Well, I like heading into the sticks and much prefer reliability over gadgets.
In oz I have an old school diesel (all mechanical). The only reliance on electricity is the starter motor and the glow plugs. No other electronic junk to worry about. Common rail diesel just turns what was a reliable diesel motor into a problematic electronically controlled fueling system. EFI is great till something fails - mud/water/vibration/heat are all prevalent when offroad.
Yes, the electronics in the CRD makes it clean and returns great mpg and power - but if anything in that control/sensing path fails you better have your satellite phone/panic transmitter ready to get you out of trouble. Mate has a newer land cruiser with the 'wonderful' TDI Common rail V8 - wonderful motor - pity that to access anything significant in the engine bay requires a hoist to pull the engine
Now onto stuff that is nice but won't strand you:
- mechless music player
- navigation system (I use android tablet+phone with topo maps and aerial imagery - at least 2 devices for some redundancy).
- solar + mmpt charger, to keep aux battery (and main) charged to run a fridge (100 - 140W folding panels are so cheap these days).
- LED lighting for around camp (power outlets at various locations around the vehicle).
- home built car computer to provide various trip meters, turbo cool down timer, battery metering etc.
- HAM gear.
- SPOT sat emergency/tracking.
So, car electronics really depends on whether you buy a car to drive to/from work and the occasional hwy trip while always in cell contact with the nearest tow truck service or whether you are buying a vehicle that you are going to put your life on the line with when out bush...
cheers,
george.