big pistons forever
I agree with you 100% but (as someone who has been developing industrial electronic products for many yeears) I would hope that any engine management unit I have is built to a Toyota standard rather than to Honeywell / Bendix King / Garmin / JPI / Shadin / Goodrich [insert the name of the last piece of "avionics", brand new if necessary, which costs 4-5 figures and has packed up 3 times in the last year] standard....
The design and build quality of GA avionics ranges from inadequate to absolute c**p. A brand new plane today is probably comparable to the electrics you got in a Vauxhall Viva. The problem is what while a Viva owner didn't have much money to keep repairing it so bought a Datsun next time round, pilots don't have the choice (there is no "Datsun" plane), are expected to have unlimited deep pockets and so they either fly old junk which is just about airworthy or they spend whatever money it takes without comment. It's going to take a very fresh look at things to get the reliability designed- and built-in but of course it is possible.