Driving home from work tonight, I was just sitting doing 70mph on the motorway, minding my own business and looking at the cars around.
This made me think. If uou look at a "basic" Astra or Focus etc just now, it will come with PAS, electric windows, air con, CD radio, airbags etc as standard, whereas as recent as 5 years ago these things would probably all have been optional.
We know that top of the range BMs etc have sat nav,, clim control, cruise control etc but what do you think the basic Astra or Focus equivalent will have as standard in 5 years - xenons? sat nav? mp3 , DVD??
It wasn't that long ago that a high level brake light was the "new thing".
Where will we be in 5 years time?
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My car is fourteen years old (and apologies to those who've heard me witter on about it before).
It is a Renault 19 TXE, top of the range at the time. Over the base model, it has power steering, alloy wheels, electric windows and sunroof, electric mirrors, a fuel computer, remote control central locking, remote stereo and split rear seat. The steering wheel and driver's seat are both height and reach adjustable. Oh and a clock wasn't standard on the basic one either.
The only extras it could have had, but didn't at the time, were air con and ABS. (But you couldn't have both). The base model at the time
I'm actually driving modern cars and missing my leccy mirrors, sunroof and split seat, as on the new Mégane I tested the other day - as well as the torque from the lazy 8v engine and the kick from a 'mere' 92 bhp in a car weighing less than a new Fiesta. Most of those extras have filtered down.
On the other hand, the spec of a base (as in, actual entry level) model Focus has barely changed in five years, apart from standard ABS now. MP3 players are definitely coming unless the format changes - it's a cheap way to add value to a car as it costs no more than a few quid but can easily be sold for £200+ on the options list.
Looking at the options list for the top of the line Mégane, a new equivalent to my car would probably have sat nav, traction control, folding mirrors and cruise control. (Cruise control is now standard on Vectras and shortly will be on Mondeos, so expect that to filter down real soon now). Xenons might take off soon, they might not - it will take a manufacturer to make a big marketing thing out of it, like the Mondeo and airbags or the 405 and air con.
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Bobby,
Sorry I'm following David on this one, not to prove you wrong but I think there is an associated issue that's been niggling for a while....have cars actually reached a sensible development stage already and levelled out?
On the yard at the moment are our two family hatches, one large the other medium, which are both going to be 10yrs old in a few months.
They both have TD engines that will cruise happily at 90mph (were it legal) and return 47mpg in normal use...quite efficient then.
They both have standard fit remote central lock/alarm/immob, elec sunroof/windows/mirrors, 4/6 speaker stereos, ABS etc etc.
If they were just 6mths newer they would both have airbags as standard, another 2yrs newer (still 8yrs old) and the larger would have air-con as standard, the other as a common option.
They both travel smoothly for their class with little noise and I truly think their current model replacements are not light years ahead in drivability stakes.
No I think the point you make is fair Bobby, just that you cut-off date needs to be pushed back a few more years to the 1980s.
Obviously there is one area that is leaping ahead and that is electronics... but I wonder if electronics *really* have helped to improve our cars from 10yrs ago?
M.M
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>>Obviously there is one area that is leaping ahead and that is >>electronics... but I wonder if electronics *really* have >>helped to improve our cars from 10yrs ago?
Good point MM. At least if you get an XUD that won't start it's pretty straight forward, fuel, glowplugs, starter etc. If you get an HDi that won't start what are we to do:
"We'll have to plug the computer in, Sir. That'll be £50 please."
"Will that fix it?"
"Oh no Sir, that will just tell us which parts we can fleece you for replacing, and it still won't start"
Still 110+ BHP and 55MPG from a large car sounds appealing to me!
BTW how do you get 47mpg, ours has never bettered 43.....(mind you it is stuck on fast idle, and we have hills where I live!)
RichardW
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Richard,
Not 47mpg each and every day but strangely on my shortest run periods and on much longer runs (motorways).
