Car Thread - VROOM VROOM

[God's drunkest driver]

Meh, another manufacturer does away with the dipstick, at this point no negative auto industry news surprises me. The whole industry went to shit a while ago as far as I'm concerned. I'll keep buying newish cars to have safe, reliable cars for my wife, but the industry can count me and my disposable income out with all of this bull crap. Her GS 350 has a lot of life left in it so hopefully it will be a while before she wants or needs it replaced.

 

[Stumbling9]

Hey don't know if I should ask for advice in this site, but it is car related thread so idk.

So one of my family members wants me to trade my 2019 Mitsubishi Mirage, for a AWD with All-season tires (car of my choice), the main reasons are, it's too old and might break faster in the future, and they want me to not spend money to the mechanic to change tires multiple times for summer to winter tires ect. ect.

However I also did some research on my own and heard that AWD cars maintenance is more expensive and burns more petrol.

Lastly my usage for the car is going from A to B, grocery, work, you get the idea, very basic shit.

So my question is, are AWD necessary or overkill?

 

[The Great One]

Hey don't know if I should ask for advice in this site, but it is car related thread so idk.

So one of my family members wants me to trade my 2019 Mitsubishi Mirage, for a AWD with All-season tires (car of my choice), the main reasons are, it's too old and might break faster in the future, and they want me to not spend money to the mechanic to change tires multiple times for summer to winter tires ect. ect.

However I also did some research on my own and heard that AWD cars maintenance is more expensive and burns more petrol.

Lastly my usage for the car is going from A to B, grocery, work, you get the idea, very basic shit.

So my question is, are AWD necessary or overkill?

Ok
1. Not to powerlevel yourself, where exactly do you live? Is it somewhere where the terrain can be terrible during certain weathers or just in general (I assume somewhere in either Europe or Canada with the way you say Petrol)
2. Awd vehicles can be a bit heavier than standard 2wd vehicles (hence the lesser gas milage)
3. If you need an awd vehicle that's for daily use, I'd (sadly) say get a crossover

And to answer your question: it's necessary during certain conditions, but most people I know buy full-size SUV's and trucks.

 

[Stumbling9]

1. Not to powerlevel yourself, where exactly do you live? Is it somewhere where the terrain can be terrible during certain weathers or just in general (I assume somewhere in either Europe or Canada with the way you say Petrol)

It's very quiet to where I live, however shit only get real when winter hits, other then that the weather is manageable.

 

[creamy]

So my question is, are AWD necessary or overkill?

It's very quiet to where I live, however shit only get real when winter hits, other then that the weather is manageable.

I would say if you have gotten through winters with the mirage, you probably don't need AWD, but it would probably be nice to have.

Assuming you're looking at new cars if a 2019 is old, I would look at hybrids with e-AWD. e-AWD just means they use an electric motor to spin the wheels instead of a driveshaft and differential. This is beneficial because you dont have to worry about extra maintenance costs due to the addition of a traditional AWD system, and it should only minimally impact fuel economy since it is not a parasitic loss to the engine.

I would recommend a new camry. big sedan that's reasonably priced (comparitively to other new cars) and returns very good fuel economy for its size, but see what you like for yourself. The other guy suggested crossovers, and they are popular among normal people for a reason

 

[ChompChomp]

So one of my family members wants me to trade my 2019 Mitsubishi Mirage, for a AWD with All-season tires (car of my choice), the main reasons are, it's too old and might break faster in the future, and they want me to not spend money to the mechanic to change tires multiple times for summer to winter tires ect. ect.

I lived in the Midwest for years with winters reaching negative 30F or so and lake-effect snow once or twice a year; I did fine with a FWD sedan or hatchback.

I currently have a full-time AWD vehicle (with a power bias towards the rear wheels) that's a similar year to your Mirage and any difference in mileage is negligible. Even less so givem modern technology of start-stop engines, cylinder shut down, "glide" mode (transmission decoupling from engine when coasting), etc.

Also, your driving habits play a key role. Like, instead of always hitting your brakes depending on traffic, you can pay attention (gasp!) and let off the gas pedal when driving, which will also slow you down and reduce your fuel consumption a little more.

Now, the reason that you might want to trade in your Mirage isn't because it's old or has high mileage; its because they're a pile of crap.


(This rating is a little low, but they're similar across the board.)

 

[God's drunkest driver]

So one of my family members wants me to trade my 2019 Mitsubishi Mirage, for a AWD with All-season tires (car of my choice), the main reasons are, it's too old and might break faster in the future, and they want me to not spend money to the mechanic to change tires multiple times for summer to winter tires ect. ect.

