ND battery under-spec'd?

[Rocky]

In 1972 my new Mazda RX2 cost $3600.
My 1974 RX4 Coupe was $4500.
The 1976 FIAT 124 Sport Coupe was $7600.

[emu]

My 2015 ND 1.5 Auto, 27000 kms, has sat for 6 weeks recently , and span over like a top starting instantly
Does the RF have a smaller battery ? If not I think you have a leak somewhere
Cheer Pete

[emu]

My 2015 ND 1.5 Auto, 27000 kms, has sat for 6 weeks recently , and span over like a top starting instantly
Does the RF have a smaller battery ? If not I think you have a leak somewhere
Cheers Pete

[Mr Morlock]

If you page back you will see the problem is not the battery - it was a drain caused by leaving the cruise control on and it also was confined to a specific model. Have a look at the document released by Mazda and that should clarify it. Emu's point bears out that batteries are supposed to hold up and turn the engine over- 6 weeks not 2 weeks or thereabouts - i.e. as Emu puts it " a leak"

[ManiacLachy]

Wait. Are you getting back on topic now?

[Mr Morlock]

Maniac L no still a bit o/t
Wivvix-- Of course cars are significantly cheaper today than ever before .Prime and easy example MX-5 NA about $40K in 1989 + how many weeks salary and + 25 years later its $30K and probably less than 6 mths wages. The same applies to a lot of manufactured items- processes improve and car co's dont just increase prices every year and have reduced prices or slowed increases- like Mazda. Car cos expected cost reductions from their suppliers during the life of contracts e.g. a model life. Housing is a completely different situation - its clearly far less affordable than ever and efficiency in processes and cheaper materials play no part. Plenty of cars to buy but not plenty of houses and land.

[RBH58]

If you page back you will see the problem is not the battery - it was a drain caused by leaving the cruise control on and it also was confined to a specific model. Have a look at the document released by Mazda and that should clarify it. Emu's point bears out that batteries are supposed to hold up and turn the engine over- 6 weeks not 2 weeks or thereabouts - i.e. as Emu puts it " a leak"

All Australian RFs with a build date to mid-May 2017 are affected. STs are not affected.

[93_Clubman]

MX-5 NA about $40K in 1989

Wrong - 1989 NA6 cost $29.5k.

[Wivvix]

Wivvix-- Of course cars are significantly cheaper today than ever before .Prime and easy example MX-5 NA about $40K in 1989 + how many weeks salary and + 25 years later its $30K and probably less than 6 mths wages. The same applies to a lot of manufactured items- processes improve and car co's dont just increase prices every year and have reduced prices or slowed increases- like Mazda. Car cos expected cost reductions from their suppliers during the life of contracts e.g. a model life. Housing is a completely different situation - its clearly far less affordable than ever and efficiency in processes and cheaper materials play no part. Plenty of cars to buy but not plenty of houses and land.

Aside from those figures being wrong, the mx-5 cost over 50% more than an average 4 door sedan in 1989 so it's a pretty terrible example of anything but the mx-5 being an outlier.

I'm not really sure you can have a credible discussion about the affordability of something today, while having total disregard for relative financial capacity. Sure you can try, but the housing white elephant is still going to be front and center in the room. The only thing that can be said for certain is that young people today aren't going out buying cars with total disregard for their broader financial circumstances. I'm not sure what was encouraged when you were a youth, but most of the people I know who have that approach managing personal finances end up living out of their car, or worse.

[Red Dragon]

In my area every house seems to have more than one car.
In my court all the young guns of both sexes drive new or nearly new cars, over the road from me they had Volvo convertible ,BMW, X trail Toyota Yaris. work van & tow truck. They shifted out at Xmas and the new people only have Astra Convertible, Rav 4 and a couple of years old XR6
There are at least another four houses with no less than four cars in each.
With the wages the young ones get and live at home until in their 30"s they all buy flash cars.
Not like my first car in 1964 a 1949 FX Holden that i had to pay off on HP.

[KevGoat]

Back in mid 70's, even though working full time for a bank, I didn't earn enough to borrow any money to buy a car. I also moved out of home into a flat soon after starting my job due to a promotion that came with a transfer of branches. I couldn't afford the flat on my own so my sister moved in to help out. When I got my license my parents gave me their car (VF2 Valiant Station Wagon) for a small cost and I slowly paid that off over a couple of years. Even when I sold that car 3 years later after I moved to Adelaide, I couldn't afford a loan due to shared rent and living costs and luckily had just enough to buy an old HR panel van, ex RAA.

