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VW is bringing physical buttons back to the dashboard with the ID. Polo EV

128 points by thunderbong 10mo ago

jqpabc123 10mo ago
Oh boy, oh joy! Common sense has returned.
makerofthings 10mo ago
That’s a great step, now if they would just do one that respects your privacy and doesn’t track your every move, I’d buy one.
- monerozcash 10mo ago
  This doesn't seem like a particularly good reason to not buy a car. Either you need one or don't. Removing network connectivity from basically any new car is trivial, often as simple as pulling an easily accessible fuse.
  - jqpabc123 10mo ago
    Removing network connectivity from basically any new car is trivial, often as simple as pulling an easily accessible fuse. I'm guessing that you haven't actually done this on "basically any new car". If you had tried, you would know that there is no fuse dedicated to "network connectivity". It is typically tied in with other, often essential functions like the engine control computer --- specifically in order to thwart a simple disconnect. What I have seen done is to tear into the right roof pillar and cut the wires going to the antenna on the roof. But this is usually not without consequences as well such as a perpetual error code display and/or the radio, navigation or entertainment functions stop working.
    - monerozcash 10mo ago
      I've done this on a W222, a W223, a continental GT and an Urus. On each of those cars it was as easy as disconnecting the antenna, on none of them did I have to tear into the roof pillars. I've never seen an antenna that was difficult to disconnect, on the super simple end you have something like the W222 where you can literally just pop out the antenna cover on the roof and just remove the antenna module inside. >But this is usually not without consequences as well such as a perpetual error code display or the radio, navigation or entertainment functions stop working. Well sure, I do have cars without GPS because I was lazy. Carplay still works fine, so can't really bother to do anything about it.
      - jen20 10mo ago
        > Carplay still works fine, so can't really bother to do anything about it. That largely depends on the specific vehicle. I’m surprised that there wer no negative effects in pulling the telematics fuse on a W223, less surprised on a W222.
        monerozcash 10mo ago
        I just pulled the antennas on both of those, I don't think there's an easily accessible fuse that wouldn't cut off a bunch of other stuff.
      - potato3732842 10mo ago
        Add a whole ton of Fords to the list. The cell modem is just a module you can unplug on a lot of them to no ill effect.
        monerozcash 10mo ago
        Yeah, I seriously doubt that there's a single car with which this would actually be difficult to accomplish. Even if you can't pull the modem or the sim card (less common now) directly, you can certainly always find and disable the antenna connection. Any decent shop will be able to do this for a reasonable price.
    - bigfatkitten 10mo ago
      > If you had tried, you would know that there is no fuse dedicated to "network connectivity". Depends on the car. On modern Fords, it’s the TCU fuse. > What I have seen done is to tear into the right roof pillar and cut the wires going to the antenna on the roof Nonsense. Only a fool would do this, rather than simply disconnecting the antennas from the back of the module. Manufacturers almost universally use FAKRA connectors for quick and error-free assembly on the production line.
      - jqpabc123 10mo ago
        Only a fool would do this, rather than simply disconnecting the antennas from the back of the module. Depends on the car. It some cases, this is not simple. Accessing the connections means disassembling the dash.
        bigfatkitten 10mo ago
        Yes, but no vehicle in the world requires you to go around chopping up cables.
- constantcrying 10mo ago
  They are bound by the GDPR, which automatically puts them ahead of every American or Chinese manufacturer. E.g. Tesla, even in Europe, is pretty blatantly ignoring privacy laws and is used to surveil the population: https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/justiz/tesla-waechtermodus-filmt-straftaten-und-sorgt-fuer-datenschutzdebatten-a-22c2dd0d-cc1c-40c3-8d8e-ca4fdef9d84b https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/justiz/tesla-waechtermodus-f... (paywall)
  - crote 10mo ago
    VW was also bound by emission standards, yet Dieselgate still happened. I would be very surprised if it didn't have some kind of "heavily-restricted debugging interface, only available to select VW engineers, which provides a limited set of fully anonymous vehicle diagnostic metrics" - which in practice is of course used to sell trivially deanonymizable data to anyone with a few bucks to spare.
    - interloxia 10mo ago
      From 38c3 https://reynardsec.com/en/volkswagens-bad-streak-we-know-where-your-car-is/ https://reynardsec.com/en/volkswagens-bad-streak-we-know-whe... "The data, which includes detailed location information and even vehicle owner details, was left exposed and unprotected on the internet for an extended period of time." Wir wissen wo dein Auto steht Volksdaten von Volkswagen https://media.ccc.de/v/38c3-wir-wissen-wo-dein-auto-steht-volksdaten-von-volkswagen https://media.ccc.de/v/38c3-wir-wissen-wo-dein-auto-steht-vo...
    - constantcrying 10mo ago
      >VW was also bound by emission standards, yet Dieselgate still happened. Sure, but it is not like they just got away with that (ironically other manufacturers who did essentially the same thing, did mostly get away with it). >I would be very surprised if it didn't have some kind of "heavily-restricted debugging interface, only available to select VW engineers, which provides a limited set of fully anonymous vehicle diagnostic metrics" - which in practice is of course used to sell trivially deanonymizable data to anyone with a few bucks to spare. The GDPR allows you to receive a copy of all data a manufacturer has about you, "trivially deanonymizable" is by any reasonable interpretation of the GDPR personal data. Of course you can believe that VW and other manufacturers are secretly ignoring laws (again) and of course evidence for that would be hard to come by, but it it did come out it would be a massive scandal, with a massive criminal investigation. In general, do you want to have minimal laws protecting your privacy and manufacturers blatantly not caring about existing laws and individuals having no recourse or do you want strict laws protecting your privacy with manufacturers facing heavy sanctions, when they ignore those laws? The choice seems pretty clear.
hexbin010 10mo ago
The speedometer and rev counter are ugly as sin. And still no temperature dial. They achieved near perfection 20 years ago: https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.carsinvasion.com%2Fgallery%2F2005-volkswagen-polo%2F2005-volkswagen-polo-14.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=da881c6d0342bfe7494fdc8b24c2418185e83ccca2c454e400695cad6ed8caa4 https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2F...
- gglanzani 10mo ago
  But it’s not a rev counter, is it?
  - hexbin010 10mo ago
    It's still ugly though, isn't it?
- vinay427 10mo ago
  This has a few other issues to me compared to many similar dials. It’s unclear what the temperature numbers actually mean if this isn’t an automatic climate control system (or is in manual mode). The part that rotates also appears to be symmetric, which means one may need to find the white marking to decipher where the dial is pointing. That can be even more difficult in a dark environment than trying to read a display.
  - hexbin010 10mo ago
    Yes, not perfect, but MUCH better than their current version of touch-screen only climate control, which is an exercise in frustration. "Relative perfection" :) The numbers are centigrade, which for the local market is mostly very obvious and widely understood. 22 is roughly room temperature, so it's good that's at 12 o'clock. This model doesn't have auto climate control. > which means one may need to find the white marking to decipher where the dial is pointing You hand can feel the angle the dial is pointing. It was a non-issue for me. the white is illuminated softly at night, and one very quick glance can confirm the position anyway. Anyway, I'm contrasting to this modern VW abomination: https://www.discoverauto.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/2025-vw-golf-whichcar-3.jpg https://www.discoverauto.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/2... . Try to feel where the slider is set to on that interface... :D Or quickly enable the rear/front demister options...
kotaKat 10mo ago
Maddening to know that most of these vehicles will never hit American shores.
chasing0entropy 10mo ago
Good god,that is an ugly steering wheel.
cmos 10mo ago
Great. But make climate control 3 knobs: Fan speed + off, temperature and output ports. Put the AC button inside the temperature knob, and the 'recirculate' button inside the output ports knob. With the radio have a push on/off volume knob that starts up at the SAME volume as always (i.e. relative, not absolute) and NOT the previous volume. The volume knob should have some resistance to it. Opposite that have a tune knob for precise tuning, and pressing that gets you into setup and navigates you through it. This should have the same resistance, but the outside has some indents so you know it's not the volume knob. Have 6 preset buttons and 3 'banks' with a single 'next bank' button. pressing and holding a preset will save it with a beep for confirmation. On the steering wheel: up/dn for radio should be seek, not next/previous preset. There are 6 nice big buttons for presets but when traveling seek up/dn is the main way we change music. On the door have the rear view mirror controls, and above that have a knob for dashboard light brightness. 2008 Honda Fit was close to a perfect car. https://www.carsdirect.com/honda/fit/2008/pictures/interior https://www.carsdirect.com/honda/fit/2008/pictures/interior
- The_President 10mo ago
  Excellent vehicle but feels like driving an empty beer can at speeds over 80 mph.
- aeonfox 10mo ago
  While we're dreaming, just have an interchangeable panel. Allow 3rd parties to make whatever dials etc. the customer wants. And if it were up to me I'd also get rid of the screen entirely and only have a HUD for navigation. It will never happen, let alone become mainstream, but dreaming is nice sometimes.
  - dzhiurgis 10mo ago
    Basically what Tesla does - near perfect touchscreen, but also easy to add third party buttons.
    - aeonfox 10mo ago
altairprime 10mo ago
Wow, the steering has you dual-wield gridded T9 keypads while driving? Talk about missing the forest for the trees on safe driving.
darubedarob 10mo ago
Magnet buttons and dials sliding over a screen?
cryptos 10mo ago
Nobody would spend the whole day typing on a virtual keyboard, so that change makes a lot of sense to me.
exabrial 10mo ago
Considering GM is going headfirst the other direction, along with removing carplay support, I'll be looking for a something else. Especially a "disconnected vehicle" at some point where it includes no cell interface or one that can easily be yanked.
observationist 10mo ago
One of the problems with fixing problems is that by fixing them, you're demonstrating to customers that problems can be fixed, and you risk setting the expectation that problems will be fixed. This puts pressure on management to fix more problems, and management generally finds this problematic.
- nostrademons 10mo ago
  Though if you don't do it, someone eventually decides to start a competing company, fix all the problems, demonstrate that they can be fixed, take all your customers, and put management out of a job.
  - toss1 10mo ago
    Yup, that was one of Steve Job's principles: he recognized that someone was going to do something better and take your market share — so it is best if you cannibalize your own market share before they do.
    - mikepurvis 10mo ago
