Mechanical VS Electronic?

I was having this discussion with a friend and wondered what people's thoughts are.

Do you prefer a car to be basic and mechanical (bar a few electric/digital creature comforts) old school basically, the kind you fix with a hammer. Or do you prefer a computer on wheels, with all sorts of electronic controls and digital read outs etc?

Personally, the only electric things I like on a car are windows and mirrors :p ...oh and I like ABS... But not much after that really. That's not to say I'm against technology, I just think that the less of it on a car the more interesting/fun it is to drive. It's nice to have all sorts of options on a GT car for sure, but if you had pick one to live with what would it be?

I already know what some people's answers will be, but would be interesting to see if people are 50/50 on this or otherwise.

I prefer the simple approach with tasteful comfort. Take my own car...
Comforts like ABS, fuel injection, electric windows/sunroof, electric mirrors etc, but not loads of computers talking to computers about how much computing the other computers are doing.

I work for Renault, cars filled with silly comforts controlled 100% by computers having the chats!

'96 technology was the business. Less dicking about, more fixing!

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Absolutely! The friend I'm talking about had a mk5 GTi with all the bells and whistles, and I find the DSG, launch control, and the electric steering that gets sharper when you engage sport mode etc etc... all genuinely very impressive, but I don't want any of it on my car :D

Definitely mechanical, the way things are going car wise you won't need a mechanic anymore you will need personnel from the IT department.

Mechanical.

We got lots of old Fords Escorts/Cortina/Fiestas and they can be fixed with a basic tool-box a hammer and WD40, Compared to the W221 S-Class Merc where you nearly need to do a computer class just to figure out the radio.

Mechanical.

I think its very difficult to use such a boolean classification for a reletively recent car. It is often said that the last of the mechanical BMW's was the e46/e39, I wouldn't agree with that, the amount of dynamic calculations going on in either at any given moment is staggering.

I've had loads of mechanical cars and I hated them, fault finding was a pain in the ass, anything wrong with modern cars usually requires moments to diagnose if you have the right equipment. Not to mention the mechanical cars are comparatively slow, ineffeciant, unrefined. I had a few Mk2 GTI's and you wouldn't dare go anywhere without an array of tools in the boot.

Electronics and computers are put in cars to make life easier, they do exactly that, in most cases do it very well and make life easier for the people working on them. Cars are getting better and better, its all down to the advent of electronics in cars and the ever improving sophistication of the systems they use.

Definitely agree with regards to fault finding, had an early mk2 MR2 that "died" suddenly and 5 mechanics looking at it later (to no avail) I gave up and sold it, and I bet it was something simple.

But that's why I said a mostly mechanical car but with a few electronic touches that don't really effect the driving experience and/or weigh the car down. That's part of why I love the e36 :D

The windows / mirrors / sunroof are electric. Diagnostics port. ABS. No distributor crap to deal with. But gearbox is manual, steering is manual, throttle is cable operated, no heavy electric seats etc. the one thing I would say is unnecessary is the ASC.

I think a go kart that's just about comfortable enough for a daily drive is what I'd be after generally speaking :D

There is a downside to that is well though they also get bigger heavier and a hell of a lot more complex it starts to become a pain when you cant even change a cars battery without having to hook it up to a computer

Then you start replacing dipsticks with sensors and removing temp gauges it becomes a bit of a disaster

Iv been in a couple of old cars though (pre 90's) and wasn't too impressed either definitely would not want to drive them everyday

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Originally Posted by Dave

unrefined.

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See that's what I like about it.

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Originally Posted by kendo

Definitely mechanical, the way things are going car wise you won't need a mechanic anymore you will need personnel from the IT department.

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If you think that's just limited to cars I have some bad news for you :)

Electronics because progress. The improvements in safety alone are worth it, never mind increases in fuel efficiency, torque, horsepower.
The car can tell you what's wrong, saving time and money in fault-finding. I can select one of thousands of tracks from my ipod while I drive. New sensors allow for amazing advancements such as BMWs adaptive headlights.
The outstanding Sound of Honda video could not have been made without telemetry data from Senna's car.

If you're seriously telling me you can't enjoy driving a modern M because there are "electronics" then you're broken :)

I can't wait to get home tomorrow night and drive my electronic m3 (e92) while my mechanical m3 (e36) sits with Valdas getting a potential Vanos issue fixed!

The first half of the 00s electronics I would feel is enough for me, what I would love in my car are a few USB ports and a sat nav/display radio the rest does me fine :)