New Enough

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There’s a sweet spot I’d like to tell you about. It’s not a great place to eat – or the RPM at which an engine really starts to sing. I’m talking about the sweet spot that lies between the too-old and the too-new when it comes to cars for affordable – and realistic everyday driving. Cars that are modern enough to be daily-driver reliable, not overly fuel-thirsty and (for the most part) fixable at not-unreasonable cost. But which – unlike a new car – don’t impose a crippling debt load, leave you at the mercy of $100/hour technicians for even basic work and which – because of their economically forbidding repair costs – have a useful service life of about 12-15 years, after which they’re often no longer worth fixing even if they can be fixed.new enough lead

The sweet spot is – roughly – circa mid-1980s to the mid-late 1990s. Here’s why:

Circa 1983-ish, overdrive transmissions (both manual and automatic) were becoming standard equipment in most new cars. By the end of the decade, virtually all new cars – from economy cars to luxury cars and everything in between – came with overdrive transmissions.

Why is this important?

An overdrive transmission greatly reduces engine RPM in top gear – often by as much as 800-1,000 RPM.

Instead of buzzing along at 65 with the engine turning close to 3,000 RPM, the same car with an overdrive transmission will be running closer to 2,000 RPM at the same road speed. This greatly reduces drivetrain noise – and greatly increases gas mileage.

Performance cars especially benefit from overdrive transmissions.OD pic

Before overdrives came online, performance cars delivered excellent acceleration – but atrocious gas mileage – and poor driveability. The problem discussed above – high engine RPM in top gear (without overdrive) was magnified by the (usually) aggressive final-drive ratio, which increased engine RPM at highway speeds even more. A V-8 performance car with a 3.73 axle ratio would scream along at something like 3,300 RPM at 65.  You could literally watch the gas gauge go down as you drove – and of course, all this sturm und drang beat hell out of the engine (and the rest of the drivetrain). Wear and tear was much increased – and thus, engine (and drivetrain) life much decreased.

Overdrive transmissions let you have your cake  and eat it, too. A modern performance car – with an overdrive transmission – delivers both excellent acceleration and acceptable gas mileage, with the added benefit of much-reduced wear and tear on the drivetrain.gearshift pic

The same goes for any type of car – not just performance cars.

How to tell whether a car has an overdrive transmission? Easy! Look at the gear selector. Pre-overdrive automatics typically had three (and sometimes, just two) forward speeds. The pattern would read: D, 2, L – or D, 2, 1 (depending on the make/model). If there are four (or more) forward speeds, it is almost certainly an overdrive automatic. Often, “D” is circled – or there will be a button (Labeled “OD”) on the shifter or console. The OD button is there to enable the driver to easily and quickly disengage the overdrive – to increase engine braking (and so on) as when descending a hill.

If the car has a manual transmission and it has more than four forward speeds (e.g., it’s a five-speed or a six-speed) then it is almost certainly an overdrive manual transmission. Pre-overdrive manuals were – typically – three and four speed units.TBI pic

Shortly after overdrive transmissions became commonplace in the mid-1980s, most new cars also came equipped with electronically fuel injected engines – and have been ever since. Previously, most cars had engines fed fuel (and air) via carburetors. Carbs have their virtues – including cheapness and being fairly easy to fiddle with, if you’re interested in modifying the engine for increased performance. But they also have their vices – including (generally) poor cold-start performance, as well as being more maintenance needy and problem-prone  if not regularly maintained by someone who knows how to maintain them. For old car buffs, who are usually DIY-adepts, these are non-issues. But for someone interested in a reliable everyday driver, they are big issues. More so nowadays, because carbs have been out of circulation so long (since circa ’87) that it’s getting hard to find parts – and much more relevant, people who know how to adjust/tune them. If you are looking for an everyday driver, you probably do not want a car with a carbureted engine.