      I will never not talk about how bonkers it was that Jobs got up on that stage in 2005 and launched a complete replacement for the iPod mini, at the time the best-selling portable music player and it wasn't even close. How many other execs would have the courage to do that vs letting the current thing (microdrive player) settle and holding the new thing (flash memory player) in reserve to launch only in response to a competitor gaining traction?
  - hbn 10mo ago
    Not if your company buys the competition out before they become a threat.
    - nostrademons 10mo ago
      No guarantee that they or their investors will be willing to sell to you, and in some cases it means that management in the upstart ends up taking over the acquiring company, as with the Apple->Next, Disney->Pixar, and Time Warner->AOL mergers.
ethagnawl 10mo ago
I'd love to know what the justification for replacing them in the first place was. I can't think of any device, appliance, etc. I own whose UX is _better_ for not having physical, dedicated buttons or switches and instead having a touch interface or buttons which require a complex series of presses or chords. It's almost like there was _no_ UX research to back any of these "features" up and people just went ahead and made these changes because they could, it was fun and they look cool. To give a very concrete and potentially hazardous example: I have an induction range which has no physical controls but has a touch interface which requires various combinations of tapping, holding and sliding fingers. To say nothing of the fact that this is useless for people who have significant visual impairments, how am I supposed to turn it off if there's an electrical fire because a pot boils over or something? Is the expectation that I reach into boiling water that potentially has current running through it and hope to tap my fingers in the right place? Am I supposed to try to yank the power? Or is the expectation that I just walk outside and call the fire department?
- okokwhatever 10mo ago
  Money
  - xoxxala 10mo ago
    That's almost always the answer for big corporations run by MBAs.
  - tshaddox 10mo ago
    Ultimately, yeah. But specifically I think it's a combination of saving money directly on the bill of materials and assembly, and saving money on design flexibility (heck, you can probably do the entire infotainment design process at the last minute and flash it onto the cars after the entire assembly).
- Neikius 10mo ago
  I must assume the justification was "it is cool". especially considering they also placed capacitive touch "buttons" on the steering wheel. Those are the worst of both worlds in every case imaginable.
skavi 10mo ago
I’m not sure if the GUI in that image is real or a placeholder, but I really like what I see. Reminds me a lot of the skeuomorphism from classic iOS and WebOS, but cleaned up with elements of modern “flat” designs.
- varjag 10mo ago
  This is not a production system yet. Also, as someone who suffered VW/Cariad developed UI since 2021, it's going to suck balls.
  - thesumofall 10mo ago
    I suffered similarly but I think the latest software (>5.0) solved most of the issues and I don’t notice the software anymore at all (which I take as a positive - I.e., it just gets out of the way)
    - varjag 10mo ago
      I'm not sure we're even on same versions. They appear to push different branches on different platform revisions. Mine still cold boots/watchdogs every time you start the car in what I suspect a Patriot-style fix of numerous issues. It still has confirmation dialogs over confirmation dialogs (e.g. when selecting CarPlay you get to confirm your choice three times). Voice input is still unusable: the only thing it reliably recognizes is when I tell it to fuck off (and it scolds me for that). Door locks/keyless became more unreliable, which I frankly doubted was even possible. Everything is lagging, especially after cold boot: getting to entering nav destination after you sit in the car takes an eternity.
- thesumofall 10mo ago
  From what I’ve read it will be real and is supposed to evoke the early VW Polos. I believe you will be able to switch between that and a more „modern“ look
- Molitor5901 10mo ago
  Perhaps I am a very small minority, but.. I really miss skeuomorphism.
biotinker 10mo ago
In the last three years, there have been two times when we traveled, rented a car, and were given a Volkswagon. Both times, the touchscreen-only controls were such a pain in the butt that we vowed we would never purchase such a car. It was a timesaver, because in that period our family has gotten two new (to us) cars, and our experiences with the rental Volkswagons allowed us to exclude an entire manufacturer from consideration. If they haven't re-broken their interiors by the next time we look for a new car, I guess we'll have to consider them again.
- pengaru 10mo ago
  What did you go with instead? Mazda?
  - biotinker 10mo ago
    No, we wanted full EVs. Mazda doesn't make any, only hybrids. We wound up going with Chevrolet in both instances. The Equinox EV is one of the better EVs to offer AWD out there right now, matching the range of a Model 3 at a decently better price and obviously massively better UI. Slower charging is the only real downside. And a used pre-2020s Bolt is a really excellent value, because they are insanely cheap (under $15k) and due to the whole catching-on-fire thing they all had their batteries replaced in the last few years, which means you get a much newer battery than the mileage/age of the car would suggest. The Bolt is replacing a much older Leaf, so bumping the range up to ~200 miles from ~70 is a huge upgrade for us.
stephc_int13 10mo ago
I am pretty sure that many car brands will discover that this can be a selling point and reconsider the cost/ux tradeoff.
mikeyouse 10mo ago
Seems like a trend in the right direction - Subaru's doing the same for their 2026 models. Still too much shit on the steering wheel in my opinion but at least there are physical buttons/knobs for the climate system that don't require multiple touch screen button presses; https://www.caranddriver.com/photos/g64477839/2026-subaru-outback-interior-gallery/ https://www.caranddriver.com/photos/g64477839/2026-subaru-ou...
- the__alchemist 10mo ago
  What in particular do you want to avoid on the wheel? My thought is it's a perfect place for jet-style HOTAS controls, for the same reason; no moving your hands from the wheel, and driven by tactile feel and physical location.
  - mikeyouse 10mo ago
    It's well organized which is nice (cruise control on the right, media, etc on the left) but there's over 20 different buttons/functions there. At very least, X-Mode, Trip odometer reset, phone hold button, audio source button aren't worth the prime real estate. I don't use my phone at all while driving so all of the phone buttons could go away in my car. I hate audio assistants, so that button could go away too. The dash control switch could be on the dash.. etc etc. I'm not a UI person and I'm sure some committee fought over every square inch of that space, but just personal preference.
  - SoftTalker 10mo ago
    I don't want any buttons on the steering wheel, except the horn. I don't want a screen at all, but reversing cameras are now mandatory so that one is probably not going away. I like the "return to real buttons" trend but it's less about buttons and more about the appropriate physical controls for the operation being performed. The control itself should both indicate current status and provide for changing it. For example, things that are "on" or "off" should have a switch with distinct "on" and "off" positions, not a single pushbutton that toggles. Temperature or volume or blower speed should be dials or sliders that move between two physical end points. If you have to repeatedly push or hold an "up" or "down" button and look at a display to set the temperature that's suboptimal. Moving a slider or dial where the physical position corresponds to the actual setting is so much better.
yakattak 10mo ago
My current car took the fully touch experience approach (except for the usual stalk controls) and while I love the rest of the car, I despise the interface. I’ll be in the market for a new car soon and I am only considering ones with touch buttons for HVAC. It’s not worth getting into an accident trying to change the temperature.
- silisili 10mo ago
  Volume and HVAC physical buttons are an absolute must for me. I was given a rental once from a dealership who was doing warranty work on my truck. It was one of those weird months in the midwest, where the temperature could be 80 or 30 depending on the day, and this day just happened to be 30. I realized shortly after I got onto the road that it wasn't getting any warmer, because A/C was on. There were no buttons to turn it down or off, only a touchscreen, so I just did the 15 minute drive home of shame in 30 degree weather with the AC blasting. That was all it took to make me swear off -ever- buying a car without physical buttons.
toss1 10mo ago
This is a very good move. Next, they need to make the buttons more physically distinguishable, instead of panels of identical buttons The dashboards of older pre-1990s cars had a wide variety of buttons, switches, and knobs, all with different locations and feels. Of course today's designers would see this as an unclean mess driven more by manufacturing considerations than "design" considerations, but it was a much lower driver workload to operate those "messy" controls. The different position, size, shape, and feel of each control allowed easy operation by just feel, without taking eyes off the road. In contrast, the all-the-same rows of buttons on modern cars are still hard to operate after familiarization; which one is the front vs rear defrost? Moving many buttons to the steering wheel overcomes many of these limitations, but again, rows of identical buttons do not help. Consider a Formula One steering wheel with 20+ controls. They are 100% custom and can be made any way they want. They make the OPPOSITE of identical controls — they are all different and brightly colored. The point of driver cockpit design is NOT some clean asthetic. The point is to use every available mnemonic device so a driver under heavy workload can recognize the controls instantly and reliably. [0] https://www.wired.com/2014/05/formula-1-steering-wheels/ https://www.wired.com/2014/05/formula-1-steering-wheels/ [1] https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/f1-explains-how-f1-steering-wheels-are-designed-how-they-work-and-what-all.2B2TgpuPz8VZYwiHtgTII5 https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/f1-explains-how-f... [2] https://medium.com/formula-one-forever/the-nerve-center-of-an-f1-car-the-complex-beautiful-steering-wheel-4d11d0593bbc https://medium.com/formula-one-forever/the-nerve-center-of-a...
superze 10mo ago
Too little too late, let's also not forget the diesel emissions scandal.They deserve what happened to them.VW and BMW innovated by trying to push subscription models on heating seats and such down our throats. I entered a 150k € Mercedes two weeks ago and the display looked very similar to a toy display I got for my godchild.
- stackghost 10mo ago
  The market, where I live anyway, has largely forgiven VW for the diesel thing. Probably every fifth or sixth car I see in my city is a Volkswagen, and lots of them are recent models. It's absolutely not too little too late for them.
- oblio 10mo ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_automotive_manufacturers_by_production https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_automotive_manufacture... What happened to them is that they're still #2 globally and make 5.5x as many cars as Tesla.
RickS 10mo ago
I was disappointed to see those images. The headline vastly overstates it IMO. "Some buttons on steering wheel, center console still entirely one giant touchscreen" is not "bringing back physical buttons". It's a shame too. I drive a 2016 VW GTI and it's an absolute joy. The last era of VW worth any consideration. Small touchscreen that shows current playing track, or carplay/map, but still with physical controls for volume and AC. I was glad to see Doug DeMuro shred them for the electronics in the newer model. I'll be driving my 2016 car and 2008 truck into the grave, at which point I'll replace them with something of the same era or older. There are some enticing ways to die in a fiery car crash, but eating a median while trying to finger stab a mid ass ipad knockoff for control of the defroster is not among them.
