Over the course of nearly 30 years test-driving new cars, I have driven thousands of cars. Many of them – especially lately – forgotten as soon as I get done with the test drive. Which reminds me of one of the cars I got to test drive, almosy 30 years ago.
The 1995 Mustang Cobra R.
What made this car so memorable? It wasn’t the 300 horsepower produced by the V8 engine under its hood. The current Mustang’s four cylinder engine makes more horsepower. It wasn’t the ’95’s acceleration – though by the standards of the mid-1990s, it was one of the quickest new cars you could buy, running a mid-13 second quarter mile and getting to 60 in the low fives.
A new Mustang – with the V8 – is much quicker (and faster, too). Just not nearly as memorable.
Why?
Well, for openers, I think it had to do with the barbarous nature of the thing. They do not make ’em like this anymore. Not even the highest-performing new cars – like the current Dodge Charger Hellcat – rise to this standard. The latter is more than twice as powerful (707 horsepower, which is 107 more than twice 300) but it is more controlled horsepower, because of almost-30-years’ worth of “safety” nets that have been incorporated into cars like it, in order that almost anyone can drive cars like it.
That old Cobra wasn’t like that.
It had no “net.” There was traction control – and ABS – and that was it. No stability control, which meant it was up to you to not dive into a curve without having first scrubbed enough speed – and then to keep on the throttle, to prevent a potentially day-ending weight transfer-induced oversteer and ending up facing the way you’d just come.
The “launch control” was you, controlling it. Via the take-ot-or-leave-it Tremec manual transmission. An automatic? Are you kidding me? There was a time when serious cars came only with manuals. It served a kind of eugenic purpose. The Dodge Viper – another great memory – was also manual-only.
Almost all of today’s highest-performance cars are automatic-only cars, including the Charger (and Challenger) Hellcats. The way it works is you dial up the “Performance Pages” on the LCD touchscreen and select the parameters from the menu. The computer then sets you up and all you have to do is hold the throttle to the floor until the computer says let go – and then off you go. If it gets squirrely on you, the safety nets – stability control – will usually prevent the car from going sideways on you.
It is a very easy car to drive very fast.
That Mustang, on the other hand…
You had to know how to bring up the revs while simultaneously feathering and then dumping the clutch, just right. Enough to hook up – not so much you burned up the clutch or bogged the engine. Then grab second, working the throttle and lever, pedal and steering simultaneously, to keep her tracking straight while not losing precious tenths. It may not have been as quick through the quarter as the Hellcat, but it felt quicker.
Contributing to that feeling was likely the race-car sound of the thing, which is just the right term for it because that’s what it was. Literally, as opposed to the figuratively car journalists often appellate new performance cars. But they are street cars. Or rather, regular production cars; anyone with the money can buy a new Hellcat or Corvette – not (per Seinfeld) that there’s anything wrong with that.
But you had to be a race car driver (or at least, a car journalist Ford trusted enough to loan a race car out to) in order to get your hands on the Cobra R. Literally, not figuratively. An SCCA road racing license was necessary – and even then, you only got a Cobra if Ford deemed you worthy.
This made me feel special.
And then there was the race car ambiance of the car, itself. Try to visualize a brand-new car without air conditioning. Without a radio. Manual roll-up windows. No back seats – and almost no carpet, either. What there was was a sheet of felt sort-of covering the floorpans. There was very little between you and the heat radiating from the headers on either side of the forward part of the driveline hump, just aft of the rear-end of the 351 V8 that was the last of its kind ever install
ed in a new Mustang.
The street cars got the civilized and mass-produced 5.0 V8.
In the trunk – what was left of it – a fuel cell.
And that’s all there was to it – like a K-bar knife built for a purpose and meant for people who understood its purpose. Look in vain for some compromise to practicality and you will be looking for a long time. The R was the real deal – the last of its kind – and they do not make ’em like that anymore.
It’s a shame they don’t.
. . .
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“There was a time when serious cars came only with manuals”. ……No sweeter words have ever been written.
I got one for ya- but kind of the opposite end of the spectrum- performance wise:
In my twenties, I bought an early 60’s F600 stake body truck for doing landscaping. Didn’t really need an F600, but it was cheaper than any decent pick-up -$350- and thus what I could afford.
