What annoys you the most ?

[CARLTON BROWN]

Originally Posted by cuzzyman927

Many of today's products designs, not only cars, look good on paper and on the drawing board, but out in the field in actual application they fail miserably and are a nightmare to work on or assemble! I've seen some car/engine designs in which the engine must be tilted/swung forward in order to reach and change the rear spark plugs! The rear engine mounts must be unbolted and the front engine mounts are designed so that the engine can pivot/swing up! Not being an auto mechanic I would imagine that there would also be a few other things which would need removing or unbolting to provide the clearance to swing the engine up and forward!

Unfortunately, several things seem to happen with many modern appliances. They are designed by smartass postgraduates, who are only concerned with how something looks and not how it works. Then, when the design goes into production, corners are cut to keep costs down and the quality drops, ensuring that it won't last too long beyond the warranty limit.

In a perfect world, everything from cars to washing machines would be designed by engineers who understood how to make maintenance as simple and affordable as possible. They would also set standards for construction from good quality materials and not build in limitations that encouraged upgrading soon after purchase.

I suppose this is all wishful thinking, in an era where every extra penny of profit counts and corporations are under immense pressure to constantly demonstrate growth?

[Mal Hombre]

Being unable to get on to the forum on the laptop for a second day.

[trailmaster]

That same thing happened to me one night ago. At around 9 p.m. on Monday evening I clicked on the favorite icon for VEF on my computer and this screen came up saying "Server error" unable to connect to this website. I figured that there was some glitch on the VEF server, so I just signed off and went to bed. I said to myself " It will be fixed by tomorrow morning", and it was.

[cuzzyman927]

Originally Posted by Mal Hombre

Being unable to get on to the forum on the laptop for a second day.

Originally Posted by trailmaster

That same thing happened to me one night ago. At around 9 p.m. on Monday evening I clicked on the favorite icon for VEF on my computer and this screen came up saying "Server error" unable to connect to this website. I figured that there was some glitch on the VEF server, so I just signed off and went to bed. I said to myself " It will be fixed by tomorrow morning", and it was.

During the past week I have actually received that "Server Not Found" three times. The first two were brief, but the last one two nights ago was much longer. I was not even able to log out so I just X'd out of the entire page and program. The following morning all was up and running and back to normal again.

[cuzzyman927]

Originally Posted by CARLTON BROWN

Unfortunately, several things seem to happen with many modern appliances. They are designed by smartass postgraduates, who are only concerned with how something looks and not how it works. Then, when the design goes into production, corners are cut to keep costs down and the quality drops, ensuring that it won't last too long beyond the warranty limit.

In a perfect world, everything from cars to washing machines would be designed by engineers who understood how to make maintenance as simple and affordable as possible. They would also set standards for construction from good quality materials and not build in limitations that encouraged upgrading soon after purchase.

I suppose this is all wishful thinking, in an era where every extra penny of profit counts and corporations are under immense pressure to constantly demonstrate growth?

Unfortunately, we have also entered the age of where everything from electronic gizmos to TVs to appliances are now considered Disposable. Repair has become a thing of the past and the name of the game is now Sell. In their efforts to deter Repairing and promote Selling, manufacturers have taken a wise approach of pricing the cost of some replacement parts to be half the cost of a new product, add to that the repairman's service charge, hoping to drive the consumer's way of thinking that for another couple of hundred dollars it would be more feasible to simply purchase a new product. At the current cost of some auto replacement parts before long it will also be disposable cars!

[MaxJoker]

Originally Posted by Mal Hombre

Being unable to get on to the forum on the laptop for a second day.

Well if you do keep insisting on not Paypal`ing me that reasonable connection fee , what do expect Mate

Grrrrrrrrr what annoys me the most is those who've posted on here but never thank what I've posted

Bah !.

It`s like they've all got good taste or something

[highwayman274]

Originally Posted by Mal Hombre

Being unable to get on to the forum on the laptop for a second day.

I had the same problem in Canada, but found that if I use a VPN proxy I can log-in without any problem. I use the Chrome browser, and one of the available plug-in apps is something called Betternet Free VPN.

[ManofKent]

Originally Posted by Estreeter

Most of today's cars for the average Joe are nothing more than a mobile phone with wheels Seriously, when the last time you saw a ad for a car that didn't feature it's connectivity capabilities.

I agree so much with this!

It's only in the last 20 years or so that the entire industry has just gone completely MAD!

You just have to look at the design of a car to see this. If you had a selection of cars from the 60's/70's/80's lined up and take off the badges, you'd still recognize them.
Why? Because they all look DIFFERANT!

BUT, if you were to do the same today, it wouldn't work, because now they all LOOK THE SAME!
They're all designed by COMPUTORS, and when the software says that this is the optimal shape they just go ahead and use it without thinking.

(I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out that most-if not all-of these companies are actually using the SAME software in their computors)
.
Has one car enthusiast on TV once said, years ago a car was a machine designed by a man, and now cars are machines designed by MACHINES.

Also, why do they feel the need to cram it full of gadgets and gizmos, half which you don't even need?
Originally a car was something even a driver with a moderate understanding of engineering could work on in their spare time with parts from a garage.

Now, you have to have a Phd in computer science to understand how cars work!

My attitude towards car manufactures is just strip out all the pretentious CRAP and give me a car I can actually DRIVE!

That is why I would NEVER buy a modern car! All the cars I've ever had have always been at least 15 years old (around 2000 or earlier).

[thunderfly]

I know a guy that used to be a self employed car mechanic (and a good one) but he had to give it up simply because (in his words) you open the bonnet (hood) of a modern car and you don't see an engine, you just see a block of metal.

[CARLTON BROWN]

I'm afraid my fairly new German car is little more than a computer on wheels, filled with many unrecognisable components in the engine compartment. You cannot diagnose faults without the right test equipment, there are no manuals published by Hayes because its beyond the ability of most enthusiasts to do much more than check the tyre pressure and fill the screen wash.

Many of the features like electric windows, remote locking, the digital radio/mp3 player, air conditioning, complicated display are very nice, until something goes wrong. I often wish I owned a really good condition basic Land Rover!