- LightBug1 10mo ago
  Be generous ... no one is expecting this headline to mean a complete reversion to 1960's dashboards and full button control. A nice balance of buttons and screen is just fine ... (imo). Whether this specific example is great or not remains to be seen - but I appreciate the direction.
  - AlexandrB 10mo ago
    1960s!? I want a reversion to 2016 controls. That's not that crazy.
  - riversflow 10mo ago
    I don’t want screens in my cabin.
- clairegraham 10mo ago
  I have a similar model (2015 VW GTI, manual transmission) and I'm so glad I bought one before they ruined it. I will also be driving mine until it falls apart.
tristor 10mo ago
Great, I bought a 2024 Mazda 3 Premium Turbo over an Audi RS3 or VW Golf R in part because it had all physical controls and the touchscreen functionality is automatically disabled over 10mph. It's a great car, and between the simple button/knob driven UX and the HUD, I can make changes without looking away from the road while driving, which just plain makes sense for a car. The Tesla idea of putting a big tablet as your only interface to the car was stupid and insane from the moment it was done, it's shocking it took this long to return to sanity. Let's hope other manufacturers follow suit.
- technothrasher 10mo ago
  You were shopping a Mazda 3 Premium Turbo vs an Audi RS3? The Audi is almost twice the HP and double the cost of the Mazda. I'm not sure physical buttons would really be my driving consideration between those two cars.
  - tristor 10mo ago
    Yes. I was shopping all available compact sedans and hatchbacks with AWD and turbocharged motors. My budget was wide and I enjoy spirited driving, I would have loved for the RS3 to work out, but it didn't for several reasons but the primary was that the interior UX was pretty awful.
    - macNchz 10mo ago
      That's a pretty frustrating market segment to shop for in the US these days, given there are so many good options that just aren't sold here. I was looking for similar cars early last year and quickly ruled out Golfs (and a variety of others) over the total lack of actual buttons. So annoying. I wound up with a Mini Clubman—another fun premium compact that's now no longer being made.
      - tristor 10mo ago
        Yeah, I also considered a Mini then, and just took my wife shopping for her new vehicle. She also likes smaller cars so we considered getting her a 2026 Mini Cooper S but they've gone the other way and done almost everything on a single center-screen, there's no actual instrument panel anymore, but there is a HUD at least in the higher trims. Ultimately this was a huge turn-off for her, and we ended up getting her a 2025 Lexus ES350 (which I realize is quite a bit larger vehicle than a Mini Cooper). When I vehicle shop, my budget isn't endless, but it's fairly uninhibited because I keep cars for an average of 10+ years and I like driving and want it to be an experience I enjoy. That said, companies just aren't making cars I like much anymore. I /loathe/, utterly /detest/ crossovers, and that's the vast majority of new vehicles being brought to market. Even vehicle lines that I previously liked, such as the BMW 3 series, have become enshittified in weird ways that dilute the core concept of that particular vehicle line. I'd love an E92 M3 w/ DCT but made in 2025/2026, but that's not made anymore and I think the current G80 M3 is a much worse car in every way that matters to me, even though the S58 is in some ways a better engine. It's really disappointing and frustrating trying to find a decent vehicle these days. Ironically people are constantly surprised every time this comes up that I cross-shopped a Mazda 3 vs an Audi RS3, but if you put aside some of the cost difference (which isn't as large as you think, it's 50% more, not 2x the price), Mazda is trying to up its game and move into the Japanese Luxury space to compete with Lexus, Acura, and Infinity rather than the other Japanese brands. Some issues aside, I think the execution on the interior of the Mazda 3 Premium is pretty great, especially at its price point ($40k base).
LightBug1 10mo ago
Well done, VW ... they still have issues but I'll take that one on the plus side of the ledger. The Tesla-fication of the dashboard has been such a shit automotive direction over the last decade and I'm relieved other manufacturers (not just VW) have woken up from the Musk fever-dream. A good balance of screen and physical buttons is just fine, thanks.
jollyllama 10mo ago
Unfortunately in the case of VW it is just one more thing that will break.
- barbazoo 10mo ago
  Much better than having a user interface that unreliably works to begin with. I'd rather have to replace a button after 5 years than having to use their shitty touch garbage that has what feels like a 75% false negative rate.
  - jollyllama 10mo ago
    I don't disagree but they'll try to profit off it in this way, is all.
zhyder 10mo ago
Most car manufacturers made this mistake because they started mimicking the then leader for innovation (and customer satisfaction), Tesla, too much. General cautionary tale: just coz a company is successful, doesn't mean it's doing _everything_ right. Plenty of folks who love their Teslas would prefer a few more buttons (and door handles on the inside, etc) if given the choice. Could say similar things about some choices Apple made.
- Sprotch 10mo ago
  I don’t think they were following Tesla. It’s a trend that affects everything, including washing machines. Tesla is a mere symptom
- plqbfbv 10mo ago
  I own a Tesla, and I agree. 1. What Tesla did right was put a big screen in the center of the car, and then actually think about the UX, and how to improve the software to avoid having to fiddle every other minute with controls on the screen (e.g. climate control is usually amazing, I rarely touch the temperature). What other companies did was just put the screen and slap on sub-par software without much regard for UX, so of course it sucks, even if you have the big screen. 2. Yes, I'd have loved a couple extra buttons, perhaps programmable. My main gripe for instance is/was the air re-circulation (used to live in a country with lots of tunnels), but I'm sure others would have liked some other button. I'd have been very happy to have 3-4 software-programmable buttons for the most used functions.
  - ErroneousBosh 10mo ago
    > What Tesla did right was put a big screen in the center of the car I would disagree with that. You do not need a big flashing distract-o-tron in the middle of the dashboard. Cars should have exactly zero screens.
    - tyre 10mo ago
      CarPlay is wonderful and Google Maps on a display is a hell of a lot safer than paper maps.
zihotki 10mo ago
And more to come! Physical buttons now are a part of European Transport Safety Council requirements to get a high safety rating, from https://etsc.eu/cars-will-need-buttons-not-just-touchscreens-to-get-a-5-star-euro-ncap-safety-rating/ https://etsc.eu/cars-will-need-buttons-not-just-touchscreens...: "New Euro NCAP tests due in 2026 will encourage manufacturers to use separate, physical controls for basic functions in an intuitive manner, limiting eyes-off-road time and therefore promoting safer driving."
- hnburnsy 10mo ago
  Sounds like the IIHS which has been imposing 'mandates' on car manufacturers with little proof that these mandates are effective. These mandates are costing us all millions in upfront and insurance rates but I never see any evidence that they are worth the cost they impose. Not opposed to the mandates specifically just the lack of cost benefit analysis.
  - scottbez1 10mo ago
    Can you be more specific about these “mandates” you take issue with? IIHS doesn’t have any mandate power over manufacturers (they are not a regulatory body) but they do align with insurance company interests, whose goals are to pay out less for damages from vehicle incidents, and therefore IIHS logically would theoretically be focused on actuarial data-driven analysis. If you have specific examples of where this has not been the case, I’d love to learn more.
    - hnburnsy 10mo ago
      Here are some where IIHS punishes cars that don't meet its features with dubious evidence of improving safety... Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) with Pedestrian Detection: IIHS rates vehicles on forward collision avoidance, including pedestrian scenarios, but systems often underperform in real-world conditions like nighttime or with larger vehicles (e.g., trucks or motorcycles). Studies show virtually no crash reduction at night, and features can create false alerts, weather-related failures, or a false sense of security, potentially dulling driver awareness without clear evidence of broad effectiveness at higher speeds. Roof Strength Test: Vehicles must withstand a force equivalent to a certain multiple of their weight (e.g., 4x for a "good" rating) to simulate rollover protection. Critics, including automotive industry analyses, argue there's no statistically reliable evidence that increasing roof strength beyond basic levels (e.g., from 2.5 to 3.5 strength-to-weight ratio) reduces injury risk, with claims relying on unsupported extrapolations from low-strength data and anomalous results. Updated Side Impact Test (Introduced 2021): This tougher test uses a heavier, faster-moving barrier (4,200 lbs at 37 mph) to mimic modern SUV strikes. It's criticized for disadvantaging smaller vehicles unfairly, incorporating misleading variables (e.g., tire grip affecting results), and prioritizing structural deformation over occupant outcomes, potentially leading to "poor" ratings despite good dummy readings. Detractors view it as more marketing-driven than reflective of common real-world crashes, with little evidence that the changes proportionally save lives beyond the original test.
Molitor5901 10mo ago
I am happy to see this and hope it spreads. A lot of us, IMO, would pay more for physical buttons - which is really a way to go about this, even though logistically it's problematic. If you want physical buttons, pay for it, if not, go with digital capacitive touch. I think cars should be like airplanes - physical controls, able to be felt and pushed without taking eyes off the road. The digital buttons far too often require my attention to be diverted, or pull over.
aiauthoritydev 10mo ago
In all car reviews, driver impressions and forums, there is near universal and near unanimous preference for physical buttons for common control like volume and climate control. It is beyond me why anyone would experiment with something that is like 100 year old tech and loved by people. I hope Apple Carplay and Google Android auto can also take over other car control such as volume and climate control. Later someone can build uniform hardware buttons and knobs that I can place on my steering wheel and it can use the phone to control those features.
- sib 10mo ago
  In all phone reviews (in 2006) there is near universal and near unanimous preference for physical keyboards...
Beijinger 10mo ago
Bad idea. I am a strong proponent of a 0% Button, 100%voice controlled car. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMS2VnDveP8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMS2VnDveP8
- Beijinger 10mo ago
  You guys don't have any humor, do you?
- ErroneousBosh 10mo ago
  I knew what this was going to be before I even clicked on it. As an aside, a lot of "talking" lifts in Glasgow appear to have a Polish accent.
- Phelinofist 10mo ago
  I'm involved in the development of the voice assistant for the VW Group and I find it pretty good honestly. You can control quite a lot via voice and it works pretty reliably.
- alistairSH 10mo ago
  Ha, I was about to respond "unless you're Scottish" and link to this sketch!
viccis 10mo ago
