Why is It So Hard to Make a Good Car?

"Customers want everything for nothing" is my experience in software developement summed up.

I had a 99 Civic in High School. Car saved my life. I didn't crash it or anything, but driving it reminded me how enjoyable life can be, and to keep moving forward. 6th generation Civics remain my favorite car of all time.

“I need it to be perfect, for free, and I need it yesterday!”

Hey, I work for a manufacturer in design engineering. Thanks for making this video. I feel like there's often a disconnect between what enthusiasts think car manufacturers should do, and what they CAN do while still continuing to exist (make money).

If people bought cars based on need the F-150 wouldn’t be the best selling vehicle in the states. I bet over half of the buyers don’t do anything that requires a truck or SUV, and i often see them on the road, not hauling anything, nothing in the bed, only the driver in the cab. Like why? In own a truck because I have to for work, but i rather have a small car. Why? -Cheaper to buy -cheaper tires -less cylinders -easier to park -better mpg -better handling Long story short, people are stupid, and their choices are not always whats best for them.

Half of it is probably the mainstream buyers - how many people actually use all the features of a smartphone? No one but techys, but everyone wants the latest and best. Ever notice that back in the 80's and 90's your common worker always drove the wheels off their car - maybe it had a little rust on it and 120,000 miles - now people making that same wage have a new car every 3-4 years and complain when the company car is older and has some squeaks. We've become a society full of blind consumerism and just buy the new sparkly.

Those Stainless Steel Jeweled Butt Plugs are actually really good. Great value too. For real though, you hit the nail on the head. The automotive landscape has become so cutthroat. Manufacturers are in such a different position from just 20 years ago, and it absolutely shows in the cars they produce. Just recently, I was speaking to a member of a large Japanese manufacturer (you can guess who :/) about the politics of creating "fun" cars and he said that the higher-ups are so against it that, at this point, they're considering just removing the tenured engineers that bring these projects to life, despite the fact that these are some of the best and most passionate engineers in the business. These days, as long as the global platform is worked on and the moneymakers can be pumped out by the millions, then the board sees no need to take additional risks. He then went on to tell me that I should have been born 20-30 years earlier and I would have had a lot more fun with cars. 🙃

I need a review of that 98 Honda Civic. Hector's dream car.

No one seems to be able to make a good car commercial either, except Mahk

I recently read that 72 month car loans were the most common but have been recently taken over by 84 month car loans. I guess that's how people can budget for a $50k vehicle.

This is just so true The Fine Print Series is so good

Many people don't realize that every single automobile is a composite of third party vendor components. No vehicle manufacturer builds all of the mechanical parts that go into a new car. Everything from headlights to brakes, alternators to turn signal indicators, windshields to interior leather seating surfaces are all purchased from auto parts suppliers, who in turn must purchase the individual components separately prior to assembling them for delivery to the auto maker. If these third party components are defective or substandard (i.e. Takata airbags), that can contribute to a brands perceived lack of reliability.

I live in Toronto, Canada. According to Autotrader, BMW 3 series and Honda Civic are typically the 2 most searched for cars. I have a daily work commute of 2 miles per day, however I drive around 450-500 miles per week. I've done most of this driving in slow cars, namely a Toyota Corolla or Camry. There is nearly 0 passion in the Corolla or the Camry, but they've been comfortable enough and reliable, honestly I kinda wished I drove a smaller and slower car. I often hear drivers complain about 130 HP being not enough for daily driving, and honestly I'd say anything with over 100 HP and under 3000 lbs is probably enough for the average commuter. It's just that people want a car to literally do everything possible, so cars keep getting bigger, heavier, and full of stuff people think they want. Don't get me wrong, I don't believe everyone should only own slow cars or whatever, but as a daily driver vehicle, I just don't think people need as much as they get. I feel it would be a better world if people still had weekend cars. With that said, I actually daily drive Sonata Hybrid because I got it cheap, 16000 USD, new, from a dealership, and under warranty and I wanted to use less gas then said Honda Civic.

I want a normal physical automatic transmission shift lever that I can shift by feel, not these stupid buttons that you have to look down to shift OR stupid physical shift lever that you have to wiggle through a maze to get into gear then hunt for the P button.

Nicely done Mr Geese, I still refuse to give manufactures a pass for not actively trying to incorporate lighter materials and good driving dynamics into all of their cars. They've dropped from dozens of platforms into maybe 2 or 3 to support their entire production line. There is massive cost savings associated with that and margins for a lot of cars these days have never been higher. I want manufactures to take risks and be willing to experiment, make changes and strive to be better.

I learned some interesting aspects to auto manufacturing in this video. My beef is the ever rising costs associated with stuff we really don’t need in a car. We don’t need the level of handling that cars have now. It’s mostly bump to bumper traffic for the majority of drivers. If people would spend their focus on actually driving their vehicle and use their seatbelt, we wouldn’t need the added costs to a car for airbags, lane monitoring, adaptive cruise control, blind spot monitoring. And the bling factor just runs up the price too. Why does a passenger sedan need 20” alloy wheels with ultra high performance tires to take the family on a vacation? A manufacturer could probably cut the cost of the vehicle by eliminating them by a third. Unfortunately as said in the video, the consumer wants everything even though it’s not a must have, so they can pay attention to the phone with Apple car play and set their adaptive cruise and not bother with the actual driving part.🇨🇦

In a nutshell; 1999 - suspension was good, audio and plastics were horrible. 2019 - suspension's crap, audio systems are good, very premium high gloss plastic.

I like the fine print series. Alot.

The last part about companies "watering down" the product is very true in the case of GM. Back in the nineties they developed the Pontiac Transport concept car. It was good looking and very attractive for a minivan. When they put it into production it came out looking like a Dust Buster and handling like an overloaded garbage truck.

Dude, I enjoy your videos so much! You're incredibly realistic and it brings to light the current mindset for designs/implementations of our vehicles. You discuss topics that most auto channels wont even mention, and its definitly enlightening. You make sense to the reasoning behind manufacturers current designs and it lessens my confusion/anger towards these current trends in the automotive industry. Thanks again for preaching what these manufacturers have to factor into their productio vehicles. Hopefully this video enlightens a majority of your viewers and gives some decent perspective into the realm of the automobile industry.