Like most of you here, I'm more a classic and retro car guy than modern. Bar the supercars, nothing modern really interests me.
But, being into classics. I realise that even into the 70's, and especially in the 50's and 60's, having a car was rare and any young persons who got a car were very grateful for they had worked hard to pay for it, and appreciated it and most importantly, took care of it.
Today? I'm often annoyed at the amount of 63/14 plate cars I see in car parks, some of which are quite high end that clearly haven't been washed since the day they were bought. Some have private number plates and most have front wheels that are BLACK with brake dust. You know, the sort that even if they wash it off will have already stained the wheel. It just made me think how many people today get the latest car (and the latest phone and TV) and have absolutely no appreciation for it outside the status symbol that a 'new' car gives them.
Is it just entitlement? Or are all these people a$$holes?! I'm thinking the latter.
Sense of entitlement with modern cars.
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3xpendable
- Posts: 814
- Joined: Tue Apr 12, 2011 8:03 am
Sense of entitlement with modern cars.
2013 Dodge Durango R/T
2019 Ford Mustang Bullitt.
1965 Ford Anglia 106e Estate (Wagon). LHD.
2019 Ford Mustang Bullitt.
1965 Ford Anglia 106e Estate (Wagon). LHD.
Re: Sense of entitlement with modern cars.
My daily is a bit older than that and certainly hasn't been washed this year, the front wheels are caked in brake dust but it has it's oil and filters changed every 10,000 miles, the brakes and tyres checked at least once a week.
a lot of people just have a car as a tool and don't care what it looks like as long as it gets them to work.
I suspect most car owners now can just about manage checking their tyre pressures with an automated machine at a garage let alone doing a basic fluid and filter check as most drivers would have done 20+ years ago. People are richer now so can afford someone else to look after their car.
I do the majority of my own maintenance but still refuse to wash it as it will only get dirty again anyway
a lot of people just have a car as a tool and don't care what it looks like as long as it gets them to work.
I suspect most car owners now can just about manage checking their tyre pressures with an automated machine at a garage let alone doing a basic fluid and filter check as most drivers would have done 20+ years ago. People are richer now so can afford someone else to look after their car.
I do the majority of my own maintenance but still refuse to wash it as it will only get dirty again anyway
Understeer: when you hit the wall with the front of the car.
Oversteer: when you hit the wall with the back of the car.
Horsepower: how fast you hit the wall.
Torque: how far you take the wall with you.
Oversteer: when you hit the wall with the back of the car.
Horsepower: how fast you hit the wall.
Torque: how far you take the wall with you.
Re: Sense of entitlement with modern cars.
TerryG wrote:My daily is a bit older than that and certainly hasn't been washed this year, the front wheels are caked in brake dust but it has it's oil and filters changed every 10,000 miles, the brakes and tyres checked at least once a week.
a lot of people just have a car as a tool and don't care what it looks like as long as it gets them to work...
No idea, perhaps you could attach a selfie as a datum.Welshie wrote:......are all these people a$$holes...
J
"Home is where you park it", so the saying goes. That may yet come true..
"Home is where you park it", so the saying goes. That may yet come true..
Re: Sense of entitlement with modern cars.
I have a modern as a company car.
I never wash it or work on it (apart from the usual weekly checks and washer fluid).
It gets serviced by a garage and valeted once every 2 weeks at work (company deal). Apart from that it just gets used.
This is the total opposite to my classics which I love working on and cleaning..
Kev
I never wash it or work on it (apart from the usual weekly checks and washer fluid).
It gets serviced by a garage and valeted once every 2 weeks at work (company deal). Apart from that it just gets used.
This is the total opposite to my classics which I love working on and cleaning..
Kev
Re: Sense of entitlement with modern cars.
Most new cars tend to be leased , does anyone buy them new any more? I'm guessing for the duration of the lease they probably only get washed if the owners are going to a wedding or similar, the rest of the time they are used and abused.
Both my daily cars are just tools I'm afraid. I spend time and money to keep them ultra reliable but spend very little time in terms of cleaning them.
In terms of why - I think today cars are affordable and a given. When I think back to when I was little my dad had to scrimp and save to buy a cheap banger and he would lavish so much time and energy on keeping it immaculate because it had took so much sweat and saving to get it and he was trying to protect that investment.
Both my daily cars are just tools I'm afraid. I spend time and money to keep them ultra reliable but spend very little time in terms of cleaning them.
In terms of why - I think today cars are affordable and a given. When I think back to when I was little my dad had to scrimp and save to buy a cheap banger and he would lavish so much time and energy on keeping it immaculate because it had took so much sweat and saving to get it and he was trying to protect that investment.
Never play chess with a pigeon. It will knock all the pieces over, S*#t on the board and then strut around pretending it won.
