Most of those modern features are required by the government. Emissions controls, airbags, backup cameras, on and on and on. The electronic complexity of cars has gone up 10000x since 1980, and a good 70% of that is due to government regulation. We have to integrate it and make it non individually repairable otherwise it would be a repairable yet hideously unreliable and expensive pile of shit.
I highly disagree. The government does not require anything that cannot be made in a cheap, repairable, and still attractive looking manner.
The electronic complexity of cars hasn't gone up "70%" due to government regulation.
We managed to switch from carbs to EFI while still retaining a high degree of repairability. The electronic complexity of cars then went up infinitely (from nearly zero electronics to a computer controlling the engine), yet the cars were still very repairable. Sure, there were people complaining at the time, because it was new and there was a learning curve, but parts were available, and we mechanics/DIYers weren't arbitrarily locked out.
As time went on, that repairability waned, primarily due to artificial means.
“ I could see wanting some more modern features.”
Most of those modern features are required by the government. Emissions controls, airbags, backup cameras, on and on and on. The electronic complexity of cars has gone up 10000x since 1980, and a good 70% of that is due to government regulation. We have to integrate it and make it non individually repairable otherwise it would be a repairable yet hideously unreliable and expensive pile of shit.
I highly disagree. The government does not require anything that cannot be made in a cheap, repairable, and still attractive looking manner.
The electronic complexity of cars hasn't gone up "70%" due to government regulation.
We managed to switch from carbs to EFI while still retaining a high degree of repairability. The electronic complexity of cars then went up infinitely (from nearly zero electronics to a computer controlling the engine), yet the cars were still very repairable. Sure, there were people complaining at the time, because it was new and there was a learning curve, but parts were available, and we mechanics/DIYers weren't arbitrarily locked out.
As time went on, that repairability waned, primarily due to artificial means.