I was planning on doing a micro-review of the Mazda CX-30, but as I was testing the car and gathering my thoughts about it, I found myself confronted with something frustrating, over and over, to the point where I realized that I need to write a different sort of article about this car, because it’s not that common to find a generally good car hamstrung by one trait, especially something that can be so easily solved. The problem is Mazda’s choice to have a center-stack infotainment screen that is not touch, and can only be controlled via a knob and some buttons. I think this choice is precisely the sort of dealbreaker for many buyers that would push them to a similar car, like a Honda HR-V or a Nissan Kicks or maybe a bit bigger to a Toyota RAV4. And I think that’s a shame.
I don’t want Mazda to see this as an attack; it’s more like an intervention you’d have for a friend who’s generally great, but is making some sort of bad life decision that is clearly causing them trouble. And I do think this has to be causing Mazda at least some trouble.
It’s not like nobody is buying the CX-30, but it’s not like it’s doing that great, either. For the first half of 2022, it was ranked eighth among small SUVs/crossovers in sales:
I can’t help but think that the CX-30, which is pretty competitive in most other ways, would have done a lot better if only it had a UX that didn’t make people want to put their fist through the dashboard all the time.
Here’s how the Mazda UX system works: you have a wide screen atop the dash, and you can touch that screen all you want, point to icons or symbols or commands, but all you’re going to get for your poking efforts are fingerprints on the screen. Because this is not a touch screen. Instead, you have a large knob between the front seats, surrounded by a few buttons, and it’s via this that all interactions with that screen must happen.
It’s like some UX designer at Mazda was playing a lot of Tempest and thought, hey, why can’t I control everything in my car the same way as I shoot squiggles with my yellow spiky thing here? Now, a good number of years ago, before touchscreens became commonplace, this sort of interface wasn’t that uncommon. Today, though, it is, and I think it’s pretty clear why.
It’s awkward. It’s awkward in the Mazda-designed UX that was specifically designed to work with this setup, and it’s even more awkward when using something like Android Auto or Apple CarPlay – interfaces whose designs are based on phone interfaces that were really only meant to be manipulated via a touchscreen.
When using CarPlay, the UX is forced to add a glowing frame around whatever icon or control currently has focus, and in place of a tap, you can press down on the knob to act as a button. In some contexts, the knob can be tilted joystick-style to move the cursor, but mostly you’re spinning the knob to move focus from icon to icon.
It, charitably, sucks. And this isn’t shocking; the CarPlay interface was never meant to be controlled via a knob, at any point in its development. This is very much a touch-based interface.
Ruining the way a driver interacts with CarPlay (and Android Auto) is a big deal, because there’s a huge number of drivers out there who are only interested in interacting with their car’s infotainment via such systems. For many people, the manufacturer’s UX just doesn’t matter, because they’d rather listen to music or navigate via the UX they already know, the one on their phones.
As a bit of anecdotal evidence, a good friend of mine is a Honda Fit owner, and I recently had to help her perform some arcane system reset on her car so her CarPlay would work again. And let me tell you, it not working on her car was a big deal. Her enjoyment of her car – which she is very fond of – is heavily dependent on CarPlay working. When it started to work again her face lit up with unashamed relief and joy. I’m certain she is not alone.
When I was using CarPlay on the CX-30, I found myself instinctively poking fecklessly at the screen over and over again, and then, dejected, having to spin that knob around until I was able to do whatever the hell it was I was trying to do, a process that invariably took far longer than the quick poke I had attempted.
The system is so bafflingly awkward I had to reach out to Mazda to get a sense of what the logic was behind this choice. Here’s what they told me:
“Mazda’s philosophy is to minimize driving distractions. We’ve done studies that have shown navigating the infotainment by feel through the commander knob helps minimize driving distractions and keeping the driver’s eyes focused on the road.”
Now, conceptually, sure, this all makes sense. Don’t be distracted! Screens are not great for most car functions, really, and I very much prefer physical controls. But that plural is crucial: controls. One physical control that acts as a mechanism to navigate options on a screen is not the same as, say, having tactile knobs for volume or HVAC controls or whatever. This doesn’t solve the problem of keeping your eyes on the road, because despite Mazda suggesting “navigating by feel,” I don’t see how you could do that for almost anything I tried to do. You still have to look at the damn screen to know what you’re selecting.
