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I think car design peaked in the 90's when it was just tech enough to be efficient but simple enough to be fixed in your backyard!!

My first car was a 1978 Volvo, I sold it to a guy who's still driving it and constantly reminds me he's never had to repair it beyond annual servicing. Over 600,000 km, no critical failure. It still stings.

My friend worked as a mechanic at Audi dealership, once a year engineers from Germany would come and brief them about next years models, they also told them what is going to break and how to fix it

Every time I meet a mechanical-automotive engineer I ask them about electric cars, and every time the reply is "if you want to be sustainable, buy a second hand petrol or diesel".

Old cars are not necessarily more reliable, but they are easier to fix when they break down.

From working in the industry my entire adult life, planned obsolescence is a real thing. They don't even build them good enough to survive the warranty period anymore.

I've been working on cars for 40 years. The single biggest improvement that took cars from being junk at 100k and lasting well over 200k is the improvement in motor oil. Oil is refined so well now and so many contaminants are removed that sludging is no longer a major issue. I drive cars that are over 50 years old, and as long as you rebuild the engine with improvements to the valves so they can run on unleaded gas, the old engines can last far longer than 100k. The other thing is expense. Fixing my old cars is fairly easy with inexpensive parts. Newer cars with several computers have a ton of sensors that all fail frequently and can cost a fortune to replace. Safety is certainly better with newer cars. One of mine was manufactured without seatbelts as they were not required at the time. It all depends what you want. As far as sustainability, my cars do emit more pollutants, but just the manufacturing process to make a new car produces more pollutants than mine will emit over the lifespan of that new car. If you're interested in sustainability, buy and drive an old car. They are already here and almost all of it is recyclable. New cars are half non recyclable plastic. Electric cars are the worst. It's cheaper to buy a new battery than it is to recycle the old one. And none of those elements are removed from the earth cleanly.

Modern plastics can be better than metal for some applications, making cars lighter and more efficient. The problem is when they start using them where they're not supposed to. My car's emission system was failing because a mechanical link made of plastic wore down and would become loose and fall. For a few years, there was no replacement for this part so you would have to hold the thing using your ingenuity and maybe some wire to keep it in place otherwise you would need to change the whole intake manifold at a minimum cost of $1500. The aftermarket now sells an upgraded version of this part for $15. What kind of engineer would approve plastic for applications subjected to friction in a car?! and why in the world the car maker wouldn't offer a replacement when it was so obvious that the thing would fail sooner than later?

As a person who served an apprenticeship in a general car garage, I was a lot happier when old cars pulled in and I could leave my laptop and sanity in the top drawer

maintaining and keeping your old car is more enviromentally friendly than buying a new one.

Not only did you give the only correct answer to the questions, you even pointed out many of the biggest problems that are going on in the world. You started so many different arguments but a single video about car companies not enough to finish all of them. We need more people like you in this society.

Still driving my 1989 GMC Sierra Truck...I just rebuilt the transmission on the picnic table for $240. Borg Warner parts. Boring Farm truck but keeps on running and saving me money. $98,000. for a new truck. The old trucks are simple to fix.

"Who would make a thermostat housing out of plastic..?" An ACCOUNTANT, that who....

As an engineer, machinist and automotive technician I can tell you with absolute certainty car manufacturers are evil!!!!😾

My father was a mechanical engineer for GE. He retired in the mid '80's. He designed locomotives and giant mine trucks. The engineers were constantly at odds with the bean counters for designing it too well. They then would be told to "fix it.".

You need to understand that before engineers did NOT have the tools and simulators they have today, so most if not all cars were basically over-engineered. Nowadays, we can simulate wear down to the hour, so when a cost-cut is searched for, wear is in the shortlist. Yes, it is planned.

Caption should read 'built to be owned' vs 'built to be leased'

I must be in a small minority, everything I own I keep until I can no longer fix it.

