I was talking to a car dealer yesterday because the time has come to recognise that my 13-year-old Volvo might have reached the end of its life, at least in my ownership. I have loved its reliability, but that is now open to question, and I can no longer rely on it.
Our discussion was about the options available to me when buying second-hand, of course. What amazed me was how many of the cars now available for sale have automatic gearboxes, regardless of the power system in use.
This change was not something I had considered before. Not being an avid car enthusiast or a keen follower of the car market, I presumed that, apart from full electric vehicles, manual cars would be as popular as ever, but I was quickly put right. Whatever power system they choose, it now seems that most people do not want to use a gear lever. The explanation that I was offered was quite straightforward. I was told that, as with everything else in life, people want their cars to be kept as physically simple to control as possible, whilst at the same time they demand every form of passive electronic information and entertainment system known to humankind to be packed into the dashboard.
There are occasional moments when I realise I am not as young as I once was. This was one of them. Why anybody would want to give up the opportunity to have as much control over the car that they drive as possible is beyond me. Why they also want to cram every conceivable electronic system on earth into that car is equally baffling, when the risk of something going wrong must rise exponentially as a result.
What was politely pointed out to me was that, whether I like it or not, I could no longer avoid the electronics and might even have to learn to give up using my left foot when it comes to driving.
My question is a simple one. It is this: how can this be good for our planet? The vast majority of this technology in new cars is not, by any meaningful definition, recyclable, but it will also condemn cars that have considerable life potential left in them to early scrappage, because whichever unpredictable part fails one day, with a considerable potential repair cost, will ultimately bring about its early demise.
Isn't this the whole crisis that we face? Ever-increasing technology, designed to reduce our capacity to act, is also killing our planet. That seems to be the situation I am being presented with if I wish to continue to drive. It has left me distinctly uncomfortable.
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Max Frisch — ‘Technology is the knack of arranging the world in such a way that you don’t have to experience it.’
🙂
We have come to terms with this too – we bought a second hand 1 litre 2023 Ford Focus to replace two cars the same age as yours, but it has a manual gearbox. It is also big enough to move kids between university, home and their digs and us. It only has 3 cylinders and it has that regenerative technology that just about contributes something green. The doors are fully electric with a manual override. It tells you if your tyres need pumping up.
But everything is electric – the handbrake, the lights come on on their own, it starts and stops at the lights etc. We heard later that the battery is no longer a £50 job, but hundreds of pound to replace; the starter motor likewise, so I turn the engine shut down off when out and about. The best thing about it is the 6th gear on the motorway and fully defrost-able front and rear windows. Handling is very good – a very nimble car, but where as the old model was higher, this is wider and lower. It has mini lights all over the place on the inside and the handbook is huge and has to be read in order to learn how to turn things off. It’s nice – but what will it be like in 10 years time? To change a front headlamp bulb, you have to take it to the garage. And it has a wet timing chain which are notorious if not serviced properly. These cars are built to be dependent on dealerships and expensive to run. I don’t like them. This could very well be our last car. Good luck.
I am coming across all that.
The Volvo cost me just over a tenner and a few minutes at most to change a lightbulb. I now gather such a thing is not possible in most newer cars.
Ah PSR I am sorry to hear that.
For anyone who doesn’t know about it the whole Ford ‘wet belt’ saga, it has been an absolute disgrace.
Fords ‘fix’ which was to replace the oil pump drive belt with a chain, (i.e. go back to how it used to be) does nothing to address the issue of the cam drive belt. 🙁
Ford are still refusing to accept how serious the issue is and push responsibilty for the many failures onto owners.
This timing belt is immersed in the oil and as is sheds fibers over time they block up the oil passages.
Ignore the ludicrously long suggested service intervals.
Change the oil at less than 10 thousand mile intervals.
It can still fail. 🙁
Be aware that Ford have refused to make good customers who cannot produce a service record that meets the exact letter of their requirements. e.g. screwing people over when their recorded scheduled service intervals were just a few hundred miles further apart than the stipulated figures. 🙁
Modern hot engine oil is a terrible environment to to continuously expose a composite belt to, which is under constant flexure stress and cyclical tension loads.
