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Exactly the complaint my father makes, that the brake is an on/off switch. However it doesn't feel that way to me in a modern car, I am use to cars with allot of power assistance, so it is noticeable I use allot less force when braking than he does.
Give me an older car without a servo and drum brakes, I would probably end up in a ditch, tree or other hazard before I could get it to stop.
Your dad is right!
And it's not your fault that you had the misfortune to be born a generation too late to be taught to drive properly on a proper car that doesn't do everything but change your nappies for you!
Your dad and I were taught to use the gearbox to slow down, because brakes couldn't be trusted, we were taught cadence braking because ABS didn't exist. We were taught skid control, to drive "by the seat of your pants", double declutching and a myriad of other skills that modern cars have made obsolete. This is called progress and though I have learned to live with it, I don't have to like it!
What I find totally unforgiveable about modern cars is the way they isolate the driver from any sense of connection with the car, it's no longer possible to be "man and machine in perfect harmony" as one old adveritising slogan claimed, because you can't TELL what's going on under your bum anymore! It's why I love driving old cars and regard modern stuff as "white goods"
As a professional spannerman, I am in and out of moderns and classics all day long and it no longer bothers me to swap from one to the other, you just have to keep in mind what you are driving! Fortunately, the seat of my pants still works, if it's recieving signals, my hindbrain understands that I am in a classic car and drives accordingly. If there are NO signals, it goes to sleep and engages the autopilot!
Steve