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53 Comments
- hutch113, on 10/12/2007, -4/+18yeah, the techiest because they hacked Google's search results and then got banned.
- newezra, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8"I would actually put Acura and Infiniti as the Techniest car brands."
I have to agree. I just bought an Acura TSX last week and I'm blown away. I sit down in my car and say "show nearest electornic stores, call store #1, show directions". Next thing I know my car's calling Best Buy using my bluetooth phone in my pocket and I'm on my way to pick up an Xbox 360. On the way home I say "show Japanese resturants" and I swing by to pick up some beef yakisoba.
The other nice thing about the TSX is you can pick it up FULLY LOADED with all the features for $30k. - rooke, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Now with random graph goodness as proof!
- blastrx, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4yeah, the BMW's idrive knob thing may have a lot of features, but it only works when they are all put in an easy to navigate system. I'd have to say that Acuras are one of the leading car companies in the tech world. The RL is the first car to offer real-time traffic updates to the nav system. that's just plain cool.
- vaxguru, on 10/12/2007, -1/+43 words ppl....Vorsprung Durch Technik
- pjh3000, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4BMW's fall apart as you drive them. They should have high tech scoops to collect the parts that fall off.
- modian, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5Obviously the "Horrible sales" weren''t a problem for you.
- nox327, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4yeahhhh AUDI, Love the VW family
- mlkmnz, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Funny, if you rated the cars based on reliability the graph would almost read in reverse :)
- lokai, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Agreed. I have never understood how most Ameicans can be so foolish. Why pay an exorbitant amount of money for a high-performance vehicle, when one will most likely never utilize its high-performance? When will one really reach top speed in a BMW or Mercedes? When will a person really need all of that German engineered driving precision in the United States?
I can fully understand paying for all of the latest creature comforts within the car, but still have no idea why people continue to tout the 'performance' of these vehicles.
BMWs cost far too much to repair, even for very minor damages. I know several individuals who have forced their parents into co-signing loans and paying every month, just so they can own a high-class brand name. This is all it really is: a high-class brand name that one cannot fully utilize on the road, and costs far too much for simple repairs and routine maintenance.
To me, it makes more sense to go with something that can do what is required, is aesthetically pleasing, and economical.
Unfortunately, I fear that my comment will suffer the same fate as the others I saw buried, or nearly buried before it: The BMW lovers, in an attempt to justify their purchases, will thumb me down as much as possible so others will be unable to hear another side to the argument. - Rickler, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Ahh Land Rovers... indestructible on the outside and self-destructing on the inside.
- ntrsfrml, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Hyundai: What Driver assit? what phone? lol..
- martona, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4The BMW nav system has had real-time traffic updates since the late 90s. In Germany, that is.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Don't forget your BWM repair kit. The truck full of money that follows you wherever you go.
- JRMillion, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5I have a '06 330i and it was in PC Mag this month as one of the techiest cars...
I would actually put Acura and Infiniti as the Techniest car brands.
On a sidenote, I'm actually selling my car and probably going for a Range Rover Sport, so if anyone wants a Black/Black '06 330i with Premium, Sport, Nav, and Cold Weather... it'll be on ebay pretty soon :) - GliTCH82, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2But Lexus, man, Lexus is absolutely amazing. My SC400 has 200,000 miles on it and it's still going
- rm999, on 10/12/2007, -4/+6A lot of people don't realize that bmw is pretty bad on the reliability front. Mercedes is too.
- nads, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1cheers, thanks madivan
- gsmithEIDW, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Its easy to knock Hyundai but they're relatively new to more luxurious types of car.
Its also easy to poke fun at Hyundais from the past - the Pony, the Stellar for example.
But the latest Coupe (Tiburon to those in the USA) is very good value and competitive and
streets ahead of what they used to build. Also the Hyundai Getz has received generally very good
reviews.
Give them time, Hyundai are now learning very fast. People used to laugh at Nissan and Toyota cars. - madIvan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1If you like fighting with I-Drive.... yeah. No digg for them.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Portuguese / Brazilian : http://www.htk.com.br/noticia.php?noticia=441
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http://www.htk.com.br/ - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -6/+7The Ultimate Driving Machine.
- msaleem, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4Original story: http://wiredblogs.tripod.com/cars/index.blog?entry_id=1451833
- AirWind, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I agree, if you want advanced features, go with Acura or Infiniti. My family owns the new TL and im just really amazed at the features it packs. Navi, voice activation, DVD 5.1, bluetooth..its really packed standard unlike BMW and others.
