If you were going to spend over $100,000 on a car, wouldn't you want all of the nifty features you could get? I was RTMing today and made a list of the things I wish our long-term 2012 Audi A8L included.
1. Night Vision Assist. This features helps you track zombies in parking lots or so the pictures would lead me to believe. Mike Magrath wrote about the more practical uses of this feature here.
2. The full-length center console which includes a folding table. If you're going to have WiFi access, you might as well have a desk to work on, right?
3. W12 engine because 500 horsepower is better than 372 horsepower to outrun the zombiepocalypse.
Donna DeRosa, Managing Editor
ljx83 says:
03:51 PM, 02/ 1/12
The zombie sensor will need to be recalibrated since body temperature of zombie differs from the uninfecteds. Perhaps a software TSB from Audi will fix it once the zombie apocalypse happens.
_feloniousmonk says:
04:05 PM, 02/ 1/12
Heh, friggin' Zombies. However, this begs the question, do we really need a "zombie detector"? I mean, isn't the fact that they're usually covered in gore and gnawing on human body parts "detection" enough?
phennighausen says:
05:56 PM, 02/ 1/12
After driving a new 2012 W12 A8L for a few weeks I can assure you that your option number 3 is most desirable. Glorious creamy endless power......
ed341 says:
04:18 AM, 02/ 2/12
I'd go with run-flats, reserve fuel tank and bullet resistant glass too. Although I think I'd prefer a Range Rover with all these options, plus a brush bar, roof rack and gun chest and stocked drinks cabinet from the Holland & Holland. Now thats one classy Zombie Apocalypse!
lmbvette says:
06:56 AM, 02/ 2/12
@ljx83 - You beat me to it! Zombies are in fact, dead, so they will register on the sensor much like the surrounding trees at ambient temperature.
agnh says:
08:28 AM, 02/ 2/12
So... kind of off on a tangent, but I think relevant given your subject. Technology in cars has increased exponentially in the last twenty years. From composite body panels to multiple airbags to heated and cooled seats to Sat/Nav to night vision, etc, etc, etc.
Are cars really built to be disposible now? How can you resonably expect to repair all of this crap? For decades, the affluent would buy an expensive foreign car, justifying the high cost by knowing if they did preventive mechanical maintenence they could drive it for twenty years and worse case scenerio an electrical issue was a power window or seat motor. Here in the Northeast, it's still common to see a good number of Seventies and Eighties German hardware on the roads in affluent towns.
Realistically, could a car built in the last ten, fifteen or so years even be able to be restored? Would you want to? Or are those days over?
mercedesfan says:
09:11 AM, 02/ 2/12
@agnh,
I can tell you as a mechanical engineer pretty much all of the stuff we buy today is designed to be disposable. Cars, in particular, can be almost completely recycled today. However, cars are also better built than they have ever been so lasting 20 years shouldn't be a huge issue. It is mileage that determines a modern vehicle's "dispose-by" date, if you will. Modern cars are designed to be problem free for the length of their design life (usually 150K-200K miles) and then recycled. This is because beyond that point most electrical systems will start failing and will cost more to repair than the vehicles are worth. I'm sure people will still restore today's cars 50 years from now because there will always be classics that increase in value (thus justifying the investment), but it will be considerably more costly and difficult than it is today.
agnh says:
10:34 AM, 02/ 2/12
mercedesfan,
Thank you for the intelligent reply. Bear with me here.
That "lasting 20 years" seems a little iffy. I have been around more than a few expensive European and American cars in the last decade that even when being just a few years old, needed replacement electronic climate controls or radio head units, etc. Without warranty coverage, this stuff is expensive. When that car is ten years old, will you even be able to find a new whatsis module or seat cooling thingamabob to replace the non-operating one?
It seems that about 60% of American luxury cars made before 2000 are basically parts cars now because it's just not practical to spend the money replacing or rebuilding expensive electronics that make the car usable.
I am 42, so I remember growing up in a time when people still aspired to own their dream cars, looking forward to changing the oil, cleaning the wheels every weekend and wiping the paint down with a diaper. This was before the days when as soon as you got a good job, you went out, leased a new car, didn't do any maintentence unless it was provided no charge, then beat the crap out of it for three years and gave it back. How do explain to the guy saving up to buy his first 911 that it's just not a good idea to buy that $100k dream car, so he can drive it 5k miles a year, baby it, and plan on giving it to his newborn son for his wedding.
mercedesfan says:
12:38 PM, 02/ 2/12
@agnh,
It really depends on the manufacturer in terms of getting parts. MB stocks replacement parts for everyone of its vehicles dating back 60 years so parts availability isn't the issue. Likewise, BMW and Porsche will both gladly manufacture a bespoke part if you request it. Again, making parts availability a non-issue. However, Audi, Cadillac, and Lincoln offer no such service so getting parts could be a big problem.
In terms of lasting 20 years, electronics are always a mixed bag. They are more robust than ever before, but still likely to fail without much indication as to why. On the positive side, electrical components are dramatically dropping in price as they proliferate the market. It is the mechanical failures that really break the bank (chassis rust, etc) and modern vehicles have almost no mechanical/structural issues at all.
Lastly, I can't speak to every luxury automaker, but I was reading a statistic a few months ago that said over 80% of Mercedes-Benz and Lexus vehicles manufactured in the last 25 years are still in service. As with anything, some cars are just better built and will last a lot longer. If repairs stay far enough apart most people are willing to put in the money. It is when things start to go south all at once that owners throw in the towel. At least I know that is what I did with my Audi.