Top five tech updates for old cars

The convenience and safety of modern automotive technologies has taken enormous leaps in recent years. New cars now offer so much convenient, integrated tech that once driven, easily smitten.

Yet according to the latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the average age of the Aussie car fleet is 10.2 years. But if you have an older car, there is a way to dip into modern technology without having to trade-in, thanks to aftermarket electronics.

While you can have your existing car fitted with some of the latest safety and convenience tech of new cars, of course you won’t be able to upgrade to sophisticated, integrated active safety systems such as autonomous emergency braking (AEB) or adaptive cruise control (ACC). They remain the domain of original equipment manufacturers (OEM) and thousands of hours of development.

Here’s out list of simple upgrades to keep your existing car within a cooee of new models, without breaking the bank.

While head checks when changing lanes or moving into traffic should be par for the course, blind-spot monitoring is an excellent additional safety net that has sprung up as standard equipment in many new cars.

However, you can buy an aftermarket kit for around $300 (plus fitting of up to about $300) that’ll do the job. The kit will usually consist of four sensors mounted on the front and rear sides of the car, plus visual and audible warnings if you indicate to change lanes and the system senses an object in your path.

Even though many drivers whose cars are not equipped with integrated satellite-navigation (and even those that do have it, because not all factory sat-navs are great) use a smartphone for navigation, it has its pitfalls.

The phone screen can sometimes be too small or reflect too much, the cradle you legally must have can be awkward to mount or isn’t solid enough to secure the phone reliably, and you may forever forget to take your phone with you when leaving the car.

An integrated double-din integrated sat-nav gives you a much bigger mapping screen and some units offer regular free map updates as well as real-time traffic information. Many also have integrated Bluetooth, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, so you can use your phone for hands-free phone calls and navigation if you wish, as well as playing your favourite music.

If you’re happy with just using phone mirroring via Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, you can save a few dollars on a head unit that just has these navigation options rather than integrated sat-nav.

A basic head unit just with mirroring and Bluetooth can be had for around $500 fitted, but a premium sat-nav audio system is not cheap -- about $2000 just for the unit -- although you’ll get a bunch of additional features such as reversing camera, digital radio and multiple phone pairing too.

If you own an old-school car and can live without the integrated sat-nav there are plenty of single-DIN audio systems that support Bluetooth connectivity for phone calls and audio streaming -- some of which have neat, retro designs.

Reversing is no fun, especially in the ever-tightening urban parking environment. Unless you own a pre-‘90s boxy sedan, you’re not going to be able to see the rear extremities of your car easily so tight parking spots are always going to involve some guesswork.

A reversing camera not only allows you to see exactly what you’re up against – literally -- but if you’re towing, hitching up the trailer by yourself becomes a breeze as you’ll be able to see the towball in the screen and line it up with the trailer coupling.

Correct tyre pressures are of course vital for safety, but getting a flat tyre can also be a drain on time. If you’ve ever jumped in your car early in the morning to set off to work only to realise a tyre’s picked up a nail and has slowly leaked air to a miserably flat state, you’ll know what we mean.

While a tyre pressure monitor won’t warn you of every such situation in time, you can at least have a fighting chance of knowing if you’ve got a puncture. It’s also an easy way of checking tyre pressures without having to get to each valve with a tyre gauge too.

Most tyre-pressure monitoring set-ups are a simple DIY set-up as you just need to screw on and secure the sensors in place of the valve caps.

While keyless entry/start systems are not perfect, once you’ve tried a vehicle with one it’s hard to deny the convenience of not having to fiddle with inserting a key to unlock the car and to start the engine.

Push-button start buttons have been around for a while, but they were largely ornamental because you still needed a key to turn the ignition on. Now you can buy a kit (which should be professionally fitted) that does away with the need to use a key to unlock and start the car -- just like a modern, integrated keyless start system.

Just have the key fob in your pocket or bag, touch the unlock pad on the door, press the start button and go.