On the other hand, you may not want a new (or recent vintage) car with “modern” fuel injection – which means direct injection (newest) or even multi-port fuel injection (common since the latter ’90s to the present). EFI port

In these systems, there is an individual fuel sprayer (injector) for each of the engine’s cylinders. The first-generation fuel injection systems were usually throttle body injection,  which was much simpler  – read, cheaper to fix/replace – because instead of an injector spraying fuel into each individual cylinder, there was a single throttle body/injector unit feeding the entire engine. Fewer parts, simpler layout = less to go wrong and (usually) cheaper to fix if something does go wrong. The only reason the car companies went to port fuel injection and – most recently – direct injection – is because of the need to eke out fractional improvements in fuel efficiency, in order to comply with the ever-upticking MPG mandates tossed out by the federal government. But in terms of the things that matter to us, TBI delivers the goods: Immediate start-ups, even in winter,   immediate throttle response (no stalling or hesitation) and great gas mileage – along with no fuss, no muss (or very little of it) in the way of maintenance and repair.

These two things – an overdrive transmission and a (TBI) injected engine – make a car feel (and drive) “modern.” Even if it happens to be 20 years old.cost last

But here’s the best part:

If you buy a car built during the Sweet Spot Era – the mid-late 1980s through the early-mid 1990s – you get all the benefits of modernity without all the crap  – six, eight (maybe ten) air bags, black boxes, back-up cameras, $300 a piece easily damaged plastic “headlight assemblies,” $200 a piece “keyless” keys, touchscreens, mice – etc. – that has made new cars absurdly expensive – both to buy and to keep.

And ultimately, all-too-disposable.

Throw it in the Woods?

15 COMMENTS

  1. I love my little ’87 1.6 Nissan pulsar EXA (I believe they were sold as the NX in the USSA), just like this fecker but with better wheels:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1988-1991_Nissan_EXA_(N13)_coupe_(2011-11-08)_01.jpg

    Port injected, one coil per plug, still does 180k no probs. Had it since 2005 and still purrs.

    My ’90 model CBR1000 with ’95 series carbs and Staintune pipes, like this fecker but black:

    http://raresportbikesforsale.com/1990-honda-cbr-1000f-i-still-say-hurricane/

    Beautifully smooth engine. Overgeared for highway cruising, but great in the twisties.

    Those are the 2 greatest loves of my life. I have pictures of my own, but they’re on a knackered hard drive.

    • You don’t seem many of those old Nissans on the road. Usually beat to hell with faded paint and busted plastics. Shame because I remember when they first came out.

  2. This article is quite insightful. I like the American coupes from this era. (Sequential fuel injection counts right?)
    Mustang, Thunderbird, Riviera, and Eldorado all appeal to me, and I’d love to own one.
    And like Bryce says the Cherokees are perfect examples, though for me, those are more suited for me as my SHTF vehicle.

    • I know about the XJ Cherokees because I had one (sold it to get my 2003 Subaru Outback). And yes it’s a swell SHTF vehicle. It’s getting to the point where fewer and fewer really cherry examples are available now.

      Mine was the “fancy” version with all the power goodies, which broke down, but they were annoyances, not “mission critical” things. So next time, I’ll get the base model.

  3. Btw, Eric, why is direct injection only just now becoming widespread? It seems simpler to shoot the fuel straight into the cylinder, rather than somewhere upstream, but maybe not. What’s up with that?

    • Quick answer Mike: high pressure. Regular multi-port run 30-75 psi; the Delphi Multec direct injectors run between 30 and 260 bar–that’s 450 to 3,900 psi!

      More expensive fuel pump, plumbing, etc. Those pressures are comparable to what diesels used to run; I remember an old diesel Mercedes I worked on warning that the fuel pressure was up to 1500 psi. Nowadays of course common-rail diesels run insane pressures–north of 20,000 psi.

      It’s also a noisy technology. The injection cycle is much shorter so the flow is more aggressive, and it’s mechanically noisy because the solenoid is working against so much more pressure.

    • What Meth said, Mike – very high pressure (which entails more cost for new/different components) and also the noise. There is a distinct dieseling sound. Not loud, not obtrusive – but there. Every new vehicle equipped with DI I’ve tested out, regardless of make/model, has the noise issue.

          • Too right. Back then designers seem to have had more imagination. These days they all look a bit like fucked-up Camry’s..

            • It’s not the fault of the designers; the parameters of new car design are very much laid down by government. It is literally not possible – legally – to build a car like ’59 Cadillac (or VW Beetle) today.

  4. My Sweet-spot era pickup, a 94 Toyota, drives like its injectors are starting to foul or whatever it is they do when they start to wear out. Chilton’s tells me that replacing injectors is not something a noob should be doing. Alas.

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