That's what you get when you buy a car that's designed in California. No self-respecting Californian would ever use the turn signal, so usability wasn't a consideration for the design engineers. 🙂
Jokes aside, it's a usability disaster. Imagine if the position of the brake and accelerator pedals changed as you turned the steering wheel.
Inland Canadian perspective: Try using a touch screen with cold fingers. It's nearly impossible. And impossible while wearing gloves. Certain things need physical buttons.
Tom
I think that we have got to a stage where lots of things are pretty much perfected, but companies are so entrenched in the mind of constant change, they still have to change it, and if you change perfection, it's going to get worse. Plus commonsence and logic have been thrown out the window long ago. Did cars reach their peak in the 1990s?
There are some current cars that still have buttons and knobs. Have a look at the German auto makers, for example.
Tom
Tom
They are nothing more than a money saving excercise. Actual buttons and switches costs money and needs more wiring.
I refuse to buy any car that depends on a touchscreen for the usual functions. My only BEV was a Leaf which did have physical controls.
I also believe touchsreens are far less safe because you cannot use them without taking your eyes off the road: sat navs are bad enough in this respect.
Then what happens if the screen fails - the car becomes unusable to all intents and purposes.
Some things about the new dashboards and controls are safer, for example, the CX-30 has a bright head up display which tells you basic information without your having to take your eyes off the road. It also won't let you input to the sat-nav while the car is moving. There are tyre pressure monitors - great idea and one which proved its worth three weeks after purchase - and a 360 degree camera, useful as it has poor rear visibility.
There are proper knobs and switches for volume, heater and a/c, demisters and seat heaters. None of the basic controls are performed through the screen, unlike a neighbour's Tesla.
You can play music from USB if you like, but no CD player: bollocks! When I asked the sales person about that he looked at me like I was from Mars....
On the downside, the manual is hundreds of pages, plus a 100 page PDF on how to work all the electronics.
Geoff
There are proper knobs and switches for volume, heater and a/c, demisters and seat heaters. None of the basic controls are performed through the screen, unlike a neighbour's Tesla.
You can play music from USB if you like, but no CD player: bollocks! When I asked the sales person about that he looked at me like I was from Mars....
On the downside, the manual is hundreds of pages, plus a 100 page PDF on how to work all the electronics.
Geoff
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I agree with everything you said except that the touch screens are nothing more than a money saving exercise. I think the auto makers really believe that modern buyers want them and it has nothing at all to do with manufacturing costs. It is totally driven by marketing beliefs that it will help sell their cars.
Its bad enough you can barely find any vehicles here in the US with a traditional standard shift transmission. I was fortunate enough to get ahold of a low mileage 2018 Fiesta ST with 6 spd manual. It has simple gauges and knobs for climate control and logical steering wheel controls. They stopped selling them here in the US as Ford now only sells SUVs with the Mustang being the only exception. Americans have very little common sense when it comes to cars and most people here want to drive these huge land yachts.
My little car drives like a go kart and is alot of fun being it has a clutch pedal instead of that silly paddle shift junk, which I can't stand along with automatics.
These new touch screen driven dashboard menu controls are just stupid and dangerous. I have very dry skin and trouble triggering most touch screens, so I absolutely hate them from an ergonomic standpoint and unnecessary complexity. Mobile phones are a whole nother area of content and distress...
My little car drives like a go kart and is alot of fun being it has a clutch pedal instead of that silly paddle shift junk, which I can't stand along with automatics.
These new touch screen driven dashboard menu controls are just stupid and dangerous. I have very dry skin and trouble triggering most touch screens, so I absolutely hate them from an ergonomic standpoint and unnecessary complexity. Mobile phones are a whole nother area of content and distress...
Geoff, it took me a while to catch up.
It takes everyone a while to do the same.
Fighting advancement only works until you realize where the concern really is.
I thought my first new car trained me forever.
Then I bought another.
It takes everyone a while to do the same.
Fighting advancement only works until you realize where the concern really is.
I thought my first new car trained me forever.
Then I bought another.
The one caveat with Tesla's is that you can ask the car to do almost anything instead of using the screen. 'Tesla the windscreen is fogging up', 'Tesla I'm too hot' etc.
Our other car is a 2002 Mazda MX-5 (aka Miata), manual of course, very simple to operate, albeit without 'infotainment' screen, stability control, cruise control, AEB and sat-nav. It does have dual airbags, ABS and the other safety features of the period.
