Fewer rear wheel drive cars.

Originally posted by moorookamick ↑

IMO cars peaked in the 1990s in design for durability
and reliability.

As the emissions legislation & fuel prices increased.
the design perameters changed to accommodate that, IMO.

Just look at a Mercedes Benz from the mid 1990s and the current equivalent
model build. , there is no comparison. durability has been sacrificed
for fuel economy & emissions resulting in cars being scrapped 10 years earlier
simply because the R&M costs of ownership are not economically viable.

Just visit your local independant repairer and he/she will tell you what's
good & what's not and how quality stacks up with with previous makes/models.

For example VW & BMW were good cars in the 1990s and they quickly
deteriorated with a bunch of electronic gismos added to make then an emotive
buy rather than being a quality product based on past brand reputation.

Even Toyota which was in the past renowned for its engineering and build quality
succumbing to the plastic fantastic and electronics that fail more often requiring a tow truck than the
hard mechanical components.

Look at the quality of components and build of the Lexus brand of 20 years ago vs the
gee whizz bling electronic everything models of today. I'm keenly aware that most owners
look at paint/bling, upholstery and fiddle around with electronics and very few look underneath;
that is until they get a $2k bill for a standard service and a few spare parts replacement.

About 70% of cars are bought by Government or corporations who as first owners
usually give them the flick at the end of the warranty period or earlier.

But of course the size of the used car market is at least 250% bigger than the new car market
and this is where the real cost of car ownership is felt by the average Aussie.where
a 100K service can cost up to $2,500 !

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whether you're right or wrong is probably a matter of opinion and there'd be big differences between brands and models

what should be for certain though is that a reasonably well built EV - should be far more reliable than pretty much anything we've ever had

there's not a lot to go wrong with electric motors

there's no transmission, no transfer cases, no differentials - not much goes wrong with bits of wire

then, there's the anti pollution stuff - there isn't any

all they should have is a switch, a motor or a few motors, a battery, a steering wheel and a few doors -- a few gauges and that's about it

they 'should' be about the most reliable machine ever made that moves

of course to go for heaps of options to differentiate and sell cars - they'll complicate it and stuff it up probably - but, still - they should be pretty much straight forward in the basic stakes