We have completely flat rural roads and I don't have to drive in/through town much. So my car starts and drives straight off when it has risen, out of the drive onto a NSL, through the gears and straight into top then drive at 50ish mostly...drifting about as I call it.
If I "nip about" on my own and use town a bit more then 43mpg is nearer the mark.
Oh and I've sorted both the fast idle waxstats!
M.M
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I think we are getting "advances" and "goodies" mixed up
Advances? Braking aids (ABS etc), Safety (Airbags NCAP ratings)
Fuel efficiency. Emmsions reduction.
So advances have been made, ABS is becoming almost universal, Multiple airbags are becoming the norm. MPG is creeping up, emisions coming down. You might just be able to prove that air con is an advance (driver alertness). The rest is just goodies
Goodies? they are just loaded on to bump up or maintain the relative price of the car, and as an aid to sales. Ok its nice to have goodies, but would you have prefered a cheaper car?
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Some of these things are not actually that new.
A NADA Rover 3500, the export model had the following:
Electric windows
Anti-lock brakes
Ice alert system
Air conditioning
Power steering.
And most of these were available in 1967 as options on the UK-spec models.
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47mpg in a diesel! Is that all?! You can get 50mpg in a 1.4l petrol engine now. I think we still have a long way to go in fuel efficiency.
For what will be eventually available in base spec cars, just look at what you get in the S Class/7 series now....
Intelligent cruise control (keeps you a set distance from the car in front - useful and safe)
Pre-crash protection (the seats bring themselves upright, sunroof closes etc if it looks like you're going to have a collision)
Voice activated controls (keep your eye on the road)
OK maybe not the I-Drive cos that's pants but a better evolution of it... :-)
mike
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MM's talking about his Xantia which a) is a big heavy car and b) is fitted with an engine whose design hasn't basically changed since 1983 (and I think his is getting on towards 10 years old now). The equivalent 1.8 petrol just about manages to average 30mpg. A 1.4 would be undrivable and unlikel to manage to 20mpg....
The latest HDi does more like 55mpg, which is not much more than your 50 (if you're lucky!) - which compares with the 1.4 HDi 16V fitted to C3 which manages more like 70mpg.
RichardW
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I wasn't actually saying that cars have got nowhere over time. My car was ludicrously over equipped for a small family hatch in the late 80s.
What was loaded then is now more or less standard, but some things have filtered down more than others. A base model of fifteen years ago would still seem very spartan.
Some safety features will definitely filter down, but things like active suspension will either be so standard that we won't notice them - in the same way that power steering is going and power (servo assisted?) brakes are no longer a feature but taken for granted. Others, like traction control, are more or less pointless on anything with a well sorted chassis and less than ~150 bhp, so will only come as part of a whole package on lower end models.
I don't think we're likely to see the end of cars with less than 100 bhp - even though specific outputs have risen over time, cars are unlikely to get that much bigger or heavier. We will see BMW and Mercedes style features filter down, but slowly, as equipment is not the big selling point it was fifteen years ago, compared to safety, economy, space and looks.
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In the future i would expect standard fit to included a display screen that can be a computer if required, a TV set ,and on a higher level a technicians diagnostic tool (probably accessed via a password). The screen would probably select the reversing camera if you have it enabled also and also display the vehicles tyre pressures.
Sat nav and the phone will work also from the touch screen.
A tracker will be fitted to give your position on the cars screen or on the home computer.
Speed limits will automatically be enforced through some electronic means.
Most of these are fitted in high spec cars already.
The engine will probably be electric hybrid.
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I think the concensus of opinion on this thread, is that electrics have evolved more than any other component in car design over the past decade. I predict that within the next 10 years, we will be riding (not driving) in cars with auto pilot control. Traffic densities are predicted to increase to such an extent, that all vehicles will be shuttled in convoys at just 5 metres apart, all under electronically controlled sensors implanted at the roadsides. So my advice is to enjoy your motoring whilst you still can, as it may well be all done for you through the advances in electronic developments. The technology for such a system already exists, being very similar to the auto landing systems in today`s aircraft.
