[sunikkat]

- No more lifting antenna while playing music. Remember my Zen day's when reception was bad used to lift the antenna while driving
- Dont miss tube tyres a bit, had issues with that multiple times on long drives
- No more carrying CDs / cassette's
- Manually operated windows are fully replaced with power windows, well almost fully

[Raghu M]

Overheating problem. Fill water in the radiator as there used to be smoke visible from the bonnet. I did not experience this but saw in a lot of movies. You will see radiator water tanks in famous routes even now (Tirimala ghat road).

Another is starting problem. This was a major issue or I would say the biggest issue in old cars. It's unheard of these days.

[DicKy]

1. Cold start problems and having to use the chock.
2. No longer smoky exhausts, though modern diesels smell like they are out to kill you unlike old sooty smell.
3. Cassettes getting stuck inside the system, or coming back to see your favourite cassettes melted in the harsh sun.
4. 800 and Omni- The guilty feel of having to rev the engine frequently so as not to let the engine die or to smooth out the vibrations. Ofcourse, one can tune the carburretor to be smooth, but at the cost of FE.

Originally Posted by Guna

- I am happy that we don't have to paint upper half of the headlamp black.
- No need to give hand signals
- I don't have to hand over the keys to the guys at petrol bunk to open the fuel lid cap

Phew... Also add the black dot on the centre of the headlight.

Originally Posted by 2000rpm

The metal bumpers, which should have been renamed as Pedestrian Knee cap hunters. (Bolero had this until 2017 I think).

The Bolero still has metal bumpers I guess. Wonder how they made the steel bumper pedestrian friendly. Thin as foil?

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

At least for those of us unfortunate enough to drive a lot in Kerala, divided 4 Lane Roads are still a major luxury. Plenty of 1-1.5 lanes too. , and in general, in the south, apart from the major national highways, all roads are still 2 lane with a good amount of traffic....Having said that, what I don't miss is the average quality of roads of the past. Today, in general, whether it is 2 lane or 4 lane, the quality of roads are much much better(again from the areas where I drive regularly).

Kerala is still undivided road country.

True, about the old road quality. Especially the curved dome nature of the old roads (to facilitate easier drainage of rainwater? ) Even now thinking of travelling in an Ambassador on those roads make me uneasy. I remember drivers also talking about tyres getting worn down on one side faster due to the road shape.

[fiat_tarun]

This takes me back to our Ambassador days where the new car had to be taken to the workshop for an overall checkup before it could be driven confidently. Our new Ambassador Nova kept going to the workshop for the 1st 2 years for an alternator issue if I remember correctly after which it ran properly. Of course we had the below 'old car' problems.

- Could not climb the ghat from Bandipur to Ooty, we had to take the long route via Gudalur
- Climbing any ghat was a literal workout with the non power steering and a lesson in patience with the power available !
- A repaint required after 2-3 years because it would either fade or rust...
- Having to light a small fire underneath the car so the diesel would not freeze in Coonoor / Ooty in the winters

Moved from the Amby to a Fiat Uno diesel S and boy, what an upgrade that was. That was our introduction to solid build, stability at high speed, modern car features (it came with a factory fitted Sony music system and had a rear wiper !)

[Sanidhya mukund]

I am glad that modern diesels start with one turn of the key, be it in Manali on a cold winter morning or in an extremely hot Delhi afternoon. My Tata Estate used to be an absolute pain to start early in the morning in the winters.

Imagine being awfully late and then having to sit in your driveway, helplessly waiting for the stupid glow plugs to heat up before you can start the car.

[adisan]

Originally Posted by sagarpadaki

Air conditioning as a standard on all variants.

This reminds me of a Santro in the driving school where I learnt. As per the driving instructor, someone had bought it sans the air conditioning feature. He took his spouse in the car on a warm day and she discovered that it had no A/C. He was not given any other option but to dispose it and get a new car with A/C. He sold it to the driving school.

Originally Posted by GTO

- I don't miss those dangerous two-lane highways at all. There were no dividers and to overtake, you had to go over on the opposite side.

