[luciusdomitius]

I don't think it is bugs which worries you, but rather the completely wrong concept of modern day car production. Almost all cars built in the past 20-years have 0 compliance with the laws of physics, being extremely front-heavy and with transversely-mounted engines - disbalanced even on the Y-axis. What keeps them from spinning is the so-called DSC/ESC/ESP which is basically a neural network. We all know how reliable those are. It is in fact a very similar situation to the 737 Max, just on wheels.

Due to regulations you will not be able to find a non-veteran vehicle without those systems, nor you'd want to, but BMW, Mercedes, Subaru and Lexus still have models which are well balanced and don't rely on those to such a heavy degree. This would be my advise as well.

Disclaimer: I am not against (almost) perfectly deterministic safety systems such as ABS. On the contrary - I consider them to be a massive advantage or almost mandatory.

[jimbomins]

You're kidding if you think the premium brands you list don't have massive dependence on software systems. The basic physics is, as you say, better because they've kept mass distribution in line with how it was.

And how about the additional failure mode for say BMW. It's modern controllers have all the software for all the features in, just disabled unless you pay more. So a theoretic sophisticated attack could throw all sorts of crap into operation.

[kylecordes]

I don’t have numbers in front of me, but my impression is that carmakers have done a much better job in the last decade with front-rear balance decent on nearly all cars. Versus decades past when some were wildly front-heavy (or occasionally, wildly back-heavy, ouch).

[slt2021]

Most BMWs have nearly perfect 50/50 weight balance between front and rear axles.

Generally speaking, most sportier cars have better handling and better weight distribution and are in fact regularly driven with DSC disabled (on racing track etc)