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Old 28th September 2021, 09:40   #9
Gigagator
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Quote:
Originally Posted by polinsteve View Post
There is a difference. Parts of the braking system are consumables, so it is a regular high cost that instead of a 20 minute job to change pads, it ends up as a workshop task.

Disc brakes actually reduced maintenance, i.e. no regular adjustments required, so the initial extra cost is recouped many times over.

Synchromesh just makes life marginally easier, it's not a ball breaker. Warn synchro just means changing gear with a bit less haste or maybe double de-clutching. It is not difficult to do or something that affects vehicle safety and needs an immediate resolution.

What is the reason for designing cars some of which take several hours to change a headlight bulb? Is automatic dipping of headlights effective or necessary? Time after time We get blinded by super-bright lights dipping after the blinding damage is done.
Very rarely do they dip at road junctions with the result another unfortunate driver at right angles suffers.

Pointless design over function is expensive, un-necessary and reduces the economic lifespsan of a vehicle due to increasing costs and decreasing reliability.
I do agree that the difficulty of changing a bulb is not something to be lauded.
I have a 2019 Mazda 6 and I decided to change the DRL bulbs for something brighter - after being perplexed for a while it turns out you have to remove the arch liner on each side (or at least pull it away) but it was still a struggle.
It was completely unnecessary for it to be that complicated and it left me dreading doing that job again.

However, nobody designing that car thought "Ah let's make this bulb hard to change, we will rake in the cash."

It's just a 'form over function' type situation.
If you design the wings, bumper, headlight and bonnet to look and fit together a certain way, a compromise has to be made and most customers would prefer a sharp looking vehicle to one that is easy to change a bulb on.

Unfortunately, that is just a fact of the world we live in - style sells.
Otherwise, everyone would still be driving around in a Lada.

I can't argue the other points as I don't disagree.
I've not been on the receiving end of being blinded by a poor auto-dipping system.

There are still people that say you're not a proper driver if you're using a car with synchromesh. But I'm sure most of us would agree (unless we were being really flippant) that having synchro on your daily driver is just a sensible part of life.

Last edited by Gigagator; 28th September 2021 at 09:48..
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