2013
All the extra saftey equipment, computers, screens etc...

1970

All the extra saftey equipment, Steel

Like everything else, government bureaucracy governs the way vehicles are designed and marketed to Americans. One doesn't drive what he would really like to drive. He drives a government prescribed vehicle.

Government bureaucracy is what costs Americans their treasure. Government bureaucracy is why the middle class can no longer afford the things it could in previous generations.

The government is our own domestic enemy.

I will take the car of today over the hard steel anyday. Today's cars are designed to absorb impact. Designed to crumble and absorb the energy of the impact. Think of the "Safer walls" in NASCAR, to protect drivers they didn't make harder walls, they made softer walls to absorb the impact (energy) of the crash.

They tested a '59 Impala vs. a 2009 Malibu, and the results are here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joMK1WZjP7g

Can't see youtube at work.. Will try to remember to watch tonight.

Didn't realize the malibu was made in 59.

DD, the '59 is an Impala, and the '09 is a Malibu.

The results are exactly as you state above.

Love old muscle cars! I think they are cool and a lot of fun. But I'll take my Hyundai Genisis Coupe all day. Air bags, crumple zones, full cage around the passenger compartment, fuel injection, Brembo ABS brakes all the way around. Safer and faster. At 140 its just getting its second wind.
Dont get me wrong, I would lave to have a 69 camaro or a 67 AC Cobra in the garage, but for a daily driver that is fun and fast, todays cars are better. IMHO

They couldnt have found an old, ratted out '59?!?!?!
Oh the pain!

I just googled the pics Just as i imagined. But saw some cool pics of a 66 malibu Always liked that, i had a 74, but it wasn't great.

I have a 2014 Dodge Charger. I goes fast and I feel safe. When I was younger I had a '76 Pontiac Ventura. It went fast too but it was way noisier and not nearly as comfortable as my Charger.

I haven't read all the posts, so I may be stating something that's already been said.......

In today's world, there are so so so very many things that are considered "needs" that are, in actuality, wants. Like Happy said, I grew up with 1 TV (and it was almost a certainty that we were going to watch a sporting event of some kind), we didn't have a phone at all until I was in about the 5th or 6th grade. We had only 1 car (my dad taught school and drove a bus...so the bus was his method of transportation to and from work). We rarely ate out, did not have an Internet connection (nope, not even dial-up), no cell phones......on and on and on.

With all the "needs" it's amazing, really, that human kind survived at all until the invention of the cell phone, Internet, Facebook, sports cars, television......just imagine what we will "need" tomorrow.

We will need persicoms. robot/personal computer/companions designed to do all our thinking and work so we can watch the new terminator movies in peace.

Some more data (not a dispute of your data)

I would have expected a greater safety rate though

http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/811856.pdf

ed, excellent info. Based on the fatalities per million miles traveled, they are way down. Total fatalities are not down that much, but that's because we travel so many more miles than in the early years of that study. Thanks.

Not only are we spending more on our own wants and needs, but somewhere along the lines we started spending on all of our kids wants and needs. It is insane how badly people are spoiling their kids these days. Mine are both in elementary school and to see what some of these kids have is shocking. 8 and 9 years olds with 2 and 3 different gaming systems, Ipads, Ipods, Iphones, tablets, draped head-to-toe in brand new Under Armor clothes and shoes. $300 baseball bats that will be too small in a year. Private lessons for everything. It's crazy. And I live in a fairly depressed town. What is it like where people have actual money?

"What is it like where people have actual money?"

Even more of the same, in many instances.

Maybe I don't get the point of this post, but how can you not want more than what your parents had? I certainly do. I was told be grateful for you have my whole life and I knew that was nonsense from a young age. I figured out that smart people who work hard usually achieve more and go farther.

If you want more than what your parents, grandparents or whoever has or had, work your [censored] off to get it.

I do agree with GoBucs though. Kids are certainly spoiled today. The young staff at my bank think being told to their job correctly is bullying. It's a bunch of nonsense.

"bullying" is the new "everyone gets trophies"

My main point of this post was not that peoples' lives of today are worse off than those in the past (those are subjective questions & answers), but more in the vein of prices being (seemingly, I'll add) much higher than they used to be and that inflation is a real thing when you add in day-to-day expenses such as gas, milk, groceries (cereal is ridiculous), etc.

Another sort-of related item is the lack of vacation that many people take these days. There is a great commercial on TV now that states that there is some obnoxious number of vacation days that aren't taken each year, and then a little boy says, "That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard" after.

people wear not taking vacation here as a badge of honor...bragging on how many days they lose each year...because ours don't carry over...i'll tell them they are idiots, because there is no other explanation.

Agreed, I take all of my days. It helps my mental outlook and gives me something to look forward too.

I agree with this. Also, I worked at a bank where one guy in Accounting gave up about half his vacation each year - too busy, etc. When our bank was acquired, he was one of the 200 people RIF'd. All the days he gave up didn't get him anything.

So I always take my vacation.

The Truth

I keep waiting on someone to post "you can't handle it"

you can't handle it

I don't know kid, I can handle an awful lot.