I recently had my daily drive, a 1976 Bmw E21, rear ended: rear metal bumper bent. Car body shop guy ordered a new bumper and was left flattened when found out that it would cost about 1/4 of the amount he has to pay for those new plastic bumpers, and bear in mind that the first is a bar of pressed and chromed steel, the latter is a piece of plastic. More generally, my old car has really very few parts that could break (timing: double chain, no AC, no power steering, no electric windows, no sensor etc etc etc) so, given its annual servicing, it's pretty unbreakable.

I think you nailed it with the enthusiast owned vehicle comment. While you do see the occasional economy car from the 90s, most are dead because they were driven to the ground. The ones that do persist are owned by either enthusiasts or outliers. My mom owned a Toyota corolla from 98, that thing did make it to 200k miles, but it had been slowly dying, until finally it was pretty much a gonner. If you browse around car listings for cars from the 2000s and even early 2010s, you will see lots of vehicles for sale with nearly 200k miles. So its not like these cars cant make it, just that they are becoming more complex, and more parts = more chance for failure. If you think back on a 90s base model civic, crank windows, a radio, manual transmission, and a fairly simple engine. Not much to fail there.

Planned obsolescence is NOT (necessarily) cutting manufacturing costs by using cheap parts. It is an ARTIFICIAL and DELIBERATE shortening of a lifespan of a product to FORCE people to purchase a replacement. Planned obsolescence often does not reduce manufacturing costs at all.

The use of plastics throughout the engine compartment results in failures of parts that may cost a few dollars to manufacture, but often cost thousands of dollars in labor to replace. Worse yet, many plastics gets brittle with age, so when servicing engines, stuff that wasn’t broken often gets cracked during the disassembly process.

I love old cars. Something about being able to fix your metal machine with your own hands without getting lost in 100 electrical components and sensors. They really did make em different, we'll never see those times again.

This is one if the nest channels on UKposts. Love the factual, well presented information.

This is not new, just more pervasive and precise. 25 years ago, one of my engineering school professors told us a story: as a fresh engineering graduate (perhaps 50 years ago at this point), he applied for a job with a US auto manufacturer "whose name we would recognize". During the interview, they handed him a drawing for an engine coolant pump. They asked him how he would change the design to preserve functionality, but reduce lifespan. He decided that he did not want to work for the automotive industry.

I own a car parts store and we had a appointment with a big company that manufactures car parts and they told us that newer model cars have a shortened life span so they break easier, and seeing the build quality and problems of new cars the answer for this video is a big YES.

Must say that I am impressed with your reasoning and knowledge around cars and in general. All in all: bravo majstore!

It is a very well-made and informative video!

Well, there's less points of failure in an older car...so yeah, higher chance of reliability, in general. Incidentally I had a TV that died 1 day after its year long warranty...literally the day after the warranty expired. Creepy.

I like the old auto owners manuals that told you how to lap the valves vs todays owners manuals tell you not to drink the fluids!

Excellent video - I agree with all of this. Not only are modern cars now made from cheap unsuitable materials like the Mini's thermostat housing but the proliferation of electronics in them is also a blatant form of inbuilt obsolescence. I have heard of countless instances where car electronics have failed suddenly and inexplicably and no one seems to be able to fix them - especially the dealers who just don't seem to be trained to cope. So many cars with perfect bodies, mechanics and interiors then go to the scrap yard. As you say, it's no good trying to claim that they are then sustainably recycled; it still takes a huge amount of energy to re-use materials, especially metals, so the most environmentally sound solution is to keep existing cars going as long as possible. Not something the manufacturers want to hear of course. They should be changing their business models to restore and update existing cars rather than build new ones. I believe Renault is beginning to think this way. However, you are so right about the silly snobbery about having a new(er) car - remember the nonsense in the UK over the annual change in year letter on the number plate?

My 2001 LeSabre has 333,000 miles on it and i don't plan on getting rid of her, she's one of the most reliable cars I've ever owned and I've only ever owned American vehicles in my 40 plus years of driving.