This is especially true with CarPlay; you can’t navigate just by feel when there’s nothing to feel? I’m not saying touchscreens are perfect by any means, but, glancing at a screen and poking at the thing you want I found to be far, far quicker and requires less hand-eye coordination that spinning a knob until the icon you want has a blue frame on it.
Other people may feel differently, so I have a dissenting opinion for you here: our own Thomas Hundal said he actually likes using this setup, so I let him make a case in favor of the knob:
To people who’ve never used Mazda’s latest infotainment system before, it may seem like an unnecessarily obtuse way of using phone mirroring features like Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. After all, Apple CarPlay was designed with touchscreen use in mind, why funnel everything through a scroll wheel? Well, there is a fairly good reason, and it has to do with how people actually use Apple CarPlay.
If you use the rotary knob to punch an address into a navigation app, you’ll have to do it Asteroids-style and scroll letter-by-letter. However, as Apple CarPlay is powered by your phone, it’s just faster to tell Siri where you want to go than it is to punch in characters on a digital QWERTY keyboard, especially given the delay between punching in characters and Waze or Google Maps bringing up results. After all, Siri is leagues better than any native automotive voice command system, so why not use the best tools available?
Once on the move, controlling CarPlay via knob really comes into its own. Recently-used apps are all docked on the left, so scrolling through grids is a fallacy. If you ever feel compelled to do something like hop into your calendar on a whim while driving across town, please just take a bus. Plus, a knob is the best way to use Waze. There’s a bit of a learning curve, but muscle memory is quickly built to flag hazards without even taking your eyes off the road.
What’s more, Mazda has perfected how to switch audio tracks on the go with its jog-capable volume knob. Tilt the knob right to skip forward and left to skip back, it’s so intuitive that every automaker should use it.
Being able to use common functions without taking your eyes off the road is a safety feature and one that’s increasingly important as cars become more software-defined. A magazine test out of Sweden has some good data on how screens are more distracting than knobs and buttons, and not being distracted can be the difference between a hard braking event and a very expensive phone call to your insurance company’s claims hotline. While most manufacturers have focused on turning cars into smartphones, Mazda’s focused on making smartphone tech safe to use in cars, and almost every other automaker could learn something from this tiny Hiroshima-based company.
Okay, Thomas, okay, take it easy. First, we’re seeing some of the same it’s-just-a-knob fallacy here, because that Swedish study was talking about dedicated function knobs and buttons, not what Mazda’s system really is, which has a knob as an interface for a screen. I mean, look at what the study tested:
The team at Vi Bilägare chose a litany of fairly simple tests for drivers to perform. The first was an obvious winter morning routine of turning on the heated seat, bumping up HVAC temperature by two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), and activating the rear defroster. The second was as common as can be, to power on the radio and set the channel to Sweden’s P1 talk channel.
Those are functions that have dedicated physical controls; I’m complaining about using a knob to navigate UXs that require some degree of screen attention.
Maybe, as Thomas says, with a learning curve, you can get pretty good at navigating such a system. I’m sure you can.
[Editor’s Note: My brother Phillip (also known as Shep) owns a new Mazda CX-5 with the same interface. He likes it. In fact, here’s his full take:
Ah, the topic of control dial versus touchscreen, one so divisive it has created a rift in my relationship with my wife, who jokingly quips of how primitive my car is without touch capacity. I, however, am a purist for analog, and get arm cramps just thinking of the effort it takes to control such highfalutin tech! Slight lean, arm lift, stretch toward the pixels, and precisely tap a tiny target, leaving smudgy impression behind. I’m exaggerating, of course, but I genuinely don’t wish my car had a touchscreen because, after a few week’s learning curve, I can navigate Mazda Connect (and more importantly, Android Auto) just as easily.
I think most of you will agree: touching a knob feels so good (a statement that, I recognize, might raise some eyebrows for the UK readers). To be clear, Mazda’s UI can be cumbersome, touchscreen or not. There seem to be a million ways to tune the radio, none less confusing and frustrating to navigate through than a Tomb Raider puzzle.