Manual tranny with no (or broken) synchros…no power steering….no A/C, of course. Turn signals didn’t self-cancel…..all drum brakes….etc. To someone who grew up knowing nothing but cars with power steering and power front discs, automatic trannies, etc. it took some new skills and a lot of work to drive that truck- ‘specially in traffic. Maneuvering in tight gas stations with the heavy manual steering was the worst!
But it wasn’t a bad thing. That was driving! Ya learn quickly, and then feel a sense of accomplishment….and it becomes like a game to get better at it, like to spin that steering wheel fast as ya keep the truck moving a bit so as to make it a little easier.
I’m glad I got to experience that, as opposed to say going into debt for some creampuff luxury pick-up that makes everything easy for ya and teaches you nothing. I always remember that truck. It certainly wasn’t the best…but it was ‘real’!
These new cars are heavily computerized, AI and computers drive the car, you are just a passenger.
If a new sports car/performance car has 600 hp, it doesn’t mean you can use that power, the computer might only allow 250 hp because of traction problems and other issues, in an old analog car you could use all the power anytime you wanted to, it was up to you to stay on the road.
New sports cars like the Corvette, can make numbers and lap times but they are over weight, they understeer everywhere because they are too heavy,
to offset the weight they add huge power, this makes them unstable, so they use AI computers to drive the car, to keep it out of the ditch, with the driver aids turned off they are unstable, they aren’t involving (the AI computers drive the car, that is how they make lap times), they are boring,
These new cars never do what you want them to……
With the driver’s aids turned off these new cars are unsable, so they won’t do what you want them to.
With the driver’s aids turned on these new cars won’t do what you want them to, the computers are driving the car….do not buy one.
the EV’s are way worse they are another 1000 to 1800 lb. because of the lithium fire bomb battery, their biggest problem, which is huge is, they are horrible on corners, bad lateral acceleration, only good at linear acceleration,
can’t stop, bad brakes because they weigh 4000 to 5000 lb., a light car will outbrake them by huge margins and out corner them, (lateral acceleration) by a lot.
they are very unstable, so AI computers have to drive them to get them around a track and out of the ditch. They have no sound or soul they are boring.
So now we have over weight, dangerous, very unstable, whales that you can’t see out of….lol
If you like driving get an old analog car that will do what you want it to……
The 924/944/968 were perfectly balanced cars that do what you want them to….
911 vs 924 turbo
buy the other Turbo Porsche the 931, 924 turbo, it handles better, it is lighter, it is the best handling car ever built, build quality is the same,
The 924 2.0 litre engine was designed/built by Mercedes, then Porsche modified it…..Porsche designed a new cylinder head…. Sump… Crank, pistons and rods. The only thing left was the cylinder block from the Mercedes engine. (Mercedes owned Audi back then ).
The 924 2.0 litre engine was a Mercedes/Porsche joint effort, one of the best, strongest 4 cylinder engines ever built……. the automotive journalists used to badmouth these engines, they are low iq morons, clueless idiots…
The bottom end of the 924 turbo engine is stronger then the 944 turbo engine….
The turbo is porsche designed, it has the 930 wastegate, the 1980 931 had the Porsche G31 transaxle, the 931 has the 911 clutch, 911 brakes, the whole car was designed from a blank sheet by Porsche, the best engineers on the planet. it is way underpriced, ……..
Air cooled Porsches have great sound but transaxle 924/944/968 are better in every other way, better handling, 911 understeers 924/944 doesn’t, 911 snap oversteers, 924/944 doesn’t, 924/944 turns in better, 911 wanders around at high speed, 924/944 is planted, very stable at high speed, doesn’t wander around, transaxle is better then midengine because it doesn’t snap oversteer.
In 1981 the quickest car sold by Porsche was a 924 GTR
1980 924 Carrera GTR 375 hp 0 to 60 2.9 sec. 9.95 sec 1/4 mile curb weight 2000 lb.
Hi Anon,
I saw a new Corvette the other day. Old guy driving it. Slow. That has been the case every time I have seen a new Corvette. Some of this is probably a function of the car’s cost. Though a “bargain” relative to other exotics, at $60k to start, very few people under 40 are going to be able to buy one. And the insurance – if you’re under 40 – is surely prohibitive. But the automatic-only probably drives away a large number of otherwise-interested and buying-capable people. I know that even if I could afford one, I would not buy one. I’d much rather have a Miata instead.
