# I Loaaaaaathee modern car design all and the reason therefore.. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 29, 2008, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-loaaaaaathee-modern-car-design-all-and-the-reason-therefore/470136 "2008-10-29T20:06:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-loaaaaaathee-modern-car-design-all-and-the-reason-therefore/470136/21 "2008-10-30T20:40:54Z")
> [@Albrecht\_Durer](#): > > Oooh, and going to the Volvo website to see the options showed me that the C30 is super nice and in my price range. My decision just got a bit trickier… You might want to drop **Rick** a note, as he’s a retired Volvo guy, and could probably give you all the pointers you’d ever want about the car. At one time, Chevy was claiming that they were going to be building the Volt with an engine that could be easily swapped out (so if you buy a gasser and diesel or bio-diesel suddenly becomes the better fuel, you can just get a new engine, instead of a new car). Of course, that was _before_ GM unveiled the bar of soap that’s to be the Volt, so I’ve no idea if they’ve kept that part of the design or not. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-loaaaaaathee-modern-car-design-all-and-the-reason-therefore/470136/22 "2008-10-30T20:46:58Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > You might want to drop **Rick** a note, as he’s a retired Volvo guy, and could probably give you all the pointers you’d ever want about the car. > . Yes, he was very helpful to me. Great guy.🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-loaaaaaathee-modern-car-design-all-and-the-reason-therefore/470136/23 "2008-10-30T22:27:32Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Now, if you are open to traveling, you can custom order yours, and go to Sweden to pick it up- you basicly get a free Swedish vacation out of it The guy who bought Dad’s old 740 new got it from Sweden, through what was then called their “Tourist and Diplomat Service” or some such thing. At the time it must have been a nicely equipped car for the money, by the time Dad came by it, it was merely comfortable and had a nice key fob 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Necros](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/necros/32/11086_2.png) [@Necros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Necros)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-loaaaaaathee-modern-car-design-all-and-the-reason-therefore/470136/24 "2008-10-30T22:52:13Z")
> [@Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](#): > > My first car was a 1996 Ford Contour. According to my then-husband, it was the most difficult, stupidly-designed-for-access car he ever had to work with. You have my sympathies. Your then-husband never had to work on an ST185 Toyota Celica AllTrac. And as much as I curse this car for working on (and breaking every five minutes at $1000 a pop), the worst experience I ever had working on a car was a Mini Cooper S which needed the lower A arm replaced. The bushing it was supposed to slide into was bolted onto the unibody from the top. Which means one would have had to remove the engine to get at the bolts. We ended up using half a can of silicone lube, two jacks, a 2x4, and 14 hours to get it back in. ---
**Author:** ![Hyperelastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Hyperelastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hyperelastic)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-loaaaaaathee-modern-car-design-all-and-the-reason-therefore/470136/25 "2008-10-30T23:02:27Z")
> [@wolfman](#): > > ..I pit Henry Ford… There’s your problem right there. When I worked for Honda we did tool layouts for every serviceable part. If you designed something with a bolt on it, you had to demonstrate that the bolt could be removed with a standard wrench, or else the chief engineer wouldn’t sign off on the drawing. It only makes sense, really - if a part is hard to remove and replace, then there’s a good chance it’ll be hard to assemble in the first place. Hard to assemble means costly and prone to mistakes, which means wasted time and money. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-loaaaaaathee-modern-car-design-all-and-the-reason-therefore/470136.md?page=1)