Electric cars and intuitive interiors are attracting consumers to buy new cars. Cheap luxury features and overpriced upgrades are the name of the game, and it seems to us car people that cars are going downhill. Most of us agree that there hasn’t been a true purist sports car with a great interior since the early 2000s!
That being said, there are a few trends that we’d like to stick to if possible. These are things that get protested loudly when they are not available and that are seldom of use to the consumer when they are taken away. Let’s share some of our favorite dying car trends so that hopefully into the harrowing future the market will hold its hand that kills purpose-built cars for SUVs and sacrifices reliability for better margins.
10
Stereo systems in DIN format
crutchfieldonline.com
Have you ever noticed how modern car reviews are so focused on infotainment systems? Perhaps the auto industry misunderstands this as important, but the reality is that irreplaceable infotainment systems are manufacturers’ greatest tools for making a car more expensive in advance and getting it out of date sooner.
Via: Bimmertoday
When stereo systems in DIN standard came onto the market in Germany in 1985, it was hoped to avoid this. Instead of replacing an old system with one of the same size, you now need wire harnesses and adapters for every little controller and function that the car brought with it. Where we used to be able to use a harness to switch between a Sony and a Pioneer system, we now need fittings to get the right stereo size, harnesses that will hopefully fit all of the cables we need, and a full team of people with you Electrical engineering degree to make it All the work!
9
Headlights that we can control
About Land Rover
If you’ve been driving a new car for more than a week, people will light you up. New LEDs don’t have any special technology to prevent you from dazzling oncoming traffic every time you hit a bump. What’s worse, you can never do covert things that you might have to do by turning off your lights. Thanks to the standard daytime running lights, the headlights in most cars simply cannot be switched off.
via Pinterest
Granted, visibility used to be poor, but you didn’t have to worry if your car automatically turns off your lights or accidentally decides to blind a sketchy character at night. So the compromise is in manually dimmable lights that can be turned off completely and have more intuitive systems to prevent accidents.
8th
Fast cars
https://www.jdmbuysell.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/jdm-expo-907-566058.jpg
Ah, what about the Audi RS6? Well, that’s a car. Name someone else who goes from 0 to 60 in less than 4 seconds. Name one fast car sold in the United States. The fact is, it didn’t take manufacturers long to realize that a family would rather have a large SUV than a long muscle car.
via: todaysautomobilenews.com
The existing wagons don’t try an impressive 0-60 times. In fact, they are usually the last to drop dead. Wagons were great because they had a low ride height, plenty of legroom in the rear, and the seats could be folded up into a large bed! You can park in any garage, attach your skis well, and get bikes and skis on the roof. Now the last attempts with fun cars from Audi and Mercedes are coming, and even they are not to be despised in the USA
7th
Durable interiors
motorbiscuit.com
Ever run into a dent in a lightly used, modern Chevy? It sounds like shaking a bucket full of Legos! In comparison, have you ever climbed into a 30 year old Japanese car and thought, “Wow, how is none of these buttons broken?” Cars with 500,000 miles from the 80s roll around with real metal buttons, well-crafted leather seats, and dashboards that don’t crack after a bad summer and look good except for a few slight fading colors.
Via: Jalopnik
New cars seem to be at a point where if you’ve driven them every day for more than a few years, you’ll have at least one of the following: a broken gear stick component, a torn seat side, peeling paint, or misaligned trim. Bring back the solid plastic pieces that don’t have cheap metallic finishes! Bring back the solid buttons and opaque climate controls!
6th
Really small trucks
with auction
The new Ford Maverick, the most compact modern pickup truck, measures 200 “in length, 73” in width and 69 “in height. The 1977 Mazda B-series was a good 28 inches shorter. The Mazda B1800 is a truck that You see driving today and think, “Damn it, you can lug all your work things around with you and still park anywhere!” Not to mention that the truck only cost $ 17,500 when adjusted for inflation (then $ 3,800).
curbsideclassic.com
Even with small new trucks, visibility, height, and size are painfully close to their full-size counterparts. It might not look great in modern design, but the benefits of a sedan-sized truck were countless! Even if it’s just a fun off-roader like the Subaru Baja, we could really use a really small pickup again.
5
Real leather seats
Via Pinterest
Since the appearance of the synthetic leather-fabric hybrid, people have suffered from the worst of both worlds. Leather seat covers seem to be thinning and the texture is weird … almost porous. Real leather was comfortable to sit on, easy to slip into, and compatible with the pillows.
Via: Jeep
Hybrid materials aside, which I trust very little of, the seats themselves don’t seem to hold you in the same way. I’m not asking for a leather-wrapped down feather pillow, but it would be nice not to think I’m sitting on a park bench. Beautiful cars seem like the only ones who know how to adapt to and hold the human shape.
4th
Non-hybrid supercar
from Facebook
I understand, instant toque, better miles per gallon, better handling; Hybrid supercars have their advantages. The sad thing is that the supercar market is dying on just gasoline. Purely mechanical cars, some not even turbo, were predictable, responsive, and reliable.
On Facebook
The biggest cars of the past few decades don’t seem to be hybrids, but crude, stand-alone gasoline engines that relied on mechanical skill and didn’t “cheat”. The McLaren F1, the GT3 RS and all muscle cars, to name a few.
3rd
Cars for modding
via: flickr
The only cars that seem made at home for modification are either incredibly underpowered cars like the BRZ / 86 or overwhelmed with little racetrack suitability like a Challenger.
Via Wikimedia Commons
When Japanese automakers got together and set their own 276 horsepower limit, they switched to aftermarket capability, leaving space in the engine bay and overbuilt engines like the 2JZ. Even if they weren’t designed for this, old muscle cars also offered a lot of leeway in the engine compartment.
2
Rack and pinion steering
Detroit free press
In addition to the antique power steering, the rack is only reserved for Porsche 911s. They have servo assistance, but also enable precise and flawless road feedback. With it you can really feel every dip and curve in a route and drive accordingly.
Via: Pinterest
Now, reviews of SUVs and even sports cars are plagued by professional drivers complaining that they have no feedback on the road. Driving seems to be becoming a numb and emotionless point-and-go experience. New electric cars don’t even need more than a pedal!
1
The manual transmission
There are some great advantages to standard transmissions, including (in certain cars) faster! You are mechanically simpler, you are less likely to be a victim of theft and of course you have full control over the torque delivered.
It makes sense that a simple or even self-driving era would usher in manuals and remove the dangers of blocking or missing aisles in traffic, but we don’t care! The only cars that are really fun are manuals, and when they go away we don’t have a purist sports car to race down a track or ravine.
Continue reading
About the author
Wyatt Peterson
(19 articles published)
Wyatt is from Utah and loves to bike, ski, and go too fast. He has been writing articles about motorcycles and cars for years, but prefers to write about JDM vehicles. He has his own JDM autoblog, Cheap and Ugly Blog, and has been featured on DriveTribe more than once. Some of its content has been viewed over 6.5 million times. He loves Formula 1, Formula Drift and World Rally Cross.
More from Wyatt Peterson
The post We already miss these dying auto trends first appeared on monter-une-startup.Did you miss our previous article...
https://formulaone.news/mclaren/win-tickets-to-monza-and-meet-mclarens-daniel-ricciardo