Fortunately, I use Android Auto (Apple CarPlay for you i-users), which is where the updated, dial-only infotainment in my 2021 model shines. The 10.25-inch panel does split-screen better than macOS, allowing me to effortless switch between Maps and Music with a swift push and click–a gesture so intuitive that it doesn’t require me adjusting my gaze from the road. Navigation is done through voice (Google Assistant, in my case) and song selection is only a few taps away.
Only one thing makes me yearn for a touchscreen: pinch to zoom. Rare, yes, but there are occasions when I want to navigate across Google Maps to see what’s around me or if there is an alternate route. With the dial, I can zoom in and out, but only from a fixed point with my CX-5 in the center. Pushing the knob left or right doesn’t shift the map around. On a touchscreen, you can navigate freely, moving your view in any which direction and zooming more precisely. For that reason alone, I wish both touchscreen and dial inputs were offered on the CX-5, which, if Mazda is being honest with itself, it should have done to begin with.
-DT].
But you can also get really good at efficiently poking things on a touch screen, and that’s the UX you’re already using all day as it is. And, worse for Mazda, when people are cross-shopping cars, they don’t have the luxury of the learning curve, so for potential buyers for whom CarPlay or Android Auto is important, it only takes one frustrating test drive to push them into the seat of a Honda HR-V.
Again, I say these things as a friend, Mazda. This isn’t a hill worth dying on. The CX-30 is engaging to drive, looks good, has decent cargo room, and is otherwise a fine small crossover choice. I very well might pick it over a Nissan Kicks or a Hyundai Kona or a VW Taos. But not if I get pissed off every time I stab the Maps icon with my finger and jack shit happens, or a call comes in and poking the big green answer button doesn’t do anything, and then I have to find that knob and watch that screen and then they’ve hung up and now she’s pissed at me and that’s a whole other can of worms, so thanks for that, Mazda.
I’m not alone in my disparagement of the knob. Over at The Old Site, they came to a similar conclusion, and even the stalwart and sober Consumer Reports corroborates my bitching. From Y Combinator, which quotes Consumer Reports’ review (which is behind a paywall):
The infotainment screen mounted in the center of the dash isn’t a touch screen; users must adjust audio and infotainment features using steering wheel controls or the rotary controller and buttons mounted between the front seats. Unfortunately, some steering wheel controls are hard to see and difficult to use because they have silver text on a silver background. The rotary knob and buttons in the center console are also challenging to use since many of the buttons are difficult to see at a glance, and the lack of an easy-to-decipher menu structure forces drivers to spend too long looking at the controls instead of the road.
Besides, if Mazda really loves their knob, there’s zero reason they can’t keep it and have a touch screen! Lots of other cars do just that. People used to it can get whatever benefits they think it offers, and everyone else who isn’t Thomas and some Mazda UX designers can do it the normal people way, by poking things with their fingers.
Are these non-touch screens that much cheaper? Pretty much everything else on the market has a touch screen, so unless Mazda promised to empty a bunch of old inventory out of an LCD warehouse, I can’t think of any reason why having some touch functionality would hurt them.
In fact, I’m just going to come out and turn this into my hot take: if you’re going to have a big screen on your dash for controls, just go ahead and make it a touchscreen. It’s become such an ubiquitous way to interact with screens today that it’s pointless (no pun intended, but damn) to fight it. If people’s trained instinct is to touch an image or word of what they want to happen, what’s to be gained by not allowing that?
If you have a better idea with your knobs or trackballs or squeeze-bulbs then great, implement it, see how it does, but only in parallel with the touchscreen setup that everyone expects. Because, let’s just face it, touching things just works.
The point is Mazda could likely eliminate a potential source of buyer rejection very easily, if it’s willing to swallow some pride and have touch screens in their cars.
Seems to be a personal preference for sure. In our Mini, the UX has both options. She almost exclusively uses the touchscreen, I almost exclusively use the knob.
Big fat caveat: it doesn’t have Android Auto,
I know no one will see this, but I have an update: the rental company was out of corollas and put me in a CX-30 by sheer weird kismet. Wow, I hate that knob. Everything the Mini knob interface does right, the Mazda does wrong.
