At first I wondered if I might be hijacking a thread, but then considered the question/subject, "
How do you get this so wrong?"
Though it's not as bad these days I'm old enough to remember "
planned obsolescence". For those not familiar with the term it was a 'little known' "official" policy (secrets like that never stay unknown for long) that the marketing geniuses for the big auto makers came up with to guarantee future sales in a timely manner.
Basically, they designed things so that just before or about the time you got your buggy paid for, everything about it was so obsolete that it made more sense to buy a new one instead of trying to keep the old thing running.
Back to my point . . . I understand the need for different wheel sizes as the engineering evolves to consider vehicle speeds, weight, size, braking capacity and such, but one of the things that always ticked me off and continues to (should this be in the 'pet peeve section' ?
) is
proprietary lug patterns on brands.
The ONE and ONLY reason lug patterns vary from manufacturer to manufacturer and are not standardized is so you HAVE to buy THEIR special pattern wheels. The money made off this arbitrary silliness is obscene. The concept is totally unnecessary. Any inconvenience or initial design cost to a manufacturer to accommodate standard patterns would be negligible. Overall costs would be reduced, inventories would not have to as voluminous and the consumer would benefit.
One can argue all day (and gear heads do) about the efficacy of the design of certain brands and the thousands of parts that make up an automobile - whose is better? Chevy? Ford? Mopar? Toyaota? on and on infinitum . . . . All of us tend to have our preferences based on what we like and what historically we believe has given us value and service. But come on . . . who thinks we really need the design of such things as could easily be standardized to be changed in the engineering every time a new model comes out? Get real . . .
Won't mention the brand because the inevitable "war stories" pro and con will result to further derail the OP's thread. But one brand loved and staunchly defended by bunches of folks has never worked for me. I know people love them . . . would drive/buy nothing else. But in my years I had a few of them, and every one I got was a lemon. So I bought their competitor's models instead which happened to work
for me. Brand loyalty - another subject for numerous threads (gee, on the SMITH & WESSON forum ?
) and books written on the subject.
But as to the question, "
How do you get this so wrong?" I feel I may be on to at least a partial reason for such happening.
