Volkswagen will restore physical buttons to the dashboard in its latest compact car, part of a wider move away from touchscreens.

In a particularly retro touch, the new ID Polo will even have a volume dial.

For a decade or so, automakers rushed to replace knobs and switches with screens, Autoblog noted in October, but users largely disliked them: Controlling the air conditioning, for example, required delving through submenus while driving, which was both difficult and dangerous. Research found that using touchscreens took longer and distracted drivers.

Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, and VW have all announced plans to return to more tactile controls, and US and EU regulators announced last year that cars with touchscreen controls could get worse safety ratings.

top 96 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] 190 points 10 months ago (13 children)

Buttons that you can use without looking at them, please.

On my old car, the temperature dial had a notch, and you could set it to heat/cold by whether it was left or right of center, now it's a free-spinning dial. Old fan control was a dial with stops, now it's two buttons with no tactile distinction. Old vent selector was a dial with stops and I knew the foot/defrost setting was one from the top and the foot/body setting was one from the bottom, now it's a single button same as the fan buttons that cycles through all the options. If I want to change anything, I have to wait until I'm at a red light or something so that I can look down and fiddle with it. I used to be able to do it all blind.

  • source
  • hideshow 13 child comments
  • [–] 33 points 10 months ago (9 children)

    One of my cars has climate control with a knob, so I have to look at the (small) screen to see what the temperature is.

    My other car has a hot/cold knob that I can just crank all the way to the stops. It even turns the A/C full blast on full cold.

    I prefer the latter.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 9 child comments
  • [–] 17 points 10 months ago (8 children)

    If you just leave the climate control set to a temperature that you find comfortable then the car will heat or cool as it needs to, to achieve that temperature.

    I know cranking it over to hot or cold probably makes you feel better but it won’t make the engine warm up any faster or make the aircon cool any more.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 8 child comments
  • [–] 9 points 10 months ago (7 children)

    Yes but I want the absolute maximum heat or cool it can provide, starting immediately. Even if the air coming out is only slightly warmer/cooler it’s still warmer/cooler.

    I can always turn it down later.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 7 child comments
  • [–] 5 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    My understanding of climate control systems is that it does only provide maximum heat or cool. There's a temperature sensor in the cabin that tells the car when it's at the right temperature, but until that point is hit, it is heating or cooling as much as it can.

    The only difference between climate control and traditional a/c is it knows when to stop and when to turn on again

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 5 points 10 months ago

    Your understanding is wrong. I've tested the output air on both settings in the winter. Max heat had like a 30° difference. The engine doesn't want to pull that much heat unless necessary because it reduces fuel economy when the block isn't saturated. So unless you specifically ask for 110° air, it's going to give you 80°

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 7 points 10 months ago (3 children)

    Most car ac systems are either on, or off. They don’t have variable compressor speeds. They cool at maximum until they reach the temp you set then they switch off. If the temp rises again then they switch back on.

    A non EV cars heat is provided by the coolant that circulates through the motor. Nothing you can do will make the heater heat up faster.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • [–] 3 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    Nothing I can do? If I drive my car at higher rpms, wont that make the engine hotter thereby also heating the coolant faster?

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 1 point 10 months ago

    Yes that is true, I assumed everyone knew that 90% of engine wear occurs during the warm up period so you’d be foolish to ever run the car harder than needed in that period.

    I was referring to turning up the heat to full or anything you can do in the cab as the poster seemed to think he could get more heat from the old analog systems faster than a standard climate control system.

  • source
  • parent
  • [+] -7 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    In the old car, it was an analog system. These systems are digital in newer cars. So while you may get a knob or button, it's still sending digital signals. That's why there's no distinction when you turn the knob, because there literally isn't a distinction.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 91 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    Hope our current car holds out long enough for those buttoned cars to arrive in the used car market.

  • source
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 80 points 10 months ago (18 children)

    Touchscreens in cars was a terrible development. The natural haptic feedback of physical buttons is a must, while operating a vehicle.

  • source
  • hideshow 18 child comments
  • [–] 29 points 10 months ago (17 children)

    Touchscreens are wonderful in a car, just not for basic functionality. You can pry my Android Auto out of my cold dead hands.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 17 child comments
  • [–] 7 points 10 months ago

    Touchscreens are good for context-sensitive controls. They don't make sense for basic controls that should always be available.