"As a civilization we are still in the stage where we believe that the material things someone owns can increase their status in society and their value as a human being." Well said.

This video is not about cars. this is about life. Sustainability is yours, mine and our governments choice! Well done sir!!

My 25 year old Mazda MX5 or Miata in the US, has never let me down in the twelve years I've owned it.

When i sold my NB mx5 2 guys came in an NA with 940.000km. i bought the NB not because i needed it, it was a fun car for me and i only drove it hard for 5 years and never had any problems with it. when i got a job where they offered me a vw golf 7 i didn't see much financial sense in paying for the mx5 when i could drive a new car for free so i sold my car and oh boy was it a mistake, that golf was so often gone for repairs i can't even count it, after that i drove many other cars in the company and i have to say looking back the MX5 was the most reliable and the most fun car i ever owned. i wish i still had it.

As a BMW owner, I can confirm the problems with plastic cooling systems. Seeing a puddle under my car is normal for me and I'm not even exaggerating

The "Intelligent Consumer" is a myth.

Volvo stated that cars of other manufacturers would last for a decade, while their cars would last for a century.💪🇸🇪 So far they have kept their word about their reliability and timeles look.😎

Superb material, thank you for a voice of reason!

I've been a mechanic for twenty years. Newer cars have way more problems then the older ones. Nearly every job is heaps harder then it used to be and major repairs are extremely common. Just this year I have already changed engines or had to do head gaskets on more then two dozen cars that are less then 15 years old. My ute is 20 years old and nothing ever goes wrong with it. Except your usual wear like tyres and brakes.

Cars peaked in the 90s. Tech was fairly advanced, but regulations where not insurmountable and people bought to repair instead of replace.

New cars have fewer initial quality problems but once they get to the point where they do start having problems, the problems are typically much more severe and expensive to fix. I'd rather have more frequent small and easy to fix issues you'd find in a '60s or '70s car than no issues for 100K miles then BAM! Years of cylinder deactivation has eaten the lifters, tons of under hood plastic components start disintegrating, turbo wastegates start failing, carbon buildup from the direct injection is gumming up the valves, rubber oil pump belts dissolve and the CVT has destroyed its belt. The '80s and '90s cars as you said are optimal and really give you the best of both worlds. They were available with all the basic modern amenities (cruise, AC, power locks/windows, remote entry) while being simple enough to go for years without any major repair needed once you get one sorted. If its a vehicle with a powertrain that has historically had broad aftermarket support, parts are cheap to the point that its way more worth it to keep these older rigs on the road than to buy an absurdly overpriced new vehicle for 50K.

I think people more so tend to replace their cars early first because their needs change but then secondly because they expect it to develop some catastrophic problem and an expensive repair bill. Phone manufacturers actually do actively sabotage user's older model phones by designing parts that can't be replaced (like the battery in your phone), adding software updates that intentionally slow your phone down, and then fighting 3rd party repair and "right-to-repair" laws.

If anyone starts a service where 3d printed metal parts can replace all the plastic crap in the engine, he'll make a killing.

The incentive to build more robust cars is brand image and residual value, it's worked so well Toyota is the largest automaker in the world.

Buddy, your vids are so good, you are a real gem on youtube, so I would not "dispose" my subscription any time soon. lol Honestly, you are outstanding. Sorry for my excessive fanboying here, but you deserve it.

EXACTLY !!!! This dude is nailing the issue directly on the head . Manufacturers do social engineering studies so they understand that around 7 to 8 years is the limitation for what is considered a long lasting household product. This pertains to anything that you use whether it be an automobile, a dishwasher, washer dryer set, lamp, computer, cell phone, coffee mug , or a pillow . That is to say, the product last eight years, from the perspective of the consumer is understood as a quality product. If it lasts less than seven years, it is seen as an inferior product and a reflection on the brand. This indepth use of psychology along with computer simulations and statistical analysis allows all of the products that have purchased and are in your home right now to have very accurately determined lifespans. By the way, get used to it, AI will make things even worse.

