or there's options like Mountune, where you get your new car on PCP and then the Ford garage will fit your upgrade parts when it arrives from the factory.
Not a new concept per-se, but they've certainly advanced and streamlined the format significantly.
I've personally only been using car forums since 2014 when I got my license at 17, but I always turn to forums for any information that I need as opposed to anywhere else. Facebook is quite useful as a marketplace, I think the fact most people have facebook messenger on their phone just helps speed up the contact with the seller. I don't think Facebook is ever going to be a replacement for the car forum, the type of content is just entirely different in my opinion.
Photobucket keeps being brought up a lot recently, it's ****ed up many old threads for sure, however a lot of those images are still accessable if you follow the image link directly to photobucket. But it has no effect to new threads or posting images in general. I may have to post a mini tutorial of sorts for using something such as Flickr to post images as I've seen a lot of people struggling to post images now because they entirely relied on PB, I understand not everyone is a tech wizard so maybe it'd be of help to some.
Last edited by Matas; 24-08-2017 at 14:09.
Forums have been in decline for a few years now. It was the perfect storm of the recession killing off people's car hobbies, and social networks taking over as the main source of automotive consumption; especially for the younger enthusiasts. Photobucket killing off an incredible amount of invaluable historic forum knowledge was the nail in the coffin.
Many of the people who browse Facebook groups for their info don't even know that forums exist. The information also pales in comparison to the level of depth found on forums.
It's a real shame.
With older Japanese cars, the problem is exacerbated by the rapidly declining numbers of cars on the road.
Some forums continue to do well, like Pistonheads, but their broader appeal keep them afloat.
car insurance costs for anything sporty and under 25 must be to blame for a lot going for the walk into the dealership and sign up for boredom
my son & daughter are around the 25 ish range and struggle to insure standard older just above scrap value cars
most of their friends are into modified cars but can't afford the high insurance costs
so the get something sprinkled in glitter that looks nice to them is an easy option,
and there is the having the latest reg is super cool even when its attached to a base model with 15 year old technology under the bonnet
and is crunching it into reverse as you balls up a three point turn and aquire random weird placed dents a 'cool thing' as well ?
If your ford dealer does it though, when i was looking last year my local ford dealership didnt want to have anything to do with the mountune kit for the FST. didnt know anything about it either.
Cost them a sale, well that and the other things that the 5 had over the FST did - that said a more helpful dealer would have been a plus.
Nowadays i dont want to feck around with cars, i have long since moved on from being under one changing out some random gizmo thats broken - i want a new one that if it coughs goes right back to the dealer to fix.
Facebook killed this forum initially as all the entertaining stuff on here moved onto facebook as everyone was friends, I still use other forums that are fairly active but with the amount of 200's left this forum won't ever be anything like it was.
I remember having to log on to a pc every few hours religiously so I didn't miss anything decent coming up for sale
I only use FB for cat pics, drunk videos and cyber stalking... it seems a bit daft to me to use it for car forum discussion like stuff.
jbsauce, whats your generation? I'm in my twenties and I know a reasonable amount about fixing cars.
All I know is the CA motor enthusiasts facebook page is full of absolute spackers. It's quite funny watching Floppy Hair Danny and Scootch Kev beating them all with big sticks from time to time, but other than that it's very frustrating. Like most stuff online these days, those doing the most of the pedalling of the info, have never actually experienced what they're preaching on. A quick Google Search gave them some info, from someone who like them had never done the job before, but they're all passing it off as Gospel anyway.
I'm going to turn off the lights on my way out.
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Facebook is full of narcissists who like to talk about themselves.
Forums are less busy but that doesn't mean they are dying.
I think we all know who the last one out will be ......... Ive got the keys, remember?
Its something we (the staff) noticed a fair while ago, a lot of the dropoff is due to FB but theres a lot of other aspects too, not least that a 200SX used to be someones pride and joy, its now a 2nd, 3rd car or even just a drift slag. ITs interesting for me as Im on the 350Z forum and also babybmw (1 series bimmers) - 350Z is starting to drop off now, babybmw is still gooing strong but 90% of people posting have 140's or M2's, there arent a lot of cars more than 4-5 years.
Both forums lack people getting their hands dirty or treading a new modification path, babybmw is definitely worse than 350Z for it and for general discussion about non car stuff FB is the way these days. There might be a return to forums but I doubt it TBH.
Originally Posted by scimmy benOriginally Posted by sprout
I think in the real world there's space for both Facebook based sites, and the genuine forums ...
Certainly there has been a big shift towards Facebook but it's normally an am***amation of an original forum or a few put together.
Being 21 myself I do feel like an odd one out at a lot of car meets now, because I'm young and that's not what young people do anymore...
And it's a god damn shame! This forum has been a god send for me in regards to technical knowledge, I rarely look anywhere else.
I only really use Facebook groups for arranging meets and events. And everything else gets done on the forums.
The other side to it is that no one talks about forums at all, when I go to meets and shows everyone says "check out the club on Facebook" and it comes down to monkey see monkey do, if people are told to visit a forum then they will... or if there is a forum and a Facebook page, they will advertise the forum on the FB profile and constantly mention that the forum is the main room for advice, information etc.
This is probably the best forum I've been part of, there's not much bitching if any and people actually know what they are on about... it's not as big as it used to be from what you guys are saying, but it's a good place all the same.
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I remember the days on here when you couldnt go a week without seeing a couple of boost leak issues.
Still i come on here for the bantz and talking twaddle - i find that if it vent all my tripe here i dont do it elsewhere like FB which would get me sectioned.
Car manufacturers aren't helping though, you need a super computer to work on cars now with all the electrics.
Get issues with one or two critical pieces and you're totally ****ed.
In the old days the majority of cars we 240 bhp and we always talked about mods, there were loads of group buys etc whereas now the majority of 200's are running much more bhp and don't need any more mods.
Used to love a group buy!