Short journeys make this environment worse as the engine does not warm up fully to drive off volatiles from fuel and combustion, and water, which are all corrosive. 🙁
Modern diesel engines are even worse for this, but that is another story.
If you are luck enough to have on your engine the bolt that can be removed to push an optical fibre camera in to look a the belt, then buy a cheap handheld one, they are only £50 -£100 now.
If you see any cracks, replace the belt. £££
Belt snaps, engine destroyed.
Which would never happen with a chain or a traditional dry belt, which is on the outside and thus much easier to inspect and change.
Many have snapped well before they reach the recommended replacement mileage. 🙁
That’s Ford off the list then.
I would suggest finding an older Volvo and a good garage. Our 45 year old Mercedes is very reliable and would appear to be infinitely repairable.
To be clear, it is going to stay in the family in all likelihhod. Tom is going to have it. But he does not do the long disatnces we sometimes do, which is where the issue is.
Soldier on with the Volvo but look out for a second hand one a bit newer with low mileage.
The trouble is, soon after mine hit the road Volvo made the much more heavily elctronic, and I just don’t like the newer ones.
We certainly seem to be living with a fallacy that complexity brings resilience. It doesn’t….it just creates fragility. The major storms of the last year (e.g Storms Eowyn and Goretti) have exposed the fragility of digital communications systems. Just in time systems have undermined food security.
Agreed.
My manual Focus gave up in March last year. I was staggered to learn how much second hand cars cost, only automatics available, electronic key and no cd players.
I do not stream because I like to own the product, read the booklet and see the cd in its case on the shelf rather than be at the mercy of the tech companies wiping the streamed stuff out.
I bought a petrol hybrid Japanese. I got a paper manual which I understand is not common.
If the car you buy has an electric key, get a couple of faraday bags for key storage and a steering wheel lock.
Noted
I have a 9 year old manual Ford Fiesta which is OK for the occasional long journey. 1.2 engine.
I think Ford still do manual versions of cars such as the Puma and Kuga. They have stopped making the Fiesta, even though it was the best selling small car in the country.
I confess there are too many poor stories on Fords for me, and my one experience was also poor.
Used to help out with a company that took discarded electronics from the local recycling centre and repaired/refurbished them for re-use. Proprietary software is pretty commonplace in high end smart speakers (sometimes costing thousands of pounds new) which quickly go out of support in a year or two and become decorative ornaments. Even for mundane objects like toasters, blenders or heaters you’ll find loads of manufacturing tricks to avoid personal repair (security screws, deeply recessed screws that cannot be reached by a standard screwdriver, self-sealing shell designs that cannot be unsealed without breaking, etc.).
Cars, being so over-engineered nowadays, is the biggest/costliest example of all this. The lack of choice is the most frustrating (unless you keep a 20 year old banger around like I do).
Ideally there’d be greater regulation on the right to repair/maintain these goods. To be fair 3D printing can be helpful for manufacturing replacement parts for older devices but this doesn’t address the software/mechanical complexity issues you raised that needs to be systemically addressed.
Thanks
I do have a 3D printer – for modelling – but not for the car…
I have a 23 year old Honda Jazz which somehow passes it’s MOT with minimal fuss and has been very reliable – I’m dreading the day I need to change it, which may come soon as rust is begining to creep in. I feel no need of all the bells and whistles, and like the control of gears and practising using my own judgement.
Recently I was glancing out of my bedroom window and noticed my car move as a large fancy car was trying to park behind me in a space too small- so quite a bump. I went out to remonstrate, and the drivers excuse was that he was looking at his camera!!! I did suggest that looking through the windscreen might be a better option as I’d managed not to bump into anyone while parking in this street in the last 30 years.
On a more serious note I really do fear the loss of skills in relation to navigating the world around us, in all senses.
I also fear the expense of repairs to highly complex systems.
Much to agree with.
I have parked for nearly fifty years without a camera….
13 years old? pah barely run in…. we have a 20 year old Volvo manual car, and to be honest after umming and ahhing a bit we have decided to keep it until it really falls apart. It only has just over 200k on the clock and as I am the same age as you I expect my already lowish annual milage to gradually go down, I think it has a fair chance of out lasting me. If it does collapse we will scrap it and get an electric car for our final years. We do though have another motor if needed.