I scoff at the idea that a 2019 is too old, but I would say that a 7 year old Mitsubishi might getting to the age where it may start having problems because Mitsubishis are subpar in general. You'd be way better off with a well maintained 15 year old Toyota than a newer Mitsubishi out of warranty. FWD cars on winter tires are perfectly adequate for most winters imo, and the solution for "spending money to get tires changed" is trivial, you get cheap set of wheels, and keep winter tires mounted on them, change wheels using a jack of your own. The tires last for years and the wheels and jack pay for themselves within one or two tire shop visits.

I'm into old cool cars not new stuff but I'm good at math. In general don't believe that your "old" car should be replaced with a new one because you're "spending money fixing/maintaining it". In a majority of cases even cheap new car payments + gap insurance premium are going to add up to more than it costs to maintain and repair most ordinary cars of good quality. Sure, an audi or an alfa might start hitting you with big bills and inconvenient shop visits as soon as it leaves warranty, but that's not true of your average toyota, honda, subaru, it's probably not even true of a mitsubishi. I don't know how old you are, or what your family is generally like, but it sounds like a young adult scenario and I have seen young people get convinced they need a new car by their family when it was an awful financial decision multiple times in my life.

 

[Pee Cola]

I scoff at the idea that a 2019 is too old, but I would say that a 7 year old Mitsubishi might getting to the age where it may start having problems because Mitsubishis are subpar in general.

Mitsubishi may not be quite Toyota or Honda, but the only subpar thing about them is that they're not that pleasant to drive.

I'd sooner have a 7 year old Mitsubishi than a 7 year old Nissan or Subaru, both of which are more likely to go poopy in their trousers well before the Mitsi would.

 

[anklyscr]

So one of my family members wants me to trade my 2019 Mitsubishi Mirage, for a AWD

AWD won't affect your ability to stop or turn. all it will affect is your ability to go.
if you don't care about dynamics just keep the FWD shitbox and put a good set of snow tyres on when it gets cold

 

[Myrtle the Turtle]

I didn't realize how fucked Stellantis was as a brand. They're the globalism car brand except half of their brands are the car itself. Worse, the leadership is coming from the Netherlands with EU C-suite carrying Euro trash compacts that hail from Italy when the volume based sales come from the US domestic market.

Chrysler is just a footnote now only selling minivans. Lancia is just 2 cars in total. Fiat is just 1 shitty EV now. Abrath is just 3 EV Fiats in a sporty trim. Jeep, Dodge, Ram are the US heavyweights and their only profitable vehicles that they got greedy with and botched them. The Dodge fuckin' Durango is having the best sales now than in the past 20 years despite the model being as old because it has a reliable drivetrain and doesn't have spyware electronic screens everywhere.

Flagships like the Charger and Grand Cherokee are sitting on lots because who wants a bigger car with a 4 cylinder turbo with not even a hemi or 6 cylinder option? They're trying to sell Chargers at $65+72k with a inline 6 in them and pushing EVs that no one trusts. The Grand Cherokee and Wagoneer are trying to compete with German luxury brands when 7 years ago they were value/upper middle vehicles.

Even 12 years ago they were pulling this crap when Chrysler tried to sell a rebadged 300s and Pacificas as a Lancias that Italy was repulsed by.

Even VW is nowhere near as messy and their a shitshow. Their volume sales come from Audi, VW and Skoda while they support luxury brands Porsche, Lamborghini and Bentley. The luxury bands are not smushed into a globohomo mess of poop like Stellantis. I remember a few years ago when I noticed the Maserati I was in had the exact same window buttons as my friends Jeep.

 

[Cyberpunk Meta]

https://youtube.com/watch?v=TutLt1OKQQUI didn't realize how fucked Stellantis was as a brand. They're the globalism car brand except half of their brands are the car itself. Worse, the leadership is coming from the Netherlands with EU C-suite carrying Euro trash compacts that hail from Italy when the volume based sales come from the US domestic market.

Chrysler is just a footnote now only selling minivans. Lancia is just 2 cars in total. Fiat is just 1 shitty EV now. Abrath is just 3 EV Fiats in a sporty trim. Jeep, Dodge, Ram are the US heavyweights and their only profitable vehicles that they got greedy with and botched them. The Dodge fuckin' Durango is having the best sales now than in the past 20 years despite the model being as old because it has a reliable drivetrain and doesn't have spyware electronic screens everywhere.

