When/why we need x-member bracing

[list@cemetery.homeunix.org (Andrew Basterfield)]

On Wed, 5 Mar 2003 01:33:25 -0800 (PST)
Dan Smith <sad_rocc@yahoo.com> wrote:

>  Rabbit16v <Rabbit16v@attbi.com> wrote:
> Congratulations!! You have figured out that manufacturers (in general,
> not just VW) are ALWAYS trying to find ways to cut corners. VW
> probably figured that their cars were only lasting (on average) about
> 120 - 150K and figured"why the heck should be make them to last 20
> years when they don't last that long". 

Fair point really. If I was buying the car brand new and I intended to
keep it for 3 years maximum I wouldn't really be all that interested in
the cars condition at the end of it's service life. The price, now that
would interest me.

> So, they thin the metal a
> little, use a cheaper but theoretically'just as strong' metal and
> viola! A car that is cheaper to make, costs more, more pocket
> padding!! It isn't a new revelation that cars get cheaper as they go.
> Even the BMWs and Mercedes and Lexus, etc. more plastic, more cheezy
> stuff etc. Sure, they may be more comfortable but I remember when
> Mercedes and BMW had REAL wood on the dashes and used leather on the
> sides and backs of the seats too! Or, didn't have everything that you
> touch made out of plastic.

On average cars have gotten better over time, not worse. I am only in my
late-20s and I remember growing up with cars from the 1970's.
Unreliable, major design flaws, and mainly used to be so rotten you
scrapped them before 10 years, certainly in the Europe. German cars were
always much better, but you had to pay for that.

> I bet that if you did the research you
> would find that they put less into their cars these days even with all
> the creature comforts when the cost of cars has gone up about 400%
> over the last 20 to 25 years.

Of course less goes in. This is because manufacturing has become more
efficient. Plastics are better now than they were in the 70's, so they
are used more, which means cars are cheaper to build and run.
Complicated mechanical linkages and mechanisms are being increasingly
replaced with computers, which you can't fix with a bent screwdriver and
sticky tape but are more reliable long-term.

There has also been a _little bit_ of inflation in the last 25 years,
that 400% isn't all profit.

> I would say, though, that of all the
> automotive companies that have been around for 50 years or more, the
> German companies are the ones who still take a lot of pride in their
> workmanship and, even though they make gobs of money, seem to be more
> interested in turning out top of the line cars than cutting the
> corners to make an extra penny per car.

I think with the strength of the German economy they can afford to have
wider margins.

> I have owned some newer VWs (well, mid to late eighties) but would
> never want to keep one. I have and will always use late 70's VWs for
> all my projects especially if they have any kind of frame twisting
> power! Just my opinion!

A newer shell is less likely to be rust-eaten or accident damaged.

The build quality of my 86 Scirocco GT is top-notch

--Andrew