"plastic valve covers, plastic intake manifolds, plastic thermostat housings" my poor little M54 would be very offended if it were running

My best car was a 1978 Mercedes 300D. That car was a tank. A comfortable tank. It was not very quick, but it got 28mpg in all situations. At that time, diesel fuel was about $.50/gal. It required very little maintenance but when it did have to go to the shop it was expensive. It was my first Mercedes, and I put quite a few miles on it, and it could have gone many more, but California decided to deoxygenate diesel fuel. They didn't research it, and it washed down the cylinder walls, causing the motor to lose compression. It never started again. The state offered a $500 settlement to replace a $12,000 motor. I've had several Mercedes since then but that one was the best

Such a good and insightful video!!

your graphics and photos / displays are the best. Great communication skill.

If they could,they just gonna make pistons out of plastic too.

Old cars are more simple. Give me a socket set and a late 80’s Mercedes and it’ll outlive my great-great-great grandchildren

Bought an 03 Volvo outright back in November and now it’s almost at 200,000 miles. Within that time I had to get a new Cat and now my heater core burst today but I still want to fix and keep it running forever if I can. It’s still really solid and I don’t want a car payment

What makes sense to me, is that this is a type of survivor bias. The old cars we see today, are the ones that were taken good care of.

As an owner of that old Mercedes (80s 300D) used in this video's comparison (along with many other cars from different manufacturers) I can assure you they are the most well built, reliable and useful cars ever constructed. I still drive mine daily happily communting to work, hauling kids around and towing a loaded trailer all while nearing 400k miles with a completely orginal drive train...

“Endless money pits!” Scotty Kilmer.

brilliant presentation, thanks!

i do not necessarily agree with everything you in this video, but i really liked it! you've mentioned a lot of great points, we need to be talking and thinking about this stuff more as a species

It's not about what breaks first. It's about what obstacles they put in fixing it.

Great Video: As an engineer I can confirm that Planned obsolescence is '' fact'' in most manufacturing and in particular in the automotive industry. I have a Mercedes W123 1984 . Easy to work on not that much goes wrong. High quality materials used with longevity at design. My modern Mercedes is a minefield of hightech component failures! Same manufacturer but change in design strategy/ philosophy ! Certainly don't make them like they used to.

You sum up our world of consumerism incredibly well! Also it has been a major topic for decades but it is getting worse year on year despite the constant chatter from everyone in society from all levels of social structure about upcycling, repurposing and bring green, it really is all smoke and mirrors and we are all drawn inexorably down the same path. Very, very good video.

this video is just gold. good informative video

“Electric cars will do nothing for sustainabilty.” Few people seem to understand this and I'm glad you pointed it out. Apart from your ability to explain engineering concepts very well, you are also spot on with your observation about societal, political and enviromental issues. I really like your work. Keep it coming!

I bought a gorgeous Orange Mazda MX5 NB, I call her Clementine (because orange). She's got 100000 miles on it, and both an engineer and 3 mechanics said her engine is in an amazing condition for a 22 year old car with 9 previous owners. I drive by so many broken down cars (15 years or younger) and I keep thinking when will it be my turn, but this video made me feel better. All she had replaced so far was the drive assist belt and the original 22 year old alternator. I love Clementine, I never want to get rid of her, she's a perfect image of Japanese 90's design, when engineers used to made cars, not marketing departments.

