Car Technology - How will it age ??

I just watched the review of the new Golf MK8 on Carwow. Some very interesting technology and very little buttons. Gesture control, touch screen controls etc. So much computerised.

When someone spends 30 or 40K on one of these cars. What will the value be in 5, 8, 10 years. Will much of this technology still work. Can it be upgraded.

Is anyone a little worried about the value of these cars down the line?

nsnoefc1878

Deleted User wrote: »

I just watched the review of the new Golf MK8 on Carwow. Some very interesting technology and very little buttons. Gesture control, touch screen controls etc. So much computerised.

When someone spends 30 or 40K on one of these cars. What will the value be in 5, 8, 10 years. Will much of this technology still work. Can it be upgraded.

Is anyone a little worried about the value of these cars down the line?

I've a car with touchscreen for the climate control amongst other things, don't like it at all, tactile controls will always be better.
Once you move to relying on software to manage things, you become reliant on that software being updated, and the hardware being able to cope with any of those updates.
Cars will become obsolete much quicker in the future, in my opinion.

Toyotafanboi

Deleted User wrote: »

When someone spends 30 or 40K on one of these cars. What will the value be in 5, 8, 10 years. Will much of this technology still work. Can it be upgraded.

Is anyone a little worried about the value of these cars down the line?

Even currently and historically cars are very heavy depreciators across the board and are worth a small fraction of their new price after 5 and 10 years so all a more modern car has to do is do nothing to depreciate just as heavily as it's predecessor. Maybe they will do better than before as there may be potential for upgrades?

I must say i agree with the general opinion that while i can deal with a touch radio screen i dont really like the full touch interiors like in the Golf 8 or A6 for example but maybe i'll come around to it, i remember not liking my first touch screen phone around 10 years ago but i cant imagine having a buttons phone now.

Touch screen technology isn't really new tech at all and a lot of the touch screens in these new cars wouldn't be displaying huge amounts of info or anything just showing a static image. I'm sure some screens will break just like some buttons used to but there's no reason to think they will be seriously unreliable or anything.

ednwireland

on cheaper cars it wasnt very good from the start . had to go through 3 menus on a c1 hire car to find the fan controls. when I'm looking at a new car now If it has a touch screen I'll be seeing how easy it is to use for things like that.

PsychoPete

I prefer the old heating controls where you've to slide the switch across and there's a big clunk noise

dubrov

All the internal functions will still work. The ones that rely on third parties are at risk (Google maps, Spotify etc.).

I'd say Smart TVs are a good comparison. I think most of them get about 5 years support apps wise

lawred2

The touch screen controls for the radio and air con in our car are a complete pain and a complete distraction when driving.

About 30% of the cars at my workplace are between 10 and 15 years old. I just wonder what the likes of the new Golf will be like in 15 years time. Will much of the technology still work.

I'd hate to think as cars get more expensive that they'd end up lasting less time.

nsnoefc1878

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

Even currently and historically cars are very heavy depreciators across the board and are worth a small fraction of their new price after 5 and 10 years so all a more modern car has to do is do nothing to depreciate just as heavily as it's predecessor. Maybe they will do better than before as there may be potential for upgrades?

I must say i agree with the general opinion that while i can deal with a touch radio screen i dont really like the full touch interiors like in the Golf 8 or A6 for example but maybe i'll come around to it, i remember not liking my first touch screen phone around 10 years ago but i cant imagine having a buttons phone now.

Touch screen technology isn't really new tech at all and a lot of the touch screens in these new cars wouldn't be displaying huge amounts of info or anything just showing a static image. I'm sure some screens will break just like some buttons used to but there's no reason to think they will be seriously unreliable or anything.

I'd take a phone with a proper qwerty keyboard tomorrow if someone would make one.
Best phone I had was a Sony smartphone with a flip out qwerty keyboard.
There are numerous reasons that software based solutions slow down and degrade over time.
For example, the climate control in my previous car was tactile controls, not reliant on a software based operating system. Worked the exact same at 16 years of age as the day it left the factory. I'll be very surprised if that's the case with my current car. Tactile controls are also safer, I think that's inarugable.

nsnoefc1878

Deleted User wrote: »

About 30% of the cars at my workplace are between 10 and 15 years old. I just wonder what the likes of the new Golf will be like in 15 years time. Will much of the technology still work.

