The $500.00 Car Key!!

[cousinlucky]

Sometimes it is good not to be " on board " with all the new and improved gadgets popping up everywhere. I live in New York City where owning, registering, and insuring a car is very expensive!!
( We have a lot of accidents where drivers leave the scene because they are not driving legally! )

I came across this article about $500.00 car keys which I just had to read.

The Pushbutton Devil | Eric Peters Autos

[MASONTX]

Interesting.

[rokytnji]

The embedded chip that comes in my Wifes Chrysler Crossfire makes replacing the key expensive also. Over 200 dollars to replace key and program chip at the dealer.

Good thing I'm a mech. I repaired locking ignition sticking (known problem on this car) with some skill and biker ingenuity (no parts needed/free of charge like in free beer). I spent as much time fixing that though as a rear tire change and a carburetor rebuild with a petcock filter cleanup with tank drain on a motorcycle. I hate these new cars when it comes to fixing them. That is why I keep my ol 1963 F100 Flatbed PU even though I have a Nissan 4 door Frontier PU. Points and Carb is easier and cheaper than Electronic ignition and Fuel Injection.

[cousinlucky]

" Points and Carb is easier and cheaper than Electronic ignition and Fuel Injection. " Amen, Roky, Amen!!

[MASONTX]

I'm not a mechanic, so may be all wet. When I had cars with points I had problems from time to time, but with fuel injection the only time I had to take the car in for work (at least on that) was when it got close to 200,000 miles. Fuel injection would seem to be worth it to me. Cars today seem to be more reliable than the old ones, even if they are more expensive. When I was growing up in the 50's and 60's, conventional wisdom was that a car was good for about 100,000 miles, then you would have to do major engine work. Now, my 2 vehicles have 105,000 on one and 112,000 on the other and show no signs of being worn out. It seems todays cars are good for about 200,000 miles. Just my 2 cents worth.

[Rubberman]

My '99 Toyota Camry just turned over 175,000 miles after a 5200 mile (2 week) road trip across the country. The running gear is as smooth as the day I bought it, though it is about due for new tires (these have almost 80,000 miles on them), shocks and suspension bushings. Other than the usual maintenance, the only stuff I have had to replace have been the brakes, which I suppose comes under the heading of normal maintenance, a resister for the heating/AC fan (twice), and the stereo. I replaced the stereo with one that had a USB port so I can plug any thumb drive with mp3's into it. It's amazing how much music you can stuff into an 8GB stick! BTW, the last set of tires I bought were all-weather Nokian, a division of Nokia. They handle at speed really well, wear incredibly well, and are very stable in wet and snow conditions. A new set is going to put me back about $400 (on sale), but since they are lasting almost twice as long as anything else, it comes out cheaper over time. They still have good tread, but a couple of them are getting a bit feathered and noisy/rough. I figure that changing them at the time I do the shocks is probably a good idea.

[cousinlucky]

Back in the late 1970' I spent a few month living in Collage Park Georgia ( near the Atlanta airport ) and I used to see cars 30 and 40 years old that were still running fine. Those guys had to have the seats replaced but everything under the hood hummed right along.

[Rubberman]

Back in the late 1970' I spent a few month living in Collage Park Georgia ( near the Atlanta airport ) and I used to see cars 30 and 40 years old that were still running fine. Those guys had to have the seats replaced but everything under the hood hummed right along.

Most cars in Cuba are from the 50's, and are maintained like part of the family (they get passed from generation to generation).