What makes a car "modern"?

That's pretty much the question. What design features or philosophies make a car "modern"? What are the oldest cars that you would still consider "modern"?

Just something I've been thinking about lately.

Mostly in context of the sort of design era of cars I find myself most attracted to which seems to be mostly early or mid 90's through early or mid 2000's (Miatae, C5's, Z3, S2000). I like to think how those cars manage to be fully "modern" with fuel injection, computer diagnostics, antilock breaks, air conditioning, and thoughts to being safe - but are still as relatively simple as practical. Or do I just like them because I graduated high school in 2000, and I like cars from when I came of age?

It's related to when you started paying attention to cars.

I would argue that traction control and stability control are required to be "fully modern", as well as bluetooth stereo/phone connectivity, etc. In a few years, it'll probably be plausible to make the same argument regarding lane departure warnings and adaptive cruise control. "modern" is a moving target, and something that's 20 years old really doesn't fit.

That said, I agree that there's a big qualitative jump in the general usability of cars related to the switch from carburetors to EFI.

A car doesn't feel modern to me anymore unless it has bluetooth and a backup camera.

I think it's kind of a get-off-my-lawn thing. When I think "modern", I relate that to the period of time when cars started routinely lasting more than 100,000 miles with nothing more than regular maintenance which seems to me like early 90's, late 80's. Stuff before that was downright primitive, what with carbs and throttle body injection and distributors and all that prehistoric junk!

Conversely, a new car with lane departure warning, electrically adjusted heated steering wheel, bluetooth with an actually decent stereo, heated and ventilated seats, automatic two- or three-zone climate control, in-dash diagnostics including tire pressures, stability control, rain-sensing wipers, and automatically-adjusting cruise control is certainly WAY more "modern" than even a fully-loaded Mercedes, BMW, Lexus, or Cadillac from '95.

Heck, even the 2012 Mercedes GL350 feels like an ancient fossil of a car because it only does phone audio with bluetooth and doesn't do streaming audio.

When it feels like something that I can drive every day as my DD. Full disclosure...I know my radio has a second channel, but I have not been bothered to find it, so in car electronics do not factor biggly into my equation. If I was told I had a bluetooth, I would go to the dentist to have it fixed. "Back-up cameras" I thought had something to do with Gay bars?

My MGB GT with all freshly refurbished suspension is still a hair shirt to drive if you had to drive it everyday. 10 minutes in the driveway to warm up, crashy suspension, simultaneously hot and cold and lots of wind and mechanical noise. Cant carry on conversation with passenger and you worry about overheating in traffic.

On the other end of the spectrum, A 1990 Miata with "As new" suspension and running gear in average condition would not be a problem to drive every day. By extrapolation I would say that anything built since 1990 is going to feel modern in the way it drives. If your thing is the in-car entertainment, then that stuff has less than a five year lifespan.

I've given this some thought. OBD2.

Anyhthing built since that was instituted is relatively "modern" in that I expect it to start and drive without drama. Before that time cars were less reliable to the point that I used to carry around a tool kit in case my car broke down. Now, even though my vehicles are empirical older than the ones I used to have, I just expect them to work.

Try to imagine the movie "Cujo" set today. The heroine would be driving a 4 year old Ford Festiva and when she runs back to it to get away from the rabid St Bernard, she simply turns the key and drives away. No muss, no drama.

Overdrive.

EFI.

Seats with side bolsters.

TPMS.

Cup holders

KyAllroad wrote: I've given this some thought. OBD2. Anyhthing built since that was instituted is relatively "modern" in that I expect it to start and drive without drama. Before that time cars were less reliable to the point that I used to carry around a tool kit in case my car broke down. Now, even though my vehicles are empirical older than the ones I used to have, I just expect them to work.

That's pretty much how I feel.

What about cars whose production run straddled OBD2, like the E36? Or are there cars that were OBD1 that still managed to be "modern"?

Like, is the NA Miata not modern, but the NB is? I feel like an E36 is modern, but an E30 isn't quite there yet. I kind of think the NA Miata is almost but not quite modern because it was built with the philosophy that ABS, A/C, and power steering were luxuries, not "standards".

Radial tires, disc brakes and useful air conditioning. Anything more is frills.

Three years ago from today's date. Older than that is getting primitive (says new car lease manager . New car sales manager says 72 months these days.

Those fancy self rolling up windows.

In olden times, we rolled up our windows, and we liked it!

I drive an '86 BMW and it seems modern to me, until I remember that it's 31 years old.

I'm into older cars that most of you.

For me, if it has fuel injection, that's modern.

I think OBD2 is a good point for me, but that could be my age(33). My '88 Accord was 14 years old when I got it in '02. My wife has an '03 Accord and it is now 14 years old but doesn't feel as dated as my '88 did then.

To cross pollinate with the Goldwing thread in sprockets, the 1500 ran from '88 to '00, 13 years. The 1800 was introduced in '01 and is in it's 17th year with no sign of replacement.

In reply to AngryCorvair: Overdrive is not modern. '40's car had it.

Cousin_Eddie wrote: I'm into older cars that most of you. For me, if it has fuel injection, that's modern.

Yup. This. My most modern car i have ever owned is a base model 06 mazda5. I consider anything from the late 80s up to be late model/modern. I think for me, the sweet spot is late 90s to early 2000s. With the cars i build, i modernize with efi, overdrive, cruise. But they arent modern. A modern car doesnt have metal interior panels, wind whistles, and piss poor defrosters.

Modern too me is anything built with fuel injection. I try to avoid buying them as much as possible.

ABS, EFI, decent stereo, availability of power windows/locks/mirrors.

As a kid witnessing the shift to front wheel drive was an old demarcation line. Of course Citroen were well ahead of that curve. Maybe the shift to unibodies? Former Practical Classics subscriber here.

There have been significant leaps in automobiles - whether design, options/accessories, performance, or technology. So the question comes down to which combination of those things define "modern".

I'd say the most recent steps are the incorporation of smart phone integration, CAN bus systems, and hybrid technology.

Prior to that I'd say it was during the 90's and early 2000's when HP figures started surpassing those from the muscle car era, while still meeting EPA requirements.

Going back to the 80's we saw NHV starting to be improved, the refinement of turbo technology and EFI, the introduction of the hot-hatch, and much better suspension design on non-exotics.

In the 60's it was certainly the muscle car craze. The late 50's brought on the jet-age styling and modern creature comforts. Pre-war cars really started the trend toward opulence and stunning designs, while of course Henry Ford made the automobile accessible to the masses.

2000-2009 old modern.
2010 to present new modern

Anything built after 1970.

Cars that are geared/powered to cruise at 80. Modern freeway traffic in Texas often flows about 80, and older cars even my Insight just can't keep up because they weren't designed to. The performance envelope of even the simplest of new cars is very high and it takes a pretty special older car to compare.