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I drive a Tesla. Not having haptic feedback has not been a problem for me. It took just a few minutes to become familiar with the UI and, after a few days, I fo

I drive a Tesla. Not having haptic feedback has not been a problem for me. It took just a few minutes to become familiar with the UI and, after a few days, I found it easier and more intuitive than anything else I had ever driven. In comparison, I recently tried a friend's prestigious German car. This car had dozens of controls on the steering wheel, steering column, dashboard, etc. After a few hours, I still found everything confusing.

dangus 7y ago
Would I be daft to suggest that what you're engaging in is post-purchase rationalization? Dozens of buttons still have an inherent advantage: as tactile buttons they can be activated without using your eyes. I agree that most German luxury cars get completely over-ambitious, but that's not to say that nobody's succeeded at making something that's less distracting than Tesla's touch screen. Out of the cars I've driven with modern infotainment systems, Mazda might have the most intuitive one out there. The touch screen is completely disabled while driving, with a simple four direction, press down, rotating knob to control everything along with a back button and logically placed shortcut keys. That layout also includes a physical volume knob and physical climate controls in the standard, logical dual dial layout. Most importantly, the gear selector is a completely normal front-to-back push the button lever with physical tactile feedback, none of this rocker/button pushing nonsense. Picture here: https://www.mazdausa.com/siteassets/vehicles/2019/mazda3-sedan/gallery-page/2019-Mazda-3-Sedan-dashboard.png?w=1800 https://www.mazdausa.com/siteassets/vehicles/2019/mazda3-sed...
- DeonPenny 7y ago
  Nah I would say it's usually just being more used to using touch screens. Same as the explanation people used to use for blackberrys vs iphone. Yes testing one handed without looking was fine but it's just as easy when you figure out the screen no matter how unintuitive it sounds.
  - dangus 7y ago
    The major difference being that you don't use your phone while driving (do you?) I really don't think you can operate an iPhone without looking at it unless you're using accessibility features or a really basic function like the flashlight.

dangus 7y ago

Would I be daft to suggest that what you're engaging in is post-purchase rationalization? Dozens of buttons still have an inherent advantage: as tactile buttons they can be activated without using your eyes. I agree that most German luxury cars get completely over-ambitious, but that's not to say that nobody's succeeded at making something that's less distracting than Tesla's touch screen. Out of the cars I've driven with modern infotainment systems, Mazda might have the most intuitive one out there. The touch screen is completely disabled while driving, with a simple four direction, press down, rotating knob to control everything along with a back button and logically placed shortcut keys. That layout also includes a physical volume knob and physical climate controls in the standard, logical dual dial layout. Most importantly, the gear selector is a completely normal front-to-back push the button lever with physical tactile feedback, none of this rocker/button pushing nonsense. Picture here: https://www.mazdausa.com/siteassets/vehicles/2019/mazda3-sedan/gallery-page/2019-Mazda-3-Sedan-dashboard.png?w=1800 https://www.mazdausa.com/siteassets/vehicles/2019/mazda3-sed...

DeonPenny 7y ago
Nah I would say it's usually just being more used to using touch screens. Same as the explanation people used to use for blackberrys vs iphone. Yes testing one handed without looking was fine but it's just as easy when you figure out the screen no matter how unintuitive it sounds.
- dangus 7y ago
  The major difference being that you don't use your phone while driving (do you?) I really don't think you can operate an iPhone without looking at it unless you're using accessibility features or a really basic function like the flashlight.