You know what makes it all better? Those “some buttons” you glossed over. Hit the music button and it takes you immediately to whatever music is playing, Spotify, podcast app, in car Mazda FM. Whatever is coming over the speaker is instantly on screen. The navigation button works the exact same way, Apple Maps, Tom Tom, in car nav… BOOM instant map! Click the home button and your home. Hold the home button to toggle between CarPlay and Mazda’s system (in my case the fuel economy graph page). In the Miata it’s perfect. If it was *just* a knob it would be horrible, but those buttons cover 98% of the menu switching I need to do in a single click. No lie, it’s the main reason I would stick with Mazda for my next car. I love those buttons.
I have a CX-50 — it’s got the same setup. That said the screen ACTUALLY SUPPORTS TOUCH inputs but only in Android auto and carplay. It’s also a function you have to enable. It’s not on by default. Soooo – yeah it has a touch screen but it’s not immediately obvious. That said, I don’t use it because the screen is mounted so far up the dash it’s a bit of a reach. For 90% of the stuff I need to do the knob is great. For the rest yeah it’s terrible. I bought the car because I love the styling and driving dynamics for the size – I learned to live with the knob.
My parents have a 21’ CX5 (same non touch system as in this article) and a 15’ Lexus GS 350 (with the infamously terrible Lexus mouse controller).
Whenever I visit and drive one of their cars, it’s astounding how unintuitive both systems are. Genuinely awful.
498 missed calls? HOW DO YOU LIVE LIKE THIS?
I have a 2022 Miata. The touch screen works while stopped but is disable once the car is moving. It is endlessly frustrating, especially when my other car’s touch screen works at any speed. I am able to overlook it because the Miata is the only car in its class — but were I shopping a CUV or other car with a lot of competition, it would be a a deal breaker.
We have a 2018 3 GT (stick, of course) and a 2019 CX-9. Both me and my wife love using the dial instead of a touch screen. As noted by others, it becomes second nature very quickly, and makes toggling back and forth on Android Auto simple. And it’s not a thing of we don’t know what we are missing, we had a Kia and a Jeep, both 2018, previously, and we prefer this way.
On a side note, both the Kia and Jeep had oil consumption issues. We punted those vehicles, and in this crazy market we didn’t lose money lol.
I thought the removal of touch screen tech was because of the chip shortage and that once they had chips again they would put touch screens back in… personally I like the knobs, but having both is much much better
>> Besides, if Mazda really loves their knob, there’s zero reason they can’t keep it and have a touch screen!
Exactly. We have a couple of CX-5s for our teens. Fantastic car in most respects except for this. I probably would have gotten the turbo CX-3 (so fun to drive) if not for this. Instead, I picked up a used BMW 3-series. They have a similar navigation dial to Mazda’s _but also a touchscreen_. So much better.
I hate touchscreens in cars for the following reasons:
1. Having a spotless interior with a bunch of smudges all over a giant flat panel looks awful.
2. Hitting a bump while trying to touch an icon is infuriating at a passenger; even worse as a driver.
3. It gives more shit for people to fuck with while they’re attempting to drive.
I have a ’21 MX-5 and I’m a big fan of Mazda’s system. The rotary dial and function buttons work flawlessly with Android Auto. Yes, the knob is clunky when trying to enter an address but using Google’s voice commands is accurate 90% of the time.
My wife has a Polestar 2 which is heavily dependent on the touchscreen. It’s a fantastic interface but all those goddamn smudges drive me nuts.
“touching a knob feels so good (a statement that, I recognize, might raise some eyebrows for the UK readers).”
Non-sequitur: I worked with a Scotsman many years ago. He had quite the laugh the first time he saw a bottle of Knob Creek bourbon on the shelf at a bar.
I am old and not into Android Auto, so I’ll focus on my own gripe with the CX-30, which I had as a rental recently while my ’17 CX-3 was in the body shop. CR hinted at it: The steering wheel buttons. They are horrid.
