Were cars more fun 30 years ago

[obi_waynne]

Do you think cars were more fun and rewarding to drive 20-30 years ago?

Modern power steering, ABS braking and stability control and the tons of safety cages and impact bars which slow up a modern car are all progress it would seem

I do lament the passing of the fun car, like the MK1 Golf GTi and even the later 106 GTi there was something basic, nippy and involving about driving them. You felt like a driver rather than a passenger.

Even 70mph felt quick in the noisy rattly cabin, today it would seem that 100mph barely causes a rattle or vibration in a modern car!

What are your thoughts on this?

 

[stamford]

I found that older cars were easily fixed at the roadside back then. Today we are well cosseted with so many airbags and safety features that we forget we are in a car as they can be so quiet. Doing 70 in a car 30 years ago felt tiring at times, now we have better gearboxes and improved revs not the 4 speed revving its doodahs off. The driving experience is somewhat safer today unless you buy a stripped version that some do, less creature comforts, more drivers car. The only downside I see in todays cars is how much bigger they are getting, I tend to get some cars mixed up and find the 3 series is more 5 series and the Focus is more a Mondeo for size, same goes for the VW range, the estate versions look alike these days be it Golf, Passat etc.

 

[Cubefish]

Do you think cars were more fun and rewarding to drive 20-30 years ago?

…

What are your thoughts on this?

I totally agree. Although I've held a licence for 27 years, I always drove my father's car, then my wife's, and didn't own my own car until 6 years ago.

Recently I have been telling my eldest son about the cars 'back then'… The way my father would, after church on a Sunday, pull out the ramps, position the car, and start doing things to it I never understood. Filters, carburettor, that strange contraption that looked like a frying pan above the engine.

I can remember all the cars my father owned during my formative years: a green triumph, midnight blue Ford Escort (registration JML 727 K), a silver Wartburg that never ran properly and seemed always to need a hill start (good job we lived on a hill!), white Toyota Corolla (PGW 345 W), a silver Proton, blue Kia (Pony?), Toyota Starlet. My wife's car was a Ford Fiesta.

All that aside, I really do miss the connection drivers used to have with the road. No fancy widgets on the dashboard, just dials - yes, DIALS! - for fuel level, speed, mileometer, tachometer, and an analogue clock. You could see your mileage without having to put a key in the ignition. No rear windscreen wiper, only one wiper speed, no AC, no radio, no electric windows, only 4 gears, no central locking. A choke to help start on those cold mornings, no adjustable height steering wheel or seats, seats that tipped forward to allow rear passengers in and out, no seatbelts (and even if you had them you didn't have to use them. Revolving ashtrays...

2, 3, and 4 star petrol...

I really miss those old cars.

I'm also a cyclist, so I have a connection with the road and other road users when pedalling along. One of the stipulations I have when buying a car is that it has as few 'luxuries' as possible. I don't care for all these modern electric conveniences (I actually find electric windows very INconvenient), so always go for base models where most things are manual. This helps me maintain a connection with - and respect for - the road. It makes me aware of my own driving, so I have to remain focussed on the driving, rather than reclining, engaging cruise control, and listening to the radio/CD.

A neighbour across the road from us has an old Golf. I had the pleasure of sitting in it a couple of weeks ago, and was smitten by the lack of everything modern. I think there were just two dials on the dash, and no radio.

Yes, driving is not as fun as it used to be. Nothing beats those old cars.

 

[obi_waynne]

The sound of those old V6 engines with a twin 40 weber carb! The smell of petrol that used to drift into the cabin.....

 

[herb]

I don't miss older cars taking ages to start on cold mornings even with the choke fully out.
I'm grateful of modern aids especially today where twice within 5 minutes abs stopped me having a collision!
The only thing to really miss about them was the simplicity of them and even people like my old man could work on them and save on garage bills

 

[TCJBOLDIE]

Can recall windscreen wipers that were driven by vacuum and slowed or stopped when going up hills and almost flung them selves off when you got off the gas going downhill

 

[stamford]

Can recall windscreen wipers that were driven by vacuum and slowed or stopped when going up hills and almost flung them selves off when you got off the gas going downhill

I had a '59 Prefect with those very same wipers, stupid idea.

 

[st24]

Maybe we just thought they were because we were younger.
I rather like the modern conviniences.

 

[HDi fun]

Nostalgia is a strange thing. People of a certain age look back fondly upon the WWII era !!

The weight penalty is largely offset by the volumetric efficiency of modern engines. Thirty years ago a 2 litre petrol four cylinder was barely worth 100bhp. Today we're seeing 2.0 diesels with circa 200bhp.

 

[T9 man]

Nostalgia is a strange thing. People of a certain age look back fondly upon the WWII era !!

There's nowt stranger than folk!

 

[TCJBOLDIE]

I had a '59 Prefect with those very same wipers, stupid idea.

We called them Ford Defects

Some Aussie humor for you .
VW Touregs =Toerags
Holden Captiva SUV = Craptiva by unhappy owners
V8 cars had signs that said "only milk and juice comes in 2 litres "
And the 2 litre boys had stickers saying "cheap wine comes in 5 litres"

 

[SLEEPER]

I don't think cars were more fun but the roads certainly were

Imagine being able to have drag races using the traffic lights at the end of the high street to a roundabout with no turnings eithe,r side And being able to do this for an hour or so before anyone complained and then a panda car would roll up and just ask you to stop it.

Not that I ever did this of course !

Now they just have speed cameras there

Cars were so much slower and traffic hardly existed so the above might even have been safe ( if it ever happened)

 

[MADRod]

Nostalgia is a strange thing. People of a certain age look back fondly upon the WWII era !!
.

Well they have a point. I was born in 1945 & was part of the re-building era. The 60's were without doubt the greatest time to be young before tree huggers, do-gooders & red tape got in the way of having fun. We were free to a degree that you cant understand today no pressure to succeed there were lots of job & the lack of Social Media was the way we liked it, no checks, no contact GREAT TIMES. As a Petrolhead no speed limit to control your fun & before such speeds were seen as criminal. As regards cars the modern cars are better in all respects but you cant use them as we did back then. I had a 120 ish bhp supercharged Cooper 'S' now I have 850bhp but cant drive as fast as I did back then or I would be seen as a case for bringing back the death penalty. We raced on the road back then now that would get you 5 years its a totally different world & I preferred the old one. Now you have a car for getting from A to B my SLK does that rather well but speeds over 110mph are out as its to risky.

 

[obi_waynne]

Looking at the 911 from 30 years ago and it had a lovely shape, massive whale tail and the turbo was really mental. I'm not surprised these are fetching major money now.