Thank you very much for spending the time to discuss this needed topic, and unfold many of the layers required to make a constructive answer. A great and instructive video once again. One point to add my 2cents for once. I agree that, collectively, price and look seem to weigh more than sustainability in people choices and I fear "total costs/lifespan" isn't a common reflex of the buyer anymore, car among others... But I think (or wish) it is too easy to put the responsibility only on the consumer choice. Fairphone, to follow your comparaison, is still on the market and making progress, demand is building up and their tech is definitely getting to a "usable" quality (and not "only" fair like the first model was)... Some competition is even building-up with other brands on this branch of market (it seems some brands do manage to build smartphones lasting 10 years+ I mean)... It is nothing compared to the big brands but, in their defence, I am wondering how much pressure Fairphone gets from those big brands and how easy it is for them to be completely hidden by the incredibly powerful marketing capacities of those big guys... At least there is a beginning of an option for those ready to buy online or leaving in big cities and not ready to get read of this tech.... But for cars, I am a bit shocked that there is not even one option of "sustainable", "lowcost", "lowtech", "repairable" on the market... at least here in EU... Maybe for the better one might think (because cheap car would mean all the "poor" like me would get their own car)?! (But, us "poor" , don't we get 2nd hand cheap bad cars anyway instead, because we don't manage to find alternative without being totally isolated from our surrounding society? The car industry is rich and enormous compared to many others right?! but no model get even close to what I guess would be a sustainable car (says someone out of this business but hopefully not completely unrealistic): 100km/h max (so I don't get crush on the motor way by trucks)... or only 80Km/h to do only small roads (but this often results in many more kms... sometimes pleasant sometimes not). Minimum electronic (manual mirrors, manual windows, forget about all the sensors and get the car checked every X kms or month and give people a check-list pined next to the driving wheel as reminder for routine?!) (from all, keep the lights of course but accessible and, well, is all the fancy looking worth? maybe one buzzer at each corner of the car to avoid damages while parking for tired/lonely drivers, maybe speed control, if it indeed makes great fuel savings, some music/radio is a pleasurable lux I am not ready to give up just yet I must admit... but a small Bluetooth rechargeable box might just do the trick today actually and a 12V/5V ), minimum ventilation options (under the screen, maybe feet too?! m), holes to easily fix a tarp good tar on the screen to protect whiskers from frosts and sun. Speed, oil, rpm (maybe T°) pins. seats I can unscrew or screw back in to put co-passengers and share the car or transport stuff I can't by bike/train/bus). Felt fabric for the noise, lightweight seats, cotton or leather (reparable/cleanable/taking care possible) . Maybe some wood instead of plastic, some titanium bars for light/strength (it is expensive and energy demanding to make but, forever lasting and recyclable if easy to get out and not all mix-up in alloys (would it avoid some more plastic?). Larger diam wheel to reduce suspensions like in bikes or is that engineering wrong compromise? finer wheels to reduce friction and material and wright again (maybe so fin that we could only go 70km/h max the few days of heavy rain (even in rainy countries like north EU, have you noticed how often it was terrible rain when you where driving? Could you have lost 40 minutes that day by driving slower and listening one more podcast meanwhile?!)... accessible parts... and of course, an adapted engin consuming as little as possible and top class filters or even EV but not with all the fancy luxury around it and TV screen... aerodynamic, and paint ideally not too nasty for the earth but even better let people paint some parts so that if it is produced in millions people still appropriate their car to themselves... I don't care about the look but if it makes people keeping it twice longer lets get a few designers on it and let people vote perhaps. We manage to make competition car running thousands of kms/miles on 1 liter... of course the driver is lying down flat on the ground on a stop and go machine but can't we find a nice ground btw typical SUV 8,5l/100Km and those 1L/11 000km!!! With fuel efficiency as priority, not responsiveness, torque or 0 to 100km/X second... most cars are to be useful not fun, spend 30-40 seconds more and start slower and make less noise at each green light perhaps (how much would that gain us)?!. Car are clever human inventions no doubt but keep the "fun" for hobbyist, not for the masses who might find plenty other source of fun IN other word... a beetle car with a new engine... Say 5 models (individual - for the guys far away that won't take co passagers in their work car unpredictable journeys-, utilitarian/family, both coming in countryside mostly long perhaps off-road - and city - mostly short repetitive stop and go--, and heavy duty but that last is probably where this dream car of mine might already exist in some minimalist design)... Dear car makers, get to work, with minimalistic/lowtech mindset and more R&D in engin efficiency/clean and less in adds and look!)... or the biking world will kill you by getting on this market (they started actually) and I maybe I will just stick and support those instead of speaking in vacuum

