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Regarding SMT components, the reliability is much greater. As this controller becomes more popular, people will start to rely on a car built with it. It seems this board has matured to point where it makes sense to switch over. As an added bonus, the board size can shrink thus lowering costs and allowing a smaller enclosure. If the board dimensions are optimized to use the "standard" panel of the board supplier and left in a panel for the automated assembly of passives, the cost really begin to drop.
Even manually building an entire SMT assembly is not that bad. Passives can be tacked down with dots of epoxy. After the glue cures you can follow up with a fine tipped soldering iron. Another option is a syringe with solder paste and reflow the entire board with a toaster oven, heat lamp, or heat gun.
edit: I was going to espouse the virtue of an SMD microcontroller, but if I'm looking at the right data sheet, 0.8 mm pin pitch would be tricky to hand solder. I've seen it done, but not by me. Stick with the DIP.
I know its easier said than done, but I've worked in the prototype business for a few years and I have seen much more complex boards built by relatively low skill people with minimal equipment, i.e. tweezers and a hot plate.
JAK
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