It really varied from mfr to mfr. A lot of Hondas have gone will over 200K with minimal trouble, as long as you changed the timing belt. If you forgot, you'd have to get a new engine and hope that you had a competent mechanic put it back together. Isuzus weren't so good. Toyotas from the late 70s would decompose when exposed to road salt. But if kept in California, they'd run forever.

Go to allpar and read about problems that started at Chrysler in the mid 90s when the accountants took over. My brother has had a lot of durability problems with his '98 Stratus (the '98 Camaro is a lot more solid <knock wood>). A lot of the problems with the Stratus would not have been problems if Chrysler had spent another 25 cents in the first place. Of course, they were trying to compete with Hondas built with cheaper labor.

 

You're in a small minority. Go buy a tata nano

My A/C didn't work in the Probe (refrigerant leak, and it's only hot a couple months in MI so wasn't worth it to get it fixed), so the reach over to the passenger window crank was a long one, especially with my seatbelt on.

And my door lock cylinder was rusted, sometimes it wouldn't budge when I went to unlock it. Bent a key twice trying to unlock it on various occasions. It's also frustrating when you have stuff in your hands when you're walking up to your car.

I'll gladly take the what, 10-15lb increase in weight for creature comforts that I use every time I drive the car.

 

Many of the options that were expensive and heavy back in 1970 are no longer so. A/C used to add over 100 pounds to the front end of the car. Electric motors were bulky, heavy, and not too reliable. They're much smaller and cheaper now. That's why power windows, mirrors, and door locks are in cheap cars now, whereas they were a luxury option back in 1970. I'm guessing that by 2020, nav will be as common as power windows are today (as common as power seats, at least).

 

While they may have gotten lighter (more reliable is questionable for some of those items) I suspect that the reason that former luxury options are now considered basic equipment in most cars today, even entry level cars, is that people want them.

Most people don't really care how much a car weighs and would still want air conditioning whether it added 10 pounds or 110 pounds.

 

I agree that the end consumer doesn't care about the weight, but the car company does. The end consumer does care about the cost. Would you buy A/C if it added $2500 to the price of the car?

 

Somebody should introduce a 3-wheeled 2-seater enclosed cab motorcyle. 60mpg, small, lightweight, and cheap.

Might be suprised how many you might sell. I would drive one back and forth to work. I would drive a motorcycle if I wouldn't freeze my *** off in 10deg weather.

Although, 90% of the people out there wouldn't feel safe in a vehicle like this.

Then have a Camaro, SUV, or "insert big *** expensive vehicle here" for family hauling, pleasure, etc...

 

I don't know...I probably wouldn't spend that much but I also can't imagine buying any car today without A/C even if it was only available at a premium price.

I grew up in a house without central heat or central A/C but I wouldn't buy a house today without a central HVAC unit.

 

I've been crying about weight for years, why does every update need to be larger and heavier then the previous? I think the manufactures are nuts to assume that every american demands a larger vehicle every time they go shopping.

My mom had a Jetta, then bought a Passat, now that the Passat and Jetta have grown I think she will go back to the Jetta next time. Did VW plan on that?

The new Camaro's weight bothers me. When GM updated the Tahoe from the GMT 800- 900 it gained over 500 lbs!!! Where? I know the updated model is MUCH nicer, but it comes at a cost and especially in the fuel economy department.


I'm more and more convinced that my next sports car is a Corvette C6, it's one of the few vehicles that has it's weight in check and actually got a bit smaller when it was re-designed