Modern Cars... excellent innovations

debeli

I fear I may not have been at home to Mr Happy when I started my moan-thread about privacy glass and low-profile tyres.... so here's a partial antidote:

This stuff is recent (ish) and has added greatly to the flavour of the stew:

ABS. Mine has rarely activated in twenty odd years and very many vehicles, but it's nice to know it's there. Steering while slowing sharply can be achieved, but it's nice to know that a machine will do the hard bits. Nonetheless, it's odd how many people I know whose 'life was saved' within a month of driving a car with ABS when it first appeared. How did they live all those years without it?

Lap & Diagonal Seatbelts right across every row of seats. As above, I just feel better knowing that they're there.

MP3-compatible car stereos. Lovely. No more wallets full of CDs under every seat.

Advances in turbo-diesel technology. Driving a petrol car (unless it has a 3-litre-plus motor) just seems very revvy and frenetic now, after years of surfing a gentle torque wave in a diesel.

The disc brake. It works jolly well and is easier to maintain. Best of all is the inboard disc (late-model 2cv inter alia) whose pads can be changed without a jack or a wheelbrace.

The modern roofbox and roof-mounted bike carriers. For holidays, surfing trips, carrying bikes and all sorts of schlumbling with big loads, this stuff is way superior to the roofracks of my youth.

Oleopneumatic suspension. It's not recent. But it's just better. Because it is. So there.

Colinthecop

Is schlumbling a word...?

VTech

Almost all of modern tech upgrades come from F1 so in reality, thank F1.

Kers will be the future as it is with Aston Martin, Porsche, Ferrari.

rolf_f

Debeli wrote:

I fear I may not have been at home to Mr Happy when I started my moan-thread about privacy glass and low-profile tyres.... so here's a partial antidote:

This stuff is recent (ish) and has added greatly to the flavour of the stew:

ABS. Mine has rarely activated in twenty odd years and very many vehicles, but it's nice to know it's there. Steering while slowing sharply can be achieved, but it's nice to know that a machine will do the hard bits. Nonetheless, it's odd how many people I know whose 'life was saved' within a month of driving a car with ABS when it first appeared. How did they live all those years without it?

Lap & Diagonal Seatbelts right across every row of seats. As above, I just feel better knowing that they're there.

MP3-compatible car stereos. Lovely. No more wallets full of CDs under every seat.

Advances in turbo-diesel technology. Driving a petrol car (unless it has a 3-litre-plus motor) just seems very revvy and frenetic now, after years of surfing a gentle torque wave in a diesel.

The disc brake. It works jolly well and is easier to maintain. Best of all is the inboard disc (late-model 2cv inter alia) whose pads can be changed without a jack or a wheelbrace.

The modern roofbox and roof-mounted bike carriers. For holidays, surfing trips, carrying bikes and all sorts of schlumbling with big loads, this stuff is way superior to the roofracks of my youth.

Oleopneumatic suspension. It's not recent. But it's just better. Because it is. So there.

Oh dear! Do you have any idea when disc brakes first appeared?* Ditto lap seatbelts. Putting MP3 players in cars isn't really an automotive innovation. And the roof box - yes. It is a good idea but it is just a plastic box that fits to roof bars. ABS - I know of nobody whose life has been saved by ABS. Infact, I hardly know of anyone who has trigged their abs. I guess our experiences cancel each other out!

*patented in 1903. First widely used in the UK from the 1950s.....

veronese68

Triumph TR3 had disc brakes in 1954. TR5 was the first mass produced car with fuel injection in 1968. I think the Jensen FF had ABS (and four wheel drive) in the 60s.

Monkeypump

My car has all the 'auto-gubbins' derided in the other thread. Yes, nice, and I use them all. However the two best gadgets are probably the simplest, but most useful.

1. Smart-entry/keyless-go. Absolutely brilliant. Walk up to car, open door, get in, press button and drive away. No searching for keys. Sounds simple, but I love it.

2. Electric folding wing mirrors. Living on a narrow street, folding in mirrors when parked is essential. Folding them out again becomes habit, but pressing a little button and seeing them pop out always amuses me.

Clearly I'm easily impressed!

As for all the above posts, I'd love a 'fun' car as well as a practical one, but can't justify the cost. I miss my Mk1 Golf, but it was useless as an 'only car'.

Frank Wilson

The three piece front seats that were in a Vel Satis I once had, which allowed you not only to adjust the base and the back but also the upper headrest part independantley.

Seemed such a simple idea at the time, I presume a lot of luxury cars will have it but it was new to me.

debeli

Rolf F wrote:

Oh dear! Do you have any idea when disc brakes first appeared?* Ditto lap seatbelts. Putting MP3 players in cars isn't really an automotive innovation. And the roof box - yes. It is a good idea but it is just a plastic box that fits to roof bars. ABS - I know of nobody whose life has been saved by ABS. Infact, I hardly know of anyone who has trigged their abs. I guess our experiences cancel each other out!

*patented in 1903. First widely used in the UK from the 1950s.....

Yes, I am familiar with the history of the disc brake. I have a 1961 roadster with front discs and have driven much older disc-equipped cars. My post mentioned recent (ish) developments.

Nonetheless, many manufacturers are still popping drums on the back of cars - and these are a pain to work on, clean, rebuild and refurbish. Discs are easier and cleaner - and stop quite well too. I'm in my 50s, so I came of age driving drum-equipped cars and my first experience of discs was a revelation.