I'd hate to think as cars get more expensive that they'd end up lasting less time.

Look at phones or any smart device, none of them last that long now. At the very least cars will require extensive software updates and possibly hardware updates to support this new software.

W211 e-class mercs were selling for 50k 15 years ago. You'd be lucky to get 2000 euro for a low mileage one now. The car will depreciate away to nothing irrespective of whether it has additional software in it or not.

Del2005

lawred2 wrote: »

The touch screen controls for the radio and air con in our car are a complete pain and a complete distraction when driving.

I set my air con a few years ago and have rarely touched it since, how often do others adjust their air con?

Similar I've preset radio stations and can't remember ever using the touch screen for the radio as all the necessary controls are on the steering wheel.


The biggest threat to the 2nd hand valve of the current generation of cars isn't how well their technology ages but how soon L5 autonomous vehicles are released.

nsnoefc1878

Del2005 wrote: »

I set my air con a few years ago and have rarely touched it since, how often do others adjust their air con?

Similar I've preset radio stations and can't remember ever using the touch screen for the radio as all the necessary controls are on the steering wheel.


The biggest threat to the 2nd hand valve of the current generation of cars isn't how well their technology ages but how soon L5 autonomous vehicles are released.

The argument against obsolescence being 'don't use it' isn't a great one let's be honest. I regularly use the air con and climate control functions on mine, most people I know do the same.

[Deleted User]

[Deleted User] wrote: »

W211 e-class mercs were selling for 50k 15 years ago. You'd be lucky to get 2000 euro for a low mileage one now. The car will depreciate away to nothing irrespective of whether it has additional software in it or not.

I'd bet merc is still functioning. It's not really about resale 15 years down the line. Its if it will even work adequately.

TV's have experienced the same. I remember in my childhood coming across 15 years old TVs still working. Now about 7 or 8 years and they are done.

Cars were made to last. I wonder now are the manufacturers going down the planned obsolescence route. Thst cars will be for scrappage yard after 10 or 12.

Patser

If you look at the new Fiat 500e that's coming out soon, they have a very cheap base model where all the current trend of massive touchscreens for everything has been removed, and demoted to a wireless phone charger station where the screen used to be.

This will be the future, especially of cheaper cars. You're phone will become the new screen.

Think about it, buy a car with a sat nav system built in that's slow to update and not usually linked with traffic or....

Get a car a few thousand euro cheaper with your phone in prime position running Waze or Google maps or your preferred up to the minute app. Linked to blue tooth speakers so you can instantly listen to Spotify or podcast or whatever. While you can use Alexa, Siri, Bixby or whatever for your voice commands.

Heating and all still controlled by tactile buttons

Buddy Bubs

If you bought a 100k s class in 2005 or a Ford Fiesta for 20k, they have both dwindled to more or less nothing now. Look at luxobarge and bangernomics threads, old cars going for next to nothing. This was always the way. If people are going to buy old cars, they want them cheap because the components may be worn and need repairing or replacing.

This has always been the way and isn't something that has started with electrification, autonomous driving, infotainment systems, screens replacing buttons, diesel in and out of favour...of course there were always cars you could buy and couldn't give away on 2nd hand market after 3 or 4 years but give all cars time (except for some rare stuff) and they'll shed all their value.

Value and depreciation is one aspect. Its always been that way with cars.

Will it even work after 8 years is a bigger concern to me with these new touch screen / computer systems.

GazzaL

I find it safer to use physical buttons and dials than touchscreens while driving. You automatically know that you're adjusting the correct thing.

lawred2

Del2005 wrote: »

I set my air con a few years ago and have rarely touched it since, how often do others adjust their air con?

Similar I've preset radio stations and can't remember ever using the touch screen for the radio as all the necessary controls are on the steering wheel.


The biggest threat to the 2nd hand valve of the current generation of cars isn't how well their technology ages but how soon L5 autonomous vehicles are released.

I'm not the only driver of that car

It's not just that though.. the controls on the steering wheel don't do that what you expect them to do.. there's actually no way to shuffle through presets using the wheel controls. So you have to use the touch screen for the presets. And it's quite clumsy in how it responds to the touches.

Can't understand how it got past UX testing to be honest