crash ratings, in the 60s, you had a head on with a bridge at 60 mph, you were pretty much guaranteed to be dead, now you've got a pretty good chance of survival.
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30 years ago a toyota celica cost $3500. Now it's what, about $25,000?
A fender bender that used to cost $200 to repair now totals the car.
Air bags deployed? Big $$$ or totalled.
All that safety stuff is heavy. cars are pigs, which eats gas. It used to be easier and cheaper to not hit bridges. Darwin was just doing his job.
Modern engine management works great and is a very good thing but it is EXPENSIVE compared to a carburetor.
There are no free lunches.