Fantastic car, even if doesn't (or, because it doesn't) have hundreds of horsepower or weigh two tons. Further, you can enjoy the handling and performance at legal speeds.
Ergonomics are excellent; everything to hand, clear analogue instruments and comfortable as well. And it has a CD player!
Although it's nowhere near as safe as the CX-30, I much prefer driving it, even if everyone in utes and SUVs seems to be trying to intimidate and/or kill me.
Geoff
Fantastic car, even if doesn't (or, because it doesn't) have hundreds of horsepower or weigh two tons. Further, you can enjoy the handling and performance at legal speeds.
Ergonomics are excellent; everything to hand, clear analogue instruments and comfortable as well. And it has a CD player!
Although it's nowhere near as safe as the CX-30, I much prefer driving it, even if everyone in utes and SUVs seems to be trying to intimidate and/or kill me.
Geoff
The MX-5 is very safe - it’s got excellent handling, so I’d consider it as active collision avoidance. The accident you avoid cannot hurt you. I have a 1996 black & tan; unfortunately had to park it about ten years ago due to body rot - they put liquid car dissolver on the roads here in winter. It had over 350k miles on it; perhaps some day I’ll have the time and energy to restore it. Fun little car with the correct number or pedals, and sliders & knobs for the controls as it should be.
-Pat
-Pat
Maybe you are right but their market rsearch should have asked elderly drivers what they want. I'm sure the answer would be 'buttons and switches'.
There are are reasons for these: age related eyesight deterioration*, badly surfaced roads which makes keeping your finger still enough to use the touchscreen.
* I use varifocals but thy are not perfect for driving and my eys are definitley slower now in refocussing when changing from looking ahead to my Honda's sat nav toughscreen.
There is on control I do not like ad that's the rotary knob on the centre console such as a BMW iDrive controller. It's almost as distracting as a touch screen.
Actually this is untrue. The advertising would have you believe that all cars are driven by young women, but the biggest single group of buyers is women in their 50s.
Some of the German manufacturers are returning to physical switches. VW are back tracking in their steering wheel controls.
https://www.drive.com.au/news/volkswagen-australia-begins-u-turn-on-touch-buttons/
I have a T-Roc and most of the important items are physical switches or buttons (including steering wheel and stalks) and the air conditioning is via touch sensitive but works well. I did drive a Skoda where it all had to be done via the infotainment system which required pulling over to change basic settings.
One thing I have noticed is the higher you go up the range, the less amount of buttons.
https://www.drive.com.au/news/volkswagen-australia-begins-u-turn-on-touch-buttons/
I have a T-Roc and most of the important items are physical switches or buttons (including steering wheel and stalks) and the air conditioning is via touch sensitive but works well. I did drive a Skoda where it all had to be done via the infotainment system which required pulling over to change basic settings.
One thing I have noticed is the higher you go up the range, the less amount of buttons.
This doesn't mean the manufacturers are asking those in this group. (they don't)
Some young clever clogs in marketing says "we need touchscreen controls instead of buttons & switches" and then canvasses the 20-30yr old age group because they know this group will back up their idea.
Once the manufactures have sold the customer what they want, they can't increase sales, so they have to make cars more expensive; huge behemoths, electric everything, and better performance than a Countach - just to do 5 miles. My little FIAT 126 did it job of getting me around; now I'm starting to think the 850 coupe would be the best car for 99.9 % of trips, or perhaps a Citroen Berlingo.
The Europeans appear to get the whole simplicity thing with their cheaper, entry level models. The hot hatchback craze was the best thing that could ever happen IMO and still lives on in some countries. We still had fun driving and the car was practical, economical to run and cheap to repair.
Even though my Fiesta has the Sync 3 system, it has a physical CD player, traditional sat navigation (none of that stupid Google map garbage that uses your phone) and best of all, the manual switches confirm operation on the info screen. Having a backup camera is definitely one of the biggest advantages of technology, but things like lane departure and radar guided cruise are a crutch so people can be lazier drivers. That frees their attention to browse their phone and eat big macs... silly Americans.
Even though my Fiesta has the Sync 3 system, it has a physical CD player, traditional sat navigation (none of that stupid Google map garbage that uses your phone) and best of all, the manual switches confirm operation on the info screen. Having a backup camera is definitely one of the biggest advantages of technology, but things like lane departure and radar guided cruise are a crutch so people can be lazier drivers. That frees their attention to browse their phone and eat big macs... silly Americans.