I remember going to buy a new car in 2015. My girlfriend had a Honda Fit from a few years prior and I loved driving in it. Felt so roomy given the tiny size. Went for a test drive in one and every single button was digital. Not even a volume knob, just little touch sensitive buttons. Ended up buying a Mazda 3 and Honda eventually switched back to physical buttons for most things. Surprising to see companies still learning this a decade later.
standardUser 10mo ago
UI and UX have decline dramatically in the last 10 years across the board. Most of this can be attributed to hamfisted security measures and data collection/dark patterns to abuse consumers. But why cars? I only drive rentals, so I deal with a different car almost every time, and the lack of simple, physical buttons is a straight up safety hazard.
catlikesshrimp 10mo ago
Some day they will need subscriptions to run their cars because the only way to interact with cars will be voice to an AI running on a remote server. I say they because I hope I am gone by then.
CommenterPerson 10mo ago
Great, my 20 year old car is now avant-garde!
t1234s 10mo ago
They need to bring back the VR6. It was fantastic you could get an engine that sounded that good in a small useful hatchback car.
balls187 10mo ago
Now bring back the standard transmission.
WalterBright 10mo ago
Next, replace the incomprehensible icons with text.
1970-01-01 10mo ago
Ok great! Now the real test begins. Will it sell? Will it outsell its competition? Those answers are up to you! I would not buy this just for the buttons.
throw0101d 10mo ago
Another announcement back in March 2025: * https://etsc.eu/volkswagen-to-reintroduce-physical-buttons-in-new-models/ https://etsc.eu/volkswagen-to-reintroduce-physical-buttons-i... Related to Euro NCAP mandating physical controls for certain functions, "including indicators, hazard lights, sounding the horn, operating windscreen wipers and activating the eCall SOS function"? * https://etsc.eu/cars-will-need-buttons-not-just-touchscreens-to-get-a-5-star-euro-ncap-safety-rating/ https://etsc.eu/cars-will-need-buttons-not-just-touchscreens...
eudamoniac 10mo ago
Is there any maintained list of all cars that have physical buttons?
vishnuharidas 10mo ago
Washing machines next. A total stupid idea to put capacitive touch on it. Just lean over the counter and it simply resets the wash program to re-run the past 3 hours of progress. Can't think of operating it with wet hands.
abanana 10mo ago
VW's head of design announced this months ago, and spun it as listening to customer feedback, choosing to return to features people "love". I remember at the time being a bit annoyed by the level of spin. In reality, for Europe at least, their hand was forced by Euro NCAP via their safety tests. They announced it a couple of years ago but it starts now. No car that has just a touchscreen, instead of physical controls, will be awarded a 5-star rating. I don't really know to what extent people take note of the NCAP ratings these days, but they certainly used to be a very big deal to car buyers (for example, in the late 90s, the rating given to the Rover 100 effectively killed it overnight). The NCAP ratings make physical controls essential for the most basic functions (e.g. indicators) and strongly encouraged for others (e.g. climate control). So obviously the same goes for other manufacturers shouting about doing the same thing - don't swallow their hype about how much they love your feedback.
- hnlmorg 10mo ago
  > physical controls essential for the most basic functions (e.g. indicators) and strongly encouraged for others (e.g. climate control). In what cars are indicators not a physical control? Question aside, I definitely agree with the shift back to physical buttons. My new car has a touch screen for climate control and I loved it, for about a week. And now I hate it because it just adds confusion and distraction when driving
strongpigeon 10mo ago
A lot of people seem to be thinking of this as a touch screen vs physical button issue, but in the case of VW it was actually much worse: they put capacitive buttons instead of physical ones everywhere. The worst of both worlds: a lack of tactile feedback and the inability to have a flexible interface. I own an ID.4, the "car" part of the car is fine, but the controls inside are by far the most unpleasant I've ever used. 60% of the time I want to turn the fog lights on, it registers as "Defrost Max" that is right next to it. The worst offender by far though are the windows controls. Instead of four buttons like most sane cars, you have 2 buttons as well as a capacitive "Rear" toggle. That toggle is both incredibly easy to activate by accident and impossible to use with glove. I can't fathom how someone designed these things and though, yep, this is a good experience. At least the car has wireless CarPlay so I can ignore the terrible VW software.
- mnicky 10mo ago
  Does it also have motion sensors to turn on the interior lamp? That's what I've found the most frustrating on some of their models. You want to turn on the lamp? Try some waving gestures... Also, I don't know whether this is a feature, a bug, or just a lack of skill on my side but I couldn't get the lamp to turn on with the engine turned off. VERY impractical.
  - strongpigeon 10mo ago
    You have to touch the light itself, which is more or less fine, but sometime doesn’t work if you’re wearing gloves…
- mattlondon 10mo ago
  Same with my id.3 The windows' "rear" button thing is especially infuriating. That and the climate controls being behind a mandatory privacy click-through warning every damn time you turn the car on. Gah. I have heard rumours that they were penny-pinching to get the price under various countries' cut-offs to be eligible for EV grants. But yeah the interior controls are terrible for an otherwise pretty nice car.
ErroneousBosh 10mo ago
Maybe you don't need so many buttons. Maybe don't have so much distracting shit in the car.
saddat 10mo ago
Hart innovation , yet I would never ever drive a car like a Tesla without head up display. That’s ludicrous. If you have ever done a risk assessment of any kind you know why .
riversflow 10mo ago
Dashboard screens are so cringe, I’d be happy if they were banned outright. I want dials and dim indicator lights for the console, and knobs and buttons that have the dual purpose of interface and display on the dash. This is a machine, not a video game, everything should be in service of making the driver look out the windshield. Modern cars are absolute shit, the UI on my 30 year old Camry feels amazing by comparison to any car that I’ve driven that has come out since 2010.
tonymet 10mo ago
The actual fix would involve simplifying the driving experience. Adding 30+ buttons to the steering wheel and 25+ to the console does not improve the situation. The bar should be whether the operator can keep their eyes on the road while operating the controls. And when getting into a new vehicle, how easy can they find common controls like mirrors, climate, parking brake, cruise without consulting the manual. I rented a Highlander which did have nice physical controls, but many features were buried in cryptic menus. The auto steer feature, which dragged and pulled steering in corners, and aggressively applied braking , was buried under 3 levels of menus labeled "RTSS", "SCS", "Advanced". Capable drivers don't need cornering and braking assist. It's $2k+ worth of useless components , for a worse driver experience.
briandw 10mo ago
Honestly this doesn't look better. You still have a large touch screen, but now you also have > 20 buttons on the steering wheel. Capacitive (no touch feedback) ones at that.
Bud 10mo ago
[dead]
devin 10mo ago
Now, please get rid of the giant screens in the center console and make turn-by-turn on HUDs the default option for navigation.
eweise 10mo ago
One reason I just bought a 2025 Miata, is that has physical buttons for almost everything. Even the touchscreen can be operated with physical buttons. That and the manual transmission, makes it feel almost retro. It does have a lot of alerts like lane change monitors, but it doesn't bother me too much.
Beijinger 10mo ago
Real cars have buttons. If I had the money, I would buy this one https://www.caranddriver.com/photos/g63743843/2023-ineos-grenadier-fieldmaster-test-interior-gallery/ https://www.caranddriver.com/photos/g63743843/2023-ineos-gre...
mixmastamyk 10mo ago
This horrible touchscreen-only situation always reminded me of a similar fashion trend in the mid 80s... digital speedometers and "automatic" seatbelts. Both looked great in a magazine, showroom, and the Knightrider TV show, but were suboptimal in real life. Thankfully no one back then had the absurd idea to force them into every single car model, and eliminate choice for the next ten years.
- octoberfranklin 10mo ago
  The automatic seatbelts in the 1980s were allowed (for a short time) as an alternative to airbags. Eventually that alternative was removed and airbags were required.
goda90 10mo ago
We were thinking of getting the ID.Buzz, but the lack of physical buttons was a big turn-off(our newest car is a 2015). Looks like they aren't even doing a 2026 Buzz, so hopefully we see a 2027 model with physical buttons again.
darkwater 10mo ago
Armchair designer rant: this is just as fucked up as totally touch or totally capacitive. Use 2-3-4 "infinite wheels" with different touch feelings and audio feedback to control by spatial memory and touch the most important and used features needed when driving. Combine it with clickable wheels on the steering wheel a la Tesla and IMO you have the best of both worlds. But going back to the shitload of identical-to-the-touch buttons with just an icon on it to differentiate them is WRONG.
wffurr 10mo ago
Wish I could get that ID.Polo hatch in the US.
torginus 10mo ago
I know I'm going to sound like a butt, but I'm still not happy with this layout. I feel like there's just too many of them, seemingly with duplicated functionalities (multiple up/down buttons for different functions). This is just a guess, but I think there was a meeting where each business unit responsible for a particular function submitted what controls they need, and they just fitted them all, which is kinda bonkers. Due to the sheer amount of stuff, you can't operate this without looking down, which defeats the purpose. Also, despite having this many of them, I think some of them are still contextual, requiring you to look at a screen or press another button to make them do the thing you want. While I applaud the effort, the implementation I feel is lacking.
docmars 10mo ago
Holy smokes, took them long enough after pledging to remove them how many years ago? The capacitive touch buttons for climate control and media have been a complete disaster. Changing anything while driving was a recipe for an accident, lacking any tactile feedback while adjusting. I couldn't be more thrilled to see them taking this direction.
rgovostes 10mo ago
I don't know if it exists in other models, but the Lincoln Nautilus steering wheel features thumb trackpads. On touch it pops up radial menus on a display in the driver's primary line of sight. Although I find the wrap-around display a bit much, the trackpads are an intuitive and thoughtful compromise to the matrix of physical buttons. (The infotainment screen suffers from the same problems as other vehicles, however.) https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/2024-Lincoln-Nautilus-Palm-Springs-19-1440x811.jpg https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/2024-...
OptionOfT 10mo ago
I am looking for a new car, but I'm pretty brand-loyal. But because of my need for buttons I need to go and buy a car that actually was designed in 2019, in order to avoid the giant iPad slapped to the dashboard.
gkanai 10mo ago
The famous case I always bring up is the accident with the USS John McCain. The US Navy tried screens but due to this accident and other reasons has gone back to mechanical controls. Cars can have some screens but key controls (HVAC, car safety, windows, etc.) should be mechanical. https://www.naval-technology.com/news/us-navy-to-replace-touchscreens-with-mechanical-controls/ https://www.naval-technology.com/news/us-navy-to-replace-tou...

