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even more so when the volumes are numbered, because even if 17 is just right what monster would set their control to 17*.
I got in the car the other day and she'd set the aircon to Something Point Five. I'm currently eyeing up a patio.
I'm disappointed. Thought this was about past willing and enthusiastic partners 🫢
Volvo here – great car but...
@Atomizer Damn, it was newer V60s I was looking at. The pre 2019 version does appear to still have knobs 🤔
Urgh, that looks fiendish
@prettygreenparrot I find your belief system fascinating.
What a great new (to me) word. I thought this would be a thread about school desk graffiti, even so it hasn't disappointed.
@andeh mine’s a newer version of that, same basic principle though. Changing temperature require two or three presses and looking to see where to press !
BMW i4 thankfully retains the big knob. AKA the idrive thingy which can do everything that the touchscreen does, but avoiding the touchscreen.
Seems a good solution, drive in knob mode, touch when stationary.. 😜
I often find myself longing for a knob (or 4) in the kitchen.
How anyone can think that a touch sensitive hob is an improvement over a simple twisty knob is a complete mystery to me.
XC60 here, I find the google system very good, generally obeys most requests (temperature, heated seat control for driver or passenger, radio channel etc.)can be a bit slow at times but usually ok. The infotainment system has been flamed quite a bit but a lot of owners aren’t aware of the scope of voice control.
Knobless Volvo driver too,, I also find the voice control works flawlessly ,despite my T’ less Leeds dialect.🤷🏼♂️
I could eat a knob at night
You’ve got a wooden dog??
You should hear its bark!
You’ve got a wooden dog??
How does it smell?
Citroen have all their screens set right in the centre of the dash, completely out of the driver’s line of sight!
More cheapness. Moving everything to the middle, away from the line of sight of the driver, is just cheaper when it comes to international markets. Touchscreen for everything, mounted between driver and the passenger, is the most cheap arse way to develop and build cars… and still there are people who still consider it a premium feature. We’re idiots, and the car companies know it. For now. It’ll change though. Give it 10 years and that layout will be in cheap cars only, and driver focussed displays and physical controls will be a selling point for premium cars. It won’t be sold as retro though… heads-up displays and premium feeling controls will be “the future”… even though the technology is old… but not currently considered cheap enough or desirable enough to prioritise the spend on them.
Voice control is probably the way forwards, if we're stuck with these stupid bloody things. The tech has improved a lot, you can mostly use natural language and it mostly understands you.
The first one I had was in a Mondeo, you had to remember a string of exact commands and it'd still get itself in a tizzy because you'd said "call John Smith" instead of "call Smith, John."
Is the Volvo voice control any better than standard Google voice assistant thing on a phone?
"Hay Google, navigate to nearest Tesco"
"OK, I'm Playing Tiësto"
"Oh **** noooooo! Stop! Stop!"
Drives off cliff
Voice control is probably the way forwards
Shoot me now.
Shoot me now.
I suppose that could work on a special order Aston Martin...
I’m disappointed. Thought this was about past willing and enthusiastic partners 🫢
or Eunuchs
Voice control is probably the way forwards
Shoot me now.
Best not to say that out loud
How <em style="box-sizing: border-box; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; color: #000000; font-family: Roboto, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, 'Noto Sans', sans-serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', 'Apple Color Emoji', 'Segoe UI Emoji', 'Segoe UI Symbol', 'Noto Color Emoji'; background-color: #eeeeee;">anyonecan think that a touch sensitive hob is an improvement over a simple twisty knob is a complete mystery to me.
How long before we have to talk to them instead?
Thanks lads, you've got me looking at an old S4 Avant now
And why does it beep at me telling me to put the car in “P” as I’m getting out. Just do it automatically!
mine does that automatically
what it wont do is let you leave it in P but without the (electronic) handbrake applied
e.g. if you are leaving it on flat ground for a period of time and dont want the brake to seize on.
Or rather, it will let you do it, but then it wont lock! I guess a feature for maintainence only.
