Re: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] computer and car prices (was Re: [MLUG])

[Michael <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

> Actually, the auto industry hasn't really been dogging it either (well,
> except for getting to sell light trucks with nicer seats etc. as fancy
> SUVs for a while, but I digress...).  Back in the day of the $60,000 hard
> drive that Mike mentioned, people felt really happy to get 60,000 miles on
> their car, and the cars in general were just not very good or very safe.
> (Yes, some of them were works of art in the styling department and if
> you're into raw horsepower or tinkering with engines then they have
> advantages.)  Given the pesky limitations of physics, cars were not able
> to suddenly go 100 times as fast or get 1000 times the gas mileage, but
> improvement along any other reasonable dimension has been pretty drastic.
> More fuel efficient, more powerful (for the same size engine), less
> polluting, much better brakes, huge increases in reliability...the list
> goes on.

To some extent. With cars there is a lot of politics involved I think.
They've made great progress but a good majority of the cars lag behind
what is possible. Why do some cars get 85mpg while a great many of them
get < 25mpg? Little standardization of parts... it's like every car is a
Packard Bell. Cars are somewhat more reliable but from the numbers I've
read from inflation reports etc they are quite a bit more expensive to
start and repairs cost more. I'm not sure I'd agree cars are safer. They
replaced metal with plastic and I've known way to many people who've died
in car crashes due largely to faulty vehicles. Maybe expensive cars are
safer. The cheap bubble cars most of us seem to end up with aren't so
decent.

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