Thanks
As I have noted, this one is moving on to once of our sons. So it has life in it as yet.
I went EV 18 months ago. Very attractive finance deal. Travelled to France twice with bikes on the back in the summer. Medium hatchback size car has performed faultlessly and economically.
A heat pump, PV and home batteries and an investment in a wind farm co-op mean I generate more green electricity than I use and I am future proofed.
Noted
In your last paragraph you could supplant the word technology with the word Neo-liberalism and it would still make sense. Neo-liberalism sucks the life, joy and finances out of all that it touches. I gave up my car 2 years ago, mainly due to finances but I have tried driving modern vehicles, they have no sense of the road about them and make you feel isolated from the driving experience. I found no joy in their use.
I fear that will be my fate and I have enjoyed driving.
You’re not the only one https://youtu.be/-RTkroVirt0?si=giWb1zGUSqlLDnmo
I am amused. IO should have made that. Perhaps I should make a grumpy old man channel!
Modern combustion driven cars need advanced electronic control (computer) largely for – dynamic (real time) control of the engine to reach environmental limits and mpg. The rest of the electronics is part useful and marketing stuff.
Your Volvo can go on and on with the mechanicals but built in obsolescence of the electronics and computer will condemn it at some point. I have worked on my own cars for over 50 years. My Golf is 16 years old and I can repair most things, to date
To keep up with the state of your car you could invest £50+ in a OBDII dongle (post 1995 cars) to read your car computer system for your car’s data. Useful and even essential for small jobs like battery replacement!
But modern cars have many features I dislike – electronic handbrake, no door handles, bright computer screens, limp home mode etc. Dealer only fixes (you can’t code their computer for some repairs or manufacturers won’t release the info). Tesla EVs and others (?) might even have a kill switch.
Cars need to be simpler with the right to repair, oneself. Less built in obsolence and availability of decent quality parts.
Much to agree with.
Even my Volvo has not got a handbrake – and I would likely one back.
Get a Trabant – the engine only has 6 moving parts and why todays drivers need syncromesh I never understand, my father got on perfectly well without it
BUT while we may decry ‘Tech’ modern stuff lasts well OK until it goes wrong. We got rid of our Kia Rio last year at 17 years old due to a combination of a Turbo oil leak and the alternator sounding worrying. But when you and I started driving a car would be doing well to get to 10 years old
I have seen three Daily Drivers – ie unrestored cars round Frome recently, two Triumph Dolomites (c 1980) and a 1960 Wolsey BUT you have vehicles which dont meet modern safety or emission standards.
There is a sensible question to be asked about repairability and durability. As an extreme example Gourvish points out in British Railways an Economic History a ‘Heavy General’ overhaul on a steam loco costs about as much as building it and there are resource costs associated with repair plus the implications of running older possibly less safe/efficient/whatever equipment. It would be interesting to see someone doing a proper ‘lifecycle’ analysis.
I am neither a car buff or technically trained BUT what puts me off hybrids is the complex twin input single output gearboxes.
Last year I did a driver experience on a Class 108 (Early 1960’s Diesel Railcar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_108) it has a ‘semi automatic’ gearbox ie the mechanics of a traditional automatic BUT controlled by the driver. The instructions were clear get to ‘change up’ close the throttle let the revs drop off, change and accelerate – slowly! This is to minimise wear on the transmittion. Clearly in a car auto box it just changes when its ready which must put a lot of stress on it that you dont really want.
I would suggest a Kia myself, ask me if you want some suggestions
I’ll take the 108.
I have looked at Jim and the ever watering cost. They give warranties – at a very high price.
Whatever adaptations you need to make, don’t give up driving. I have recently done so while waiting for a cataract operation, and it makes life much more difficult and confining. There are buses, maybe 1/2 mile away, but I can’t walk that far. There are Ubers, which are fine occasionally but not as a regular option — using my car expenditure as a guide, I could have 1 trip out per week. Groceries and many purchases are OK online, but what about dry cleaning? Taking things to charity shops? Other such oddments, which don’t occur to you until you can’t do them? I sound as though I’m whining, but even in a fairly inner suburb it’s hard to do without a car, and it is worse the further out towards the country one gets.
Whatever I get5 might, with luck, be my last car if it lasts that long, but I am not giving up yet.
