[exDM69]

I'm with you on this one. Cars these days are too complex and while some of it is for a good reason (e.g. computerized engine controls to improve economy and emissions) but a lot of it is just gimmicks, like power windows or the fancy door handles in a Model S. I'd much rather see no electrical wiring inside the car doors at all, it's just another part to break down and are not essential for the car to perform the task it needs to - just a little convenience item.

I live in a place with rather hostile weather in the winter time. I'd be a bit wary of getting a Tesla, not because of the reduced range in the winter (it's still good enough for me) but because I'm afraid the fancy door handles would freeze shut. But I guess this is a moot point, because if I could afford a Tesla, I could also afford a garage to store it in.

[andygates]

"Cars these days are too complex" ... said everyone, at every stage in the history of motoring. We get comfortable with a certain level of complexity and after that, change is get-off-my-lawn bad. But it's a human thing, not a tech thing.

[dsfyu404ed]

There wasn't much to complain about when going from flathead to OHV, OHC and adding basic EFI and maybe forced induction because those things were relatively small and self-confined changes that created large benefits. Now they're using technology to tie subsystems together and fine tune the vehicle system as a whole. The problem with that is that it creates inter-dependency within the system. How are you supposed to adjust your power mirrors|seats if the wiring for the courtesy lights keeps blowing the shared fuse.

Unless a major breakthrough in drive-train technology comes along that can be taken advantage of we're in the long slow march of the optimizing process where you spend 90% of your resources to get that last 10% of performance.