Hi Eric
It seems like a lot of 911’s are driven by older guys too, probably because of the price, the same with Mclaren’s and Ferrari’s, if you see someone driving a Super 7 it is probably a hardcore car freak, nobody else would buy one. Younger people are more likely to drive a GR86, a Miata, a Mustang or an E30.
Hi Anon,
Yup – and the common demoninator is cost. The car itself and the insurance/taxes. They require wealth and few young people have it. So you see old people – who do. Bully for them, I guess – but it’s also sad that the people who would be most inclined and able to use such cars generally cannot afford them. Once upon a time, a Corvette wasn’t that far removed from a Camaro – and a Camaro was a car a guy in his 20s or even late teens could swing. Brand new, I mean. Now Camaro SS is a $40k car and the Corvette a pipe dream for most – although I wouldn’t want one even if I could afford one due to the automatic-only thing.
Texas Porsche Dealership Asking $925,000 for 1981 Porsche 924 Carrera GTR
https://www.thedrive.com/news/30473/texas-porsche-dealership-asking-925000-for-1981-porsche-924-carrera-gtr
Another 2000 lb perfectly balanced analog sports car the 924 GTR, the new over weight supercars today don’t compare.
To go racing in the Group 4 class at Le Mans, Porsche needed to homologate the company’s 924 race car. As such, Porsche built 406 road-going versions of the 924 Carrera GT to satisfy the FIA’s rules. Porsche being Porsche and looking to over-engineer everything, two subsequent evolutions of the 924 Carrera GT followed; a 924 Carrera GTS and the 924 Carrera GTR.
PORSCHE OF NORTH HOUSTON
Though you wouldn’t call the 924 Carrera GT’s production run of 406 plentiful, it’s practically omnipresent compared to the 17 924 Carrera GTRs Porsche produced. Of those 17, nine cars total qualified and/or raced at Le Mans. To get each car ready, Porsche took the standard 2.0-liter turbocharged inline four-cylinder engine and threw every ounce of motorsports engineering at the minuscule block. The end result was an engine that produced 375 horsepower and 299 pound-feet of torque.
1980 924 Carrera GTR 375 hp 0 to 60 2.9 sec. 9.95 sec 1/4 mile curb weight 2000 lb.
In 1981 the 924 Carrera GTR was the quickest car sold by Porsche.
With the 924 Carrera GTR’s power now set, it found itself a new intercooler, dry sump oil system, a stripped-out interior with full roll-cage, fully adjustable race-bred suspension, the brake system off of a Porsche 935, and side-exit exhausts. In race trim, the 924 Carrera GTR weighed in at a featherweight 2,050 pounds, which meant the cars were capable of hitting 180 miles per hour down the Mulsanne straight (before the chicanes were added) at Le Mans.
Porsche brought a handful of 924 Carrera GTRs to compete in the GTP class in the 1980 Le Mans 24 hour race, with the best car finishing sixth overall ahead of everything except prototypes.
The 924 had a great history in racing, in race trim the maximum power they got from the Audi block engine (it originally was a Mercedes engine), was 550 hp, later on using the new 2.5 turbo 944 engine they got 750 hp from that engine.
At Le Mans the Porsche 924 GTR Carrera Turbo was quicker then the 944 turbo race car when restricted to Le Mans engine power restrictions.
Trans-Am Sears Point 1985 Sears Point International Raceway
#36 Paul Miller (USA) Porsche 924 GTR Carrera Turbo, in practice set a new lap record 1:34,234 this record wasn’t broken till 1995.
550 hp, (trans am tune), 2050 pounds, faster then the American 650 hp V8’s it was racing against.
The latest on hurricane Ian and Teslas. They are shorting out from the salt water flooding:
https://twitter.com/JimmyPatronis/status/1578050503279316992?ref_src=twsrc^tfw|twcamp^tweetembed|twterm^1578050503279316992|twgr^450afe452f3b401939fff7fe5e3e55478d35c0c4|twcon^s1_&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2F
Elon Musk sold billions of his stock near the top, and now he is buying Twitter, he might know something, like the future is not good for electrics.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/electric-vehicles-exploding-water-damage-hurricane-ian-top-florida-official-warns
Teslas sure seem to be “veering” off the road alot recently. Autopilot quirk? Hack? Assassination by remote control?