Meanwhile DJs who now only play electronic music have mixers and controllers festooned with more knobs and buttons than ever.
I'd be pretty certain the whole - put everything into a touch screen - as a cost saver thing for manufacturers. It certainly doesn't seem to be a safety thing to me (changing the heating controls via a touch screen via menu / sub-menu's whilst hopefully hitting the right part of the screen).
I'm not a fan of everything in a touchscreen. My Elise is a joy in simplicity when you drive it. 3 heater controls, a sport button and a button for the lights/fogs.
My car gives me five options for changing the volume on the sound system :
Physical roller knob on the centre console
Physical button on the steering wheel
Touch screen control
i-drive knobbly controller thingy for the touch screen
Voice control
There are physical buttons/ knobs for everything you would expect and multiple options as above for controlling most things.
There are even assignable buttons on the wheel that you can choose whatever takes your fancy
Voice control is probably the way forwards
Jeremy Clarkson is a knob, but every time he used every single manufacturers voice control while testing a car for TG, he made the same point over and over
JC: "Play radio 2"
Car "Calling Richard Hammond"
JC: Look of disappointment/resignation to camera...
Knobs was one of the main reasons I got a Dacia - knobs for climate, buttons for other stuff, touchscreen for the radio/AndroidAuto/Carplay, no lane assist. Even then I change volume, skip tracks etc on the column stalk. Looks like they've moved almost everything to touch screen on the new Duster though.
We got a taxi a while back and a Tesla Model S turned up. It was night so the wife and kids couldn't see in the back to put belts on. The driver had to go through a couple of menu levels to get to the toggle for the rear interior light. Why not just a bloody switch!?
Changing temperature require two or three presses and looking to see where to press !
Errrr, what?
It's one press up, one press down on the current (and the last) touchscreen?
Is the Volvo voice control any better than standard Google voice assistant thing on a phone?
It's one and the same. Mine happily accepts instructions in Swedish, English and German. My attempts at swedish place names lead to much hilarity though.
Except if i try to play "discover weekly" on spotify, 25% of the time it plays "weekly discover" which is some dire podcast, that spotify thinks i like now. And you can't block stuff like that.
I’m experiencing in my 1986 Land Rover.
To be fair I bet the knobs lasted alot longer than the first chassis.
We got a taxi a while back and a Tesla Model S turned up. It was night so the wife and kids couldn’t see in the back to put belts on. The driver had to go through a couple of menu levels to get to the toggle for the rear interior light. Why not just a bloody switch!?
I've only worked in website/app UX, but it's mind-boggling that this got signed off somewhere.
Or maybe it's not, if Musk was running the show.
It’s one and the same...
😔 My main Spotify playlist is called "Entry Level Hipster Bullshit" and I've still never successfully managed to get Google to play it through voice controls. Every now and then I be feeling chipper and stir up some hope to give it another go, only to be disappointed with numbing regularity.
I used to love being able to write an extended text (no errors) under the desk at school without so much as a glance at the old brick.
I tried an IDBuzz recently. The haptic steering wheel controls are laid out the same as the buttons in my T6 van, so should have felt perfectly familiar.
Just teeth grindingly bad, progress my arse!
As above, I've no idea how the central touchscreens are legal.
I find myself looking at immaculate old Jap import Volvo V70s for my next car...
We got a taxi a while back and a Tesla Model S turned up. It was night so the wife and kids couldn’t see in the back to put belts on. The driver had to go through a couple of menu levels to get to the toggle for the rear interior light. Why not just a bloody switch!?
Because the driver was being a knob. Put the car in park by reaching out a finger and pressing the button and hey presto all the interior lights will come on.
or
Simply push any of the lights in the interior and they will then switch on.
Probably best not to judge cars by the behaviour of taxi drivers...
I have a 19yo Fiesta, it doesn't have the functions to warrant knobs or a properly working stereo so have been looking at ways to fit an old tablet for Satnav and audio.