Range device
I had mine disabled in the tune even though my M7 would never be put in ECO mode anyway> Good day all.
Drifting
Joined: Jul 2016
Posts: 1,902
Likes: 1,164
From: Keswick, Virginia
According to THIS article, "You want, you got". CAFE doesn't line the execs up against the wall and shoot them. It just taxes the manufacturer.
Truth is, you don't want to hold onto it indefinitely. You wanted the shiny things that come out each year. Don't tell me Wal*Mart sells crap and you would be willing to pay more for better quality. Tell them by buying the higher quality products. Don't tell me you want better in flight service but yet spring for the cheap discount air fare carriers. Don't tell me you want to eat healthy and I see you inhaling 2 Supersized Big Macs. As to replacement costs, have they really gone up? How long ago was it when McDonald's paid $5 an hour? Today, I just saw a banner for $17. I believe someone showed me the calculation that back in the 60s, a Corvette was "cheaper" in terms of sticker price. OTOH, when you consider inflation, it isn't that much different.
You want "Whiz Bang" stuff every couple of years, you want it to last forever. I don't know if that is possible.
I think it will sell to a few people but I don't see people wanting that in general. Make a pile of the old black and white chunky TVs and another pile of the latest flat screen TVs. See which sells better.
You keep blaming the manufacturers for everything you perceive as bad. Do you imagine that the people are just sheep led by the evil cabals? That is a nice thought but I don't think the reality is that simple. I can't sell what you won't buy and if my competition offers it, you will run to him and buy his stuff.
Here is something I learned talking to a company that published song selections for DJs. Popular songs by genre, subgenre and year, etc. People tend to like music around the time of HS graduation, plus or minus 10 years. Your grandpa was stuck in 1946, you are stuck in 1986 and your grandkids are in 2026. 1946 isn't going to make sense to you any more than 1986 would make sense to your grandpa. I try to live in the present which is easier for me because I have zero nostalgia for the past. I realize they are the "good old days" because we look at them with rose colored glasses. My friend's father used to say that the old days were simpler, better, etc, etc. One day, I reminded him that his son was cured from what was an incurable form of cancer due to medical advancements which weren't present a year before he was diagnosed and he got another 20 plus years of his son.
Only if you want the old stuff to have a few newer things but I prefer to get it all new and not have a mix of old and new.
Truth is, you don't want to hold onto it indefinitely. You wanted the shiny things that come out each year. Don't tell me Wal*Mart sells crap and you would be willing to pay more for better quality. Tell them by buying the higher quality products. Don't tell me you want better in flight service but yet spring for the cheap discount air fare carriers. Don't tell me you want to eat healthy and I see you inhaling 2 Supersized Big Macs. As to replacement costs, have they really gone up? How long ago was it when McDonald's paid $5 an hour? Today, I just saw a banner for $17. I believe someone showed me the calculation that back in the 60s, a Corvette was "cheaper" in terms of sticker price. OTOH, when you consider inflation, it isn't that much different.
You want "Whiz Bang" stuff every couple of years, you want it to last forever. I don't know if that is possible.
I think it will sell to a few people but I don't see people wanting that in general. Make a pile of the old black and white chunky TVs and another pile of the latest flat screen TVs. See which sells better.
You keep blaming the manufacturers for everything you perceive as bad. Do you imagine that the people are just sheep led by the evil cabals? That is a nice thought but I don't think the reality is that simple. I can't sell what you won't buy and if my competition offers it, you will run to him and buy his stuff.
Here is something I learned talking to a company that published song selections for DJs. Popular songs by genre, subgenre and year, etc. People tend to like music around the time of HS graduation, plus or minus 10 years. Your grandpa was stuck in 1946, you are stuck in 1986 and your grandkids are in 2026. 1946 isn't going to make sense to you any more than 1986 would make sense to your grandpa. I try to live in the present which is easier for me because I have zero nostalgia for the past. I realize they are the "good old days" because we look at them with rose colored glasses. My friend's father used to say that the old days were simpler, better, etc, etc. One day, I reminded him that his son was cured from what was an incurable form of cancer due to medical advancements which weren't present a year before he was diagnosed and he got another 20 plus years of his son.