The main buttons are in two vertical arrays of three on the spoke, with the middle buttons forming a pronounced ridge across both arrays. That leaves a tiny surface of the upper and lower buttons that’s near impossible to hit cleanly unless you have child-size fingers. It very nearly spoiled what was otherwise my near ideal of a crossover: Tautly sized but comfortable, pleasant to drive, some nice upscale features but not over the top. I much, much prefer the wheel on the CX-3.
Also, TEMPEST!!! I can’t believe somebody other than me remembers that game. Wasted many quarters on it in the student center at college.
Hey youngster my first game system had 4 games. They were all versions of pong.
They’re meant to function as toggle switches – you don’t have to hit the tiny part at the top and bottom, simple toggle the switch up and down. So each horizontal switch has in effect three functions – toggle up, toggle down, and press.
Based on my limited experience with my wife’s ’17 CX-9 which has a similar/same infotainment system (I drive it maybe once a month), I have to disagree. First, the screen IS a touchscreen under 5 MPH on hers. Are you sure that wasn’t the case with the CX-30 too?
Second, on the CX-9 the display is mounted so far up the dash that for my 6’3″ body to reach it I actually have to lean forward out of the seat – something that is potentially hazardous to do while driving, and something I don’t have to do for ANY other controls in that vehicle. Maybe it’s not a problem for those who *ahem* sit closer to the steering wheel than I do.
It took me a little while to get used to the knob, but now it’s second nature and I’d never want to use the touch screen instead. While I of course have to look at the screen to see what the cursor is doing, my hand has muscle memory now and I don’t have to think about it. My only complaint is that when using Carplay, the apps I want to use are often on the 2nd page which requires more scrolling than I’d like, but I’d have to scroll via a touchscreen anyway.
Seconded. We just got a 2016 CX-9 and my family is 5’1″ to 5’9″. We can’t even reach that damn screen. The knob is works great and is a much better solution based on where that screen is located.
Please cc Lexus. Can’t believe they still keep that old infotainment on their flagship LC500.
That touchpad is even worse than the Mazda knob.
Some day, we’ll look back at the touchscreen technology and implementation from these years and chuckle like we do now at half-baked 70s tech.
I have a ’22 Mazda 3 with the same interface. While using CarPlay can be a bit frustrating, especially when using Apple Music, I appreciate not having a touchscreen. It let Mazda put the screen at a level that’s closer to my line of sight while driving.
It’s odd that they got rid of the touch screen. My 2017 Mazda has the rotary dial and a touch screen, though it isn’t CarPlay compatible. I do find the dial easier to use while driving because it clicks firmly. Once you are used to driving the car you can know roughly how far you have to scroll by touch, meaning you only need to glance at the screen long enough to confirm it has the correct thing highlighted before selecting it.
If my car had CarPlay I’d probably use Siri for most things like Thomas suggested. The CarPlay in my wife’s car requires too much driver attention for my liking if I am using the touch screen.
You can buy the updated USB hub and wiring on Amazon for ~$100 and have the dealer do the upgrade to give the car CarPlay and Android Auto if you wish, FYI. Did it to both my 2016 6 and my wife’s 2016 CX-5. Best upgrade I did to both cars.
My wife had the dealer do it at a much higher cost, but shares her love of it.
I’ve got a 2016 Mazda3 with a similar setup that is a touch screen, but I find that I am always using the control buttons. The touch screen isn’t very responsive and is a long reach.
Seconded. We just got a 2016 CX-9 (both touch screen and knob). My whole family is short, and in this bigger car it’s not just a long reach- it’s completely out of reach. The knob works great. Much better than a touchscreen based on where that screen is located. Especially for listening to podcasts. The steering wheel controls have volume and forward/back, but they never have a pause button. With the knob you can leave the selector on play/pause and use the big button on the knob as a pause button. I listen to lots of podcasts, so this is a great feature for me.
I disagree so much. My Corolla has touch only interface for infotainment and CarPlay (and a normal accompaniment of separate HVAC controls) and every time I have to lean over and poke at the thing I’m annoyed, because it takes so much more concentration and movement. I wish I had a control wheel like you describe instead.
Besides, if Mazda really loves their knob, there’s zero reason they can’t keep it and have a touch screen!
Know the weird part about this? They already do have both. Or at least they did. My ’18 Miata has a touch screen and a knob. On later models I know that they disable the touch screen when it is not stationary. I rarely use either, so I’m not sure if mine does that or not.