Flagships like the Charger and Grand Cherokee are sitting on lots because who wants a bigger car with a 4 cylinder turbo with not even a hemi or 6 cylinder option? They're trying to sell Chargers at $65+72k with a inline 6 in them and pushing EVs that no one trusts. The Grand Cherokee and Wagoneer are trying to compete with German luxury brands when 7 years ago they were value/upper middle vehicles.

Even 12 years ago they were pulling this crap when Chrysler tried to sell a rebadged 300s and Pacificas as a Lancias that Italy was repulsed by.
View attachment 9658507
Even VW is nowhere near as messy and their a shitshow. Their volume sales come from Audi, VW and Skoda while they support luxury brands Porsche, Lamborghini and Bentley. The luxury bands are not smushed into a globohomo mess of poop like Stellantis. I remember a few years ago when I noticed the Maserati I was in had the exact same window buttons as my friends Jeep.

Stellantis is like a modern day British Leyland; they have tons of brands but their products are of subpar quality, they’re behind on the trends & their platforms are aging. No amount of brands will save them. Quality control is bad. It’s a mess.

I heard that their American side of things are basically doing all of the heavy lifting (RAM and Jeep mostly), while their European brands are a drag.

Speaking of Stellantis, after the FiatChrysler merger with Peugeot-Citroën in 2021, Iveco which used to be Fiat’s European commercial division was spun off. Turns out that TATA (the Indian streetshitter brand that bought Jaguar and Land Rover & turned Jaguar into Faguar) is buying Iveco as we speak. Another Italian brand will be enshittifed & jugaadified going forward. Just great!

 

[BeckhoffAX5702]

Well, speaking of some good news, my Saab 93 convertible project is mechanically all done now. And what's a good send off to mark chapter? Well, by taking a 2 week long roadtrip through Norway and back with it. Very happy with how reliable it has been so far!

 

[creamy]

I notice when driving that there are vehicles that have LED DRLs, where one side is not working. Do you think the cause of this is low quality components / engineering, or improper collision repair?

On the topic of LED headlights as well, do you believe the manufacturer should have an obligation to ensure that the lighting on the vehicle is functional through the vehicle's entire lifespan, since replacing a broken bulb is no longer as trivial as going to a parts store? I think they should, barring collisions, since some of those lights cost upwards of or in excess of $1000 a piece. At least they should guarantee them for a reasonable length of time, or at least for the first owner.

 

[Pee Cola]

https://youtube.com/watch?v=TutLt1OKQQUI didn't realize how fucked Stellantis was as a brand. They're the globalism car brand except half of their brands are the car itself. Worse, the leadership is coming from the Netherlands with EU C-suite carrying Euro trash compacts that hail from Italy when the volume based sales come from the US domestic market.

Stellantis is what happens when a committee gets together and decides the best way to polish a bunch of small turds is to compress them into one great big giant turd. It didn't work for the Brits in the '70s, and it sure isn't working for the Italians today.

Even VW is nowhere near as messy and their a shitshow. Their volume sales come from Audi, VW and Skoda while they support luxury brands Porsche, Lamborghini and Bentley. The luxury bands are not smushed into a globohomo mess of poop like Stellantis.

VW might have a whole bunch of brands, but they have been siloed pretty well. They even have a heavy truck and bus division, Traton. which owns Scania, MAN and International. It's the last one which has enabled VW to set up Scout as its new North American EV SUV and pick-up division.

A lot of people forget that VW makes more than just cars.

What makes me laugh is how the Chinese are repeating so many of the mistakes that the likes Stellantis and GM have made over the years, by way of launching a whole raft of sub-brands that overlap each other, only with way more retarded names.

Geely had the sense to buy a few established brands (Volvo, Polestar, Smart, Lotus, Proton), but they also cooked up a whole bunch of their own stupid sounding shit like Zeekr, Farizon and Lynk&Co. The last three sound more like AliExpress watch brands than automakers.

Chery's list of marques is 100% their own creation. Could you really drive a Jaecoo, which is a portmentau of the German word Jäger (meaning 'hunter') and the English word 'cool', without a paper bag over your head? At least the Chery Tiggo is mildly amusing, because it rhymes with "hairy niggo".

I guess it's better than Exeed, Luxeed, Jetour, iCaur, or Riich.

Omoda sounds vaguely Japanese, and imo is the least worst brand name Chery has come up with so far. I'll give them a pass on that one.

I remember a few years ago when I noticed the Maserati I was in had the exact same window buttons as my friends Jeep.

The Ghibli? That's just a Chrysler 300 that's been squeezed into an ill-fitting Zegna suit.

