b1gredek

i was just wondering with the new bigger displacements and all this new electronic stuff running our motors, do u think the cars are getting more reliable or less reliable. we have better technology now which should mean these cars should last longer but are we trying to do too much with these motors that they wont last as long as they should. i was just wondering what everyones take is on this

jhenty

personally i think all the extra electrical componants are going to be the death of cars today. If you look at a lot of car companies in comsumer reports, their electrical is terrible. Add more electronics and you can do the math. I find that the simplest cars/engines tend to run the longest for two reasons: they have less parts keeping them running, and they are easier to work on at home. Old technology is reliable because it has been perfected. I think we can always count on toyota making reliable products, but i dont know about all the others.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

imho, in general it's a pretty bad trend in terms of the amount of debug and problems they are going to face as manufacturers. look at mb, audi, and bimmer, they have tons of problems, and even worse they can't fix them fast enough

even lexus have the problem. the new ls430 had quite a few problems in the beginning, but the good thing is they fix them fast. i think that's a big plus

so overall i think it's the future that's for sure, we are going to see more and more gadges and waht not on the car. but i take it a fact that don't get a first yr model car

ntran18

iTrader: (27)

The other part of the reliability problem is the electronics are proprietary. There's not a thing anyone can do about it except wait for them to fix it, if they decide to at all among their other problems.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

that's so true. it's not like anything mechanical that anyone can fix

mmarshall

Some of the electronics have been a real blessing....others have been unnecessary, IMO, or just plain overkill.
I grew up with cars that had carburators and breaker-point ignition systems, and I wouldn't go back to those for all the rice in China. Many (not all) carburators were a royal pain in the a - - during cold-start and warmup. You would either get too much choke or not enough choke, and the engines would hesitate or stall from an overly rich or lean mixture or carburator icing on a cold, damp day, and most cars had automatic chokes instead of manual ones. Some cars ran too rich or lean even fully warm. The electronic emissions-choked carburators were even worse....the EPA had them set so lean that the engines would barely run at all during warmup....the choke was controlled by a spring that heated up and pulled off the butterfly valve...usually too quickly. Occasionally the choke would stick closed and you would have to pry it open while somebody else cranked. Even carburator cleaners didn't help.
And breaker-point ignition stystems literally had to be tuned up every 5000-10,000 miles....especially in Chrysler products. This meant replacing points, plugs, rotor and rotor cap, condenser, and, more often than not, plug wires. Then the spark timing had to be manually set with a timing light....and usually it was never completely right....you either got some ping from advancement or it was sluggish from retardation.
Electronic ignition systems got rid of the tune-up problems in the mid-1970's but we had to wait another 10 years or so for electronic fuel injection to finally get rid of the carburator problems.
So....obviouly, engine electronics have been a real blessing. They (along with unleaded gas)also make possible today the combination of power, driveability, economy, low emissions, and reliability that we enjoy today.
But there is another side to auto electronics too.....best represented today by Mercedes-Benz and BMW. Their cars have become unreliable not because of electronics in general, but because they are simply calling on electronics to do TOO MUCH. Anti-lock brakes, stability systems, and traction-control are all good safety features but they require lots of expensive sensors. The newest M-B braking systems are almost totally electronic, with manual emergency backups and no real feel in the pedal. They have been the source of numerous owner complaints. Infiniti is starting to put in lane-change warning devices. The list is endless....back-up cameras, radar sensing in the bumpers, power everything, 50-function stereos that are almost impossible to figure out. Electronic climate control. Nav screens. Entertainment systems. DVD players. Memory systems. Heated seats. Heated steering wheels. Likie I said....the list is endless. All of these things require expensive components, many of them unnecessary, IMO. Of course, not all these systems are unreliable....Lexus, for one, uses VERY reliable electronics. Unfortunately many European cars don't.