Smart Cars

AWS

AWS

Custom Accessory Maker & Retired PM Staff
I drove one yesterday, interesting experience for an old fart that grew up when overhead valves were still new.

Lane assist, auto braking, engine shutting off and restarting at a stop sign, you name it it's got it. Even little lights in the mirrors to tell you when your past a car or one is alongside you, tv camera to show what's behind you, headlights that dim automatically. Wow

My wife has HER OWN cars and motor home she drove her last car for 25 years, a base model Voyager, even had crank windows. The motor home she's had for 20 years, while I hunted the north country she'd take off for the southwest. She turns 85 this year and decided she wanted one more nice car and picked up a fully loaded Chevy Trailblazer. She took me to the eye surgeon yesterday about 600 mile round trip, I got to drive it for the first time. She thinks I'm a terrible driver, more concerned about finding good coyote hunting than what's in the road ahead.

Driving in a new city with a GPS you've never used before. Turning a couple hundred yards short of where you should have and then trying to find a way back to where you should have turned.

Things are slow here in the summer, though you would enjoy old fart stories.
 
Overhead valves, yep, those were the good ol' days.
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AWS said:
auto braking, engine shutting off and restarting at a stop sign,
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Guess I'm just old fashioned but don't think I would like the engine/stoplight feature. First off, what if it doesn't re-start on demand (can you turn it off?) and more importantly, have you priced a starter lately? That's a lot of wear and tear on a starter, especially in this kind of traffic. :oops:
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AWS said:
Driving in a new city with a GPS you've never used before. Turning a couple hundred yards short of where you should have and then trying to find a way back to where you should have turned.
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Man, do I hate that! Last week, my GPS didn't tell me to turn until I was nearly across the intersection; went around the block and it directed me to drive through a parking garage. :oops: Crazy thing about it, it was shortest way to get back to missed turn.
 
When I totaled my dads falcon wagon he had to borrow the neighbors Packard to pick me up, it was so big it looked like a limo. My uncle ran a Hudson, he and the car disappeared while I was in the service late 1960s. I had another uncle that every time he bought a car the company folded, it was like if he bought a new car you better sell your stock in that company, Packard, Kaiser, Studebaker, he was a jinx to car companies. One of my buddies had one of the last Studebaker Golden Hawks withe the big Packard motor, it was scary fast.
 
Had a H.S. buddy with a Golden Hawk. He couldn't floor it or it would need new rear axle. Saw a block from one in the machine shop - could bounce my fist in the bore.
 
There's no way you'd catch me in one...not as a serious daily driver.

Too small and would be like a pop can in an accident. The vast majority of the vehicles on the road here are mid and full size.
 
That stop engine crap has to be hell on starters. I drove on with lane assist a few years ago on a trip I pulled over and told the ol lady to get the manual out and turn this crap off. I dont need the gov or my car telling me what to do.
 
Widow maker 223 said:
That stop engine crap has to be hell on starters. I drove on with lane assist a few years ago on a trip I pulled over and told the ol lady to get the manual out and turn this crap off. I dont need the gov or my car telling me what to do.
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I'm told by my son that most of that assistance junk can be turned off. I am searching for a vehicle now and will be asking hard questions before the deal is closed.
 
FWIW these starters are overbuilt to be able to handle the demand. This also makes them expensive.

Honda (no idea about other makes) has a lifetime limit in the software though. Every time it starts, it increments a counter. When the count reaches the max, the car codes & demands the starter be replaced. This is based on the number of starts, not the actual condition of the starter. That number is something like 374,000 starts, I forget exactly how many.

When it reaches that, the service light comes on. the code indicates the starter. You have to replace the starter & 2 relays, and you have to have a bi-directiobnal scanner that allow you to reset the counter.

I had a 2021 Odyssey, at about 5 years the starter actually failed. Towed it in, bad starter. I had an extended warranty that covered the towing & repair.

A new starter, parts & labor, came to about $1400 & roughly $1100 - $1200 of that was the starter

On that car, you could disable the auto start/stop feature but not permanently. You had to do it every time you started the car
 
I worked as a mechanic for several years in my youth, so did all my auto maintenance on our vehicles for many years. I kept my lathe and even the armature undercutter long after leaving the shop. Wife had a 1983 Astro van and the starter acted up, so I pulled the starter, turned the armature and undercut it, went to the parts shop to pick up a set of brushes and bushings with a big smile on my face, thinking about what I was saving by this very simple DIY job. I was very shocked to learn they no longer stocked any starter parts; only rebuilt starters and was really surprised at the cost.
Fortunately, I furnished hydraulic parts to this companies machine shop and the shop foreman walked by and overheard the conversation. He told me they still had some leftover stock in the attic and soon reappeared with a set of brushes and the front bushing and saved the day. The rear bushing never wears as much as the front. Hard to believe they no longer repaired starters, especially @ cost to replace, and that was 40 years ago.
 
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