[Andy348]

Cars these days are absolutely loaded with tech and screens all over. Maybe I'm in the minority but is anyone else worried about what these technologies will be like in 5, 10, even 15 years? As someone who is looking to pick up an M3 at some point and keep it long term, I have to wonder how these things like pedestrian collision systems, early braking, lane change steering wheel vibrations and the rest of the stuff will really be OK as the years progress? I'm not worried about the look of them, but more the 'what happens when these things break'.

Maybe I'm just untrusting of these technologies after some issues with electrical gremlins in some other cars, but I sometimes get the feeling that some of these cars are basically built to be disposable, with crazy amounts of technology to sell off the bat but long-lasting headaches.

Just a thought

[fecurtis]

My old Infiniti is almost 10 years old and has a lot of tech (bluetooth, intelligent cruise control, etc). All of that stuff still works fine.

Most of those features you listed are options anyway, if you are nervous about long term reliability, don't check the box.

[dsad1]

What are you considering long term? 5 years should be fine, 10 years is probably pushing it. In 15 years I would be more worried about the engine than I would the tech.

[Pinewood]

I ran a E60 530d M Sport for 10 years , and had more issues with suspension than the electrics/tech. normal wear and tear stuff, but the electrics were fine when i sold her at 120,000 miles

[Alfisti]

It's not the reliability, more the useability. I am switching from long term ownership to flipping after three to four years because IMHO we are just beginning to see a wave of huge interface and interior changes. The implementation of mobile communications, hands free, touch screens etc is still utterly abysmal to be frank, i see big improvements on the way.

[GuidoK]

I think this is a very interesting question.
I see people talking about 5 or 10 years, or 15. That is not a long time/age for a 'classic'
And indeed the tech things are a potential problem, as they are mostly very difficult to fix.
I mean if you have an old lexus 400, early 90's, which is still not old for a classic, you see all kinds of lcd displays have faded etc.
And the only way to fix those is hoping that there is a company that still makes, or rather said, started to remake replacements for those. They only do that if demand is high enough, so enough cars and owners left that want those.
If you have an old exotic car, parts in general are a problem. Remanufacturing a camshaft or bodypanel is possible most of the time, but remanufacturing a computer? with a custom ecu that's not available anymore? not a chance.

You already see it with dvd nav units where the pickup mechanism fails (a laser diode has a certain amount of working life), and replacements are not available anymore.

Originally Posted by Alfisti

The implementation of mobile communications, hands free, touch screens etc is still utterly abysmal to be frank, i see big improvements on the way.

The tech features are also the ones that age most.
I mean if you have a 10 or 15 year old car, which is not that old for a car, and the tech implementation is that you can use msm messenger (just as they now use twitter or facebook)...everybody says 'lol msm messenger... no one uses that!', but 15 years ago that was the standard. So you then have a 10-15 year old car that is completely outdated on that feature.
Just as my car... it has an analog TV reception. Except there are no analog tv broadcasts anymore... and the bluetooth carkit also doesnt work anymore on 99% of the modern phones. Also due to old/forgotten comm protocols..
Mind you it works a treat on an old nokia 6310, with contacts downloading, voice dialing everything. Just not on a modern samsung or whatever....

So an old car is perfectly usable and sometimes very desirable. Old IT/communication not so much..

[XMetal]

Originally Posted by GuidoK

with a custom ecu that's not available anymore? not a chance.

This.

Even if you buy a stripper model, any modern car with an ECU have very little chance of becoming a classic, especially if you factored in keeping everything original. So yes, all modern cars are basically disposable.

[GuidoK]

I don't only mean just a motormanagement ecu, but can you imagine having a rare 40 year old ferrari with a specific gearbox ecu?
And swapping out, if you can find another computer, needs to be programmed into the motormanagement ecu? with equipment almost nobody has anymore?
And a modern car has maybe 30 computerboxes inside... all with bespoke parts.

[bmw1racer]

I could do without all the electronic tech... It killed my battery after only 2-1/2 years.

And having to register/reset/code for any changes/mods is a total pain in the ass.

[Andy348]

Thanks for the replies. Not what I was expecting around here, was kinda expecting to be called a grandpa lol

I think my issue is just when technology crosses over to the actual usage of the car. I have a 2015 Wrangler with sat nav, bluetooth, etc. I fully expect to own that car for as long as possible, and there is no doubt that the nav and music player, etc will all one day be obsolete. However, even if it never works again, it's not a huge deal because it is definitely not necessary to the functioning of the car.

Whereas when I look at newer cars, all errors, oil changes, suspension issues, chassis malfunctions, etc are all routed straight through to that screen. Losing that screen and tech down the road would be a substantial issue to the usage and performance of the car. This gets even freakier for me when I consider that there is electronics associated with applying the brakes and all the rest of the stuff.

I guess I just need to start finding some awesome cars from the late 90s and early 00s...

[GuidoK]

Originally Posted by Andy348

I guess I just need to start finding some awesome cars from the late 90s and early 00s...

e39 540i or 530i with manual transmission.
That car is so reliable that your grandchildren will inherit it.....
Other than the occasional bushing or ignition coil or so. Simple fixes and easy to diagnose


Can you imagine having a flat screen instrument binnacle where for a specific model they all fail after 15 years and it's too difficult to make a replacement by that time?

I think in essence you want a car with less bespoke electronics but with obdII
If you look at early 90's cars with motormanagement but prior obdII, every manufacturer had their own system to diagnose problems.
Without that specific computer system it's impossible to diagnose a problem. The engine may be fine but if a sensor plays up, the ecu gets the wrong information. No way to tell what sensor that is unless you can read the ecu with that special system.
With obdII there are plenty universal readers.
But with systems getting more and more complicated, even components as a new throttle body have to be programmed again into the engine ecu, and that is not a generic obdII function. That is again that bespoke diagnose system from the manufacturer.
I had it on my volvo, slightly overfilling the oil (with less than 1/2qrt) gave an error that was not resettable with generic obdII software. I had to get the volvo vida system. Luckily you can get backdoor/hacked/copied systems on ebay for 100 bucks, but otherwise it's dealer$$ (buying an official factory diagnose system is more expensive than a new car...). And that of an oil message!
But will those chinese copies still be available on ebay in the year 2050? probably not....

[David70]

My daily driver, purchased CPO (warranty to 70k miles), bought the highest package level to get all of the performance items, purchased with 10k miles on it, currently have 35k and plan to keep it to at least 130k miles, maybe 150k.

I thought about the fear of many of the things breaking and really if out of warranty and a significant cost I would not get the following fixed -

Heads up display
Lane departure with the vibrating seat
Remote start
Navigation - 4 years from now this poor system is going to only be worse
Heated portion of outside mirrors
The display under the speedometer (maintenance interval, tire pressure - as long as I didn't get a CEL, speed limit, navigation)
Tilt down exterior mirrors
Memory part of the electric seats
CD player - almost never use it

Small cost and I would fix them, big cost I would skip it. My last car didn't have most of the above and I wouldn't care that much.

[Meeni]

The various computers have been very reliable on my BMW. 11yr old car, and it all still works no problem.