Luxury Vehicles

[EricTheCarGuy]

They are nice but what do we really need luxury vehicles for?

Topic

[Jane]

I work on both luxury and standard cars. What’s the differences?

Lux
Could travel all day and not feel worn out, smile. Test on 4000 mile trip I could have kept going.
Steering has a shock absorber making the car less strenuous on your arms, shoulders and back.
Steering and suspension has a better ride quality.
Radar controlled cruise control.
Infrared night vision driving system make the car safer to drive at night.
Leather everything or Stainless steel and carbon fiber.
Will easily over take slow traffic.
Electronic gizmos like phone, internet, heads up display satnav, heated seat massage all built in.
Convertible hydraulic hard top!

Not Lux
Nasty to drive. Pain and frustration and no smile.
Cheep to buy.
Will get you there [eventually]
Overtaking eventually is just too scary.

[Lorrin Barth]

I just happened to be on a trip, in a store, wanted something to read and saw the automotive issue of Consumer’s Reports on the rack. Its the first time I’ve had an issue in my hands in years. I remember Consumer’s Reports from 50 years ago when they would test a bunch of house paints and rate one as good. They would go to great lengths to point out flaws in products. Whether true or not it was fun reading.

I can’t speak to luxury cars, I’ve never owned one. I tend toward performance vehicles. Quality, on the other hand, I’d suggest, is beyond the measure of Consumer’s Reports. Quality is not what you see in the showroom or know from surveys of new owners, quality is the repair record of the vehicle after ten years of use. And, I can’t believe a luxury vehicle, with the added gizmos that make it a luxury vehicle, is going stand up very well to this test.

I owned a DSM. My tools were never at risk of rusting as long as I owned that car. My Evo has the same engine and about 50% same drive train parts and after ten years it has no repair record. So, what’s the difference? Well, it must be due to an enormous effort by Mitsubishi, both internally and working with their vendors. I am so happy with this vehicle I think I would gladly replace any part, even buy a new engine if one is available, to keep it running.

[Willo]

My ideas are not mainstream and will probably be offensive to many luxury minded people
who want creature comforts built into their vehicles.
This is probably because the car companies build into their vehicles what the people who buy them want,
and the people who buy the cars usually take what is mass produced and available.

Anyways,
I’d much rather have a car that I could pre-heat or pre-cool both cabin and motor before driving,
without having to burn more gas to do it. Especially for the daily use case of the car.

I’m no stranger to the many different types of drivers on the roads, so I try not to be judgmental
about others preferences. I do what I can to figure out what I can do as an individual to reduce my
impact on the environment and still live as comfortably and peacefully as I can manage.

I doubt the 1% and even the 10% are too concerned about the environment we all share, why should they be? Big money science says there is no problem to big for them fix given enough time.

But I’m still dismayed that I could not buy a production car out of detroit, 10 years ago, of 15 gran
that gets 100 mpg.
Pre heating and cooling might also win a few customers.

Will it take 75 gran to buy one with those features? 100?

[Author]

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