This is an impressive video. As an engineer I completely agree with you, the amount of resources and carbon emissions that go into producing the factories to manufacture electric cars totally defeats the purpose of their intent. And I’m very worried as after watching this and fully understanding why cars are being made out of plastic I don’t ever plan on buying a new car nor have I ever bought one before. I also can’t see myself buying a newer style of car because the ones I have from the 90s look so much better in my opinion than anything I’ve seen on the market in years.

Government initiatives to remove "old clunkers" from the road on the basis of "efficiency" always piss me off. The energy costs of forming and machining the complex hunk of metal never seems to enter the equation at all. It would be great to be able to compare the amount of CO2 produced during the construction of a car, versus the amount that the car itself would produce during its lifetime.

My 30 year old 7 series: works just fine Friend's 5 year old 7 series: already had an engine change and something craps up every 3 months.

What a great explanation 👏👏👏👏

First video watched of this channel because of YT's recommendation and I didn't expect to be an analysis so deep and anchored in the reality.

I love how much you try to stick to science and facts, rather than to please the people that watch the videos, that is how information should be presented and I'm happy that I can find that here, even if I don't particularly like what I have to hear at times. Keep up the good work, UKposts and social media needs more of this.

Old cars = less technology, less things to break. Simple is better for reliability

Yes, absolutely car manufacturers are making the cars so that they will break after guarantee finishes. I was visiting Mercedes Benz factory in Germany, Bremen it was part of my university partnership program, and the Representative of Mercedes who was giving us the tour told us himself that they almost bankrupted due to the cars not breaking down so they had to reduce the quality of production for everything except S class (I don't remember maybe E as well) and after the recovery period the main change they made is the testing process from testing parts to last at least 5 years to testing so that they will breake after 5 years. So yeah that's why you should avoid cars which are 4-6 years old because it is the highest risk period.

I wouldn't really say it's cost saving to use plastic, it's weight saving to meet ever tightening fuel economy regulations.

The thing that makes manufacturers evil is how they design and control 3rd party production of the plastic assemblies in a way that prevents most of the parts from being bought from any other vendor. Then when they stop supporting said product nobody else can either. This is what right to repair bills aims to correct.

I own a diesel Mercedes from over three decades ago. They were built to last during that era. Reliable. No unnecessary tech. No black-box spying on you. No clumsy infotainment. Smog Exempt. These are far better cars than today’s trash

I drive a 1993 Audi 80. The build quality is insanely good. The vehicle is not too complex, to self-repair most issues. With 30 years, it is a classic car, here in Germany, so taxes and insurance are cheaper. All in all the car is cheap too own and drive, though modern cars use a bit less fuel. Let's see, if my Audi will last 30 more years. I won't buy a modern car, if I don't have to.

This video is spot on. Your best defense is do as much research about your vehicle before purchasing as possible if you want it past its warranty.

I wonder how much survivorship bias also plays a role. I imagine most old cars that broke down all the time had their over the hill moment a long while ago and got scrapped 'cause it cost too much to drive. And cheep bad cars that broke down all the time where less likely to become cherished classics that got kept even when it wasn't economical anymore.

New cars are engineered to be assembled once, as quickly as possible. They are not made to be fixed.

The world just needs to watch more of this channel. TED Needs to take notice. Awesome Video! You win Subscribed! Belled!

I have an old car because when it has small issues I can make temporary fixes, and when it has more severe issues I can diagnose them without a scan tool (although sometimes no scan tool is a downside).. Love my 86 volvo 244. Also, nice mr2.

