Unless there is an economic miracle (very unlikely) car sales are going to plummet soon, we are completely oversaturated with new cars.

When this happens, expect to see the fancy electronics become expensive options that no one buys -- if the choice is between a GPS in the car with Command Center (useless junk) and eating, guess what wins?

I also expect to see a large amount of the current electronics junk disappear in a while. It never works well, the software is a couple decades behind the hardware (and may never catch up) and $8000 repairs will dump the car in teh junkyard as uneconomic. Even rich idiots won't put up with that forever. Simple last longer -- the EFI in my 72 works great, and to make it feedback capable wouldn't be that hard (after all, that is what LH Jet is....). Shouldn't cost more than $500 for the complete engine control system.

When the easy money runs out and gas is $4 a gallon, expect to see more "stupid" mechanical "computers" (plain automatic trannys instead of electronic) and simple cars return.

Peter

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1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!