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tractorman
- Posts: 1399
- Joined: Mon Feb 21, 2011 11:22 am
- Location: Wigton, Cumbria
Re: Sense of entitlement with modern cars.
I washed the Passat every week unless I was ill - or hadn't used it. The last Golf got done every couple of weeks unless it got caked in muck; the current Golf is lucky to get washed every month - and I clean the number plates and lights as and when they are dirty. I came to the realisation that clean cars aren't worth much more than dirty ones by the time I sell them - and I've never sold one that was worth buying!
I actually washed the car myself last week. Partly because the water butt was full, the pressure washer was handy and it was a nice day! I don't use much pressure with the washer: enough to get the mud wet and turn it up a little to clean under the wheelarches etc, the brush and foam do the actual cleaning - not a blast of high pressure water. However, through the winter, I have paid a small fortune to a drive-though car wash in town - it saves me getting cold hands and doesn't add to the water bill (I'm on a meter, so the water butt is useful!).
I'm trying to think of anyone with a new car - the only one I know who has bought a new one in the last two or three years is my friend, who bought a new (in 2012) Scenic for less than the two year old, lower spec one they went to look at! The garage was desperate to meet their quota and my friend, being a tight so and so, managed to get all sorts of extras free (including a tow bar). He also owns his own van (ie doesn't lease it) - it's much the same age as the Scenic and was bought because the agents got the price wrong! He got a cheap - or free - tow bar on that too.
I actually washed the car myself last week. Partly because the water butt was full, the pressure washer was handy and it was a nice day! I don't use much pressure with the washer: enough to get the mud wet and turn it up a little to clean under the wheelarches etc, the brush and foam do the actual cleaning - not a blast of high pressure water. However, through the winter, I have paid a small fortune to a drive-though car wash in town - it saves me getting cold hands and doesn't add to the water bill (I'm on a meter, so the water butt is useful!).
I'm trying to think of anyone with a new car - the only one I know who has bought a new one in the last two or three years is my friend, who bought a new (in 2012) Scenic for less than the two year old, lower spec one they went to look at! The garage was desperate to meet their quota and my friend, being a tight so and so, managed to get all sorts of extras free (including a tow bar). He also owns his own van (ie doesn't lease it) - it's much the same age as the Scenic and was bought because the agents got the price wrong! He got a cheap - or free - tow bar on that too.
Re: Sense of entitlement with modern cars.
I have a two year old xmas cake in my boot.
Washing is what the rain does.
Cleaning it out is what the wind does when i open the doors.
Washing is what the rain does.
Cleaning it out is what the wind does when i open the doors.
Re: Sense of entitlement with modern cars.
It appears that classic car owners don't clean the daily run about. The classic car you now own was once somebody's daily run about. Fortunately they washed it and polished and that is why x years later it is your classic that you wash and polish. Do I wash and polish my car? Do I b*******!! 
Re: Sense of entitlement with modern cars.
modern car is basically treat like a rental car by most as the owners pay someone to wash it service it etc.
And it is because they either weren't brought up around people who do look after or work on cars. One other
theory is after I looked under the bonnet of a modern car was the shear amount of plastic coverings so you
can't tell whats where! Which would be enough to put most people off. So that the manufacturers can get
people away from looking after vehicles themselves!
And it is because they either weren't brought up around people who do look after or work on cars. One other
theory is after I looked under the bonnet of a modern car was the shear amount of plastic coverings so you
can't tell whats where! Which would be enough to put most people off. So that the manufacturers can get
people away from looking after vehicles themselves!
I'm Diabetic,& disabled BUT!! NOT DEAD YET!!
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tractorman
- Posts: 1399
- Joined: Mon Feb 21, 2011 11:22 am
- Location: Wigton, Cumbria
Re: Sense of entitlement with modern cars.
I admit that I let the local garage do most of the work on the last couple of dailies - and even the "clever" stuff on the Passat. OTOH, there isn't a heck of a lot to do - except for the blown engine in the current Golf, it has only had a sensor changed, one oil change and new brake fluid in the last couple of years (the new engine was done with oil bought for the second change). Other than routine servicing,I changed one ball joint, a bit of the undertray, the engine steady bar, ARB bushes and a bump stop rubber on the last Golf in the five years I owned it - and let the garage change the clutch and cam belt as I haven't got the gear, patience or time to do it myself.
I don't think I am alone either - I think there's only my Starion owning friend that services and repairs his daily (a 2001 Vectra) on our bit of the "estate" - and that's only because he can't afford the garage bills. His partner drives a 2005 Focus estate and I have only seen him work on it twice - once for a bad boot lock switch!
I don't think I am alone either - I think there's only my Starion owning friend that services and repairs his daily (a 2001 Vectra) on our bit of the "estate" - and that's only because he can't afford the garage bills. His partner drives a 2005 Focus estate and I have only seen him work on it twice - once for a bad boot lock switch!