You need a lot of patience when buying a new car. For going through reviews and news stories to compile a shortlist. For putting up with salespeople or leasing companies. For doing all the test drives. And then for counting down the weeks – or months – until it finally arrives.

Of course, nowadays you also need to be patient once it’s on your driveway, as brands continue to fine-tune and fettle things via the magic of over-the-air (OTA) updates.

Previously, a manufacturer would have to perform a model-year update or mid-life facelift to improve one of its cars. But many new vehicles are basically smartphones on wheels, and car makers can use OTA updates to tweak their software, improve systems and add new features without you ever having to visit a showroom. 

Tesla was the company that pioneered this, and these days pretty much everyone is at it. Recently, Lotus gave its Emeya and Eletre EVs a new ‘performance-inspired’ soundtrack, semi-autonomous driving capabilities and a refined driver-fatigue monitoring system, all via an OTA update.

I’m all for this sort of thing; improving the capabilities of a car is great for buyers. A car that gets better with age is a fantastic prospect. But it feels like some firms are delivering new models before they’re truly ready, just because they can ‘fix things later’.

The short-lived EV start-up Fisker suffered from launching its only car, the Ocean, when it was plagued with serious software bugs that weren’t addressed until it was too late.