 

[Myrtle the Turtle]

Chicken and egg argument. I don't think people are getting them replaced because of price and complexity. Any of the new LED headlights are more fickle and expensive. With bulbs, one could go out and you could replace them individually and not the whole light assembly like LEDs so people put off replacing them because its a $300 sensor and light suite versus a $20 bulb from RockAuto. In some cases these giant light bars shatter or you need unique pry bar tools to replace the damn thing. Best just to leave it broken when the dealer quotes $900 to replace a light and you can't do it yourself.

As for reliability, Im not sure. Modern cars are so sensitive to any voltage and electrical spikes, plus moisture can come and kill your car. Spilling a drink can brick a Benz because they shoved CAN bus under the seat like retards.

The Obama-Biden CAFE standards where more environmentally destructive than they could have imagined because it introduced a plethora of disposable parts and plastic components because any weight reduction would help with fuel efficiently. Cars just needed to last for the term of the lease or whenever the warranty expired and companies were in the clear.

Same with oil. Supposedly 10,000 mile cycles would mean less oil consumption which would be better for the planet, but it lead to a fuck ton of destroyed engines, parts and premature wear. I always change mine at 5000-7500 miles. A great example of this is the GM V8s that originally ran on 5W30 but then were switched to 0W20!! same with the 3.6 Pentastar. Early Jeeps had 5W30, now its the 0W20 thin oil. The reason was that the 0W20 would be slightly less resistant and allow the engine to get 3% more fuel efficiency even though the wear would cause total failure and ultimately a disposable engine. The 10,000 mile intervals were way too long and allowed sludge and deposits to build up so more wear and waste for short term gain of 1-2 mpg in optimal conditions and a few gallons less of oil. Horrible horrible foresight.

I would not touch most cars from 2020-today because in addition to all the spyware, fragile technology and lack of repairability, their engines and drivetrains have neglect and abuse baked in because of the manufactures own maintenance cycles for muh environment. No one believes in lifetime transmission oil, lifetime transfer case fluid. You have to replace that stuff and properly maintain it otherwise it goes to shit which is why you see cars being more disposable than ever today.

The Ghibli? That's just a Chrysler 300 that's been squeezed into an ill-fitting Zegna suit.

At least the engine is a finished Ferrari V6. Granted the rough block comes from the Michigan plant, but meh. Its a fun car to drive, sounds nice, but was massively overpriced. I would call it a value buy if you afford a drivetrain overhaul. Preventative maintenance is cheap.

 

[Cyberpunk Meta]

Stellantis is what happens when a committee gets together and decides the best way to polish a bunch of small turds is to compress them into one great big giant turd. It didn't work for the Brits in the '70s, and it sure isn't working for the Italians today.

Except this isn’t true. The Italian auto industry was centralized under FIAT for the most part. Fiat owned Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Ferrari (until recently), Iveco (until recently), Lancia, Abarth, Autobianchi (in partnership with Bianchi bicycles), and also they purchased Chrysler and under Marchione, made it profitable in the 2010s again.

Quality control was always their Achilles heel, but profits is what mattered in the end. Sergio made FiatChrysler profitable. Their biggest problem by the early 2020s was their lag in EV development. Stellantis was a merger that happened to get Groupe PSA’s EV tech, and considering the cratering sales of EVs recently (overpriced, oversaturated market that the Chinese are capturing at a rapid and more efficient pace), the merger in retrospect is retarded.

The Agnelli family basically own most of the Italian auto industry still, save for Lamborghini which is owned by the Germans under Audi/Volkswagen, DeTomaso which is a boutique firm owned by the Chinese, Ferrari which spun off and has high valuation due to prestigious brand equity & Iveco, which the Indians are in the process of buying.

It’s funny, because Stellantis only benefitted the Italians and Americans in the end. John Elkann, who’s half Jewish and half Italian (his mom is an Agnelli) has significant control over Stellantis & the global headquarters are technically in Chrysler’s own Auburn Hills, Michigan building. Netherlands is just there for ease of doing business but real decisions are down in America.

So Fiat & Chrysler win? Peugeot and Citroen aren’t doing too hot these days and neither are GM’s disposed brands like Vauxhall & Opel. Also Antonio Filosa is focusing on the American operations because the market in the U.S. is larger, and Jeep/RAM pays the bills. Dodge and Chrysler are receiving new models in the next three years & one of Chrysler’s models are rebadged Fiats. They’re made to be affordable now. Minivan sales are also up, and Chrysler is leading that segment.