2017 Mazda 6 GT owner – In my car the touchscreen is disabled above 5 mph. It is a long reach that would require me to lean forward while driving to operate if the screen wasn’t disabled. The wheel usage becomes second nature after a while.
—RANT—
Why did Mazda remove the touchscreen in their later cars? Because Mazda can’t build a f**king touchscreen to save their ass. They put this system in the Mazda three and eventually covered those first three years with a replacement because the screens fail and introduce Ghost Touch. The screen appears to be operated by all your failed hopes and dreams without any interaction from you. Were you listening to Gary Numan from your USB drive? Not anymore asshole, now you are listening to the 24 hour polka channel! Mazda proceeded to put these garbage screens into everything they make and won’t replace them outside warranty. Surprise, mine started to fail at 3.5 years.
If I could disable the touch screen completely in the settings it would be fine, but every stop sign, stop light, or traffic congestion is an opportunity for my screen to began dancing around and randomly changing settings. To add insult to injury, and the $1,000 estimate to replace the screen, it now reboots 1-5 times per trip every 2 minutes or so and starts whatever song was playing at the point when I turned the car on. This is potentially caused by the navigation SD card becoming corrupt over time. Apparently this issue lives on in current models as well.
I firmly believe Mazda removed touch screens because they have such a high failure rate. It infuriates it me so much I want to get rid of the car and never touch another new Mazda again.
Also the clear coat on my dark finish wheels started flaking off around year 4. Another known Mazda issue they don’t want to address/was supposedly corrected by 2017.
Touchscreens are bad, but Mazda touchscreens are from the gaping maw of Hell itself. Ghost touch indeed.
My wife’s CX-9’s screen started to spider web on the corners and got replaced under warranty. Now the replacement is even worse and we’re going to attempt to have it replaced under warranty again.
I have a 2016 Mazda 6 and my screen has the spider cracks. Out of warranty and it doesn’t affect anything other than looks so I’m keeping it for now.
However you can find a 10″ replacement on alibaba, but I’m wary of how it would work.
Good to know, I was hoping the aftermarket would step up.
There’s a warranty extension to 7 years from new on the ’06 and ’07 CX-9 only for some reason. My wife’s ’07 is eligible as it’s only 5 years old so they should hopefully replace the screen again. Wish there was something we could do to stop the spider webbing from happening again. It happen on ours literally overnight when camping in the Sierras in 30-something degree weather.
Whoops meant to include this.
https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2020/MC-10176061-0001.pdf
Wow, I thought it was because of the heat.
I live in Miami so during the summer I’m sure the car reaches 120+ throughout the day.
Crazy that it happens no matter the temperature.
My 2016 Mazda6 has CarPlay since I did the software update to it (it didn’t come with it originally but Mazda offered the parts and software update via the dealer).
I can use the touchscreen all I want until I’m above 5 MPH and then I’m locked out. Are the CX-30 and the newer ones not like that? Either way, I like the control knob myself. Maybe I’m just used to it after owning the car for seven years now (Stockholm Syndrome). But I can use it by memory and not take my eyes off the road and my passenger can reach it without encroaching on center console/cup holder space.
I’ve got a 2016 Mazda3 without that update, and it’s the same for me. Touchscreen up to 5 mph. This doesn’t seem like a terrible compromise–if you’re doing anything more complicated, you should probably be stopped. Though it does lock out the person riding shotgun from using the touchscreen, which is annoying.
I think the argument “just use Siri” makes sense. I wonder if there have been experiments to measure reaction times to road hazards when stabbing at touchscreens vs using the knob (vs other input methods).
There are ways to hack that. I have a 2014 Mazda3 that I hacked to add Android Auto (which ended up being terrible, the processor couldn’t handle it properly).
I had a CX-30 loaner a few weeks ago and I can confirm, there is no touchscreen function, even while parked.
The solution is what Cadillac and some other manufacturers have done… have the touchscreen and the knob controls and use whichever you want. I’d also be concerned that if Carplay or Android Auto make a major update in the future, there may be a system update from Mazda needed to make it work.
