Pretty much. Long gone are the days where your ignition timing was determined by a little electrical contact whirring around in the distributor.
Nowadays every aspect of the process is controlled by computer, how much air is entering, what the turbo pressure is, how much fuel to put into the cylinder - down to the nano litre, plus the myriad other little electronic brains controlling the transmission, battery charge cycle, safety systems, lights, mirrors, uncle Tom Cobbly and all. On a lot of cars all of these have to be connected, happy, and signalling back to the main ECU before it will deign to energise the starter motor.
Picture the scene ..we are on the boat ..the boat is filled to capacity , we are ,as they are waiting impatiently to get off ..where are we going to get our metal box… We don’t want to create delays ..
I might contact the Taliban to see how much they want for an ex-US Army Humvee.
Multifuel engine, remote nothing and designed to be maintained by 18 year old farm boys from Iowa. M2 Browning on the roof might come in handy as well.
You have the idea … .But fortunately for us in this context there was an inordinate delay at the port ..we were a full hour in the car and I noticed the last of display after maybe 20 minutes .. So even after the phone calls and the cubby hole hiding we drove off as serenely as anyone else.
I agree with you … Without a doubt the 2021 ID3 is by far the best car I have ever had . Now maybe an ID4 would have been a better choice .. It only has had one garage visit in 5 years .. where a pump which circulated the cooling fluid at the battery had stopped ..not a problem in temperate Ireland ,and it was replaced under warranty aling with the 12v battery.
When I bought my new EV, the very young but knowledgeable salesman proudly opened the bonnet to show me the engine. Seeing nothing I was familiar with, I quipped that I would probably need a new feeler gauge.
His blank face made it clear that he had no idea what I was talking about so I had to explain about points and distributors. Judging by his suspicious look, I believe he thinks I was pulling his leg.
I remember having to measure the gaps between the overhead cam shaft and valve lifters on my Hillman Imp and then go and buy the right thickness shims. It was a right PITA
Having hammered a bent exhaust valve push rod back reasonably straight on a block of wood with a 2lb lump hammer, I refitted it into the Daf 66, used the feelers to set the clearance to 1.5 times the norm, and it took me backwards and forwards to work for a number of years.
Times were simpler then.
I had the first Volvo that was called a DAF as an early company car. It was fantastically comfortable on long journeys such as England to France or Germany with weekends in places like Venice for training courses.
No car has equalled it for long-range comfort since.
