Nowadays, car manufacturers spend so much time and effort to make sure their cars will get through the warranty period without expensive breakdown by stuffing them with sensors to put them into limp mode if anything goes outside the set parameters by a fraction, that they forget to use discretion in the design studio, and because, with computerised engineering,- if you can computer draft it, you can computer make it, hence the over-sculpted shapes of fat, ugly nightmares like the Nissan Juke/Qashqai, and so many other "cross-over" vehicles, - so called because if you see one parked on your side of the road, you cross over to avoid it. Computer design and engineering has allowed us to design things and get them into production far more quickly than ever before, so the buying public has been persuaded that new is different is better. Designs don't seem to evolve, so the good gets changed as much as the bad, new models often seem to have gained several new problems in eliminating 1 or 2 old ones. Undoubtedly, cars are more reliable, better made and better equipped than they used to be. But so many are flawed by both poor aesthetics and engineering design and over- complex and delicate electronics, that you would be insane to buy one out of warranty! Our cars may have their engineering faults, but at least they are great to look at and drive - which, for me, are the most important factors.
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