[throwaway0a5e]

Exactly. It's one thing to "do it right" but all the people who are hurring and durring about how every car has technology are forgetting that ze germans in their pursuit of ze perfect driving machine often don't "do it right" and unless you get lucky and own something a lot of enthusiasts own and have had time to fiddle with and document you're often on your own. The Americans and Japanese tend to be better because they tend to design things to be more tolerant of being used in a way other than the factory way but still the knowledge and skill barrier to entry is high and you still come across plenty of stuff that just won't cooperate unless you exactly replicate the OEM conditions.

[aeyes]

When any company designs the electronics for a new car, they don't start on a clean sheet of paper. Existing designs are reused and adapted. Additional complexity is introduced because some of the electronics are from third parties, for example this Gear Selector is interfacing with a Bosch transmission controller which controls a ZF transmission.

[CraigJPerry]

I’d go along with that - the first time i saw the rear suspension on a mazda rx8 - it looked so familiar, a multi-link style setup with the same core components of a contemporary BMW E38 or E39.

One key difference - you can access all the bolts on the Mazda. Replacing rear shocks was a doddle, i’d done the same job on my old e38 and that was multiple days thanks to combining rust with awkward UX. The mazda had the same rust but was easy and safe enough to access with some heat and no need for universal joints which are never great when you’re using an impact driver.

[posterboy]

not sure if you are talking electronics anymore or mechanics.

[allenrb]

The usual giveaways for "mechanics" are torches and impact drivers, though more than once I've been tempted to use those things on electronics...