When/why we need x-member bracing

[list@cemetery.homeunix.org (Andrew Basterfield)]

On Wed, 5 Mar 2003 04:54:22 -0800
"Rabbit16v" <Rabbit16v@attbi.com> wrote:
> I think the cars have gotten better as far as crash tests are
> concerned but better overall??  I think not.  If so then why are the
> insurance companies constantly raising the point at which a car is
> totalled?  Cause they know the quality is going down and it isn't
> worth fixing a car that they will be liable for.

NO. Because, through politics, cars are cheaper when they are brand new
these days and so they get scrapped earlier/easier. When I got my first
car it cost me =A3500 ten years ago, it was a complete basket case but
that was the going rate. Because it was worth =A3500 it was worth spendin=
g
a few hundred on it in bits to keep it going. A vehicle in the same
condition in todays market would cost approx 20% of that, it's hardly
worth buying a set of tyres for...

The government wants old cars off the road. They are dirty, more likely
to kill someone and use more fuel. So they make new cars cheaper and it
has a knock-on effect all the way down to the salvage yards.

> I also disagree with
> the statement that the 70's cars were as bad as you describe them.=20
> Rust, sure, but now with all the undercoatings you could probably
> reproduce a 70's car with the rustproofing of today and have it last
> longer than a new car.

In the 70's there was a lot of problems with labour and steel and oil.
These factors do not go together to make good cars.

> The reason why things have changed so drastically is that the
> government put so many restrictions on automobiles so the
> manufacturers had to make them lighter and more efficient.

Lighter and more efficient is a good thing. You're in the USA right?
Welcome to the 21st century. Leave the Cadillac at the salvage yard.

>  I think we
> are just now starting to recover from that and produce some pretty
> serious hp cars again.  BUT, the sad thing is that most of those cars
> are imports!  I still haven't seen a domestic car that I felt I had to
> have!

OK I'm not on the same continent. BMW Z3 is nice (not the hatch, yuck,
the cabrio, and you can get it with the 320bhp M3 engine), Audi TT,
Porche make some fine automobiles...

> > There has also been a _little bit_ of inflation in the last 25
> > years, that 400% isn't all profit.
>=20
> Granted but there are huge loop holes there.  Once the design process
> is completed companies line up at your door to do business with you
> and for the most part especially these days (sad to say) the cheapest
> usually wins out.

As a manufacturer you produce a spec, the cheapest quote to meet the
spec wins. You can still build quality automobiles this way, but it's
the manufacturer's responsibility to set the spec high enough, and do
enough QC to make sure the spec is being adhered to. At the end of the
day everyone has to compete or go out of business.

> We also didn't have near as many ties to other
> countries as we do now or the technology to create manufacturing
> materials (metals/plastics/etc) as cheaply as we do now so I would say
> a LOT of that goes into profit.

Cars cost less in real terms these days. If you want hard figures look
at the profit/loss statement returned by the company every year.

> > I think with the strength of the German economy they can afford to
> > have wider margins.
>=20
> Have you checked into the German economy lately?  It is rather
> volitile since it is a country the size of Oregon and something like
> the Berlin wall coming down or creating the Euro dollar can and was
> rather devistating.

VW is now pumping out Skoda's with top-notch VW build quality in East
Germany. BMW owns Rover (or at least a stake in it somewhere) as they
are churning out the new mini in BMW showrooms. Mercedes Benz is the
ultimate status symbol in former Communist states.

Believe me, the German's are doing OK.

--Andrew