- nads, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Guys,
Why is GM (aka Vauxhall and Opel) not mentioned? Does it not trade as GM in the US?
I have a Vauxhall Astra and it isn't very tech-savvy but I wanted where it fits in comparison to others? - GliTCH82, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Hyundais just look like modern cars, but in fact, they are engineering disasters
- kamisama, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Mercedes Benz still is the winner for me, nearly all their new tech shows up in cars 10 years later as standard or option. And a Mercedes has more soul and style than a BMW will ever have.
BMW's are nice cars, they just never impressed me. - carguy84, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1agree, I don't think I'd put BMW in Top 5 either, and I own one. Their head unit and their DE should be a lost small then what's showing on the scale, especially when you compare it to the new Lexus or MB S Class or the Audi S8 with the B+O sound system. Cadillac? Disagree with that one being number 3 too, I"d put that below BMW, especially for all tech that is non user adjustable(suspension, driver assist, active cruise control....).
I smell a lot something, but then I look and see it's from TRG and have to wonder.
Chip- - gsmithEIDW, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Chris Bangle has produced some very controversial designs, but rather than universal disapproval it initially produced very polarised opinions.. you either like it or hate it at first. But as time has crept on, the designs have softened a bit.
If you read Autocar magazine, several issues ago they interviewed Chris Bangle and he said the 7 series looks the way it did because they came up against packaging issues. He maintains other manufacturers will hit the same problems and probably come up with similar solutions. If you look at the boot of the latest Mercedes S class, whilst less dramatic as the 7 Series, you can see that he does have a point. - GliTCH82, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1You're a moron, Cadillacs are actually quite nice and one of them was reviewed quite favorably on Top Gear (which absolutely loathes American cars) except for the annoying seat belt chime
- rm999, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1yeah it seems like you can classify dependability by country:
german: not great
japan: best
american: not great
korean and other asian: haha
french: who cares - madIvan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Cadillac is GM. Opel and Vauxhall are not sold in the US, although some Opel models show up as Saturns lately.
- gsmithEIDW, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Vast electrical technology in cars isnt always a good thing. Sometimes it makes for very dull and soul-less cars. Mitsubishi 3000GT for example.. great car on paper but dull as dishwater to drive. Sometimes the simple, light cars have a lot to recommend them too - Lotus Elise, Aerial Atom, Grinall Scorpion etc.
Technology in terms of weight saving, bio fuels are other such things that should be considered also rather than just a plethora of electrical gadgets. - chiva, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0their cars might be the techiest and probably the ultimate driving machine, but they are also the makers of the ugliest cars in the world. i know beauty is in the eye of the beholder but i can't believe they let chris bangle design another car after the horrible 7 series and the 5 series and the 6 series and last but not least the new 3 series, which by the way, won the ugliest car in the world award in Top Gear (bbc tv car show). Maybe it's all that bavarian beer... hmmm... beer the answer to all of your problems.
- funkaHdafi, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2As a owner of the new '06 3 series (320d) I must say that whoever put BMW on number 1 has no clue about the car. I am a tech geek and I am VERY VERY disappointed by the onboard electronics. The (3900 euro!) navigation system is WAY behind anything that runs on PDA's like tomtom navigator. It lacks a lot of basic features. Speech Recognition? Yeah, it's in there, but it doesn't understand you when you are driving, because the car's noise is interfering. iPod connectivity? Forget it. It does have an AUX jack, but that's where it ends. Other cars let you completely control the iPod through the car system. I could go on like this.... So while they might be the most techi car company on the paper and in marketing, in reality they are not!
- majinboy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2BMW == Bavarian Money Waster
personally I'd put something like a Benz or Honda/Acura or Lexus in front of BMW in terms of technical features. - Vertr, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3To be honest I would put Ferrari or Porsche way ahead of BMW in "Techiest" cars. Who cares about what gadgets a car has, a car is about driving, these two and others are on the forefront of that.
- kenjinx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I also agree with you. The Acura has the techiest line of cars. Look at the acura RL 2005 and some of its features:
* Road-noise-canceling system
* GPS navigation with real-time traffic reporting
* Bluetooth cell phone interface
* Voice commands for car functions
* 10-speaker Bose DVD audio system - JammyJim2006, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"I can fully understand paying for all of the latest creature comforts within the car, but still have no idea why people continue to tout the 'performance' of these vehicles."
Performance isnt always about speed. The cornering and manoeverability of the car is brilliant. Ive never had so much fun in a car thats so big.
Maybe its more important in Europe (britain to be exact) than the US where you have pretty much straight roads.