Before: "Simplify and add lightness." Now: Bloat it with useless gimmicks that will break in 5 years time.

I am 76 and still learning stuff. Thanks

I had to replace the thermostat on my 09' Chevrolet, it was a 10 minutes job and it didn't completely failed but it was stuck open.

OMG. Everyone should watch this video. Confirms everything I have been thinking. Excellent video.

As a tech and auto enthusiast I love using old tech and forcing new software to work on it as well as replacing broken parts. It's also fun and satisfying keeping old vehicles driving, and I wish regular people did so as well, because I think a new car is less of a status symbol than an old one in new condition

I've owned about 15 cars and I can confirm, the newer the car the more problems you have, the costlier the parts, the more time consuming the replacing process. I ended up with a small 1998 BMW as a daily driver and a 1962 Cadillac for the weekend and now I'm happy.

Two things: Regarding the fairphone: People didn't really buy it because of the hardware. It was obsolete from the get go. That was its biggest problem. They were also fairly new and noone really knew due to poor marketing. The other one: Maintenance periods. We used to have 5-10k km oil change cycles. Now we see up to 50k km cycles (seen myself on the current 740d). That alone is a huge deal, especially with direct injection and timing chains. Oil change every 10-15k km and those will last a lot longer. Bonus: IF a manufacturer decided to make sustainable cars, those would be sold plenty of times since that's also a huge reputation thing. Other than that: Really nice video :) Obviously obsolescence is a thing but that's not the only thing.

The sweet spot is about 1995 to 2010. They got the good stuff right like fuel injection, ABS, traction control, airbags, rust is a non-issue almost, a 5 or 6 speed automatic transmission, but didn’t have touch screens and no satellite tracking you.

The ultimate recycling recipe: when you tired of your car or your phone - sell it. Then a person who couldn't buy new would use it. Then another one and another one. I'm a 13th owner of Moskvich Svyatogor (2L, 115 hp, direct injection) and it still runs good and only needs a floor repair. Which I almost done. Things doesn't need to be recycled until they obsolete.

Our 1972 model Volvo 145 station wagon - and its engine, drove well for more than 496 000 kilometers - we had it from 1980-1987. It worked flawlessly and we sold it on to a guy who drove it close to an additional 100 000 kilometers or more.

I drive a 1996 chrysler sebring. A car that 90s owners warned you away from for "issues". Those issues have been nothing compared to all my friends and family newer cars. There's a problem when I'm picking fam up from the dealership for the 3rd time in 2 months because your new car still doesn't work. Picking you up in a beat up, sun damaged 96" sebring that runs like a top.

We have to specilize: live closer to your workplace, driving alone in big city mostly? Buy Prius. Driving on highway a lot of miles? Drive diesel. Taking your rear end and lunch box with you to work every day? Buy small car. If you go to Denver, take a train! Simple, eh?

I saw a video titled "how much sawdust can you put in a cookie before you notice" that kinda sums up planned obsolescence. Just how far can you push things before people start to notice. I get that people want to buy the best product and the one that will last the longest etc. but the problem comes when people don't know they are being ripped off. I think companies just need to be honest about expected lifespans of parts. Also what you mentioned in the video, people need to stop consuming so much like a new phone every year, I doubt it will bode well for the future

I have a (very) old paperback from the early fifties that talks about planned obsolescence, and it's role in generating repeat sales. It was very straightforward that the target lifespan for an American automobile, was 100,000 miles. In the sixties & seventies people were so fed up with cars that were intended to be junk from their manufacturing. That's when foreign auto manufacturers started shipping to the U. S., people dumped the "Big Three" and bought foreign. The big three had to start building better cars to compete, or sooner or later they would go out of business. Competition is a beautiful thing.

I've watched so many of your videos but couldn't crack the accent. your mini has brought an end to that mystery.