I've been in the market to buy a new car over the past few months, and it's obviously not an enviable position to be in given the current state of the car-buying market with low inventory, long wait times, dealer markups above MSRP, etc.
But one thing that's been eye-opening (for me at least) while I've been researching cars (through countless reviews and YouTube videos) is the trend for numerous car manufacturers to shove everything they can into touchscreen controls while getting rid of physical buttons in the interior.
Tesla has been the obvious example of one company that's heavily gone in this direction for years now, and it's one reason why I haven't had much interest in Tesla:
But now more and more car manufacturers are starting to move in this same direction, as they replace tactile buttons for important functions like AC control, radio controls, and the volume knob and instead relegate them to a touchscreen (or capacitive touch controls). On top of that, it's sometimes in the form of an iPad-like tablet screen that's been shoved into the car and is not really integrated well into the rest of the dashboard.
I just think it's a really shitty trend for the consumer imo. I imagine that for car manufacturers, it's easier (and maybe cheaper?) to make a single touch screen for all of their cars than to curate multiple buttons for the interior for each car. But there's just so many negatives for this trend. First and foremost, having people use a touchscreen for things like AC controls while they're driving is a lot more dangerous than using buttons. The tactile feedback of buttons is just safer and easier to use on a day-to-day basis. If I had to dig through menus for something as relatively simple as changing the temperature in my car (as with the BMW shown below) or use capacitive touch controls for changing the volume (as shown in the Mercedes below) on a regular basis, I'd go nuts:
We're rightfully trying to curb people looking at their phone screens while driving, but then car companies are basically putting iPad tablets in the center console with a lot of them requiring the use of touch controls and without tactile feedback? 🤷♂️
I certainly understand that not everything can be implemented into buttons in a car nowadays, so things like Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are fine with me (especially if you have a knob/cursor to maneuver through the menu). Using Google Maps and Spotify through CarPlay is great, so there is definitely a place for touch screens where they make sense. But when it comes to things like the volume control and climate control being relegated to touch controls? Shit is just totally unnecessary, as car manufacturers are trying to reinvent the wheel.
It's becoming more and more difficult to find newer cars that aren't inundated with touch controls. I ended up placing a deposit for a new Lexus IS 350, and one big reason for that was due to its blend of physical buttons and CarPlay/touch functionality, as it has a happy middle ground between the two. A lot of reviewers slam the interior for being outdated (it even still has a CD player lol), but honestly, I'd rather it be "outdated" in order for it to be functional (and reliable) for years and years to come. I don't have the same confidence for a lot of these newer cars that seem to have way too many functions shoved into technology that may have that initial "wow factor" for the average consumer, but may not be as practical to use on a day-to-day basis.
Anyone else agree?
But one thing that's been eye-opening (for me at least) while I've been researching cars (through countless reviews and YouTube videos) is the trend for numerous car manufacturers to shove everything they can into touchscreen controls while getting rid of physical buttons in the interior.
Tesla has been the obvious example of one company that's heavily gone in this direction for years now, and it's one reason why I haven't had much interest in Tesla:
But now more and more car manufacturers are starting to move in this same direction, as they replace tactile buttons for important functions like AC control, radio controls, and the volume knob and instead relegate them to a touchscreen (or capacitive touch controls). On top of that, it's sometimes in the form of an iPad-like tablet screen that's been shoved into the car and is not really integrated well into the rest of the dashboard.
I just think it's a really shitty trend for the consumer imo. I imagine that for car manufacturers, it's easier (and maybe cheaper?) to make a single touch screen for all of their cars than to curate multiple buttons for the interior for each car. But there's just so many negatives for this trend. First and foremost, having people use a touchscreen for things like AC controls while they're driving is a lot more dangerous than using buttons. The tactile feedback of buttons is just safer and easier to use on a day-to-day basis. If I had to dig through menus for something as relatively simple as changing the temperature in my car (as with the BMW shown below) or use capacitive touch controls for changing the volume (as shown in the Mercedes below) on a regular basis, I'd go nuts:
We're rightfully trying to curb people looking at their phone screens while driving, but then car companies are basically putting iPad tablets in the center console with a lot of them requiring the use of touch controls and without tactile feedback? 🤷♂️
I certainly understand that not everything can be implemented into buttons in a car nowadays, so things like Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are fine with me (especially if you have a knob/cursor to maneuver through the menu). Using Google Maps and Spotify through CarPlay is great, so there is definitely a place for touch screens where they make sense. But when it comes to things like the volume control and climate control being relegated to touch controls? Shit is just totally unnecessary, as car manufacturers are trying to reinvent the wheel.
It's becoming more and more difficult to find newer cars that aren't inundated with touch controls. I ended up placing a deposit for a new Lexus IS 350, and one big reason for that was due to its blend of physical buttons and CarPlay/touch functionality, as it has a happy middle ground between the two. A lot of reviewers slam the interior for being outdated (it even still has a CD player lol), but honestly, I'd rather it be "outdated" in order for it to be functional (and reliable) for years and years to come. I don't have the same confidence for a lot of these newer cars that seem to have way too many functions shoved into technology that may have that initial "wow factor" for the average consumer, but may not be as practical to use on a day-to-day basis.
Anyone else agree?
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