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I think the concensus of opinion on this thread, is that electrics have evolved more than any other component in car design over the past decade. I predict that within the next 10 years, we will be riding (not driving) in cars with auto pilot control. Traffic densities are predicted to increase to such an extent, that all vehicles will be shuttled in convoys at just 5 metres apart, all under electronically controlled sensors implanted at the roadsides. So my advice is to enjoy your motoring whilst you still can, as it may well be all done for you through the advances in electronic developments. The technology for such a system already exists, being very similar to the auto landing systems in today`s aircraft.
Indeed this is the case. And i have seen a consultative document on how it could be achieved, Its very simple.
Cars will be equiped with wireless networks, proximity sensors, and a slightly better ECU or computer. You enter a motorway slip road, and punch in your exit number. Your car communicates with all the others and they open a gap in the train for you. Using the proximity sensors your car slots into the gap and the train closes up. If your junction is a long way away it shuffles you into the lane furthest away from the exits (the old fast lane) as you get nearer the system shuffles you back to the exit lane.
If any car in the train looks like it is breaking down, you will shuffled out of the train and dumped onto the hard shoulder.
This is acheivable right now with existing technology, both computer, network and recent fly by wire car ECU,s. Cars could travel less than a metre apart, at speeds in excess of the current limit with an almost complete absence of motorway pile ups. NO cost to the government all bourne by the car manufacturers (and car purchasers of course)
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So would there be a lane for old cars without this technology or ban them?
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So would there be a lane for old cars without this technology or ban them?
There's the rub. The cars need to be equiped. Using current production volumes cost less than £100 per car. Has to be built into a car from new tho.
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I remember my mum's mark 1 Escort, the windscreen washers were worked by a foot pump, which also had a metal ring round it that activated the wipers if you triggered it!
Also a heated rear windscreen that didn't work off the ignition - thus resulting in many flat batteries!
Not sure what year it was but it was an original "N " Reg!
Apart from the safety developments that will be ongoing, I am in agreement with some of the earlier posts in that I think we really have exhausted all the "luxuries" that manufacturers can convince us that we really need in our car ...although..... was this also said years ago?
I think because of its topicality, one of the likeliest inclusions will be an integrated mobile phone. That is the one thing that I believe would be welcomed by drivers in the next few years. Built in microphone on the sun visor and the ICE loudspeakers become the headset. A simple slot on the dashboard to insert your SIM card and a keypad built in to radio for using as a phone.
No doubt probably standard equipment on luxury cars just now!!
Don't think many will be following Bentley , though, and getting umbrella holders fitted into the doors....
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Also, what happenened to headlamp wash wipe? Remember the washers identified a Granada Ghia X from the normal, and the Capri 2.8 had them as well? What about the wee wipers Saabs and Volvos used to have?
Where did they go?
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The little b££""" broke them all off
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I think because of its topicality, one of the likeliest inclusions will be an integrated mobile phone. That is the one thing that I believe would be welcomed by drivers in the next few years. Built in microphone on the sun visor and the ICE loudspeakers become the headset. A simple slot on the dashboard to insert your SIM card and a keypad built in to radio for using as a phone. No doubt probably standard equipment on luxury cars just now!!
Can be yours today.
Bluetooth phone and Bluetooth kit in your car.
I have one in a Focus. The mic is not built in but there is only a tiny control on the dash that is half the footprint of a two bar KitKat
No fiddling with the SIM. It knows the phone IN MY POCKET is also inside the car automatically so connects it to the the cars speakers, mike and control pad. It will recognise several predesignated phones. You can add a dedicated holder and charger to the dash if reqd without drilling holes. This still leaves a curly cable plugged in the power outlet which is the only nasty out of date aspect of the set up. Overall not cheap but a neat installation with no external ariel.
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Damn! Now I won't be able to get from other people even in my car, my sanctum santorum, my refuge, my last resort for some peace and quite. I refuse to have one.
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