Bottom line, there’s not much more distracting than an infotainment system that makes you want to pull out your phone and use it instead.
Mazda knows they goofed. Starting with the CX-50, touch is enabled for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Still no touch for Mazda’s own interface, but that was designed around the “Command knob” so the lack of touch is okay there (unless you want to type in an address).
It wasn’t necessarily Mazda in this case. As I understand it, the Android Auto APIs didn’t have a method for to disable the touchscreen function while the car was in motion, so they had to leave it disabled all the time. That must have changed as of whatever version the CX-50 is using.
But yeah, it’s really unfortunate that the knob makes AA clunky, but as you said, it’s designed as a touch interface, so that’s how it works best. You get used to it after a while though…
Wait, what the hell? I thought the Autopian was firmly in the anti-touchscreen camp? What is this nonsense?
I cannot possibly disagree more. Touchscreens in cars are an objectively bad choice. We have an older CX-5 with the wheel, and it works well. Yes, it’s a little kludgy at times but at least you can find it without looking, and you only have to glance at the screen quickly rather than leaning over and trying to precisely align your finger with a non tactile button while trying to drive.
There is nothing worse than a touchscreen in a car.
I don’t want touchscreens for everything, but if you must have a screen, just let me poke it, simply, easily. This isn’t saying cram all controls on a touchscreen! But if you have a screen, let people touch it to do things. Why fight it?
Yes this argument didn’t work on my girlfriend it doesn’t work here?
you know there was about a decade between screens in cars and touchscreens in cars? Volvo’s knob-controlled Sensus is hilariously intuitive, and BMW’s outgoing knob-controlled iDrive got high marks as well. It’s this Apple Carplay/Android Auto BS that’s making people touch-crazy. IMO everyone should just use a car’s built in bluetooth for music and get a proper phone mount instead.
I’d take it one step further:
Remove the phone from the driving experience completely. Drop all your music on to a thumb drive and use that. Put your phone on Do Not Disturb.
Drive.
The touchscreens I’ve seen in cars, including the aftermarket stereo I have in the Vette, have been hilariously crappy to use. Hopefully newer systems are better, but I actually would rather see people tapping their phone than the car’s screen. The phone is more familiar and is way more responsive than anything I’ve seen in a car.
Fair enough. I wouldn’t mind having both, though I still think the wheel is a little more appropriate for driving.
For the record, the official Autopian position is physical buttons are best. But if you have to reference a screen for a function (i.e. navigate to a map app) you should be able to do that by touch. Even then, we prefer touch + buttons.
So in summary:
1. Button interface
2. Screen interface navigated via touchscreen and buttons
3. Screen interface navigated via touchscreen
4. Screen interface navigated via buttons
I’m surprised the official Autopian list doesn’t have an entry for “No interface, because no infotainment system, because you should always be listening for new and/or changing ominous sounds from your vehicle anyway.”
Also, we personally prefer the use of a big fat stylus on a thick, coiled cable.
Everyone here is wrong. All systems need to operate via a mouse. Okay wireless for you technogeeks
You know I was just joking but think about it. A wireless mouse could be passed to a passenger in any seat of the car. Video screens for every seat could be controlled as well as different zone climate control. Heck a passenger could control the vehicle from any seat if the driver became incapacitated. Damn this is a win here baby!
Lexus has the car for you! Remote Touch is like if you equipped a car with a 15 year old ‘ergo’ joypad mouse that likes to randomly twitch around on its own.
Nope don’t like the pencil eraser mouse I want that mouse that looks like a mouse without the tail. With roll down windows and manual transmission
I thought you’d prefer a light pen, Torch?
to be honest I think my cheap and cheerful Kona may be at the sweet spot – physical controls for the basics, but a touch screen for more complicated stuff. It is also set up to disable things like typing addresses into navigation while the car is in motion. Oh, and it has CarPlay/Android too.
I think we need a transcript of the meeting leading to the issuing of this official position.
After reading this official list, I had to check the calendar to make sure this wasn’t the first of April.
Did I mention that I am consistently getting 36 MPG highway with my Mazda3, sometimes 37? Another reason to love the car. If only my 2013 Mazda5 were as efficient.