Is it just me being a dinosaur or is this really poor, lazy design?

[Stere]

Apparently a screen is cheaper to make than the all the buttons etc or something. I think i read an article on it thats its down to cost cutting?

 

Anyways buttons are better:

 

Buttons beat touchscreens in cars, and now there’s data to prove it

ARSTECHNICA.COM

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Swedish publication Vi Bilägare quantified the problem with new tests.

 

Edited January 31, 2023 by Stere

[william127]

49 minutes ago, maybelateron said:

Agree with all the very sensible comments so far. My wife wanted to go electric, so she now has a Hyundai Ionic5. It is a very nice car to drive in most ways, but I will not drive it on my own at night unless weather conditions are such that I won't need to adjust demister/climate settings. It has a touch screen for all of these functions. Yes, it can be voice activated, but this does not always work, and I can't read the crib sheet in the dark, to tell me what words/phrases to use. End result is that in bad weather/darkness I will take my 23 year old TD5 Disco 2 out and burn lots of diesel, but feel safer with respect to myself AND other road users. "Sorry I crashed into your car and gave you life changing injuries, I was trying to use the demister to clear the screen so I could drive safely". 

Spot on, if and when we're forced into electric vehicles I'd far rather convert the D2 and defender than have a 'proper' electric car with all the touch screen bilge.

 

[manco]

am i the only one spotting that this is an electric touchscreen, installed in an electric car? 

thus will use more of your fuel than a simple non-electric switch?

or am i missing something?

how much more battery power is that big-ass screen gonna use over a bunch of switches?

[Squaredy]

4 minutes ago, manco said:

am i the only one spotting that this is an electric touchscreen, installed in an electric car? 

thus will use more of your fuel than a simple non-electric switch?

or am i missing something?

how much more battery power is that big-ass screen gonna use over a bunch of switches?

You are not wrong, but the power consumption of a touch screen like that I would say is maybe 100 watts or less, whereas the electric drive motors will be 20 or 30 thousand watts.  But yes, it all uses some battery power...

[Stubby]

1 hour ago, petercb said:

It's not about what you want it's what they make you think you want or you can only get the bits you really want and need if you pay for those you don't at exorbitant prices.

Bit like sky subscription .

[patrickgalloway3]

7 hours ago, Ashes_Firewood said:

Main problem I have with most electric cars is that if I have to eventually have one I just want one that looks like a normal car but happens to be electric instead of petrol or diesel. Whereas most of them look weird.

Which cars look so outlandish that you don't want to drive them? Electric mini looks like a mini. Tesla model S  looks like a generic saloon. New Audi looks like a yummy mummy's SUV. BMW id3 looked a bit different but had some genuine engineering reasons for doing so.

[AHPP]

1 hour ago, Mick Dempsey said:

I’d put you at 20 stone (ish)
 

 

I used to love quiz night at the local.

 

Smart phones and the internet put an end to that.

 

I too love a pub quiz and can't stand people cheating with phones at them. I reckon put them in a bowl on the way in and have the option to do a bit of swinging on the way out.

[Dan Maynard]

It's a lot cheaper and easier to make a screen than all the switches and buttons. Less wiring and installation costs, easier to update, lots of advantages to the manufacturer. In industrial control panels we mostly dumped the array of buttons about 30 years ago but keep a few for common quick tasks.

 

I don't think they are too safe either, touch is important feedback. Hopefully putting everything on touchscreen will go the way of square steering wheels and horizontal scale speedometers and be consigned to the bin but not convinced.

[AHPP]

 

1 hour ago, Dan Maynard said:

I don't think they are too safe either, touch is important feedback. Hopefully putting everything on touchscreen will go the way of square steering wheels and horizontal scale speedometers and be consigned to the bin but not convinced.

I was remarking to a mate earlier on a slightly different motoring matter that we've reached the top of the rollercoaster. Soon, everything is going to be like the Russian/H2G2 shoe factories churning them out joined at the heel. I currently own a 2009 car that is haplessly immobilised because I haven't yet brought myself to pay a 19-year-old with a laptop to come over and sweet talk it and a 2005 van with half the stuff on the back axle shredded by the whims of a twatty ABS sensor. I'm well up for an older vehicle or a horse at this stage.

Edited January 31, 2023 by AHPP

[Mick Dempsey]

8 hours ago, Dan Maynard said:

It's a lot cheaper and easier to make a screen than all the switches and buttons. Less wiring and installation costs, easier to update, lots of advantages to the manufacturer. In industrial control panels we mostly dumped the array of buttons about 30 years ago but keep a few for common quick tasks.

 

I don't think they are too safe either, touch is important feedback. Hopefully putting everything on touchscreen will go the way of square steering wheels and horizontal scale speedometers and be consigned to the bin but not convinced.

Good points.