Are there any simpler cars around now?

[icowden]

VW have also listened and are reversing their decision.

To be fair though, a lot of that is that their touchscreen tech is piss poor compared to the competitors.
My ID4 already has manual controls as well as touchscreen for air con, but you can't see them in the dark and they are not distinct - just a shiny bar.
Also they don't allow you to control the seat and steering wheel heater.

To turn off the steering wheel heating you have to tap the air con icon, then switch to tab 2 and then reach to the far side of the screen to tap the steering wheel icon once, twice or thrice depending on the heat setting it is on. It's clearly been designed for left hand drive cars and not adjusted for the UK.

It's just bad design. I've driven both the Leaf and the Tesla where clearly end user testing was actually done.

 

[fossyant]

VW have also listened and are reversing their decision.

The upcoming ID1 & ID2 will se a return of more 'real' controls

They did it on the ICE cars so a bit late now.

 

[Dadam]

To turn off the steering wheel heating you have to tap the air con icon, then switch to tab 2 and then reach to the far side of the screen to tap the steering wheel icon once, twice or thrice depending on the heat setting it is on. It's clearly been designed for left hand drive cars and not adjusted for the UK.

It's just bad design. I've driven both the Leaf and the Tesla where clearly end user testing was actually done.

That's terrible. The whole attraction of touch screens to the manufacturers (apart from cost but that's related anyway) is that a reconfiguration like that can be done in software, and the whole prototyping and testing cycle can be done in minutes if the teams and dev tooling are up to the job. Just penny pinching, plus somebody didn't do UX testing in all markets. Probably right hand drive was an afterthought.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

They did it on the ICE cars so a bit late now.

Sorry, not understanding what you mean.

 

[icowden]

Sorry, not understanding what you mean.

I think he means that VW tend to put the same controls across all of their range, both ICE and EV. Another reason why the EV tech is so poor.

 

[Time Waster]

Aren't the Skoda vrs models kinda not their basic models what with all the tuned and optimised elements. Kind of competition to ford st or VW GTi. Their closest to basic are the diesel models without that tuning.

I like the way thread digression on a thread about basic cars ends up discussing the finer points of heated seat and heated steering wheel controls. That's forums for you!

 

[fossyant]

Sorry, not understanding what you mean.

Same dashboard with the touch control. The new Caddy was on my shortlist but had the silly controls.

 

[presta]

It is the controls that are needed to actually operate the car which will be required to be on physical switches, not things which are for your own comfort.

If people can't stop the car to use the phone, they certainly aren't going to pull over just to turn the heater up.

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

In terms of bodywork… yes
Buy an Ariel Atom

Didn’t Clarkson once say, when questioning the TVR Sagaris’s lack of ABS/etc, that the factory said they didn’t get the memo from the EEC?

It seems the motto is ‘Buy Fast, Buy Simple’

 

[fossyant]

I've driven an Ariel Atom on the track. We were only allowed to use second gear as they were lethal - you didn't need to change gear - start in 2nd and just rag it. Real chance of binning it if you did change gear apparently. Much preferred the Nissan GTR - that was brutal, but you could feel the computers keeping you on the track.

The Instructor had had enough of going round in the Atom with all the various drivers on the track day - very uncomfortable.

 

[Bonefish Blues]

I've driven an Ariel Atom on the track. We were only allowed to use second gear as they were lethal - you didn't need to change gear - start in 2nd and just rag it. Real chance of binning it if you did change gear apparently. Much preferred the Nissan GTR - that was brutal, but you could feel the computers keeping you on the track.

The Instructor had had enough of going round in the Atom with all the various drivers on the track day - very uncomfortable.

I had a test drive on the road, agreed a price with the seller, and then listened to the voice of reason (to whom I'm still married...) and backed out. Wonderful little thing - this had a 1.6 Honda motor which was quite sufficient I thought!

 

[Time Waster]

Some guys from a company I worked for got taken round the test track by a Lotus test driver. You can imagine what a truly good, pro driver could do round a very familiar track in a Lotus car. Also, understand that they could have some fun at your expense.

With that in mind a rather cocky boy racer in that group had a bit of a hard time. Whilst he liked speed, had a superbike and a souped up car. However, that didn't help him when he crawled out of the Lotus throwing up all over himself.

Don't pee off a test car driver or race driver if they're driving you on a track!

On a side issue, just dropped a deposit on a Skoda Octavia 3 estate 1.6TDI. Nothing special but very practical and low mileage. Should serve us well.

Time to plan our next camping trip, get a tow bar for the bike rack and possibly roof bars for a canoe.

Not simple but not as complex as some cara out there now.

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

With that in mind a rather cocky boy racer in that group had a bit of a hard time. Whilst he liked speed, had a superbike and a souped up car. However, that didn't help him when he crawled out of the Lotus throwing up all over himself.

Don't pee off a test car driver or race driver if they're driving you on a track!

On a side issue, just dropped a deposit on a Skoda Octavia 3 estate 1.6TDI. Nothing special but very practical and low mileage. Should serve us well.

Time to plan our next camping trip, get a tow bar for the bike rack and possibly roof bars for a canoe.

I had an Octavia 2(face-lift) as 1.6TDi/manual
it was a great car, even at the standard (116BHP?), it served us well for over 9 years

RE; the cocky passengers
I'll have to find it, but I have a copy of Octane magazine, that I had to buy, as it featured the anniversary of the McLaren F1 promimently
One of the columnists recalls an Aston-Martin (owner/racer?) being a bit 'sniffy' about the F1, & was taken out in one
Yes, he threw up too!!

I'll dig it out, & photograph/scan it as an edit to this (probably in the morning?)

 

[DRM]

Seem to recall seeing something similar where the Police somewhere were being issued Subaru Impreza's they thought they knew how to drive them fast on the track, that was until iirc Colin McRae showed them what fast really was, cue terrifed, decidedly ill looking plod getting out of the car!

 

[fossyant]

Seem to recall seeing something similar where the Police somewhere were being issued Subaru Impreza's they thought they knew how to drive them fast on the track, that was until iirc Colin McRae showed them what fast really was, cue terrifed, decidedly ill looking plod getting out of the car!

We had a couple of laps in a V8 Monaro (Fast Vauxhall) after the track day. It wasn't a 'modern' car by this stage, but my god. We were driver, me, my son and someone else. Good god it was quick, and controlled slides etc.