Piston Slap: David the Explorer Questions TTAC's Used Reviews

TTAC’s own David Holzman writes:

I was struck when I did my old Beetle review by how much worse the steering and handling felt than I remembered. The ’67 Imperial also seemed a lot floaty-boatier than I would have expected. Thus, I found very interesting your implication [in the Piston Slap question about the Explorer] that ride could deteriorate badly in less than a decade. Are old car reviews doomed to vastly underrate the cars relative to how they drove when new—unless they’ve recently been overhauled?

Sajeev Replies:

Yes. Because getting old sucks. Even for cars.

After publishing the Explorer question on Piston Slap, I guess I shoulda asked for it’s mileage: shocks are wear items. When it comes to older or high mileage cars, the oil/gas in shocks either turns into maple syrup, or leaks out. Parts and labor are not cheap, and not essential to keep an older vehicle on the road. I talked owner of the 1996 Explorer I reviewed, mentioning the correlation between a terrible ride and 13 year old shocks. He’s less than thrilled with the idea, even though he hates the ride. So who in their right mind proactively replaces shocks on an old car?

Then there’s the metal. Springs become more ductile over time/mileage and begin to sag. Sway bars do the same, especially the hollow units on modern cars traveling salty roads. I’ve seen vacuum lines and gaskets go bad after 5 years of heat cycling. And rubber is the worst: it will dry out, crack, or get a (delicious) glazed coating with Father Time’s assistance and exposure to Mother Nature. And nothing kills a test drive easier than hard, dry rotted, or glazed tires that are several years old.

Tolerances in engines, transmissions, steering systems, etc. get sloppy with every passing year. A worn engine may perform better, but nobody likes extra play in their pinions, ball joints, or tie-rod ends. Point is, we must not judge a car’s historical impact by the condition of the used car we drove. In a perfect world, used cars offered as TTAC testers need to be fully reconditioned. Recently. And with a binder full of receipts for repair jobs.

And forget about testing a car that’s been restomoded with aftermarket upgrades, unless its a tuner car like a Lingenfelter Corvette ZR-1. Then it’s okay to cheat. Sort of.