Similarly, my roadster has no belts - as with several other classics I've owned and driven over the decades. The lap & diagonal is by no means new, but it does count as recent (ish). This may depend on your age.

As to roof boxes being just a plasctic box... one might equally say that paperclips are just bent wire. The current bars/boxes/racks are 100% easier to mount, easier to use and more suited to their function than were the olde-worlde racks.

And my experience (as I said above) matches yours on ABS. I just like the feeling that it's there. I can't really explain why, but it feels more secure even though I've never triggered it.

Oooh... another recent-ish thing.... My 1961 roadster has a reversing lamp (original equipment). I am a keen proponent of the reversing lamp - and saw very few on pre-1970s mass-market cars.

desweller

VTech wrote:

Almost all of modern tech upgrades come from F1 so in reality, thank F1.

Kers will be the future as it is with Aston Martin, Porsche, Ferrari.

I think ABS, disc brakes, fuel injection and electronic engine control were all invented for aviation applications, no? Likewise the use of composite materials in airframe construction predates its use in F1.

I think mechanical GDI has been used before the current era but not electronically controlled GDI. I doubt it was invented for F1 though.

All the part-throttle performance that makes a modern production so useable is completely developed in the production arena; as you know, F1 is all about WOT performance.

drlodge

Electronic ignition to replace mechanical ignition is definately a good thing.

rolf_f

Debeli wrote:

Rolf F wrote:

Oh dear! Do you have any idea when disc brakes first appeared?* Ditto lap seatbelts. Putting MP3 players in cars isn't really an automotive innovation. And the roof box - yes. It is a good idea but it is just a plastic box that fits to roof bars. ABS - I know of nobody whose life has been saved by ABS. Infact, I hardly know of anyone who has trigged their abs. I guess our experiences cancel each other out!

*patented in 1903. First widely used in the UK from the 1950s.....

Yes, I am familiar with the history of the disc brake. I have a 1961 roadster with front discs and have driven much older disc-equipped cars. My post mentioned recent (ish) developments.

Nonetheless, many manufacturers are still popping drums on the back of cars - and these are a pain to work on, clean, rebuild and refurbish. Discs are easier and cleaner - and stop quite well too. I'm in my 50s, so I came of age driving drum-equipped cars and my first experience of discs was a revelation.

Similarly, my roadster has no belts - as with several other classics I've owned and driven over the decades. The lap & diagonal is by no means new, but it does count as recent (ish). This may depend on your age.

As to roof boxes being just a plasctic box... one might equally say that paperclips are just bent wire. The current bars/boxes/racks are 100% easier to mount, easier to use and more suited to their function than were the olde-worlde racks.

And my experience (as I said above) matches yours on ABS. I just like the feeling that it's there. I can't really explain why, but it feels more secure even though I've never triggered it.

Oooh... another recent-ish thing.... My 1961 roadster has a reversing lamp (original equipment). I am a keen proponent of the reversing lamp - and saw very few on pre-1970s mass-market cars.

You are doing a damn good job of making a case that all of the important innovations in cars today were a product of two or more generations ago!

As I see it, an innovation is only really of any consequence if you would have regretted it's absence before it was introduced. For example, the main worthwhile addition on bikes in recent years (ie the last 30 or so) has been lower gearing which has made it so much easier for people to get into climbing rather than avoiding hills. The other thing would be alloy rims for the improved braking. Nothing else comes close. Frame materials, electronic groupsets, 11 speed, STi shifters. None of those are things that people needed before they happened.

team47b

My 1936 wolsley 14hp straight six with twin SU carbs :roll: had built in hydraulic jacks which were operated from within the car, you could set the dial and select front, rear, or both, modern innovation!

Still had to get the chauffeur to get out and change the wheel though

plowmar

I think the best car invention are those orangey bulbs on the front and back of cars. Apparently they tell other road users which way the car driver is going to turn.

They must be new as not many drivers seem to know that they are either there or how to use them.

petemadoc

I don't know much techy stuff about cars but in the 15 years I've been driving them the big difference I've noticed is comfort and refinement.

You can cruise down the motorway at a decent speed without feeling that the windows might rattle out and when you take a corner too sharply or brake too hard the car responds and you feel safe.

Saying that I recently had a Tayota Aygo as a courtesy car, I felt like I was 17 again. It did have an MP3 player plugin thingy though. ... and a totally ridiculous flappy paddle gearbox.

So yeah, innovations are

aircon

smooothness on the motorway

comfier seats

55+ mpg

Snappy handling

VTech

DesWeller wrote:

VTech wrote:

Almost all of modern tech upgrades come from F1 so in reality, thank F1.

Kers will be the future as it is with Aston Martin, Porsche, Ferrari.

I think ABS, disc brakes, fuel injection and electronic engine control were all invented for aviation applications, no? Likewise the use of composite materials in airframe construction predates its use in F1.

I think mechanical GDI has been used before the current era but not electronically controlled GDI. I doubt it was invented for F1 though.

All the part-throttle performance that makes a modern production so useable is completely developed in the production arena; as you know, F1 is all about WOT performance.

Of course, development of materials etc for the space race/aviation etc but the direct link in many cases come from F1.

The method of deicing may have been of aeronautics background but we wouldn't euro 5/6 without it