Let's talk cars

[mrodgers]

No, that's not true. I am very safety minded so the first thing I do is put the best tires I can on a car & actually upgrade headlights plus windshield wipers which seem to be spots automakers skimp. In fact, our 02 has tires that are easily more valuable than the car The tires on the Civic absolutely 100% help but they didn't go as far as I had hoped.
The tire change just upped the vehicle from baby Bambi on roller skates to Bambi taking his first steps, an improvement but nowhere near the reliability I feel in my Jeep, the vehicles are miles apart in this regard. This is a divide I will not tolerate in bad weather and judging by the fact people won't let go of the beefy vehicles it would seem I am not the only person who feels this way. Moderate cars need to be better with safety. They were made lighter as the easy answer to increased fuel efficiency but gave up safety along the way, they need to go back to the design board IMO. I noticed Consumer Reports now weighs greenness into the ratings to counter the safety problem, it ain't fooling nobody when all you need to do is sit in one or drive it. Tires alone don't cut it unless you live in a desert or very hot dry place, which explains some things based on regional behaviors.

Cars are not made lighter by a long shot. They have so much safety features with added impact beams and air bags they have close to doubled in weight since I started driving. They are lighter than the massively heavy SUV's and trucks everyone buys, but they have definitely not gotten lighter over the years.

The last car I had, which is the modern version of my very first car, Mazda 3 vs. Ford Escort, is 3200 lb. vs 1900 lb. Today's Civic is much heavier than older Civics.

And for the record, I was hydroplaning the whole way home yesterday in the rain in my AWD 4050 lb. small SUV on the tires that came with it. Conversely, I was ripping down snowy empty roads on Christmas Eve through deep snow drifts going back and forth to the store for things I needed to get my water flowing again. It was unstoppable on the unplowed snow drifted roads. The reason for the different performance in different situations? The tires.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Cars are not made lighter by a long shot. They have so much safety features with added impact beams and air bags they have close to doubled in weight since I started driving. They are lighter than the massively heavy SUV's and trucks everyone buys, but they have definitely not gotten lighter over the years.

The last car I had, which is the modern version of my very first car, Mazda 3 vs. Ford Escort, is 3200 lb. vs 1900 lb. Today's Civic is much heavier than older Civics.

And for the record, I was hydroplaning the whole way home yesterday in the rain in my AWD 4050 lb. small SUV on the tires that came with it. Conversely, I was ripping down snowy empty roads on Christmas Eve through deep snow drifts going back and forth to the store for things I needed to get my water flowing again. It was unstoppable on the unplowed snow drifted roads. The reason for the different performance in different situations? The tires.

OK, as I said I have the best tires I can find so that's not it. I am no engineer so to me lightness seems to be the easy answer engineers would aim at and I remember cars in the 80s & 90s being way heavier but if you say that is not a factor I can accept it might not be weight. Still, there is a difference because I am doing as much as I can do with tires, what else ya got if it is not weight of the vehicle?

 

[GAN]

I've got 3 cars now and haven't bought new since 2017, but I turn 60 this year and I'm heading out today to Pre-Order my gift ....a Ford Bronco Badlands. These things have been real hard to get so it might take a year before I see it -Ford is only allowing one-day of ordering and it's this Monday, or wait till 2024. Should be a fun semi-retirement "toy"!

 

[sam_gordon]

OK, as I said I have the best tires I can find so that's not it. I am no engineer so to me lightness seems to be the easy answer engineers would aim at and I remember cars in the 80s & 90s being way heavier but if you say that is not a factor I can accept it might not be weight. Still, there is a difference because I am doing as much as I can do with tires, what else ya got if it is not weight of the vehicle?

If the issue was hydroplaning or sliding on ice (or a slick spot on the road), to me the issue was speed, using cruise control on wet roads, or a combination.

I have driven sedans probably 90% of my driving career. The majority of the rest was mini-vans, and the occasional work truck. I have gone by (and gotten passed by) I don't know how many semi trucks. I have NEVER had one "blow" me around. I remember driving past semi trucks during rain storms at night. I was white knuckling the steering wheel not because of any wind or "force", but just the spray coming off the truck's tires made it EXTREMELY difficult to see.

 

[DLgal]

OK, as I said I have the best tires I can find so that's not it. I am no engineer so to me lightness seems to be the easy answer engineers would aim at and I remember cars in the 80s & 90s being way heavier but if you say that is not a factor I can accept it might not be weight. Still, there is a difference because I am doing as much as I can do with tires, what else ya got if it is not weight of the vehicle?

What are the roads like in general where this keeps happening to you? It could be that the road surface is the problem.

My husband commutes on I-5 in Southern CA. He drives alongside trucks every day. It has been raining nonstop for the last 2 months here. He drives a 2017 Civic Sport Touring. He has never once hydroplaned or been blown around by a truck. Our freeways have grooves in them so that water runs off easily. I drive a 2007 CRV and when we lived in VA, and I had the same car, I was constantly having issues sliding around on wet/snowy roads. The roads were awful. Always slick and had standing water when it rained. I put brand new tires on the car before we moved to VA and it didn't help. Once back in CA, never an issue with hydroplaning. Same tires. In fact, I probably need new tires at this point but the car is still getting good traction on the roads, even in rain.

Your issue might be the roads themselves.

FWIW, my CR-V is only about 400lbs heavier than my husband's Civic. Not significant.

 

[LuvOrlando]

To each their own on vehicle choices but I am not going to ignore my experiences & suspect other people have their own valid reasons for preferring big vehicles and tolerating high gas prices.

Back to the point of the thread though:

Tonight I happily noticed a whole new rollout of advertisements for much lower price point car leases, which allow people to get into newer safe cars at lower price points.

Great consequence is that leases move a whole lot of cars, accept trade-ins of pricey cars & generate a lot of money in ongoing payments so it is good for the economy, really really good. Easy for moderate sized banks to be competitive so it shores that segment of the industry up. Thrilled to see it today!