Only if you want the old stuff to have a few newer things but I prefer to get it all new and not have a mix of old and new.
The CAFE standards don't necessarily "force" people to buy cars that they don't want - but it is a government-created market distortion that entices auto makers to "offset" certain models with ones people do not prefer or which they must subsidize ones that cause them to lose money.
On some of the other things, there is a micro vs macro aspect to it - and consumers often exhibit a degree of schizophrenia. As far as having the newest whiz bang stuff, sure - we all would rather have a nice new flat screen TV than an old console set with a tube. But in that case, the flat screen costs much less. With cars, the new features are amazing - but sometimes you reach a point where there's a lot of stuff you don't need or want AND it unnecessarily adds to the repair costs to keep it serviceable when you keep it beyond the warranty period. I find that there is a large and growing movement of people who are seeking out pre-2015 vehicles without a lot of the doodads on them. ( Obviously, Corvettes are in a different category and are far less utilitarian than a "normal" car that people choose for a daily driver.) Nothing is expected to last forever, but it is not unreasonable to expect that a brand new vehicle today should run for at least ten to fifteen years and 250,000 with normal maintenance. A 1990s or early 2000s Accord or Camry might need a minor overhaul at 300,000 miles, but nobody wants to pay three grand to have a new touch screen installed - assuming you could still find one after a decade.
We're getting into the weeds, but I think there would be a sizeable market for a "simpler" vehicle with more of the old school basic controls on it. With the average new car transaction pushing $50,000 today, some of the 'no frills' models costing less than half that would sell like hotcakes. Not everybody needs all the gizmos all the time. Maybe I am just getting old - but my 2004 F-150 has power windows & locks, an automatic overdrive transmission where you can still check the fluid, cruise control, AM/FM/CD, air conditioning and fog lights. I don't need power seats, heated steering wheel, sensors and a big touch screen. Yeah - it's cool that you can get those things on a truck - but if that one thing goes wrong, you're dead in the water and no "independent" mechanic can work on it.
I am not a Luddite or anything and my wife's 2025 Camry & our 2026 Mustang GT are amazing vehicles - but I'd love to shave ten grand off the price and give up some of the goodies. Probably not gonna happen, though. I read yesterday that the average car loan is now 69 months - with some people taking out 84 month loans (that's seven years!) so that they can have a payment which they can afford. It makes me wonder how many people are gonna get a visit from the repo man and then maybe we will see a glut of late model used cars on the market. If we have an economic downturn, it's gonna sting.
FWIW, I am not necessarily "blaming" the manufacturers. They're trying to respond to market demands AND government edicts. They are going to seize the opportunity for generating revenue from subscription-based services. My wife's Toyota is more than a year old now and the car's screen is urging her to sign up for their navigation service and Sirius XM pops up with an invitation to subscribe. Fortunately, we get both of them through apps on our cell phones - but it is maddening. I have heard that some cars even turn off the heated seats, etc., if you don't subscribe to their package for a monthly fee. That's ludicrous!
FWIW, you're spot on about music we like being within + or - ten years of our high school graduation! I am stuck in the period between 1975 and maybe 1995 (graduated in 1983) with most of my playlist. I mostly like classic rock, but have a soft spot for 1980s pop, some heavy metal and a smattering of country thrown in there. I like a lot of stuff - but nothing that is what you would call new.
Oh............at least you don't have to pay extra for your Range AFM device, though. Once you buy, it, you're good to go!
"The good old days weren't always good and today ain't as bad as it seems." -- Billy Joel, 'Keeping The Faith'
Last edited by JK 23112; Today at 08:17 AM.