    I'm fortunate that I have a good touchscreen for use with Android Auto + physical buttons for things like HVAC and volume.

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 9 points 10 months ago (6 children)

    You can have Android Auto without a touchscreen. My newish Mazda has joystick like controls for the screen.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 6 child comments
  • [–] 3 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    The Mazda rotary dial is awesome. It does 90% of what a touchscreen does, and voice control or a passenger can do the rest. If it can’t be done with three or four clicks of the wheel or Siri, then pull over safely and use the phone.

    My old car had an aftermarket touchscreen CarPlay headunit, and I much prefer the buttons and dials on the newer Mazda. Borrowing somebody else’s (usually newer) car with a touchscreen feels like a massive step backwards.

    Sadly it looks like they’re also falling for the touchscreen b.s. on the ‘26 year vehicles, big L for safety.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 3 points 10 months ago

    Yeah there is a lot of fuss about the cx5 turning to touchscreen and people hating it (in literature, not sure on the experience side yet). I have a 2020 and like the setup it has for sure.

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 2 points 10 months ago (3 children)

    Seems even more distracting than a touchscreen.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • [–] 5 points 10 months ago (2 children)

    It's not a joystick per se, it's a tilting knob, kind of like a 3D mouse. Older Benz models had the same setup, it's great.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 0 points 10 months ago (6 children)

    Phone holders are wonderful in a car. Get rid of the built-in touch screens entirely.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 6 child comments
  • [–] 1 point 10 months ago* (5 children)

    Phone integration with the car is handy. Bigger screen + integrated controls. I have volume controls on my steering wheel and a button to issue voice commands to Android Auto.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 5 child comments
  • [–] 3 points 10 months ago (4 children)

    A $200 tablet and $50 holder is much more capable than the built-in touch screen. The built in touch screen is adding more $2500 to the price of the vehicle.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • [–] 1 point 10 months ago (3 children)

    The built in touch screen is adding more $2500 to the price of the vehicle.

    Others will say that touch screens are replacing physical buttons to reduce cost. So which is it? Touch screens add big cost or touch screens reduce cost?

    /Not aimed at you, since you didn't assert conflicting info

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • [–] 6 points 10 months ago (2 children)

    cost != price.

    The costs involved with that touchscreen are in the tens of dollars, and much lower than the myriad physical hardware it replaces. The costs of producing the car are considerably lower. The price manufacturers charge for that vehicle are considerably higher.

    Try to replace a defective touchscreen: the charge for the proprietary replacement screen is more than a flagship phone, but provides fewer capabilities than a budget tablet.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 2 points 10 months ago

    I recently fixed a phantom/ghost problem in my GMC acadia by replacing the touch glass for about $100. It was easy peasy. Had I taken it to the dealership, I assume it would have been a $1000 repair as they would have replaced the whole head unit rather than just the warped glass.

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 1 point 10 months ago*

    I'm not going to speculate on the cost (or price) differential, but due to the requirement for backup cameras, screens have been required in cars for almost 10 years now (in the U.S. , no idea about other vehicle markets). However, these need not be touchscreens.

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 72 points 10 months ago (7 children)

    This seems like an obvious improvement and I kind of want everyone who thought otherwise to be banned from working in decision making roles.

  • source
  • hideshow 7 child comments
  • [–] 25 points 10 months ago (6 children)

    It's way cheaper and easier to not have to source the buttons. The bean counters saw Tesla get away with doing it on the touchscreen, so they figured they'd get away with it, too.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 6 child comments
  • [–] 5 points 10 months ago (3 children)

    Yeah, never mind the additional casualties caused by distracted drivers.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • [–] 6 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    Tesla has the highest crash rate of any manufacturer. In particular, rear ending other cars. It's the stupid touchscreen.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 1 point 10 months ago

    Maybe. Not disagreeing but I’ve never seen data to support that, have you? Some people blame it on self-driving, some blame it on the higher performance, and yes the touch screen is plausible. But we need to know. That accident rate is too high to be guessing.

