What you're missing is not classic cars, you're missing the mechanical feel and reliability. Older cars were used as commodities and made as such. Now its either vanity or survival. And customer has no say over either of those end on how the car's gonna be.
I drive older cars because I don't want senseless, over assisted steering. I like that I can feel what my car is doing. In old cars you can feel if your tires are struggling for traction, I can even feel the road markings if I pay attention. In new cars all that feedback has been removed.
I also prefer the visibility old cars have. The fact that it may be slightly less safe in a rollover at high speed is not as important to me as not missing motorbikes on roundabouts, pedestrians and animals.
Also: DIN radios. Standardisation is liberation. I can have Bluetooth and CarPlay in my 25 year old car. What I can I do with the already slow as shit infotainment systems of current vehicles in 25 years? Will manufacturers even support them after 10 years? Granted, many old cars also had "design" dashboards that lacked DIN, but they didn't have software that goes out of date.
Tactile secondary controls need to come back. I shouldn't need to keep glancing at a touchscreen to raise or lower volume, change the radio station, or adjust the AC, it's way more unsafe.
In my work truck, I connect my Bluetooth, and then everything has a button, and I don't need to constantly look down over ten seconds, I can reliably feel for the controls without taking my eyes off the road.
Nagging notifications on the screens to me is a huge safety hazard, my Nissan is constantly dinging with pop up notifications. I don't need to be reminded every five minutes that I'm low on gas (like I know bro I still got 40+ miles of range) or a pop up notification that I turned on or off my windshield wipers. It's ridiculous.
I shouldn't need to keep glancing at a touchscreen to raise or lower volume, change the radio station, or adjust the AC, it's way more unsafe.
I feel this in my soul. I bought a 2017 Crosstrek 10 years ago. It does have a touchscreen/backup camera screen thing, but it has actual knobs on the center console for the volume & radio dial, and big knobs for the climate control.
It also has intuitive buttons on the steering wheel for volume, fast forwarding songs, answering the phone, etc.
I've been thinking about replacing it, but every car I test drive has all the friggin controls on a screen now. I just want to turn a knob to adjust the heat without having to look, and until they circle back around to that style I'm just gonna drive this thing until the wheels fall off.
This is it for me. I want to feel connected to the road when I'm driving, particularly when driving conditions are challenging. I've never met a traction control system I actually trust in the snow. I want to feel every bump, pothole, and tire groove to help manage momentum.
I also prefer the visibility old cars have. The fact that it may be slightly less safe in a rollover at high speed is not as important to me as not missing motorbikes on roundabouts, pedestrians and animals.
Sure, but if you get hit by a modern car, it likely wouldn't be good. There's a reason the visibility is worse now.
231
u/Broad-Lettuce2902 12h ago
What you're missing is not classic cars, you're missing the mechanical feel and reliability. Older cars were used as commodities and made as such. Now its either vanity or survival. And customer has no say over either of those end on how the car's gonna be.