Part of me thinks Stellantis might divest and sell off Maserati (since it overlaps with Alfa Romeo, their mainstream luxury brand). As for who’ll buy it, my guess are the Chinese. For all that’s worth, the Chinese have saved Volvo from doom and they’re already partnered with Stellantis in EV tech in Europe (Leapmotor). Who knows. Car industry today is very globalized

 

[Myrtle the Turtle]

New 2027 3-Series. I remember a time when the 3-Series was every high schoolers dream car that turned heads. Now I would laugh and call you a faggot if you bought one. The new one is objectively worse than the new one. Look at the body lines on the 2017. Now compare how smooth it is to 2027. It saves money but makes you car look so cheap. The Kia K5 has at least has handles and better lines. I want a drivers car, not a generic Tesla.

 

[Thiletonomics]

What makes me laugh is how the Chinese are repeating so many of the mistakes that the likes Stellantis and GM have made over the years, by way of launching a whole raft of sub-brands that overlap each other, only with way more retarded names.

Geely had the sense to buy a few established brands (Volvo, Polestar, Smart, Lotus, Proton), but they also cooked up a whole bunch of their own stupid sounding shit like Zeekr, Farizon and Lynk&Co. The last three sound more like AliExpress watch brands than automakers.

Chery's list of marques is 100% their own creation. Could you really drive a Jaecoo, which is a portmentau of the German word Jäger (meaning 'hunter') and the English word 'cool', without a paper bag over your head? At least the Chery Tiggo is mildly amusing, because it rhymes with "hairy niggo".

I guess it's better than Exeed, Luxeed, Jetour, iCaur, or Riich.

Even China's leading brand BYD is guilty of making excessive brands. There's the BYD mainstream brand, the Fang Cheng Bao brand that was originally for their SUVs but they also added a liftback/wagon, Denza is their mainstream luxury brand ala Audi/BMW/Mercedes-Benz, Yangwang is their ultra-high luxury/performance ala Ferrari/Lamborghini/Bentley (but with almost no prestige to it), and they recently created the Linghui brand exclusively for ridesharing cars.

And Chinese brands even cannibalize their own brand's sales by making multiple versions of the same car. BYD's large sedan is called the Han, as part of it's "Dynasty series" of cars that are named after Chinese Dynasties. But then they also added the Great Han, and now they added the Da Han, so there's 3 versions of the BYD Han sedan.

 

[Pee Cola]

View attachment 9677563 View attachment 9677580
New 2027 3-Series. I remember a time when the 3-Series was every high schoolers dream car that turned heads. Now I would laugh and call you a faggot if you bought one. The new one is objectively worse than the new one. Look at the body lines on the 2017. Now compare how smooth it is to 2027. It saves money but makes you car look so cheap. The Kia K5 has at least has handles and better lines. I want a drivers car, not a generic Tesla.
View attachment 9677572 View attachment 9677579

The more new models BMW release, the more I miss Chris Bangle.

 

[Turbo Sperg]

Stellantis is what happens when a committee gets together and decides the best way to polish a bunch of small turds is to compress them into one great big giant turd. It didn't work for the Brits in the '70s, and it sure isn't working for the Italians today.

BL is more like rolling a giant turd over a nice steak. It does't improve the turd it just ruins the steak. The Labour run British government in the late 60's though it'd be a swell idea to pair up Leyland, the truck manufacturer who also owned Rover and Triumph, with Britsh Motor Holdings, who owned Austin, Morris, MG, Jaguar and other brands. Leyland and its car brands were doing well. BMH was not. It was by far the higher volume of the two but it was struggling. It's one of many stories from 20th century British industry where the government should've left well alone but no it just couldn't.

So Fiat & Chrysler win? Peugeot and Citroen aren’t doing too hot these days and neither are GM’s disposed brands like Vauxhall & Opel.

I saw a video about Stellantis recently, chiefly the Puretech engine, which is a PSA design originally. When they merged, Fiat had a similar sized engine called the firefly, and apparently Stellantis wanted to develop the Puretech more and leave the Firefly to the side. Then they had a change of CEO. The former CEO, Carlos Tavares, was born in Portugal but had strong ties to France (he was also the guy trying to kill the Hemi), The new CEO Antonio Filosa is Italian. When the new CEO came in, the priorities changed, the Firefly was bought to the fore and developed more, while the Puretech was apparently sidelined, with the result being the former PSA engine plant in Douvrin, France being closed down.

All this makes me wonder what sort of internal national factions are in Stellantis, trying to pull things one way or another. It is similar to BL in that respect, where the workers had more loyalty to their respective brands than the conglomerate as a whole.