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Ask Slashdot: What's the Most Hackable Car?
An anonymous reader writes: When looking for a new (or used) car, I have readily available information regarding features, maintenance history, and potential issues for that specific model or generation. What I would really like is a car that is readily hackable on the convenience-feature level. For example, if I want to install a remote starter, or hack the power windows so holding 'up' automatically rolls it up, or install a readout on the rear of the car showing engine RPMs, what make/model/year is the best pick? Have any of you done something similar with your vehicle? Have you found certain models to be ideal or terrible for feature hacking?
The Mitsubishi Evo and Subaru WRX probably have the most hacked ECUs around. Loading something like ECUTek onto a BRZ or FR-S gives you equal control. Convenience systems are usually controlled with some kind of aftermarket device, though for Toyotas, you can download Techstream and control a few options via a cheap cable off ebay. A Tesla offers the most toys to play with out of the box, but you can't do a think with the actual drive system. An M-series BMW like an old M5 will give you loads of settings to play with between the engine, transmission, and suspension.
...turn that damned chime off. Why can't I leave my keys in the ignition and the drivers door open at the same time??? Yeah, I know, blah blah blah, people forgetting their keys blah blah blah, but at least give me the option of turning it off without having to start pulling fuses.
Poor form, but here are some examples.
"Anyone who [rips a CD] is probably engaging in copyright infringement." - David O. Carson
You need to find a car that has a strong community of people who like to make these kinds of changes. I have a Prius (actually 2). There is a ton of information on the car. For example, someone posted instructions for ordering parts and wiring in accessories that allow you to unlock the car by touch from the passenger door handle and the rear hatch. That feature was only offered by Toyota on the top models in 2011.
PriusChat is my favorite place for researching maintaining and enhancing my 2 Priuses. Good luck and have fun!
Seriously, if you want a car that's fun to hack go as old as you can find that still looks nice, runs smooth, and has 100k miles (to reduce the odds that poor maintenance habits have caught up with the motor). Avoid any car with theft provention since that will totally block the remote starter unless you get the factory-approved option.
Which brings me to the next point: If you want convenience you won't get it by spending days hacking your car... You will get it by buying a convenient car. There are so many low and mid model cars that offer complete convenience packages, so just buy it if you want it. Unless you are already an experienced automotive engineer you just won't be able to come out ahead by doing it yourself. Then, to get your geek on buy a OBD-2 to Bluetooth adapter, and a nice app (like Torque) for your smartphone.
Most of the BMWs from the 90's onward are fairly hackable. You can find copies of the dealer software and production line tools on the web, and tools like NavCoder and similar allow you to control tons of the "convenience" features. Most of the modules have had their options decoded by interested individuals wanting to customize their vehicles.
Some info here.
VW/Audi group cars can all be easily hacked via a Vag-com http://www.ross-tech.com/vag-c... device which is a relatively cheap hardware/software alternative to the programmer used at the factor or at a dealership. There are great community sites. for instance: http://www.audizine.com/forum/...
One simple hack I performed for instance was to enable bluetooth hud. Default from the factory the contact list from my phone would not be displayed one the radio or on the instrument heads up display. One simple code change displays my contact list, last calls received, and last calls made. The only negatives to the vag-com are that engine performance and emissions are locked out. Which means you can't disable the ~130MPH governor for instance.
There is or can be built a machine that can simulate any physical object. -Church-Turing principle
Check out the CANBus Triple: https://www.kickstarter.com/pr... They have huge adoption in the Mazda community
I think of hacking as almost anything to alter almost anything about the car, but it sounds like you're thinking mostly interfacing with the electronics to get there. I can't answer who's best, but I know for sure that some manufacturers make accessing and interpreting CAN bus information a lot easier than others. Search for CAN bus interface info for various makes in which you're interested and see how much is out there and how difficult it looks. When I find time (yeah right) I want to grab events from pushing steering wheel buttons and use it to control my own devices. So I'm not really looking to put messages on the CAN bus, just read from it. In general, models that have cult followings (not just "ricers") will have a lot more info out there that their owners have accumulated and shared. MINIs are not among the easiest cars to interface with (as with other BMWs), but there's a lot of info out there because of the interest among owners. On the other hand, something like a Camry, popular as they are, is unlikely to have been explored as much because they're appliances that people buy to reliably get them where they want to go and not for providing fun or making a statement.
The BMW E46 (3 series between 1999 and 2005) and other BMWs from that era all use an in-vehicle network called "I-Bus" which operates things like the windows, the sound system, the lights, and more. Most non-critical vehicle functions are exposed there and are fairly well documented by the community. You only need an inexpensive adapter that looks like a serial port as far as the computer's concerned to access it.
IIRC the first generation or two of Mini as well as a few Land Rovers of the time that used BMW engines also have I-Bus.
Newer models have an optical system called MOST running the infotainment system, I'm not sure where the windows and lights are connected in these days.
I used to get high on life, but I developed a tolerance. Now I need something stronger.