    Unfortunately my experience supports all of the above

    • self driving is continually improving. I trust it much more than previous iterations but I don’t trust it. In my latest test the only dangerous thing it did in two hours was to stop at a yellow light. Technically correct but the idiot behind me expected to drive through. I also took over four times when I wasn’t sure it was going to do the right thing
    • in my first drives I had to see its acceleration - was surprised by it enough to experience fear
    • there are shortcuts to the common screen controls but it’s not always easy to discover them. Voice control works well for me so far
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 2 points 10 months ago

    Imitating the trending brand or model, including their terrible design decisions. It drives me nearly insane that so many companies do this. Look at how many companies have been copying Apple's horrible hardware design decisions over the last few decades. SMDH

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 45 points 10 months ago

    US and EU regulators announced last year that cars with touchscreen controls could get worse safety ratings.

    Yeah that's the real reason they're moving back it's got nothing to do with the complaints from the customers because they've been ignoring those for over a decade. They just know that people won't buy their cars if it receives a substandard rating.

    But hey I'll still take the win.

  • source
  • [–] 43 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

    Thanks to these visionary titans of industry we've now got 10+ years of used cars with HOT GARBAGE interfaces. Guess they learned their lesson eventually but the used market is screwed for a long time.

  • source
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 11 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    Before buying our latest, the family sat down and defined the minimum physical controls a car needs to have; functions that are used often while the vehicle is actively moving.

    • Aircon
    • Lights
    • Cruise
    • Media

    Wipers, maybe. Automatic wipers are annoying, but deemed not a dealbreaker as long as the others above are present.

    It was shocking how many makes/models did not even meet the bare minimum.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 33 points 10 months ago (2 children)

    Did they really need research to realise that?

  • source
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 18 points 10 months ago* (1 child)

    They needed research to realise the cost was greater than the savings.

    Touchscreen interfaces are absolutely wonderful if you are a car manufacturer, as they massively accelerate the designing process; slap a rectangle in the centre console and start manufacturing the car, you have until first units are sold (or even way later, yay updates) to figure out how it looks and works. And you don't need to make and assemble hundred little dials and buttons either, just a single screen.

    Same goes for the speedo etc display, but there at least everything is purely visual and being customizable is actually a benefit for the user too.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 2 points 10 months ago*

    I wouldn't have minded quite so much if they made everything voice controlled. But all my speech recognition system can do is just call and text people. It can't turn on the AC, you can't even navigate to a destination with the GPS unless you go into the GPS app first.

    Also it would be really nice if the activation phrase was something other than the word "hey", you know perhaps they could go with a word that isn't said 5,000 times a day anyway.

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 26 points 10 months ago

    Good. Hate touchscreens. It never fails that as you are going to touch something, you will hit a bump and miss. And that’s after taking your eyes off the road to find the button or dig through 4 menus to find it.

  • source
  • [–] 24 points 10 months ago (3 children)
  • load more comments (1 reply)
    [–] 22 points 10 months ago

    Peak control design

  • source
  • [–] 22 points 10 months ago (9 children)

    they have to

    it'll be a law in china in the future

    And EURO NCAP (who make safety ratings for cars) have said they'll stop giving 5 stars, if a car has no physical buttons for essential controls (i dont reclal what they believe is essential though)

  • source
  • hideshow 9 child comments
  • [–] 5 points 10 months ago (8 children)

    apparent it's

    turn indicator signals, hazard lights, windshield wipers, and the horn

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 8 child comments
  • [–] 3 points 10 months ago (7 children)

    That's weird, no car has those in the touch screen. Dumb steering wheel placement, sure (tesla), but still physical.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 7 child comments
  • [–] 2 points 10 months ago (5 children)

    It's not that weird IMHO. Anything driving related should be a button or a stalk, like EuroNCAP is saying. All non-driving related stuff can be on screen, which I believe is fine. Personally, I think people have been driving the wrong vehicles, or drive older vehicles, when they say that they can't use HVAC controls on a touchscreen. It's not that much more different than a button, in most cars it's in a dock on a touchscreen, easily accessible. I also strongly believe that you don't use the HVAC buttons as much on newer cars, because the systems have become so much better, that's probably also what the manufacturers see in their data when deciding for their new designs.

    The touchscreen hate is a little blown out of proportion IMO. People that drive Tesla's hardly complain about the touchscreen, mostly about the removal of stalks. I also don't hear people complaining in newer BMW's and other more luxury brands, even though those brands use touchscreens for a lot of stuff these days.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 5 child comments
  • [–] 2 points 10 months ago (4 children)

    I meant I find the announcement weird, because there aren't any cars currently to have those controls listed as touchscreen buttons. And the emergency lights already has to be a physical button, at least in the EU.

