Alistair my good lady had all sorts of issues with her SLK MB so they ain`t what they used to be in our book. Similarly BMW, seems like cost cutting is THE priority for many and has been so for quite some time..?
The leading edge kit I worked with will all be old hat by now, but in my time I saw a lot of changes as you might imagine given I started work at age 15 and worked non stop to age 65 on kit of just about every type from Victorian design up to PLC controlled systems with interfaces galore spread over fairly large areas, heavy duty generators. static fire pumps multiple types of automated x-ray machines with interfaces to remote monitoring stations, rotary converters taking in 3ph mains at 50HZ and outputting 600V 400HZ. eventually replaced by solid state conversion processes, also control of circa lengthy circuits initially controlled by saturable core reactors to ensure constant output at predetermined selectable stages and controlled remotely via a mix of digital and manualy operated selection systems, some with partial circuit selective switching using DC injection to kill parts of the main circuit, large semi mobile electro hydraulic mechanical machinery weighing many tons operated via GUI and joystick with smart switch monitoring on a token ring network, with both primary and secondary safety systems....and a whole lot more, but I guess you get my drift...I was two years into retirement before I could finally relax a bit..
The Evoque... if it can throw up all those spurious alarms on the failure of one sensor only, one alarm of which that mattered being a warning of ABS failure, you would imagine the system could be programmed to point you to the wheel speed sensor that was out of step in terms of frequency generation compared to the others, rather than requiring a specialised OBDII programmer to be plugged up before the failed sensor could be identified...... Yeah the folk who create the software are not my favourite kind of people, as it seems their "logic" and priorities seem to somewhat differ from mine... Of course A.I. will resolve all that non-sense...?
Graham, seems we may think alike to some degree re the value of old technology.. (-: The friend who plugged in his reader into my Evoque, talked of LR dealerships seemingly inundated with digital dilemmas they were struggling to resolve, whether that might be fake news or not, I have no idea, but could possibly explain a projected seven week wait to be able to book our car in...
Richard, I suspect my Luddite tendencies may be more related to the rate of technological advance which seemed to accelerate exponentially in my last ten or so years in the workplace, whereas I also suspect my ability to cope with it all was reducing, at a time when "customer" expectations also grew at pace, so yeah glad to be out of it all now, but I was for some time at a loss in the early stages of retirement, in terms of sense of place and sense of purpose lost, despite I had more than enough to keep me busy around the house garden and garage.. Were my brain sharper I suspect I might have adopted a similar attitude to yours Richard..
I guess the basis for my Luddite tendencies may be related to the feeling of being robbed of a measure of self reliance, for up until the time electronics and more so digital electronics arrived on scene en mass, I felt more confident when faced with issues that kit could be returned to service by some local means, as it was human sized built by humans designed to be repaired by humans. Once we headed off into modernity at a high rate of knots we became ever more dependant on others supplying parts, designed and built by computers and the humans became increasingly reduced to a necessary interface in the repair process.... Failure to fix, was not an option in the past, whereas now dependant on others, excuses could readily be found, either that or holding a full set of manufacturers spares for every bit of kit with potential to would blow anyone`s budget.... As for having to visit specialist repairers TWICE to have a brake light issue resolved as being in any way acceptable... REALLY..????
Yeah well that is the world we have created with so much unnecessary technology built into so much to further complicate the lives of the general populace, who have little need of much of it.. Farming out responsibility to technology, seems a less than ideal situation, more so when the value of fundamentals seems to be fast disappearing into the mists of time..... But then what else would you expect from a grumpy old man who had two relatively modern machines display failure messages, feeling fortunate that he had at least one pre digital machine in the garage he could fire up with confidence...(-:
Simillarly the evolution I type of seems to have created an entirely different mindset in Morganeers who in past times may have been capable of resolving their own issues and today may not even begin to attempt do do so...
