[grecy]

I wholeheartedly disagree with you. haha

Go back to a BMW of 1990, and it's not that much different from a new car today. Fuel injection, air bags, ABS. Internal combustion engine, exhaust, radiator, transmission. etc. etc.

Heck, even back then it was perfectly normal for a car to get better than 10L/100km (23.5mpg)

There have been incremental improvements for sure, but in all honesty it's the same thing, just tweaked a little.

[wil421]

Disagree with you and I have sources.

A 1990 BMW 3 Series got 18 miles a gallon and a 2019 BMW 3 series gets 30 combined. 1990 had a 5 speed and the new one has an 8 speed.[1] The power and efficiency of ICEs are night and day vs the 90s.

You could literally same the same thing about anything and it would be a huge generalization.

“It’s just a CPU/RAM/Disk/Nic with a monitor and keyboard. We had those in 1980s and it’s only incremental every since.”

[1]https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/Find.do?action=sbs&id=41157&...

[mdorazio]

This is like saying if you go back 10 years, computers still had RAM, hard drives, CPUs, and GPUs so they're basically the same as today while neglecting the fact that there have been significant improvements in all of those and a modern computer would run circles around one from 2009.

There aren't many noticeable improvements in cars from one year to the next, but over the span of a full model change, you usually get fairly significant improvements in safety, fuel efficiency per horsepower, and in-cabin features.

Also note that we haven't reached maximum ICE performance yet, either. For example, Mazda is soon to release their Skyactiv-X engine, which is a sort of hybrid spark and compression ignition system with a large fuel efficiency increase over traditional engines.

[growlist]

Try driving one of the latest cars with all modern driver aids etc. for a few hundred miles: lane departure, blind spot warning, parking sensors, automated parking assist, distance sensors etc. Include routing around traffic congestion and a requirement to stop halfway for some unexpected reason, necessitating use of in-car navigation system.

Then try doing the same with a 1990 BMW. Unless you are being deliberately obtuse you will miss the driver aids etc., as they make the whole experience so much easier. Old cars are simply nowhere near the latest cars for safety, comfort, ease of use etc.

[IE6]

Anecdotally I would argue that the last 10 years have seen a more significant improvement in car technology and capability than the prior 10 years.

If we look at power alone even though EPA regulations have only gotten stricter during the same time frame if we look at the same model of car (Ford Mustang GT) we see that it has gone from 310 HP [1] to 460 HP [2] in 10 years. The same power that was delivered by the V8 which powered the Mustangs that my friends and I pined over in High School (ca. 2004) is now delivered by a compact I4 turbocharged engine which also delivers 25 MPG [3].

[1] https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/a15147979/2009-ford-mus... [2] https://www.caranddriver.com/ford/mustang [3] https://www.edmunds.com/ford/mustang/2019/mpg/#style=4017572...