    Maybe it's about preventing those features...

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • [–] 2 points 10 months ago (3 children)

    Yeah perhaps. I can imagine that the indicator buttons on Tesla's was the final straw to take this action, before other manufacturers started pulling of weird shit like that.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • [–] 1 point 10 months ago (2 children)

    Ferrari did it before Tesla, just slightly more logical.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 1 point 10 months ago (1 child)

    Ferrari's implementation is also simply better. Button on the left for left indicator, button on the right for right indicator. But still, it's not great to use on roundabouts. The reason nobody cared when it was added to Ferrari's is because it's not a mass produced product. EuroNCAP score doesn't really matter for Ferrari and other sports car manufacturers anyways. They could have a 1 star rating and still be sold, because the car isn't about safety.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 1 point 10 months ago

    I also object to the hazard light button in my Tesla. While it’s great that it’s a physical buttons, it’s not tactile - I can’t use it without taking my eyes off the road

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 19 points 10 months ago (2 children)

    I wish they sold this model in the USA. We need a good selection of compact models

  • source
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [+] 15 points 10 months ago (1 child)
  • [–] 15 points 10 months ago (2 children)

    That touchscreens in cars are still allowed while using a phone is not?

  • source
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 15 points 10 months ago

    Who knew that would happen eventually after sensor screens failed time and time again at worst possible moments?

  • source
  • [–] 13 points 10 months ago (9 children)

    Time for some cassette futurism design!

  • source
  • hideshow 9 child comments
  • [–] 14 points 10 months ago (4 children)

    Unironically I want this so bad, I'm one of those Gen Z guys who grew up around old tech but I love my clunky 1970s-1990s tech. There's just something viserally satisfying about sloting in a tape.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • [–] 4 points 10 months ago (2 children)

    I added a old radio with a Minidisk player into my car when the radio died

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 12 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (3 children)

    The car I drive now is the newest car I've ever owned. It's a 2006 Suzuki Grand Vitara, V6 AWD. I like everything about it. I'll keep it running as long as I can.

    This is what a car should look like inside. Everything in reach, physical knobs I can set without looking, no distractions. Peak design:

    No internet account required, of course, which also means they can't nerf my car from the other side of the planet, or charge me for 50 more HP, or heated seats. The most sophisticated display is the red LEDs that tell time, outside temp, and real time MPG. Also, I like having a car I actually own, Suzuki doesn't want anything to do with me, and I don't want anything to do with them. It was a one-time transaction, like a hooker and a john. We're not in a fucking life-long relationship.

    Cars should not be this inside. While I agree it's cool and futuristic, it is not practical. Form should follow function, everything about this is the opposite:

  • source
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • [–] 2 points 10 months ago*

    Wow that's a very cool looking cabin on the Suzuki!
    We had an Opel Vectra from the same year, with leather cabin and manual 6 shift gear. We really liked that car, and would have kept it longer. But safety regulation required some pretty expensive repairs to keep it legal, and the yearly tax on petrol cars that don't have high mileage is becoming pretty significant here in Denmark.

    But our VW ID.4 is a far cry from as bad as the EV you are showing.

    Everything required for everyday driving has buttons and levers like traditional cars.
    VW is already doing it pretty well IMO, improving further on it to include for instance air condition is nice, but no biggie IMO.
    But again your Suzuki look REALLY nice. 😎

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 11 points 10 months ago (7 children)

    ID.BUZZ with physical buttons, 4WD and an upgraded heat pump (the current one is designed for ID.4 sized cars) would be the perfect car for me.

  • source
  • hideshow 7 child comments
  • [–] 2 points 10 months ago (6 children)

    The ID buzz needs significantly more range for me to consider it.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 6 child comments
  • [–] 4 points 10 months ago (5 children)

    How much range do you need? My Chevy Bolt has a range of ≈350 miles, and it's rather mountainous around here.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 5 child comments
  • [–] 6 points 10 months ago (4 children)

    The id buzz has notoriously bad range, even worse than advertised, I think real world testing puts it a bit over 150 miles on a charge

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • load more comments
    view more: next ›