128 points by thunderbong 10mo ago

Oh boy, oh joy! Common sense has returned.

That’s a great step, now if they would just do one that respects your privacy and doesn’t track your every move, I’d buy one.

monerozcash 10mo ago
This doesn't seem like a particularly good reason to not buy a car. Either you need one or don't. Removing network connectivity from basically any new car is trivial, often as simple as pulling an easily accessible fuse.
- jqpabc123 10mo ago
  Removing network connectivity from basically any new car is trivial, often as simple as pulling an easily accessible fuse. I'm guessing that you haven't actually done this on "basically any new car". If you had tried, you would know that there is no fuse dedicated to "network connectivity". It is typically tied in with other, often essential functions like the engine control computer --- specifically in order to thwart a simple disconnect. What I have seen done is to tear into the right roof pillar and cut the wires going to the antenna on the roof. But this is usually not without consequences as well such as a perpetual error code display and/or the radio, navigation or entertainment functions stop working.
  - monerozcash 10mo ago
    I've done this on a W222, a W223, a continental GT and an Urus. On each of those cars it was as easy as disconnecting the antenna, on none of them did I have to tear into the roof pillars. I've never seen an antenna that was difficult to disconnect, on the super simple end you have something like the W222 where you can literally just pop out the antenna cover on the roof and just remove the antenna module inside. >But this is usually not without consequences as well such as a perpetual error code display or the radio, navigation or entertainment functions stop working. Well sure, I do have cars without GPS because I was lazy. Carplay still works fine, so can't really bother to do anything about it.
    - jen20 10mo ago
      > Carplay still works fine, so can't really bother to do anything about it. That largely depends on the specific vehicle. I’m surprised that there wer no negative effects in pulling the telematics fuse on a W223, less surprised on a W222.
      - monerozcash 10mo ago
        I just pulled the antennas on both of those, I don't think there's an easily accessible fuse that wouldn't cut off a bunch of other stuff.
    - potato3732842 10mo ago
      Add a whole ton of Fords to the list. The cell modem is just a module you can unplug on a lot of them to no ill effect.
      - monerozcash 10mo ago
        Yeah, I seriously doubt that there's a single car with which this would actually be difficult to accomplish. Even if you can't pull the modem or the sim card (less common now) directly, you can certainly always find and disable the antenna connection. Any decent shop will be able to do this for a reasonable price.
  - bigfatkitten 10mo ago
    > If you had tried, you would know that there is no fuse dedicated to "network connectivity". Depends on the car. On modern Fords, it’s the TCU fuse. > What I have seen done is to tear into the right roof pillar and cut the wires going to the antenna on the roof Nonsense. Only a fool would do this, rather than simply disconnecting the antennas from the back of the module. Manufacturers almost universally use FAKRA connectors for quick and error-free assembly on the production line.
    - jqpabc123 10mo ago
      Only a fool would do this, rather than simply disconnecting the antennas from the back of the module. Depends on the car. It some cases, this is not simple. Accessing the connections means disassembling the dash.
      - bigfatkitten 10mo ago
        Yes, but no vehicle in the world requires you to go around chopping up cables.
constantcrying 10mo ago
They are bound by the GDPR, which automatically puts them ahead of every American or Chinese manufacturer. E.g. Tesla, even in Europe, is pretty blatantly ignoring privacy laws and is used to surveil the population: https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/justiz/tesla-waechtermodus-filmt-straftaten-und-sorgt-fuer-datenschutzdebatten-a-22c2dd0d-cc1c-40c3-8d8e-ca4fdef9d84b https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/justiz/tesla-waechtermodus-f... (paywall)
- crote 10mo ago
  VW was also bound by emission standards, yet Dieselgate still happened. I would be very surprised if it didn't have some kind of "heavily-restricted debugging interface, only available to select VW engineers, which provides a limited set of fully anonymous vehicle diagnostic metrics" - which in practice is of course used to sell trivially deanonymizable data to anyone with a few bucks to spare.
  - interloxia 10mo ago
    From 38c3 https://reynardsec.com/en/volkswagens-bad-streak-we-know-where-your-car-is/ https://reynardsec.com/en/volkswagens-bad-streak-we-know-whe... "The data, which includes detailed location information and even vehicle owner details, was left exposed and unprotected on the internet for an extended period of time." Wir wissen wo dein Auto steht Volksdaten von Volkswagen https://media.ccc.de/v/38c3-wir-wissen-wo-dein-auto-steht-volksdaten-von-volkswagen https://media.ccc.de/v/38c3-wir-wissen-wo-dein-auto-steht-vo...
  - constantcrying 10mo ago
    >VW was also bound by emission standards, yet Dieselgate still happened. Sure, but it is not like they just got away with that (ironically other manufacturers who did essentially the same thing, did mostly get away with it). >I would be very surprised if it didn't have some kind of "heavily-restricted debugging interface, only available to select VW engineers, which provides a limited set of fully anonymous vehicle diagnostic metrics" - which in practice is of course used to sell trivially deanonymizable data to anyone with a few bucks to spare. The GDPR allows you to receive a copy of all data a manufacturer has about you, "trivially deanonymizable" is by any reasonable interpretation of the GDPR personal data. Of course you can believe that VW and other manufacturers are secretly ignoring laws (again) and of course evidence for that would be hard to come by, but it it did come out it would be a massive scandal, with a massive criminal investigation. In general, do you want to have minimal laws protecting your privacy and manufacturers blatantly not caring about existing laws and individuals having no recourse or do you want strict laws protecting your privacy with manufacturers facing heavy sanctions, when they ignore those laws? The choice seems pretty clear.

hexbin010 10mo ago

The speedometer and rev counter are ugly as sin. And still no temperature dial. They achieved near perfection 20 years ago: https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.carsinvasion.com%2Fgallery%2F2005-volkswagen-polo%2F2005-volkswagen-polo-14.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=da881c6d0342bfe7494fdc8b24c2418185e83ccca2c454e400695cad6ed8caa4 https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2F...

gglanzani 10mo ago
But it’s not a rev counter, is it?
- hexbin010 10mo ago
  It's still ugly though, isn't it?
vinay427 10mo ago
This has a few other issues to me compared to many similar dials. It’s unclear what the temperature numbers actually mean if this isn’t an automatic climate control system (or is in manual mode). The part that rotates also appears to be symmetric, which means one may need to find the white marking to decipher where the dial is pointing. That can be even more difficult in a dark environment than trying to read a display.
- hexbin010 10mo ago
  Yes, not perfect, but MUCH better than their current version of touch-screen only climate control, which is an exercise in frustration. "Relative perfection" :) The numbers are centigrade, which for the local market is mostly very obvious and widely understood. 22 is roughly room temperature, so it's good that's at 12 o'clock. This model doesn't have auto climate control. > which means one may need to find the white marking to decipher where the dial is pointing You hand can feel the angle the dial is pointing. It was a non-issue for me. the white is illuminated softly at night, and one very quick glance can confirm the position anyway. Anyway, I'm contrasting to this modern VW abomination: https://www.discoverauto.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/2025-vw-golf-whichcar-3.jpg https://www.discoverauto.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/2... . Try to feel where the slider is set to on that interface... :D Or quickly enable the rear/front demister options...

kotaKat 10mo ago

Maddening to know that most of these vehicles will never hit American shores.

chasing0entropy 10mo ago

Good god,that is an ugly steering wheel.

cmos 10mo ago

Great. But make climate control 3 knobs: Fan speed + off, temperature and output ports. Put the AC button inside the temperature knob, and the 'recirculate' button inside the output ports knob. With the radio have a push on/off volume knob that starts up at the SAME volume as always (i.e. relative, not absolute) and NOT the previous volume. The volume knob should have some resistance to it. Opposite that have a tune knob for precise tuning, and pressing that gets you into setup and navigates you through it. This should have the same resistance, but the outside has some indents so you know it's not the volume knob. Have 6 preset buttons and 3 'banks' with a single 'next bank' button. pressing and holding a preset will save it with a beep for confirmation. On the steering wheel: up/dn for radio should be seek, not next/previous preset. There are 6 nice big buttons for presets but when traveling seek up/dn is the main way we change music. On the door have the rear view mirror controls, and above that have a knob for dashboard light brightness. 2008 Honda Fit was close to a perfect car. https://www.carsdirect.com/honda/fit/2008/pictures/interior https://www.carsdirect.com/honda/fit/2008/pictures/interior

The_President 10mo ago
Excellent vehicle but feels like driving an empty beer can at speeds over 80 mph.
aeonfox 10mo ago
While we're dreaming, just have an interchangeable panel. Allow 3rd parties to make whatever dials etc. the customer wants. And if it were up to me I'd also get rid of the screen entirely and only have a HUD for navigation. It will never happen, let alone become mainstream, but dreaming is nice sometimes.
- dzhiurgis 10mo ago
  Basically what Tesla does - near perfect touchscreen, but also easy to add third party buttons.
  - aeonfox 10mo ago

altairprime 10mo ago

Wow, the steering has you dual-wield gridded T9 keypads while driving? Talk about missing the forest for the trees on safe driving.

darubedarob 10mo ago

Magnet buttons and dials sliding over a screen?

cryptos 10mo ago

Nobody would spend the whole day typing on a virtual keyboard, so that change makes a lot of sense to me.

exabrial 10mo ago

Considering GM is going headfirst the other direction, along with removing carplay support, I'll be looking for a something else. Especially a "disconnected vehicle" at some point where it includes no cell interface or one that can easily be yanked.

observationist 10mo ago

One of the problems with fixing problems is that by fixing them, you're demonstrating to customers that problems can be fixed, and you risk setting the expectation that problems will be fixed. This puts pressure on management to fix more problems, and management generally finds this problematic.

