Old cars=more dangerous to drive wrecklessly=peril at every turn=fun every time the ignition is turned.
old cars FTW.
(see F40vs.F50 argument.)
For those of you scoring along at home, you may have read my column in the previous issue where I extolled the virtues of sports and sporty cars from the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was an era that gave us timeless icons like the Miata and never-to-be-seen again gems like the CRX and MR2. Ahh, those were the days.
But before we start giving each other high fives in a blissed-out, nostalgia-fueled haze, let’s come back down to reality a little bit. Yes, the cars of my late youth and early adulthood were cool, and memorable, but they’re also 30 years old. Everything, everything seems better when viewed through the soft lens of nostalgia, and these cars are no different.
Yes, my 1991 Toyota MR2 Turbo is quick, and with some work it can be a truly excellent-handling car, but a new, bone-stock Mazda Miata will pretty much destroy it.
Old cars are cool, and in some cases we’ll never see anything like them again, but don’t let that distract us from the fact that cars today are almost universally amazing. In fact, they’re so universally amazing that we’ve become bored with things that would have blown our minds in the not-too-distant past.
Imagine, for a second, time-traveling back to your high school parking lot in 1986 with a 300-horsepower 2020 Toyota Camry and busting off a few 5-and-a-half-second zero-to-60 passes to the delight of the huddled masses. Those two nerds who knew about the AMG Hammer would build a statue of you on the spot.
This realization was driven home for me earlier this evening as I was loading this week’s test car–a new Hyundai Veloster N–onto our trailer for transport to the Florida International Rally & Motorsports Park for track testing tomorrow. My pre-track inspection was the same as it always is with our press loaners: Check the tires, check the oil, check the brake fluid.
In truth, press cars only travel to the track by trailer out of courtesy to the manufacturers—and because we usually have a lot of video and test gear to haul over as well, so it’s just easier to keep that stuff in the truck. But these cars that show up from our media fleet service are basically track-ready. Heck, we even took a Prius to The FIRM recently, and it wasn’t the slowest car there.
Sure, some folks will say that “cars today have no soul.” But have you driven a Veloster N? Have you driven a Civic Type R? Have you driven an 86, or BRZ, or M4, or Camaro 1LE, or MX-5, or GTI, or, or, or...?
“Cars are getting heavier,” others will gripe. “Surely you must admit this is bad for reasons too numerous to detail in this brief complaint.”
Okay, yeah, maybe they are. But at the same time, they’re getting safer and faster around race tracks. I’d also point out that the Camaro lost a couple hundred pounds from the fifth generation to the sixth, so the creep of mass is clearly not inevitable as cars incorporate lighter materials and more high-tech construction.
Quality is also improving across the board. Newer vehicles are staying on the road longer and with less maintenance than ever. Heck, I bet you’ve even owned a car or two that you bought new in the last decade that was still running the same spark plugs when you sold it. Can you say the same about your E30?
Look, I’m sure I’ll get the inevitable terse email about this column, so this is where I say that I’m not going to be parting with my MR2 or regretting selling my ’90 CRX any time soon. But I’d also be remiss if I didn’t point out what a golden age of performance we’re living in. To single-mindedly pine for the “good old days” is to ignore that the 650-horsepower Camaro ZL1 is the least powerful of the current crop of top-model pony cars in the U.S. That’s mental.
I also realize that many of today’s top-line and even middle-of-the-road sporty cars are priced at a premium many of us can’t reasonably afford. A Civic Type R at north of $40K is a lot of scratch, I’ll admit. But today’s new cars won’t be new forever, and cars are lasting longer and longer with every generation. Thirty years from now, nostalgia for today is going to be sweeter than ever.
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Old cars=more dangerous to drive wrecklessly=peril at every turn=fun every time the ignition is turned.
old cars FTW.
(see F40vs.F50 argument.)
I don't dislike new cars, they certainly perform better, but I also can't even come close to affording anything new that isn't completely boring, and in my opinion long term (~15+ years/150k+ miles) has drastically decreased since 2000.
