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I just wish they could make electric cars with our all the touch sensitive glossy dogshit. Just a decent make's mid-spec car circa 2010 with cruise/limit, centr

I just wish they could make electric cars with our all the touch sensitive glossy dogshit. Just a decent make's mid-spec car circa 2010 with cruise/limit, central locking with a keyfob, Bluetooth, A/C, a decent sound system, the old button/knob console controls and maybe adaptive cruise if that's your thing. This was all a completely solved problem 15 years ago. Just swap (yes i know it's not a straight swap, the chassis and other bits are basically completely different) the engine for battery, motors and regenerative brakes. That's the only change that needs making to the visible function of the car. Leave out the touch screens, proprietary nav running on an underpowered shit SoC, media player junk, app control, LED strip lighting, Street sign sensitive limiters that downshift in traffic because the think they saw a sign that said 30, subscription this and integration that and anything that expects an internet connection. It's all utter dogshit.

ricardobeat 2y ago
There are a few which sit in a decent middleground. Kia and Hyundai EVs, BYD, Nio, Polestar all have a decent amount of physical controls to varying degrees. It's a shame that Volvo went in the opposite direction. I don't think we can turn the page back on central touchscreens though, there are way too many features and settings that you cannot translate into physical buttons.
- gravescale 2y ago
  I don't really care about any features that the touchscreen enables. None. Not the crap nav, not the crap media applets, none of it. And especially not the fan controls, even if i do get a needless 3D render of a fan, slightly stuttering through a graphics processor that i could be convinced was repurposed from a vTech toy. I literally cannot think of any that a modern car has that I sit in the 2010 and go "man I wish I had X". The little LCD in there actually has more functions that work via the steering wheel controls! Maybe the backup camera (which yes, I know will probably be a regulation so now you have to have a screen, nicely played, auto lobby), but even then I don't really want one if the cost is a car full of junk and I've never had one up to now, even in the newer cars I've also had. I'd rather they stripped all the pointless shit out and just gave me the savings and reliability bump. And that's why they won't ever do it, they get a bump in price up front and they get to ding you for magical electronic dingleberries in 10 years and meanwhile they can slurp whatever data they can.
  - ricardobeat 2y ago
    I was thinking of features like an audio equalizer, introduced on a screen around 1989. Or very specific settings like audible warnings, tire pressure sensor setup, interior lighting... if everything was a physical button your car would look like a 747 cockpit (not that it would be such a bad thing!). And yes, the backup camera. Essential safety feature in a world where 2-ton SUVs and children share spaces.
    - gravescale 2y ago
      Audio equaliser works just fine with a wheel and buttons. Actually, once I press "menu" on the console, I can do the whole process using the steering wheel controls. Tire pressure monitoring doesn't need an HD display either. It's got only three real functions: low pressure detected, low battery and calibrate. You don't need a touchscreen for any of that. And even if you have to drive an urban tank, you could still have the camera display on the dashboard: you don't have to use a touchscreen for everything just to have a camera display. Or, you know what, have the shiny bullshit if you have to, but it all had to work from the steering wheel controls. And no, voice control is not a good substitute. But even then all that junk makes the car an expensive and unreliable prospect in the short and long runs.

ricardobeat 2y ago

There are a few which sit in a decent middleground. Kia and Hyundai EVs, BYD, Nio, Polestar all have a decent amount of physical controls to varying degrees. It's a shame that Volvo went in the opposite direction. I don't think we can turn the page back on central touchscreens though, there are way too many features and settings that you cannot translate into physical buttons.

gravescale 2y ago
I don't really care about any features that the touchscreen enables. None. Not the crap nav, not the crap media applets, none of it. And especially not the fan controls, even if i do get a needless 3D render of a fan, slightly stuttering through a graphics processor that i could be convinced was repurposed from a vTech toy. I literally cannot think of any that a modern car has that I sit in the 2010 and go "man I wish I had X". The little LCD in there actually has more functions that work via the steering wheel controls! Maybe the backup camera (which yes, I know will probably be a regulation so now you have to have a screen, nicely played, auto lobby), but even then I don't really want one if the cost is a car full of junk and I've never had one up to now, even in the newer cars I've also had. I'd rather they stripped all the pointless shit out and just gave me the savings and reliability bump. And that's why they won't ever do it, they get a bump in price up front and they get to ding you for magical electronic dingleberries in 10 years and meanwhile they can slurp whatever data they can.
- ricardobeat 2y ago
  I was thinking of features like an audio equalizer, introduced on a screen around 1989. Or very specific settings like audible warnings, tire pressure sensor setup, interior lighting... if everything was a physical button your car would look like a 747 cockpit (not that it would be such a bad thing!). And yes, the backup camera. Essential safety feature in a world where 2-ton SUVs and children share spaces.
  - gravescale 2y ago
    Audio equaliser works just fine with a wheel and buttons. Actually, once I press "menu" on the console, I can do the whole process using the steering wheel controls. Tire pressure monitoring doesn't need an HD display either. It's got only three real functions: low pressure detected, low battery and calibrate. You don't need a touchscreen for any of that. And even if you have to drive an urban tank, you could still have the camera display on the dashboard: you don't have to use a touchscreen for everything just to have a camera display. Or, you know what, have the shiny bullshit if you have to, but it all had to work from the steering wheel controls. And no, voice control is not a good substitute. But even then all that junk makes the car an expensive and unreliable prospect in the short and long runs.