nostrademons 10mo ago
Though if you don't do it, someone eventually decides to start a competing company, fix all the problems, demonstrate that they can be fixed, take all your customers, and put management out of a job.
- toss1 10mo ago
  Yup, that was one of Steve Job's principles: he recognized that someone was going to do something better and take your market share — so it is best if you cannibalize your own market share before they do.
  - mikepurvis 10mo ago
    I will never not talk about how bonkers it was that Jobs got up on that stage in 2005 and launched a complete replacement for the iPod mini, at the time the best-selling portable music player and it wasn't even close. How many other execs would have the courage to do that vs letting the current thing (microdrive player) settle and holding the new thing (flash memory player) in reserve to launch only in response to a competitor gaining traction?
- hbn 10mo ago
  Not if your company buys the competition out before they become a threat.
  - nostrademons 10mo ago
    No guarantee that they or their investors will be willing to sell to you, and in some cases it means that management in the upstart ends up taking over the acquiring company, as with the Apple->Next, Disney->Pixar, and Time Warner->AOL mergers.

ethagnawl 10mo ago

I'd love to know what the justification for replacing them in the first place was. I can't think of any device, appliance, etc. I own whose UX is _better_ for not having physical, dedicated buttons or switches and instead having a touch interface or buttons which require a complex series of presses or chords. It's almost like there was _no_ UX research to back any of these "features" up and people just went ahead and made these changes because they could, it was fun and they look cool. To give a very concrete and potentially hazardous example: I have an induction range which has no physical controls but has a touch interface which requires various combinations of tapping, holding and sliding fingers. To say nothing of the fact that this is useless for people who have significant visual impairments, how am I supposed to turn it off if there's an electrical fire because a pot boils over or something? Is the expectation that I reach into boiling water that potentially has current running through it and hope to tap my fingers in the right place? Am I supposed to try to yank the power? Or is the expectation that I just walk outside and call the fire department?

okokwhatever 10mo ago
Money
- xoxxala 10mo ago
  That's almost always the answer for big corporations run by MBAs.
- tshaddox 10mo ago
  Ultimately, yeah. But specifically I think it's a combination of saving money directly on the bill of materials and assembly, and saving money on design flexibility (heck, you can probably do the entire infotainment design process at the last minute and flash it onto the cars after the entire assembly).
Neikius 10mo ago
I must assume the justification was "it is cool". especially considering they also placed capacitive touch "buttons" on the steering wheel. Those are the worst of both worlds in every case imaginable.

skavi 10mo ago

I’m not sure if the GUI in that image is real or a placeholder, but I really like what I see. Reminds me a lot of the skeuomorphism from classic iOS and WebOS, but cleaned up with elements of modern “flat” designs.

varjag 10mo ago
This is not a production system yet. Also, as someone who suffered VW/Cariad developed UI since 2021, it's going to suck balls.
- thesumofall 10mo ago
  I suffered similarly but I think the latest software (>5.0) solved most of the issues and I don’t notice the software anymore at all (which I take as a positive - I.e., it just gets out of the way)
  - varjag 10mo ago
    I'm not sure we're even on same versions. They appear to push different branches on different platform revisions. Mine still cold boots/watchdogs every time you start the car in what I suspect a Patriot-style fix of numerous issues. It still has confirmation dialogs over confirmation dialogs (e.g. when selecting CarPlay you get to confirm your choice three times). Voice input is still unusable: the only thing it reliably recognizes is when I tell it to fuck off (and it scolds me for that). Door locks/keyless became more unreliable, which I frankly doubted was even possible. Everything is lagging, especially after cold boot: getting to entering nav destination after you sit in the car takes an eternity.
thesumofall 10mo ago
From what I’ve read it will be real and is supposed to evoke the early VW Polos. I believe you will be able to switch between that and a more „modern“ look
Molitor5901 10mo ago
Perhaps I am a very small minority, but.. I really miss skeuomorphism.

biotinker 10mo ago

In the last three years, there have been two times when we traveled, rented a car, and were given a Volkswagon. Both times, the touchscreen-only controls were such a pain in the butt that we vowed we would never purchase such a car. It was a timesaver, because in that period our family has gotten two new (to us) cars, and our experiences with the rental Volkswagons allowed us to exclude an entire manufacturer from consideration. If they haven't re-broken their interiors by the next time we look for a new car, I guess we'll have to consider them again.

pengaru 10mo ago
What did you go with instead? Mazda?
- biotinker 10mo ago
  No, we wanted full EVs. Mazda doesn't make any, only hybrids. We wound up going with Chevrolet in both instances. The Equinox EV is one of the better EVs to offer AWD out there right now, matching the range of a Model 3 at a decently better price and obviously massively better UI. Slower charging is the only real downside. And a used pre-2020s Bolt is a really excellent value, because they are insanely cheap (under $15k) and due to the whole catching-on-fire thing they all had their batteries replaced in the last few years, which means you get a much newer battery than the mileage/age of the car would suggest. The Bolt is replacing a much older Leaf, so bumping the range up to ~200 miles from ~70 is a huge upgrade for us.

stephc_int13 10mo ago

I am pretty sure that many car brands will discover that this can be a selling point and reconsider the cost/ux tradeoff.

mikeyouse 10mo ago

Seems like a trend in the right direction - Subaru's doing the same for their 2026 models. Still too much shit on the steering wheel in my opinion but at least there are physical buttons/knobs for the climate system that don't require multiple touch screen button presses; https://www.caranddriver.com/photos/g64477839/2026-subaru-outback-interior-gallery/ https://www.caranddriver.com/photos/g64477839/2026-subaru-ou...

the__alchemist 10mo ago
What in particular do you want to avoid on the wheel? My thought is it's a perfect place for jet-style HOTAS controls, for the same reason; no moving your hands from the wheel, and driven by tactile feel and physical location.
- mikeyouse 10mo ago
  It's well organized which is nice (cruise control on the right, media, etc on the left) but there's over 20 different buttons/functions there. At very least, X-Mode, Trip odometer reset, phone hold button, audio source button aren't worth the prime real estate. I don't use my phone at all while driving so all of the phone buttons could go away in my car. I hate audio assistants, so that button could go away too. The dash control switch could be on the dash.. etc etc. I'm not a UI person and I'm sure some committee fought over every square inch of that space, but just personal preference.
- SoftTalker 10mo ago
  I don't want any buttons on the steering wheel, except the horn. I don't want a screen at all, but reversing cameras are now mandatory so that one is probably not going away. I like the "return to real buttons" trend but it's less about buttons and more about the appropriate physical controls for the operation being performed. The control itself should both indicate current status and provide for changing it. For example, things that are "on" or "off" should have a switch with distinct "on" and "off" positions, not a single pushbutton that toggles. Temperature or volume or blower speed should be dials or sliders that move between two physical end points. If you have to repeatedly push or hold an "up" or "down" button and look at a display to set the temperature that's suboptimal. Moving a slider or dial where the physical position corresponds to the actual setting is so much better.

yakattak 10mo ago

My current car took the fully touch experience approach (except for the usual stalk controls) and while I love the rest of the car, I despise the interface. I’ll be in the market for a new car soon and I am only considering ones with touch buttons for HVAC. It’s not worth getting into an accident trying to change the temperature.

silisili 10mo ago
Volume and HVAC physical buttons are an absolute must for me. I was given a rental once from a dealership who was doing warranty work on my truck. It was one of those weird months in the midwest, where the temperature could be 80 or 30 depending on the day, and this day just happened to be 30. I realized shortly after I got onto the road that it wasn't getting any warmer, because A/C was on. There were no buttons to turn it down or off, only a touchscreen, so I just did the 15 minute drive home of shame in 30 degree weather with the AC blasting. That was all it took to make me swear off -ever- buying a car without physical buttons.

toss1 10mo ago

This is a very good move. Next, they need to make the buttons more physically distinguishable, instead of panels of identical buttons The dashboards of older pre-1990s cars had a wide variety of buttons, switches, and knobs, all with different locations and feels. Of course today's designers would see this as an unclean mess driven more by manufacturing considerations than "design" considerations, but it was a much lower driver workload to operate those "messy" controls. The different position, size, shape, and feel of each control allowed easy operation by just feel, without taking eyes off the road. In contrast, the all-the-same rows of buttons on modern cars are still hard to operate after familiarization; which one is the front vs rear defrost? Moving many buttons to the steering wheel overcomes many of these limitations, but again, rows of identical buttons do not help. Consider a Formula One steering wheel with 20+ controls. They are 100% custom and can be made any way they want. They make the OPPOSITE of identical controls — they are all different and brightly colored. The point of driver cockpit design is NOT some clean asthetic. The point is to use every available mnemonic device so a driver under heavy workload can recognize the controls instantly and reliably. [0] https://www.wired.com/2014/05/formula-1-steering-wheels/ https://www.wired.com/2014/05/formula-1-steering-wheels/ [1] https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/f1-explains-how-f1-steering-wheels-are-designed-how-they-work-and-what-all.2B2TgpuPz8VZYwiHtgTII5 https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/f1-explains-how-f... [2] https://medium.com/formula-one-forever/the-nerve-center-of-an-f1-car-the-complex-beautiful-steering-wheel-4d11d0593bbc https://medium.com/formula-one-forever/the-nerve-center-of-a...

superze 10mo ago

Too little too late, let's also not forget the diesel emissions scandal.They deserve what happened to them.VW and BMW innovated by trying to push subscription models on heating seats and such down our throats. I entered a 150k € Mercedes two weeks ago and the display looked very similar to a toy display I got for my godchild.

stackghost 10mo ago
The market, where I live anyway, has largely forgiven VW for the diesel thing. Probably every fifth or sixth car I see in my city is a Volkswagen, and lots of them are recent models. It's absolutely not too little too late for them.
oblio 10mo ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_automotive_manufacturers_by_production https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_automotive_manufacture... What happened to them is that they're still #2 globally and make 5.5x as many cars as Tesla.

RickS 10mo ago

I was disappointed to see those images. The headline vastly overstates it IMO. "Some buttons on steering wheel, center console still entirely one giant touchscreen" is not "bringing back physical buttons". It's a shame too. I drive a 2016 VW GTI and it's an absolute joy. The last era of VW worth any consideration. Small touchscreen that shows current playing track, or carplay/map, but still with physical controls for volume and AC. I was glad to see Doug DeMuro shred them for the electronics in the newer model. I'll be driving my 2016 car and 2008 truck into the grave, at which point I'll replace them with something of the same era or older. There are some enticing ways to die in a fiery car crash, but eating a median while trying to finger stab a mid ass ipad knockoff for control of the defroster is not among them.

