We could certainly stand to make driving tests useful. Florida’s is a joke and AIUI the requirements in most states are barely any more challenging. Hell, I never even had to drive on a road to get my license; my driver’s ed class took place on a closed course (an old track and field complex).
Contrast that to most developed countries, which require some professional instruction and a certain number of on-road hours.
The smoothest modern cars have computer controlled air suspensions. The bad news? When the system goes bad, out of warranty repairs are so pricey that the cars are almost worthless. It’s why you see $100k luxury cars selling for under $20k after five years and under $10k soon after that.
You are quite right-some 1970s Rolls Royce sedans had an integrated suspension/hydraulic system, shared with e brakes. A brake overhaul could easily top $12,000. A lot of them were simply junked.
Over on Jalopnik there’s a guy who bought a used Range Rover at Carmax because Carmax offers a warranty on everything they sell.
He’s gotten several articles covering the repairs he’s needed. IIRC, it was less than a year before the warranty had covered repairs whose cost exceeded the cost of the warranty.
I am reminded because the repair that put him over the top was the second time the front air suspension failed.
Not sure what this had to do with a used Range Rover.
I don’t know who this guy is, but if he is yet another person trying to become a YouTube star, at least he is original… (I guess. First time I saw this, anyway.)
You could do it yourself for much cheaper. I bought all the hoses for under a grand, and there are instructional videos that walk you thru it available (on VHS!) from the RROC. What can make it a bit pricier is fabbing the metal hoses, but even that’s not so bad. On the Shadows, the biggest gripe is the decision to put the main parts in the V of the engine. The system was licensed from Citroen and you don’t hear as much griping because you can reach all the parts.
I was thinking more about modern systems with computers, where even just the parts put you up there in the thousands, even if you can do the work.
He’s actually the writer at Jalopnik who bought the used Range Rover. Or as he put it, one of the worlds least reliable luxury cars. Which was sort of the point. He noted that the warranty that Carmax offered was for a longer period than any that the manufacturer ever offered.
He also wrote about how owning a Ferrari from the 80s for a year only cost about $13,000 (depreciation and repairs), and after selling the Ferrari he bought a used Hummer H1.
He did an article and video on how everything you think you know about the Hummer is wrong: Measured to the outside of the mirrors, every full-sized truck on the market is wider than a Hummer. It is only about 8 inches longer than a Jetta. It has very little power. The seats are small and cramped.
I like his stuff, but it is of a particular flavor that I can understand some people might not.