When we got married (some 7-8 years I'd working in the bank) we couldn't afford much as far as buying a house and finally found a house/land package deal that was really cheap due to the builder picking up some mortgagee sale blocks of land for almost nothing. We deleted stuff from the house build and I did a deal with the building company that allowed me to paint the house to save costs so that we could get the cost under what we could borrow from the SA Govt low income loan scheme they had back then. Even with that lower interest loan, we had to sacrifice a lot to make repayments. We didn't go on holidays or eat out. We didn't have much more furniture for years than my old furniture from my flat. Old, cheap cars and I did all the servicing to keep them running. Our luxury was once a month we'd allow ourselves to buy take away fish 'n chips for dinner! A small used 12" black and white TV for many years, and our floor coverings were old carpets we pulled up from the in law's house when they had new carpet installed.

We're still in that house 38 years on
...

Struggles to buy haven't changed ... peoples attitudes to what they are willing to sacrifice and what they're willing to settle for has changed.

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[KevGoat]

... I should have added that, especially amongst young people these days, they have quite different life values to those of my time - one being no interest in cars apart from what they need it to do. Hardly any young person I know has any interest in owning a car. They prefer uber! Takes them where tbey want. They can get on their social networks, text, video or whatever all while being dríven where they want to go, all at (mostly) reasonable cost! They enjoy life to it's full today ... tomorrow will take care of itself. As long as they are doing it independantly and are not like many who enjoy their freedom to do what they like while also expectong help from the Parent Bank. I don't criticise this new attitude to life, I wish I'd been more like that in fact. I think the old values of getting a steady job, getting married, getting a house, having kids, saving for a rainy day ... stifled a lot of what we could have done. We tended to tie ourselves down looking after tomorrow too much. However, some drawbacks may have to be accepted, and maybe the lower percentage of full time permanent positions and renting for life are some of these. Society will have to work these out with time.

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[StanTheMan]

Wivvix-- Of course cars are significantly cheaper today than ever before .Prime and easy example MX-5 NA about $40K in 1989 + how many weeks salary and + 25 years later its $30K and probably less than 6 mths wages. The same applies to a lot of manufactured items- processes improve and car co's dont just increase prices every year and have reduced prices or slowed increases- like Mazda. Car cos expected cost reductions from their suppliers during the life of contracts e.g. a model life. Housing is a completely different situation - its clearly far less affordable than ever and efficiency in processes and cheaper materials play no part. Plenty of cars to buy but not plenty of houses and land.

Aside from those figures being wrong, the mx-5 cost over 50% more than an average 4 door sedan in 1989 so it's a pretty terrible example of anything but the mx-5 being an outlier.

I'm not really sure you can have a credible discussion about the affordability of something today, while having total disregard for relative financial capacity. Sure you can try, but the housing white elephant is still going to be front and center in the room. The only thing that can be said for certain is that young people today aren't going out buying cars with total disregard for their broader financial circumstances. I'm not sure what was encouraged when you were a youth, but most of the people I know who have that approach managing personal finances end up living out of their car, or worse.

setlle down chaps....

the Mx5 in 1989 was $29K or $31K on the road That's what I paid for my 1991 mariner Blue.
average annual wage was around $30K

as far as affordability of cares are concerned we are streets ahead in todays world.

Sydney average wage is around $80K today.

what sort of car can you afford with that....if you were crazy enough to spend that much
50-60K will get you a fire breathing hatch with awd and all the safety technology thrown in.

as far as comparing that with youth of today & youth of the 70s.....
I moved out of home at 19 years of age.

neither of my kids are moving out before they are 30. with degree & Career path in place

we also now have the 10 bedroom 5 bathroom wog mc mansion.....where most of us can.....keep our kids around with partners & so on

I lived in a small 3 bedroom house built in the 60s with 5 other siblings + parents..... at around 140mSq I recon most of us here on this forume are probably close to thatr as well.

I find with some of my sons friends very few are interested in cars.....sure they love fast cars . My son loves the mazda....but hes also going to have a 60K debt to go to Uni.....he cant afford to look at cars. without his parents being involved.

In our day6....you got your School certificate....you then got a trade....you then went hunting for pussy, cars & alcohol.....and eventually when you got married....you saved up for 12 mths to get a house deposid. Cause thats what your [parents made you do....even though you didnt live hat home any more.


My point?

ugh.....

cant remember....old age you know...

ahhhh yes.

In our day.....you just rolled the car down the hill. Clutch start....not battery or cruise control issues in those days



.....


did someone place a box beneath my feet?

[bruce]

You all make me feel a little bit younger.

[KevGoat]

....you then went hunting for pussy, cars & alcohol.....

... found out early on that cars & alcohol was both cheaper and less trouble

.....you just rolled the car down the hill. Clutch start....not battery or cruise control issues in those days

... here was backwards down the driveway hopefully gathering enough pace to get across the road uphill with enough room to turn as rolling forward down the hill to start