LightBug1 10mo ago
Be generous ... no one is expecting this headline to mean a complete reversion to 1960's dashboards and full button control. A nice balance of buttons and screen is just fine ... (imo). Whether this specific example is great or not remains to be seen - but I appreciate the direction.
- AlexandrB 10mo ago
  1960s!? I want a reversion to 2016 controls. That's not that crazy.
- riversflow 10mo ago
  I don’t want screens in my cabin.
clairegraham 10mo ago
I have a similar model (2015 VW GTI, manual transmission) and I'm so glad I bought one before they ruined it. I will also be driving mine until it falls apart.

tristor 10mo ago

Great, I bought a 2024 Mazda 3 Premium Turbo over an Audi RS3 or VW Golf R in part because it had all physical controls and the touchscreen functionality is automatically disabled over 10mph. It's a great car, and between the simple button/knob driven UX and the HUD, I can make changes without looking away from the road while driving, which just plain makes sense for a car. The Tesla idea of putting a big tablet as your only interface to the car was stupid and insane from the moment it was done, it's shocking it took this long to return to sanity. Let's hope other manufacturers follow suit.

technothrasher 10mo ago
You were shopping a Mazda 3 Premium Turbo vs an Audi RS3? The Audi is almost twice the HP and double the cost of the Mazda. I'm not sure physical buttons would really be my driving consideration between those two cars.
- tristor 10mo ago
  Yes. I was shopping all available compact sedans and hatchbacks with AWD and turbocharged motors. My budget was wide and I enjoy spirited driving, I would have loved for the RS3 to work out, but it didn't for several reasons but the primary was that the interior UX was pretty awful.
  - macNchz 10mo ago
    That's a pretty frustrating market segment to shop for in the US these days, given there are so many good options that just aren't sold here. I was looking for similar cars early last year and quickly ruled out Golfs (and a variety of others) over the total lack of actual buttons. So annoying. I wound up with a Mini Clubman—another fun premium compact that's now no longer being made.
    - tristor 10mo ago
      Yeah, I also considered a Mini then, and just took my wife shopping for her new vehicle. She also likes smaller cars so we considered getting her a 2026 Mini Cooper S but they've gone the other way and done almost everything on a single center-screen, there's no actual instrument panel anymore, but there is a HUD at least in the higher trims. Ultimately this was a huge turn-off for her, and we ended up getting her a 2025 Lexus ES350 (which I realize is quite a bit larger vehicle than a Mini Cooper). When I vehicle shop, my budget isn't endless, but it's fairly uninhibited because I keep cars for an average of 10+ years and I like driving and want it to be an experience I enjoy. That said, companies just aren't making cars I like much anymore. I /loathe/, utterly /detest/ crossovers, and that's the vast majority of new vehicles being brought to market. Even vehicle lines that I previously liked, such as the BMW 3 series, have become enshittified in weird ways that dilute the core concept of that particular vehicle line. I'd love an E92 M3 w/ DCT but made in 2025/2026, but that's not made anymore and I think the current G80 M3 is a much worse car in every way that matters to me, even though the S58 is in some ways a better engine. It's really disappointing and frustrating trying to find a decent vehicle these days. Ironically people are constantly surprised every time this comes up that I cross-shopped a Mazda 3 vs an Audi RS3, but if you put aside some of the cost difference (which isn't as large as you think, it's 50% more, not 2x the price), Mazda is trying to up its game and move into the Japanese Luxury space to compete with Lexus, Acura, and Infinity rather than the other Japanese brands. Some issues aside, I think the execution on the interior of the Mazda 3 Premium is pretty great, especially at its price point ($40k base).

LightBug1 10mo ago

Well done, VW ... they still have issues but I'll take that one on the plus side of the ledger. The Tesla-fication of the dashboard has been such a shit automotive direction over the last decade and I'm relieved other manufacturers (not just VW) have woken up from the Musk fever-dream. A good balance of screen and physical buttons is just fine, thanks.

jollyllama 10mo ago

Unfortunately in the case of VW it is just one more thing that will break.

barbazoo 10mo ago
Much better than having a user interface that unreliably works to begin with. I'd rather have to replace a button after 5 years than having to use their shitty touch garbage that has what feels like a 75% false negative rate.
- jollyllama 10mo ago
  I don't disagree but they'll try to profit off it in this way, is all.

zhyder 10mo ago

Most car manufacturers made this mistake because they started mimicking the then leader for innovation (and customer satisfaction), Tesla, too much. General cautionary tale: just coz a company is successful, doesn't mean it's doing _everything_ right. Plenty of folks who love their Teslas would prefer a few more buttons (and door handles on the inside, etc) if given the choice. Could say similar things about some choices Apple made.

Sprotch 10mo ago
I don’t think they were following Tesla. It’s a trend that affects everything, including washing machines. Tesla is a mere symptom
plqbfbv 10mo ago
I own a Tesla, and I agree. 1. What Tesla did right was put a big screen in the center of the car, and then actually think about the UX, and how to improve the software to avoid having to fiddle every other minute with controls on the screen (e.g. climate control is usually amazing, I rarely touch the temperature). What other companies did was just put the screen and slap on sub-par software without much regard for UX, so of course it sucks, even if you have the big screen. 2. Yes, I'd have loved a couple extra buttons, perhaps programmable. My main gripe for instance is/was the air re-circulation (used to live in a country with lots of tunnels), but I'm sure others would have liked some other button. I'd have been very happy to have 3-4 software-programmable buttons for the most used functions.
- ErroneousBosh 10mo ago
  > What Tesla did right was put a big screen in the center of the car I would disagree with that. You do not need a big flashing distract-o-tron in the middle of the dashboard. Cars should have exactly zero screens.
  - tyre 10mo ago
    CarPlay is wonderful and Google Maps on a display is a hell of a lot safer than paper maps.

zihotki 10mo ago

And more to come! Physical buttons now are a part of European Transport Safety Council requirements to get a high safety rating, from https://etsc.eu/cars-will-need-buttons-not-just-touchscreens-to-get-a-5-star-euro-ncap-safety-rating/ https://etsc.eu/cars-will-need-buttons-not-just-touchscreens...: "New Euro NCAP tests due in 2026 will encourage manufacturers to use separate, physical controls for basic functions in an intuitive manner, limiting eyes-off-road time and therefore promoting safer driving."

hnburnsy 10mo ago
Sounds like the IIHS which has been imposing 'mandates' on car manufacturers with little proof that these mandates are effective. These mandates are costing us all millions in upfront and insurance rates but I never see any evidence that they are worth the cost they impose. Not opposed to the mandates specifically just the lack of cost benefit analysis.
- scottbez1 10mo ago
  Can you be more specific about these “mandates” you take issue with? IIHS doesn’t have any mandate power over manufacturers (they are not a regulatory body) but they do align with insurance company interests, whose goals are to pay out less for damages from vehicle incidents, and therefore IIHS logically would theoretically be focused on actuarial data-driven analysis. If you have specific examples of where this has not been the case, I’d love to learn more.
  - hnburnsy 10mo ago
    Here are some where IIHS punishes cars that don't meet its features with dubious evidence of improving safety... Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) with Pedestrian Detection: IIHS rates vehicles on forward collision avoidance, including pedestrian scenarios, but systems often underperform in real-world conditions like nighttime or with larger vehicles (e.g., trucks or motorcycles). Studies show virtually no crash reduction at night, and features can create false alerts, weather-related failures, or a false sense of security, potentially dulling driver awareness without clear evidence of broad effectiveness at higher speeds. Roof Strength Test: Vehicles must withstand a force equivalent to a certain multiple of their weight (e.g., 4x for a "good" rating) to simulate rollover protection. Critics, including automotive industry analyses, argue there's no statistically reliable evidence that increasing roof strength beyond basic levels (e.g., from 2.5 to 3.5 strength-to-weight ratio) reduces injury risk, with claims relying on unsupported extrapolations from low-strength data and anomalous results. Updated Side Impact Test (Introduced 2021): This tougher test uses a heavier, faster-moving barrier (4,200 lbs at 37 mph) to mimic modern SUV strikes. It's criticized for disadvantaging smaller vehicles unfairly, incorporating misleading variables (e.g., tire grip affecting results), and prioritizing structural deformation over occupant outcomes, potentially leading to "poor" ratings despite good dummy readings. Detractors view it as more marketing-driven than reflective of common real-world crashes, with little evidence that the changes proportionally save lives beyond the original test.

Molitor5901 10mo ago

I am happy to see this and hope it spreads. A lot of us, IMO, would pay more for physical buttons - which is really a way to go about this, even though logistically it's problematic. If you want physical buttons, pay for it, if not, go with digital capacitive touch. I think cars should be like airplanes - physical controls, able to be felt and pushed without taking eyes off the road. The digital buttons far too often require my attention to be diverted, or pull over.

aiauthoritydev 10mo ago

In all car reviews, driver impressions and forums, there is near universal and near unanimous preference for physical buttons for common control like volume and climate control. It is beyond me why anyone would experiment with something that is like 100 year old tech and loved by people. I hope Apple Carplay and Google Android auto can also take over other car control such as volume and climate control. Later someone can build uniform hardware buttons and knobs that I can place on my steering wheel and it can use the phone to control those features.

sib 10mo ago
In all phone reviews (in 2006) there is near universal and near unanimous preference for physical keyboards...

Beijinger 10mo ago

Bad idea. I am a strong proponent of a 0% Button, 100%voice controlled car. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMS2VnDveP8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMS2VnDveP8

Beijinger 10mo ago
You guys don't have any humor, do you?
ErroneousBosh 10mo ago
I knew what this was going to be before I even clicked on it. As an aside, a lot of "talking" lifts in Glasgow appear to have a Polish accent.
Phelinofist 10mo ago
I'm involved in the development of the voice assistant for the VW Group and I find it pretty good honestly. You can control quite a lot via voice and it works pretty reliably.
alistairSH 10mo ago
Ha, I was about to respond "unless you're Scottish" and link to this sketch!

viccis 10mo ago

I remember going to buy a new car in 2015. My girlfriend had a Honda Fit from a few years prior and I loved driving in it. Felt so roomy given the tiny size. Went for a test drive in one and every single button was digital. Not even a volume knob, just little touch sensitive buttons. Ended up buying a Mazda 3 and Honda eventually switched back to physical buttons for most things. Surprising to see companies still learning this a decade later.

standardUser 10mo ago

UI and UX have decline dramatically in the last 10 years across the board. Most of this can be attributed to hamfisted security measures and data collection/dark patterns to abuse consumers. But why cars? I only drive rentals, so I deal with a different car almost every time, and the lack of simple, physical buttons is a straight up safety hazard.

catlikesshrimp 10mo ago

Some day they will need subscriptions to run their cars because the only way to interact with cars will be voice to an AI running on a remote server. I say they because I hope I am gone by then.