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/tesla-driver-dies-in-i-75-crash-in-manatee-county-sheriff/ar-AA12yCsF
I own a 2001 Mustang Cobra SVT convertible. It has some aftermarket parts like Magnaflow exhaust, cold air intake, Eibach Lowering Springs, Maximum Motorsports camber caster adjusters, Terminator wheels etc etc. It is a blast to run but I am very careful not to destroy this vehicle yet. I love revving it up to 6, 7 thousand RPM. But like I say I want to keep it running and Repairs are very expensive. I change the oil and filters regularly because I plan on either being buried in this car or driving off a cliff when the time comes as I am past 72 years old. I would do it now but I still enjoy life. But when the time comes I do not want to be in a nursing home having my ass wiped because I myself am not capable of essential duties as befit a sentient human being. For now I will smoke my doobie and drink some beverage and when the time comes I will drive into the sunset and meet my maker.
Hi Euro,
Great car! I got to drive one when it was a new press car back in 2000 – at Summit Point race track. I drove there, incidentally, in a ’70 RA III Formula Firebird I was keeping for a friend. I have decided to become the “white haired uncle” Rush sang about in Red Barchetta – only mine is orange. I preserve it for my neice, now 17. One day, it’s going to be hers and – hopefully – the tradition will continue…
Here’s something that old Mustang didn’t have to worry about:
A top Florida state official warned Thursday that firefighters have battled a number of fires caused by electric vehicle (EV) batteries waterlogged from Hurricane Ian.
EV batteries that have been waterlogged in the wake of the hurricane are at risk of corrosion, which could lead to unexpected fires, according to Jimmy Patronis, the state’s top financial officer and fire marshal.
“There’s a ton of EVs disabled from Ian. As those batteries corrode, fires start,” Patronis tweeted Thursday. “That’s a new challenge that our firefighters haven’t faced before. At least on this kind of scale.”
Not all progress is for the better
EV’s with lithium fire bomb batteries are very dangerous…..
Lithium-ion batteries may suffer thermal runaway and cell rupture if overheated or overcharged, and in extreme cases this can lead to combustion. When handled improperly, or if manufactured defectively, some rechargeable batteries can experience thermal runaway resulting in overheating.
Sealed cells will sometimes explode violently if safety vents are overwhelmed or nonfunctional.
The difference with EV car fires is the use of high voltage lithium-ion batteries which can short and break down and spontaneously combust, and also that lithium-ion fires are difficult to extinguish and produce toxic smoke
Reports of exploding cellphones have been published in newspapers. In 2006, batteries from Apple, HP, Toshiba, Lenovo, Dell and other notebook manufacturers were recalled because of fire and explosions.
EV fires
a fire broke out on the vehicle deck of the MS Pearl of Scandinavia on its way from Oslo to Copenhagen.
It was determined that the cause of the fire was a short circuit in the plug of an extension cord used to charge a rebuilt Nissan Qashqai, converted into a battery electric vehicle
A Zotye M300 EV operating as a taxicab caught fire in Hangzhou, China, in April 2011.
Due to the incident, the city authorities decided to halt all electric taxis on safety concerns,
The city’s official investigation team found the cause of the fire was the car’s defective battery pack due to lack of quality control during manufacturing.
Bolt
Electrek had compiled a list of 18 battery-related Chevrolet Bolt fires, and one possible-battery related fire.[31] The frequent fires resulted in a recall of about 110,000 Chevrolet Bolt and Bolt EUV EVs from the 2017 through 2022 model years.[32]
the company has started buying back some Bolts. Moreover, GM recommended that Bolt owners park their cars outside and at least 50 feet away from other vehicles.
Chevrolet Volt
As a result of a crash-tested Chevrolet Volt that caught fire in June 2011 three weeks after the testing, two of the three tests resulted in thermal events, including fire.
Fisker Karma
Fisker Karma plug-in hybrid.
In December 2011, Fisker Automotive recalled the first 239 Karmas delivered to the U.S. due to a risk of battery fire caused by coolant leak….
a Fisker Karma was involved in a home fire that also burnt two other cars in Fort Bend County, Texas. The chief fire investigator said the Karma was the origin of the fire that spread to the house
A second fire incident took place in August 2012 when a Karma caught fire while stopped at a parking lot
BYD e6
In May 2012, after a Nissan GTR crashed into a BYD e6 taxi in Shenzhen, China, the electric car caught fire after hitting a tree killing all three occupants
a ByteDance’s automotive media in China, performed a crash test of BYD Han EV versus Arcfox Alpha-S.