Modern cars phone home, record and surveil.
But who do they phone?
Driving a modern car is just like having a modern smart phone. Tracking is routine. To turn them off properly requires a lump hammer.
I’m dreading having to move on from my 12yr old Nissan, to compulsory extra electronics in a more recent vehicle.. Both front windows are electric with dodgy door switches and I can’t find relacements.
I have to write down when I refuel and by how much to work out when next to do so, because every now and again the fuel gauge gives up for a while. The real problem is the suspension though.
There’s an interesting youtube video worth taking a look at that will certainly give you food for thought with respect to this topic. “Time Is Running Out to Buy Reliable, Repairable Cars” by user “Scottish Car Clan”. It’s only 10 minutes long, hope it helps formulate your thinking on this. Good luck with it.
It feels that way.
The 27y old AA man who rescued my 34y old Volvo on Friday (the alternator had failed) was saying pretty much exactly what you have written.
Well, as I say, the plan is to keep the Volvo in use, just with Tom.
New cars (and other products) have nothing to do with what’s good for you or the planet.
It’s all about what’s good for the manufacturer, and maximising their profits.
A few years ago I bought an LG QLED TV with a one-year manufacturer’s warranty. Up until now, every TV I have had has lasted 5-8 years, so I didn’t give the warranty any thought.
2½ years later, vertical lines make the TV unwatchable, and the complexity of the TV is such that repairs costs more than a new TV.
Deeply annoying.
My 15 year old Volvo is wearing better than me. Unfortunately my knees will soon necessitate me moving to an automatic model with the additional unwanted technology, and more expensive maintenance.
I think the dealer was surprised at my age I did not want an automatic as first choice. I slightly resented that….
As a professional motorcyclist the proliferation of “smart” dashboards and other distractions genuinely scares me. Why can’t people just concentrate on the road? I have seen quite a few drivers with their smartphone stuck literally right in the middle of their windscreen, obscuring a significant proportion of their vision. I even passed one in traffic watching a movie on theirs…
Far too many people still hold them around us, when speaking. In rural area no one expects to be caught.
We did exchange the horse with carriage for a car with combustion engine. However, I acknowledge the wish for a form of control of the machine and/or mechanism. The example of your car translates well to AI. Thus demonstrating that technology is both a blessing, as well as a threat or horror. The only way to keep up is education and raising up with “good” principles. The definition of that is a separate story, but the essence is to be able to think by yourself and therefore to control whatever is in your hands.
Nb: you have to go for a Tesla, since this is a car reduced to it’s essence with 1 pedal driving and only 1 simple screen 😉
NO!!!
I sympathies with you Richard.
We made the choice to go fully electric with a home charger and we now lease our car. Age was part of the decision making process but also as the electric vehicles develop they increasingly have a single button to turn all the annoying helpful features off. It’s simple and extremely cheap to run the car and we have no concerns regarding parts, servicing or MOT. Perhaps not an answer for everyone but we like the package.
It’s an option, but range is an issue and a hybrid is more likely.
Kia do ‘mild hybrids’ which dont have the complex gearbox of a full hybrid but are not as fuel efficient
There are also very expensive!
What’s even worse now is that with all the added electrics and networking in cars we are starting to see the rise of subscription services. The likes of Tesla and Mercedes now ask for monthly payments to “unlock” features on their cars such as full access to your full battery capacity or power distribution. How you can call this car “ownership” is completely beyond me.
This is tangentially related to anti-circumvention legislation that permits companies to continue to control things they manufacture long after they are sold. I am now straying somewhat from the initial topic of this post, but Cory Doctorow has interesting things to say on this and I recommend reading his tech commentary.
Woke.
That is weird…
And as you say, rent extraction
I betcha a tenner that after you’ve done your homework you end up with either a Toyota Corolla or a Honda Jazz and another tenner that after a month you’ll be saying that you’d never go back to a manual!
I am inclined to Skoda right now…
I agree with everything said here about the reliability and general better value of older cars. A complication, however, for anyone who lives in London and has to have a car, or anyone who drives into London, or other places with similar schemes, is the need to be ULEZ-compliant, which most cars over a certain age aren’t.
Agreed
The Volvo is not.