It happens even more often than you think.
It seems like this has been a popular topic of conversation recently, where more and more people feel that the quality of today’s cars is decreasing, especially for cars in the early 2000s, as if today’s cars are like disposable items that have to be thrown away when their useful life has passed.
And that’s not wrong either; most modern cars are like that, and their lifespan is getting shorter, especially for sophisticated cars with lots of electronic devices.
Cars in the '60s or '80s can last forever, especially those that use carburetors. You all know that there are lots of classic vehicles that still function even with minimal maintenance.
If there is damage, someone can “fix those with a hammer,” and there is nothing that can make things even more difficult, especially the engine; everything is visible and can be accessed easily.
New cars are not that easy; there are a lot of plastic covers that have to be removed to reach a part, so in some ways, it makes it difficult for those who want to tinker with the engine. Indeed, some opinions say that this happens because newer cars do not require as much routine maintenance as classic ones, and that’s true.
Now, it’s very rare for cars to have the ignition point or valves adjusted periodically; perhaps the valves still exist and many cars have to be adjusted periodically, but in general, the intervals are getting longer and not as often as before.
There are two opinions on this issue. Some feel it is not necessary because one cannot tinker with his vehicle easily, but on the other side, there is some truth. Now you need more than 20 minutes for light work like changing the air filter or spark plugs because of the increasing number of plastic covers, which is annoying, but some argue that this doesn’t need to be done because the lifespan of parts for each vehicle is increasing, so this kind of DIY doesn’t need to be done often.
In my experience, spark plugs on carburetor cars usually last up to 10,000–15,000 km before finally having to be replaced or cleaned, while on today’s cars, spark plugs can reach 2-3 times that distance because the fuel injection system burns cleaner than the carburetor and engine part tolerances are getting tighter. So service intervals are decreasing; gone are the days when valves had to be adjusted every 10,000 km; sometimes in some cars, the valves don’t need to be adjusted until 30,000 km or more, especially for vehicles with valve shim systems. Technology makes vehicle service intervals longer, unlike before.
But everything has consequences. The more sophisticated your vehicle’s engine is, the more difficult it is for you to tinker with the engine yourself. The repair shop will have the power because of that, and you will no longer be able to or will have difficulty tuning your car. can do many things with the vehicle, but the same thing will not happen in today’s era; you need a computer for that because the vehicle’s computer system is increasingly complex.
Gone are the days when you could tinker with your vehicle easily; common tuning now requires a computer or at least an ECU scanner to read existing faults. Indeed, in some ways, this makes it easier for you to find problems with the vehicle, but not everyone can use it, and the reality is that dealing with sensors and computerized systems makes things harder to do by ourselves.
So yeah, it seems like we are “required” to replace our vehicles when they break down, and the EV era doesn’t make things any better. Over time, vehicles become objects that are used up and can no longer be repaired like before. Hopefully, in the future, there will be companies that are against this.