Almost 25 years back, a stretch of NH that is 4-lane now, used to be a 2-lane undivided carriageway. A long-distance bus had to drive slowly behind a moped for a few kms, waiting for an opening to pass a moped.
On the same highway, these days some folks are unhappy when a truck is slowly overtaking another, occupying both the lanes.

[salilpawar1]

Originally Posted by 2000rpm

Poor leg room for cars with huge footprint like the Padmini!

The metal bumpers, which should have been renamed as Pedestrian Knee cap hunters. (Bolero had this until 2017 I think).

Weak AC which was completely useless in cars like 800 and Zen.

The Premier Padmini was actually 3.9 m in length making it shorter than most hatchbacks and compact sedans available today. Wheelbase was also shorter than today's Alto (~2.4 m) Yes, the leg room was lesser but the boot was bigger and more usable too @ 300+ L

[2000rpm]

Originally Posted by DicKy

The Bolero still has metal bumpers I guess. Wonder how they made the steel bumper pedestrian friendly. Thin as foil?

Simple - dont even try, the metal bumpers are not pedestrian friendly at all.

How do I know? I was walking next to a an old Bolero and a rusted piece of metal at the corner, caught my Ralph Lauren Jeans and ripped it! Thats when I started observing boleros and understood that their bumpers are pure iron.

If you got hit by a 2 Ton car with metal bumpers, best to forget your walking days.

[rsidd]

Carburettors and distributors. Source of most of the problems in my previous car. Some cars used to stall reliably when the distributor got wet. Good riddance.

[vinu_h]

Dad drove us to Ooty from Blr in a Fiat in the year 1990 I think. All it took was a couple kms of the incline of the Ooty hill for it to overheat and develop a leak in the radiator & so on. We let it cool and thereafter had to stop every km or so to avoid another blow out. On the way back, a gear issue came up and the lever wouldn't slot into 1st or 2nd, so dad had to struggle by beginning with the 3rd gear till we reached Mysuru.

I was very happy of course. 3 day trip became 5 days and I got to skip school for 2 days Glad my 2021 Skoda is a little better than the humble fiat .

[chinkara]

I am rather nostalgic about the 2 lane roads - had their own charm and developed certain skills. Same with single mirror setup - even today in narrow lanes where we have to drive with mirrors folded that skill comes in use.

I am glad we do not have the engine heating or stalling problems - but how much of it is due to cars and how much due to fuel I wonder - about a decade back my Wagon R stalled after filling from a pump in Rampur. Never before, never after - but in that journey it stalled some 6 times and I reached home after 3 AM. Later the service station emptied the tank and showed the slush that was there in the fuel.

[dragracer567]

Originally Posted by GTO

- Today, the service advisor is expected to go out of the way for you, treat you well, you will fill up forms to rate their service and so on. Back in the day, it was you who had to schmooze the service advisor for "good service", treating your car well and getting stuff approved in warranty. We used to send Diwali gifts to them .

Wait, what? I guess that was the golden era of being a car salesman!

From what I remember when I was a kid, these are the characteristics I'm glad didn't make it modern cars:

1) No right OVRMs: Infact, I still remember my uncle's M800 which didn't have one and he fixed it later aftermarket. A necessity in 4 lane roads but the aftermarket one kept folding every time we crossed 100 Km/h!

2) Tires with tubes in them - can scarcely believe this was a thing!

3) Horrible braking distances - with no ABS and drum brakes all around, braking required a lot of planning.

4) Dealerships - I still remember that people at my place had to travel 80 kms to reach a Maruti dealer in the 90s. Now, there are two different Maruti dealers just in my hometown with showrooms at every corner.

5) Travel times - Certainly road trips weren't for the faint-hearted.

6) Comfort at high speeds - Now, cars from back in the day like the Zen and Santro could easily drive at 100 km/hr but the problem was that they felt very strained doing it, like you are maxing out a Lamborghini at 330 km/hr. But modern hatches like the Swift or i20 can cruise at 120 km/hr all day without tiring you out as much with wind and road noise.

7) Fuel efficiency - we don't realize it but cars back in the day weren't fuel-efficient, especially given the lack of power and the light build.

