These days it seems that cars are marching towards becoming more computer than car. It started with the introduction of in-car tech, but with the onslaught of the modern crop of plug-ins, high tech car gadgets are crammed into every nook and cranny—sometimes even existing as the soul of a car.

This marriage of high tech drivetrains and next generation connectivity has been driven by a greater desire among consumers to have their vehicles match their lifestyles. The ability to play Pandora over your car's stereo, or connect with friends on Twitter or Foursquare while driving is, in many cases, merely an extension of a broad transformation that has occurred in the computing and cell phone industries over the past decade.

But as carmakers try and capture this new market, they are running into pitfalls they hadn't imagined. "There's an enormous challenge to manufacturers," said Ed Kim, Director of Industry Analysis at AutoPacific, in an interview with PluginCars.com. "Technology dates very fast."

"The traditional automotive cycle of four or five years between model changes is an eternity in terms of other kinds of technology," he said. "Due to many things surrounding product liability and durability, automakers tend to be very cautious when it comes to developing an integrating technologies. So we've got this situation where automakers are trying very hard to embrace technology, but at the same time they can't adapt quickly enough."

The consumers who are driving demand for high tech such as electric cars, meshing cars up with the power grid, voice activation, and a whole slew of other high tech things, are also the same ones who expect to be able to buy the newest iPhone once per year or less. Ford has been one of the most responsive companies to this crowd, introducing a slew of in car tech and pursuing electric and plug-in hybrid drivetrains. But even Ford has begun to show chinks in its armor by not being able to respond to criticism of their high technology fast enough. "While MyFord Touch is an impressive piece of technology, even last year's version is starting to seem old and slow," said Kim.

As the car and the technology become more and more intertwined, as in the case of plug-in cars, automakers are going to see an increasing disconnect between customer expectations of turnaround and the industry's ability to deliver it.

"The automakers are going to have to find some way to shorten those cycles," said Kim. "They're going to have to find some way to make their validation process—which is necessary because you want all this stuff to work in a car—quicker. There is a massive disconnect between a consumer's expectation of how quickly the technology should get refreshed versus how long the automakers have traditionally been willing to deliver the changes."

You can see automakers starting to experiment with new ideas already. Take Toyota and Tesla's tie up to develop the new RAV4 EV. In a quest to figure out if they can shorten the development cycle, Toyota has used Tesla's startup mentality and software industry legacy to teach an old dog some new tricks. The result is stunning: a complete electric car from drawing board to dozens of working prototypes in about six months, and plans for consumer delivery by late 2012.

But while the Toyota-Tesla experiment is an interesting exercise, Kim says that something's going to have to give and he doesn't think the consumer will accept anything less than a shorter cycle for the automakers. "In the end the consumer is going to go with the manufacturer that can perform the fastest turnaround—so the pressure now is on the automakers to get more with it."