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The Forum > Article Comments > Motorists > Comments

Motorists : Comments

By David Leyonhjelm, published 18/4/2018

The tax penalty for buying a new car is a key reason why Australia has an old car fleet, with the average age of cars in Australia around 10 years.

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Is Mise: No, thanks. No bogan car for me! I much prefer my simple sedate run-about to be merely a modest computer controlled all wheel drive with a 235kW/400Nm 8l/100km supercharged and turbocharged motor, 8-speed geartronic gears, active chassis with electronic adaptive air suspension. And because I value my life and my family's more important than any others it must be extremely safe so requires features like driver alert control, lane keeping aid senses, a radar enabled blind spot information system, adaptive cruise control and other active collision detection and prevention systems. For ease of driving it obviously should have at least automatic reverse parking and self driving on well marked roads (upto 15 seconds without driver input). Of course I personally deserve luxury and comfort so I must simply have computer controlled climate systems and filtered air, electric adjusting leather temperature controlled massaging seats and a classy stylised interior detailing and trim within. Since we live in the computer age it goes without saying that it needs have a touch-screen interactive display and include by default features like GPS maps and directions, multimedia server system (with 100s of GBs of storage for all my music) and seemless connectivity with my mobile phone. Oh yeah, of course I couldn't do without optional extras such as a 19 speaker Bowers and Wilkins sound system. Now that's a proper car! (Not like the rubbish you described). And that is the car I just bought: https://www.volvocars.com/au/cars/new-models/s90
Posted by thinkabit, Saturday, 21 April 2018 8:26:28 AM
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Did you get a car with all that bling thinkabit, or a light truck to carry all the rubbish around with you.
Posted by Hasbeen, Saturday, 21 April 2018 9:54:48 AM
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HasBeen: Well it is a heavy car- 2360kgs, but it still has more than adequate acceleration. It's not marketed as a revhead's car but a luxury sedan so it won't beat a souped-up petrol guzzling v8 at a drag at the traffic lights. However for the market its aimed at it's performance is more than adequate (it can accelerate more than most common popular small and lighter cars)

What's really surprizing is that even though it is a heavy car with a powerful engine (235kW = 320hp) it can still be driven economically (about 8L/100km). This is on par with what some small hatch-back cars used to consume not so long ago. This is possible because of the continual improvement of car engineering over time. And that corresponds perfectly with the whole point of my original comment about car purchases.

Specifically, technology is currently improving so fast that it pays to delay purchases because the product you get by waiting just a few years will be superior in quality and features while also cheaper.
Posted by thinkabit, Saturday, 21 April 2018 10:57:12 AM
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thinkabit, I have to lean a little towards Hasbeen on this one. The modern car is all about comfort and performance. (of all the aspects that make a car, handling, brakes, etc;) What many people fail to acknowledge is that whilst you get these features, they come at more than a financial cost. You describe some very comfortable seats. So comfortable I would say, that it would explain why so many people are falling asleep at the wheel. Then there is the 'touch screen'. Again I wonder how many people have come to grief stuffing around being distracted whilst 'playing' with it. As for the 'handling'. The ride in a modern car is, at best, atrocious. Because people are just awful at many things in life, and driving is just one of them, they have tried to make the car less reliant on the driver. In doing so they have 'sported' up the suspension to make the car more responsive to the dynamics of todays bad drivers. I leave the best till last. Computers in a car. What a brain draining idea. Electronics and ANY vehicle combination IS one of the biggest disasters ever unleashed on the automotive industry, and more importantly, mankind. The millions of people with stories about their car and it's many electronics problems, is a matter of record. So, give me an older, pre computer, pre gadgets, pre all this rubbish, cars any day. My main criteria is how comfortable and reliable is my car, not how many 'toys' it comes with. If they did not include these 'toys', people like yourself would not know which car to choose nor why. You don't realise the amount of grief and money you are going to expend after these cars begin to settle in and give trouble. The stories are many. So enjoy the car while you can, but don't get too comfortable for fear of you relying too much on the car and less and less on yourself.
Posted by ALTRAV, Saturday, 21 April 2018 12:46:02 PM
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Now you are talking Is Mise, but lets not go overboard, a 3 speed crash box is perfectly adequate. Trucks may be, but cars don't need 4 gears.

Just think how much more pleasant our roads would be if we had no automatics, or synchro gearboxes. The number of incompetent drivers would be so greatly reduced there would never be another traffic jam.

I admit I do know one lady driver who could handle a crash, or any other gearbox, but then she is a competent driver, & a pleasure to share the road with. I'm sure there are some others, but I reckon the driving population would be more than halved, & what an improvement that would be.
Posted by Hasbeen, Saturday, 21 April 2018 6:56:48 PM
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