[Poitive]

Off the cuff:

• Checking and topping up water in the radiator almost daily (pre-coolant days).
  .
• Checkup visits to the service centre before any and every outstation trip.
  .
• The uncertainty due to roadside assistance services being non-existent. No mobile phones either. Back in the day, no STD booths too! Highway travel especially, could well a bit of an adventure.
  .
• Short distances viable in a day on the highway. Tiring; the car would find it challenging to handle; breaks to cool the car down.
  .
• Pouring water on the windshield before using the wiper. I often had one arm with a bottle, splashing water on the windscreen while driving.
  .
• Heat! Initial cars without ACs, and then ones which weren't good enough. Often had to wait a bit before turning it on. There was even some guilt associated with turning on the AC when no elders were around, like one was splurging needlessly.
  .
• Cold! Heaters weren't commonplace.
  .
• Fogged windscreens.
  .
• Having to stop to clean the windscreen every now and then.
  .
• Scratches on the windscreen due to poor quality wipers.
  .
• Punctures. A lot more frequent in the old days. It was used as a common excuse for being late for a meeting.
  .
• Towing ropes failing, as they were only a "jugaad".
  .
• Poor headlamps. Made worse with windscreens having scratches.
  .
• Poorly lit city streets; often even the major ones. The quality of lamps was really poor. I remember tube-lights! Street lamps being turned off at night. Frequent power failures (or load shedding).
  .
• Bulbs getting fused ever so often.
  .
• Lack of reliability of brake lights of the cars you were following being functional.
  .
• Seat mechanisms failing and the back of the seat falling back in a few.
  .
• Belts failing. Radiator leaks not being uncommon. Misc such stuff.
  .
• Gear-shifts being less reliable. Golden rule was to not even consider a gear change while overtaking.
  .
• Planning overtaking was a bigger task; especially on the highways of the era.
  .
• Checking gaps of spark plugs. Cleaning them.
  .
• Adjusting the carburetor to experiment (admittedly a joy too ).
  .
• General tyre and brake capability. One always had some uncertainty and that wasn't pleasant.
  .
• People being too egoistic on the road - giving the other car from the opposite direction way when on a narrow street was almost seen as a sign of being dominated and not "hounourable" for a guy to back off from!
  .
• The slightest of touches on one's car often resulting to loud boisterous talk on the street; and worse!
  .
• Finding a reliable air pressure meter at a fuel station, and ever so often wonder if it still was reliable.
  .

I'm sure I forget some, but we sure have come a long way.

Edit:
* Finding a reliable fuel station. Adulterated fuel was commonplace, even in metros. Tampered meters too. The stations were usually poorly lit.
* Being dependent on the experience and relationship with the FNG, than any proper service manuals being used. To make sure one was in good terms with them, for the health of your car.
* ORVMs being the exception rather than the norm! If one drove a friend's car, one had to manage without those. The left one was considered a bit of a feature for a phase.
* The sheer amount of time and effort it took to use and maintain a car.
* The Red-line and Blue-line buses of Delhi - a nightmare!

[Dry Ice]

This thread will blow up when EV adoption goes mainstream! It will get rid of a lot of moving parts from our cars as we know them today

As for the things from the past, as much fun as they were, happy to see the 2T engines gone. Along with the god awful dynamo based headlights that would almost go off on idle! Apart from the mechanical stuff, stickers like “power brakes, keep distance” or “ac car, no hand signal” have also vanished, given way to “Live to Drive”.


Oh the childhood memories!

[Rahul Bhalgat]

My driving started in M800 era and not in Premier Padmini / Ambassador era. So right from the beginning, the problems were few and infrequent. Here are they:

• Punctures on tubed tyres.
• Distributor settings
• Worn O-rings in carburator.
• Low quality hoses with short life.
• Windscreen fogging.
• Central locking. We needed to make sure all doors are locked.
• Locking out of the car, with key inside. Because you forgot to pull the lock knob before closing the door.
• AC and heater.
• No, manual window winding lever wasn't a problem. I find it a fun and miss it.
• Abscence of 24 hour roadside assistance.
• Last but most important, though not a problem with the car itself. Abscence of such a wonderful forum like Team-BHP where the samartian car lovers help you genuinely to buy and maintain the car. And support you on many non-car aspects of your life. From health to house maintenance to investment to so many other topics.