New cars have wider and better rubber, stiffer chassis, more horsepower and fancy e-differentials to put power down in a meat that makes 3200lb pigs with less than 4" of suspension travel more entertaining then they should be.
Older cars lean, sway, have suspensions that compress and rebound, 205 rubber is considered wide and have to be modified heavily and set up to remain remotely close to a newer vehicle on track, but the ability to find their limits at lower speeds makes some so much more fun.
Mechanical grip is needed for speed potential, but a lack of it is needed for smiles.
I'm sure my preference for '60s-'80s (and sometimes older) cars absolutely has to do with what I imprinted on, but my DD is a '16 Mini. It is very good. It starts every time, and the defrost is very effective.
It's not the pinnacle of everything a newer car can be, but it's got to be in the top 10% for new cars with "joie de vivre," right?
And it never, ever makes me smile like the older cars I've had, including recently enough to back to back them. It is so numb by comparison. It's clearly true that some of what you feel is "NVH," sworn enemy of the OEM engineer. But I don't dislike all the vibes, and the result of having quashed so much of it is that this small, sporty car feels more like furniture than a pulsing, vibrating piece of mechanical excitement. And it's not like the '87 535is was beating me up on road trips. In that, I felt comfy, but also connected.
New cars aren't bad. They're fantastic. But I still get much more joy out of older cars, even if they need a lot of tweaks to work well, and are arguably quantifiably worse vehicles.
I know, I know, it was an article/rhetorical question... But posted to the forum, so I was supposed to blather on in reply, right? 
You'll note I do still have said Mini. If you can swing it, it's nice to have something that does always just start and run and defrost and so forth. But that's an argument for "technically better," perhaps, but not so much for "more enjoyable..."
Older cars are only more fun in a way that they are easier to fix when broke and the level of "Oh E36 M3!" is less when it happens.
Not more enjoyable, not less enjoyable imo. Just different. Newer vehicles are, of course, typically heavier as per general size goes (due to safety features and electrical/electronics, brakes, tires, etc, etc. I'm in my mid 60s and I seem to remember having as much fun driving my mid '60s Pontiac, mid '70s Alfa and Fiats (as a dealership employee), and my wife's new at the time '90 base 5spd 240sx coupe as I do newer vehicles. The odd thing is that one of the most 'enjoyable/fun' vehicles I've ever had was an '85 GMC 5spd std cab long bed S15 with the 4 cyl. 2.5L 'Iron Duke' eng. It had power nothing (not even pwr brakes). You could speed/momentum drift that truck on paved roads like you wouldn't believe. And that thing had long legs for what it was (my guess was just over 125+ mph). The only time I was out-cornered in it was by a young guy in a well modified Civic on a very tight mountain road.
Depends on the car, not it's age.
At least for me.
Are apples more enjoyable than oranges?
In reply to ProDarwin :
Apples are more enjoyable; no peeling, you just take a bite and enjoy.......far simpler.
As for older cars; I like to explore the limits of a car but I like long lazy 4 wheel drifts.
New cars are superior in every way, they're faster, ride better, more comfortable and a whole lot safer. I enjoy new cars a lot because they are so amazing but I find older cars more enjoyable because of, not in spite of, their being less refined.
ProDarwin said:Are apples more enjoyable than oranges?
My '81 RX-7 is more enjoyable than the new(er) car because it has direct feeling manual steering of just the right weighting, direct feeling brakes, light clutch and shifter controls like a proto-Miata, and driving it feels like the contact patches are hardwired to your nervous system. And the dashboard and instrument panel feel delighfully minimalist.
My '06 Volvo is more enjoyable because it is faster in all directions, quieter, more comfortable, more sound insulated from road and traffic noise, has hot heat and cold A/C and heated seats. It also, in theory, is less maintenance intensive, although in the past month it did require a front suspension rebuild and two replacement wheel bearings...
Sometimes you feel like an apple, sometimes you feel like an orange 
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