NOTE: Having been parked for 48 hours after the test, only the Han EV caught fire and burned to the ground.
On June 15, 2022, a BYD Han EV caught fire on a road in Xaysetha district, Vientiane, Laos
a BYD Tang DM-i (plug-in hybrid) caught fire on a flatbed tow truck, on a road in mainland China
a BYD Qin Pro EV caught fire at a charging station in Shenzhen, China
Dodge Ram 1500 Plug-in Hybrid demonstrator
In September 2012 Chrysler temporarily suspended a demonstration program that was conducting with 109 Dodge Ram 1500 Plug-in Hybrids and 23 Chrysler Town & Country plug-in hybrids. All units deployed in the program were recalled due to damage sustained by three separate pickup trucks when their 12.9 kWh battery packs overheated.
EV caught fire under water
during the storm and flooding caused by Hurricane Sandy on the night of October 29, 2012, one Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid and 16 Fisker Karmas caught fire while being parked at Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal. The vehicles were partially submerged by flash floods caused by the hurricane…an EV under water can catch fire…..
ice cars under water don’t catch fire …..lol
The lithium-ion battery of an i-MiEV caught fire at the Mizushima battery pack assembly plant…….In May 2019 an Outlander caught fire after immersion in salt water
There have been at least thirty deaths involving incidents of Tesla car fires
A Tesla Model S caught fire after the vehicle hit debris on a highway……
a fire broke out in an Irvine, California garage where a Tesla Model S was plugged in and charging….etc..etc..
a Nissan Leaf caught fire and was destroyed on a road
a VW ID.3 caught fire while travelling
a VW e-Golf caught fire in Triangel, Germany.
a Panamera E-Hybrid that was plugged into a household outlet for charging in Thailand burst into flames.
a Porsche Taycan burned while parked in a residential garage in Florida
a fully electric Hyundai Ioniq caught fire in Sehnde-Müllingen, Germany
a Kona Electric was parked in a residential garage . The owner reported that the car was not plugged in at the time. An unprovoked fire began, and this triggered an explosion that projected the garage door across the street and caused damage to the attached structure.
an Audi E-Tron Sportback caught fire near a car dealership in Munich, Germany,
a BMW i3 caught fire in Vorendaal, Netherlands, while conntected to a charging station
a Renault Zoe EV caught fire in Karmøy, Norway.
a Fiat 500e crashed into a tree near Schmogrow-Fehrow, Germany, and caught fire.
a Jaguar I-Pace crashed into a tree and caught fire in Oslo, Norway
Electric ships
The Norwegian ferry MF Ytterøyningen operated by Norled was delivered in 2006 and is equipped with a Corvus Orca Energy storage system (ESS) with 1989 kWh capacity. A small fire was reported on October 10, 2019 in the battery room
a StreetScooter caught fire in a workshop in Trier, Germany,
https://www.motorbiscuit.com/tesla-model-s-burned-down-house/?fbclid=IwAR1C8qY54KjsGMm05b-ariXmJ9zoSocosqEaViIbIWEDuG6u6G0UoQ_3HW8
EV caught fire under water
during the storm and flooding caused by Hurricane Sandy on the night of October 29, 2012, one Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid and 16 Fisker Karmas caught fire while being parked at Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal. The vehicles were partially submerged by flash floods caused by the hurricane…an EV under water can catch fire…..
ice cars under water don’t catch fire …..lol
Huge cover up of EV fires…..they are trying to push EV’s so they are hiding all the safety problems…
From another site…..
Just try talking to the city of toronto about EV fires…….6 have already burnt , the city of sudbury etc . Just because fire fighters , police ,insurance companies ,towing companies and media have gag orders to hide the dangers does not make them safer.
Ev’s with these lithium fire bomb batteries are high risk to drive around in, higher insurance rates coming…..
At least you have 3 seconds to get out after the crash…lol
If you have children strapped into car seats you won’t have time to remove them in an EV crash fire.
Battery Cars and what you don’t yet know (quoting an engineer):
As a retired motor industry multi-skilled engineer, consumer consultant to the public and manufacturers, , engine specialist repairer, expert witness for the Courts, I am very well connected. So none of this is guesswork.