I didnt like the Merc E much. It didnt drive as well and theyve had huge reliability issues ever since the board of directors decided it would be 'ze greatest idea ever' to make the merc in a more mass produced fashion. - skillet, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I noticed this was on the telematicsresearch.com site so I checked it out as I happen to work for a company that does telematics and driver assist apps for a number of the companies on this list. This graph is far from correct, at least as far as the Telematics portion of the graph is concerned. MB vehicles have at least as much if not more telematics in them than any BMW. The same goes for the Driver Assist section.
I'm shocked that Acura is near the middle of the list and that its driver assist is a fraction of BMW or MB, that is completely ridiculous -- the Acura voice navigation is very nice as are other voice commands you can use to control vehicle functions or get reports. - madIvan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0You're welcome :)
I recall at some point they brought over an Opel as a Cadillac Catera. It pretty much flopped, since it had neither the floaty barge feel (or creature comforts) of a Cadillac, nor the performance and handling of a real European sports sedan. - StinkyMonkeyCat, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1I've got 120K miles on my BMW 325xi and it's generally been, a very sturdy, driving machine.
An interesting feature is that the ignition key stores information about the vehicle's status, performance and problems it may have exhibited. When you bring it in for service, they plug your key into a reader and with that information they can supposedly make a better assessment your car's service requirements.
The car has had a few problems, but only a minor one related to electronics. The heating / cooling system remembers your last setting when turning off the car (as you'd expect). However, it will not remember a fully *off* setting. So, the fan always turns on when you start the car. You could say that this is a matter of "design," rather than an actual problem.
Oddly, the dealer was unable to change the setting. However, they stated that this feature was changed in the firmware of newer models. - GliTCH82, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1That is the biggest load of crap I ever read.
- dings, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1sure BMW and Mercedes have more performance than the other crap - if you can't afford it, leave it!
bmw 7xx and mercedes benz are miles ahead of any other competing modell. but i don't need all these features (and i can't afford them). i need an automobile without all this entertainment and digital lifestyle stuff. - garyinthehouse, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2Ya we have a 745Li and it is VERY VERY technological. I mean the computer controls EVERYTHING in it like the windows, the trunk, cigarette lighters etc... Makes you wonder what might happen if it suddenly ***** on you and shuts down huh?
Oh well, its a lease...at least if it always has techy problems, your not stuck with it. - e155, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2Any tech analysis that puts Cadillac at # 3 cannot be correct. Just cause a car has a bunch of tech features doesn't mean it has the most advanced features.
If you want advanced features then you'd look at Mercedes, Acura, or Infiniti.
BMW often adds features just to compete with these. - maseone, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1to all the peeps complaining about the cost of German lux cars (bmw, benz, audi, etc), those aren't just luxury cars, they are performance luxury cars. when you drive a performance tuned car, you are going to have to take it into the shop to keep it in shape, it's the nature of the beast.
why are Japanese cars more reliable? the Japanese cars that come to mind (lex, acura, etc) happen to be the lower end cars on the performance scale. you can put all the horsepower you want into the TL for example, and it just won't compare on an all round performance scale to say, a bmw 5, or an audi 6. but you also won't be taking it into the shop so often (on average).
so it boils down to making a choice on what you want.
i personally choose both, keep a boring/reliable Japanese car for backup, and my lovely German car for daily use. - queraxus, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2Noone is interested in spam.
- JammyJim2006, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0Ive got a 2005 525i Sport and the amount of technology in it is simply amazing. The only problem arises is when the whole thing goes to *****. IDrive is based on a bastardised MS Windows.
Mine is about to go in for a service because the screen which controls everything from the radio station to satnav to changing how warm the air is coming out the centre vent has decided to just die leaving me with the inability to even see what radio station im listening to. I also had to have the thing upgraded to stop the car holding the gear for far far far too long when i let go of the accelerator at the top end of the rev band..
As for BMW drivers....its a self fulfilling prophecy. I have to force my way out at junctions because noone will ever let me out. Same goes for motorways (unless its another bmw). So BMW drivers are more agressive because people wont let them out and people wont let them out because they know they are going to push out anyway.
Its a circle of hate
and hate makes baby jesus cry :( - JRMillion, on 10/12/2007, -5/+2It really depends what you want.
I am a gadget hound, but I also like my german cars.
I've had a '99 C230, '01 330ci, '04 X3 3.0, and a '06 330i and I'm only 24 :)
Although I like the idea of the tech stuff in the Acura's and Infiniti's.... I just prefer Benz and BMW. -
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