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Wow, that sounds intensely bad! I haven't actually driven a Mazda, I just heard that they were getting rid of touchscreens and it honestly didn't occur to me t

Wow, that sounds intensely bad! I haven't actually driven a Mazda, I just heard that they were getting rid of touchscreens and it honestly didn't occur to me that they'd try to shoehorn full Android Auto or CarPlay into that. I just assumed that they would have a minimal interface and let your phone do the work, and then have "next track" and "previous track" buttons and a volume knob, plus climate control and stuff, and the screen would just have various car information; tire pressure and fuel efficiency and various camera systems for parking. It might still work for me (I'm definitely going to test drive a Mazda when my current car needs replacing), but this is me; I disable CarPlay because I can't stand it; I prefer to just put my phone on a mount and use it directly; I just need the car systems as a speaker for the phone.

izacus 4y ago
I own a Mazda and using Android Auto with physical controls works just fine, no idea what the OP is talking about. All the main driving features are accessible by buttons and don't need eyes off the road. It's a massive difference in compasion to some brands that require you to use touchscreen to switch to next track or adjust AC temp.
- vel0city 4y ago
  Which cars have touchscreens and don't have steering wheel media controls?
  - izacus 4y ago
    Renault Zoe was the last one I've drove with that annoying issue (at least the model I had). There was also a BMW Series 1, that requred selecting a media page in dashboard screen and then selecting a next track button. (No support for Auto on that one tho.)
    - vel0city 4y ago
      Interesting. It seems like almost all cars sold in the US these days have steering wheel media controls, even cheaper base models. It feels like you'd have to go out of your way to find one that doesn't have it.
  - syzar 4y ago
    Volvo and Ford Edge use touchscreens to adjust AC and there is no steering wheel control for it.
    - vel0city 4y ago
      Changing the AC, even with physical controls, is a distraction from driving. I don't get why anyone drives without it being on auto climate as you're inviting more distractions. If its on auto climate why are you making adjustments while you drive?
      - uluyol 4y ago
        Maybe because its burning hot out and people need high AC to cool down. Or the opposite in cold weather. Or to defrost windshield/rear window. Climate control is a great feature. But it's not perfect, and there are instances where you need to manually override. Just because you don't run into them doesn't mean they don't exist. EDIT: BTW on cars with physical controls all of these things are either button press or dial turn away. I've never had to look at the controls to do these things.
        vel0city 4y ago
        So here's an example. It's over 100F outside, my car is probably 115F inside it at the moment. Setting my car to 70F inside instead of it's current 72F won't make it cool any faster. Even setting it to it's "LO" setting won't make it cool any faster. The AC compressor is either on or off. The car will set the fan speed to it's best possible speed to cool the car as fast as it can regardless of it being 72 or 70 or 68. Me adjusting things manually won't make the compressor work harder or make the car cool faster. There's zero benefit for me to touch the AC controls. The car knows it's hot. The car knows how I want it. It will do what it can to get it to that target temp. Me doing anything will just result in more distraction away from actually driving the car.
        kipchak 4y ago
        Wouldn't it engage a heavier fan speed if there was a smaller disparity in temperature? For example if it's 75 in the car and I'd like it to be 72 turning the AC down to 70 would engage a heavier fan speed with the downside of increased noise, so practically I would cool down quicker by setting it to 70 and could then adjust back up to 72. But more practically, if I start catching a lot of sun from the window I might want to go from 72 to 70 to compensate, even if the cabin temperature is more or less the same.
  - BeetleB 4y ago
    My Subaru doesn't have any buttons to go to preset radio stations. I can use the steering wheel buttons to go one by one till I get to the right one but it's an awful experience. It takes a second just to switch one time. Several seconds just to get to something that's instantaneous in cases that have buttons.
voidfunc 4y ago
I have a Mazda and I love it. Also have no idea what OP is talking about. Steering wheel has next-prev track buttons also the volume wheel can be gently slid left/right to do the same thing. I love the button approach Mazda takes. Stuff like AC etc is all button controlled. It's a 90s car approach with a bolted on screen your phone can connect to. Stupid simple, tactile, nearly perfect.

izacus 4y ago

I own a Mazda and using Android Auto with physical controls works just fine, no idea what the OP is talking about. All the main driving features are accessible by buttons and don't need eyes off the road. It's a massive difference in compasion to some brands that require you to use touchscreen to switch to next track or adjust AC temp.

vel0city 4y ago
Which cars have touchscreens and don't have steering wheel media controls?
- izacus 4y ago
  Renault Zoe was the last one I've drove with that annoying issue (at least the model I had). There was also a BMW Series 1, that requred selecting a media page in dashboard screen and then selecting a next track button. (No support for Auto on that one tho.)
  - vel0city 4y ago
    Interesting. It seems like almost all cars sold in the US these days have steering wheel media controls, even cheaper base models. It feels like you'd have to go out of your way to find one that doesn't have it.
- syzar 4y ago
  Volvo and Ford Edge use touchscreens to adjust AC and there is no steering wheel control for it.
  - vel0city 4y ago
    Changing the AC, even with physical controls, is a distraction from driving. I don't get why anyone drives without it being on auto climate as you're inviting more distractions. If its on auto climate why are you making adjustments while you drive?
    - uluyol 4y ago
      Maybe because its burning hot out and people need high AC to cool down. Or the opposite in cold weather. Or to defrost windshield/rear window. Climate control is a great feature. But it's not perfect, and there are instances where you need to manually override. Just because you don't run into them doesn't mean they don't exist. EDIT: BTW on cars with physical controls all of these things are either button press or dial turn away. I've never had to look at the controls to do these things.
      - vel0city 4y ago
        So here's an example. It's over 100F outside, my car is probably 115F inside it at the moment. Setting my car to 70F inside instead of it's current 72F won't make it cool any faster. Even setting it to it's "LO" setting won't make it cool any faster. The AC compressor is either on or off. The car will set the fan speed to it's best possible speed to cool the car as fast as it can regardless of it being 72 or 70 or 68. Me adjusting things manually won't make the compressor work harder or make the car cool faster. There's zero benefit for me to touch the AC controls. The car knows it's hot. The car knows how I want it. It will do what it can to get it to that target temp. Me doing anything will just result in more distraction away from actually driving the car.
        kipchak 4y ago
        Wouldn't it engage a heavier fan speed if there was a smaller disparity in temperature? For example if it's 75 in the car and I'd like it to be 72 turning the AC down to 70 would engage a heavier fan speed with the downside of increased noise, so practically I would cool down quicker by setting it to 70 and could then adjust back up to 72. But more practically, if I start catching a lot of sun from the window I might want to go from 72 to 70 to compensate, even if the cabin temperature is more or less the same.
- BeetleB 4y ago
  My Subaru doesn't have any buttons to go to preset radio stations. I can use the steering wheel buttons to go one by one till I get to the right one but it's an awful experience. It takes a second just to switch one time. Several seconds just to get to something that's instantaneous in cases that have buttons.

voidfunc 4y ago

I have a Mazda and I love it. Also have no idea what OP is talking about. Steering wheel has next-prev track buttons also the volume wheel can be gently slid left/right to do the same thing. I love the button approach Mazda takes. Stuff like AC etc is all button controlled. It's a 90s car approach with a bolted on screen your phone can connect to. Stupid simple, tactile, nearly perfect.