The most common accident is often regarded as the T-Bone collision. Where a vehicle is struck amidships on the “B” pillar, by a vehicle travelling perpendicular to the struck car. That’s why it’s called a “T-Bone” collision. The impact on a petrol and diesel car punches in the door/s, punches in the B pillar, often deforms the roof and….buckles the floor pan.
In a battery car the main traction battery is usually under that floor. Impacting the battery in such a t-bone collision can fracture the traction battery casing, If the impact, (and bear in mind the battery car is MUCH heavier than an ICE car, so it does not want to be deflected by the side impact), fractures the traction battery AND exposes any Lithium that the battery is constructed from,
NOTE: and its been raining, you may have as little as three seconds to evacuate the car, before it becomes a high temperature fireball.
If you have kids in car seats in the back, or the impact deforms the passenger side door/s, you will not save anyone.
There will be no post-accident “Cutting the roof off” to extract passengers.
Crash testing? Crash Testing historically has frequently NOT shown up issues that happen in the real world. You are in effect sitting on top of what may be an 800 volt, mattress sized barbeque.
ATTENTION: Far higher insurance rates coming for EV’s with their lithium fire bomb batteries…
Insurers are becoming increasing aware of the financial disaster from such an accident, so will be preparing premiums on battery cars as necessary.
this is another great way to stop mobility….EV fires and other safety issues will make insurance so expensive only the billionaires will drive……..
Plus, minor accidents that in the past would have been fixed with a pair of doors, new B pillar, floor and roof repair etc, may now involve potential damage to the traction battery that often CANNOT BE SEEN, and the replacement of the battery also may mean that a repairable car becomes a financial catastrophe. Battery replacement costs are from about $22,000 to $30,000. There is a rumored $4500 recycling fee.
I’m not kidding. You’ll see.
Battery cars have been chosen out of ignorance and the gullibility of car buyers putting faith in manufacturers that cannot be trusted.
Actually it is being fueled by the billions of tax payers dollars being thrown at forcing EV’s into the market, a huge windfall for the money grabbers involved. NOTE: 80% of all key EV parts and batteries come from china, why are chinese products being pushed? bribed ccp controlled politicians?
To EV buyers…if you want to support the ccp why don’t you move there?…lol
24/7 365 mask wearers…you too…95% of masks came from china…
Lithium fire bomb batteries:
a battery fire tragically killed two teens in 2018; though they survived the car crash but the teens were killed when the battery caught fire, burning to death in the wrecked vehicle…..you can’t get out
Those deaths, despite occurring about four years ago, are relevant because the suit over their deaths just ended, with a Florida court finding Tesla at fault, as NBC News reported,
A federal jury in Florida has found Tesla negligent in a 2018 crash that killed two teens and found one of the teens 90% responsible for his role in the collision.
The jury awarded $10.5 million in damages. It was not immediately clear how much of that amount Tesla will be required to pay based on the assignment of responsibility for the crash.
https://genzconservative.com/yet-another-ev-flaw-exposed-tragedy-strikes-teens-when-their-tesla-battery-does-this-after-a-crash/
Reading this article made me feel old, Eric (ha ha), and it certainly brought back pleasant memories, of when driving was fun. And…when you actually had to know how to drive said vehicle, sans “saaaaafety” features. What was more fun than learning to drive on snow, icy roads with a rear-wheel drive-bwa ha ha. “Feathering the clutch”: Now that is a term I have not heard in a while. It is up there with “three on a tree”. No, they do not make ’em like this anymore, which is a damned shame.
Even if they did sell that today, it would just be bought up by rich guy or an investor group and put into a garage, then running it through the auction circuit for money laundering.
https://www.artandobject.com/news/how-money-laundering-works-art-world
Three pedals and none of the thaayyfteee nonsense you see on the current models. Never was big on the mustangs but sounds like a “car guys car.”
I’ve forgotten what it is like to drive such a machine. The disconnect between driver and car is a real thing. I mean actual connection, not some android/apple blue tooth. Modern pickups run quieter, and smoother than the buicks and caddys of 50 years ago. The fact that the hellcat challengers and chargers don’t even offer a standard trans doesn’t even seem like reality. As you said they truly don’t make them like they used to.
While I appreciate the techn and comfort of many modern cars the option to NOT have 12 airbags, lane assist, parallel parking assist heated seats, Bluetooth-flat-screen-ball-washer-applepay-assist is ridiculous.