CommenterPerson 10mo ago

Great, my 20 year old car is now avant-garde!

t1234s 10mo ago

They need to bring back the VR6. It was fantastic you could get an engine that sounded that good in a small useful hatchback car.

balls187 10mo ago

Now bring back the standard transmission.

WalterBright 10mo ago

Next, replace the incomprehensible icons with text.

1970-01-01 10mo ago

Ok great! Now the real test begins. Will it sell? Will it outsell its competition? Those answers are up to you! I would not buy this just for the buttons.

throw0101d 10mo ago

Another announcement back in March 2025: * https://etsc.eu/volkswagen-to-reintroduce-physical-buttons-in-new-models/ https://etsc.eu/volkswagen-to-reintroduce-physical-buttons-i... Related to Euro NCAP mandating physical controls for certain functions, "including indicators, hazard lights, sounding the horn, operating windscreen wipers and activating the eCall SOS function"? * https://etsc.eu/cars-will-need-buttons-not-just-touchscreens-to-get-a-5-star-euro-ncap-safety-rating/ https://etsc.eu/cars-will-need-buttons-not-just-touchscreens...

eudamoniac 10mo ago

Is there any maintained list of all cars that have physical buttons?

vishnuharidas 10mo ago

Washing machines next. A total stupid idea to put capacitive touch on it. Just lean over the counter and it simply resets the wash program to re-run the past 3 hours of progress. Can't think of operating it with wet hands.

abanana 10mo ago

VW's head of design announced this months ago, and spun it as listening to customer feedback, choosing to return to features people "love". I remember at the time being a bit annoyed by the level of spin. In reality, for Europe at least, their hand was forced by Euro NCAP via their safety tests. They announced it a couple of years ago but it starts now. No car that has just a touchscreen, instead of physical controls, will be awarded a 5-star rating. I don't really know to what extent people take note of the NCAP ratings these days, but they certainly used to be a very big deal to car buyers (for example, in the late 90s, the rating given to the Rover 100 effectively killed it overnight). The NCAP ratings make physical controls essential for the most basic functions (e.g. indicators) and strongly encouraged for others (e.g. climate control). So obviously the same goes for other manufacturers shouting about doing the same thing - don't swallow their hype about how much they love your feedback.

hnlmorg 10mo ago
> physical controls essential for the most basic functions (e.g. indicators) and strongly encouraged for others (e.g. climate control). In what cars are indicators not a physical control? Question aside, I definitely agree with the shift back to physical buttons. My new car has a touch screen for climate control and I loved it, for about a week. And now I hate it because it just adds confusion and distraction when driving

strongpigeon 10mo ago

A lot of people seem to be thinking of this as a touch screen vs physical button issue, but in the case of VW it was actually much worse: they put capacitive buttons instead of physical ones everywhere. The worst of both worlds: a lack of tactile feedback and the inability to have a flexible interface. I own an ID.4, the "car" part of the car is fine, but the controls inside are by far the most unpleasant I've ever used. 60% of the time I want to turn the fog lights on, it registers as "Defrost Max" that is right next to it. The worst offender by far though are the windows controls. Instead of four buttons like most sane cars, you have 2 buttons as well as a capacitive "Rear" toggle. That toggle is both incredibly easy to activate by accident and impossible to use with glove. I can't fathom how someone designed these things and though, yep, this is a good experience. At least the car has wireless CarPlay so I can ignore the terrible VW software.

mnicky 10mo ago
Does it also have motion sensors to turn on the interior lamp? That's what I've found the most frustrating on some of their models. You want to turn on the lamp? Try some waving gestures... Also, I don't know whether this is a feature, a bug, or just a lack of skill on my side but I couldn't get the lamp to turn on with the engine turned off. VERY impractical.
- strongpigeon 10mo ago
  You have to touch the light itself, which is more or less fine, but sometime doesn’t work if you’re wearing gloves…
mattlondon 10mo ago
Same with my id.3 The windows' "rear" button thing is especially infuriating. That and the climate controls being behind a mandatory privacy click-through warning every damn time you turn the car on. Gah. I have heard rumours that they were penny-pinching to get the price under various countries' cut-offs to be eligible for EV grants. But yeah the interior controls are terrible for an otherwise pretty nice car.

ErroneousBosh 10mo ago

Maybe you don't need so many buttons. Maybe don't have so much distracting shit in the car.

saddat 10mo ago

Hart innovation , yet I would never ever drive a car like a Tesla without head up display. That’s ludicrous. If you have ever done a risk assessment of any kind you know why .

riversflow 10mo ago

Dashboard screens are so cringe, I’d be happy if they were banned outright. I want dials and dim indicator lights for the console, and knobs and buttons that have the dual purpose of interface and display on the dash. This is a machine, not a video game, everything should be in service of making the driver look out the windshield. Modern cars are absolute shit, the UI on my 30 year old Camry feels amazing by comparison to any car that I’ve driven that has come out since 2010.

tonymet 10mo ago

The actual fix would involve simplifying the driving experience. Adding 30+ buttons to the steering wheel and 25+ to the console does not improve the situation. The bar should be whether the operator can keep their eyes on the road while operating the controls. And when getting into a new vehicle, how easy can they find common controls like mirrors, climate, parking brake, cruise without consulting the manual. I rented a Highlander which did have nice physical controls, but many features were buried in cryptic menus. The auto steer feature, which dragged and pulled steering in corners, and aggressively applied braking , was buried under 3 levels of menus labeled "RTSS", "SCS", "Advanced". Capable drivers don't need cornering and braking assist. It's $2k+ worth of useless components , for a worse driver experience.

briandw 10mo ago

Honestly this doesn't look better. You still have a large touch screen, but now you also have > 20 buttons on the steering wheel. Capacitive (no touch feedback) ones at that.

Bud 10mo ago

[dead]

devin 10mo ago

Now, please get rid of the giant screens in the center console and make turn-by-turn on HUDs the default option for navigation.

eweise 10mo ago

One reason I just bought a 2025 Miata, is that has physical buttons for almost everything. Even the touchscreen can be operated with physical buttons. That and the manual transmission, makes it feel almost retro. It does have a lot of alerts like lane change monitors, but it doesn't bother me too much.

Beijinger 10mo ago

Real cars have buttons. If I had the money, I would buy this one https://www.caranddriver.com/photos/g63743843/2023-ineos-grenadier-fieldmaster-test-interior-gallery/ https://www.caranddriver.com/photos/g63743843/2023-ineos-gre...

mixmastamyk 10mo ago

This horrible touchscreen-only situation always reminded me of a similar fashion trend in the mid 80s... digital speedometers and "automatic" seatbelts. Both looked great in a magazine, showroom, and the Knightrider TV show, but were suboptimal in real life. Thankfully no one back then had the absurd idea to force them into every single car model, and eliminate choice for the next ten years.

octoberfranklin 10mo ago
The automatic seatbelts in the 1980s were allowed (for a short time) as an alternative to airbags. Eventually that alternative was removed and airbags were required.

goda90 10mo ago

We were thinking of getting the ID.Buzz, but the lack of physical buttons was a big turn-off(our newest car is a 2015). Looks like they aren't even doing a 2026 Buzz, so hopefully we see a 2027 model with physical buttons again.

darkwater 10mo ago

Armchair designer rant: this is just as fucked up as totally touch or totally capacitive. Use 2-3-4 "infinite wheels" with different touch feelings and audio feedback to control by spatial memory and touch the most important and used features needed when driving. Combine it with clickable wheels on the steering wheel a la Tesla and IMO you have the best of both worlds. But going back to the shitload of identical-to-the-touch buttons with just an icon on it to differentiate them is WRONG.

wffurr 10mo ago

Wish I could get that ID.Polo hatch in the US.

torginus 10mo ago

I know I'm going to sound like a butt, but I'm still not happy with this layout. I feel like there's just too many of them, seemingly with duplicated functionalities (multiple up/down buttons for different functions). This is just a guess, but I think there was a meeting where each business unit responsible for a particular function submitted what controls they need, and they just fitted them all, which is kinda bonkers. Due to the sheer amount of stuff, you can't operate this without looking down, which defeats the purpose. Also, despite having this many of them, I think some of them are still contextual, requiring you to look at a screen or press another button to make them do the thing you want. While I applaud the effort, the implementation I feel is lacking.

docmars 10mo ago

Holy smokes, took them long enough after pledging to remove them how many years ago? The capacitive touch buttons for climate control and media have been a complete disaster. Changing anything while driving was a recipe for an accident, lacking any tactile feedback while adjusting. I couldn't be more thrilled to see them taking this direction.

rgovostes 10mo ago

I don't know if it exists in other models, but the Lincoln Nautilus steering wheel features thumb trackpads. On touch it pops up radial menus on a display in the driver's primary line of sight. Although I find the wrap-around display a bit much, the trackpads are an intuitive and thoughtful compromise to the matrix of physical buttons. (The infotainment screen suffers from the same problems as other vehicles, however.) https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/2024-Lincoln-Nautilus-Palm-Springs-19-1440x811.jpg https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/2024-...

OptionOfT 10mo ago

I am looking for a new car, but I'm pretty brand-loyal. But because of my need for buttons I need to go and buy a car that actually was designed in 2019, in order to avoid the giant iPad slapped to the dashboard.

gkanai 10mo ago

The famous case I always bring up is the accident with the USS John McCain. The US Navy tried screens but due to this accident and other reasons has gone back to mechanical controls. Cars can have some screens but key controls (HVAC, car safety, windows, etc.) should be mechanical. https://www.naval-technology.com/news/us-navy-to-replace-touchscreens-with-mechanical-controls/ https://www.naval-technology.com/news/us-navy-to-replace-tou...