midlife
Guru
There are 3 lcd panels, the left and right are conventional instruments in design but are simply lit lcd pixels. The whole display is about 5 mm thick and looks a bit odd as it sits where an analogue binnacle should be.
Are we being forced to go electric?
- Thread starter gavroche
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figbat
Slippery scientist
- Location
- South Oxfordshire, UK
Nope. The left panel is a real needle. The right panel is fixed elements. Only the central part is a colour LCD.
The problem with switches and knobs is they can really only have one function and than is limited by factory setup/layout.
Touch screens however offer you pretty much infinite design/usage possibilities. Its like a Pandoras box, once opened you cannot go back.
“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness.”
Tesla started in 2012 with their approach to interior design it was dismissed by many, yet 10 years on Mercedes, the older car manufacturer is all but playing catch up.
cougie uk
Guru
It's a lot easier to use a knob or switch without taking your eyes off the road though. Impossible to do that on a touch screen.
I guess they're using voice control though ?
figbat
Slippery scientist
- Location
- South Oxfordshire, UK
Agreed, but there are some functions that deserve a switch or button as you want to positively activate them without having to look and without the risk of selecting some other function as the road surface bumps your finger to a different setting. BMW have a decent setup with a touch screen and ALSO a physical input device; you can do all inputs using either input - the iDrive wheel/buttons is far easier to use than the touchscreen if you are familiar with menu layouts etc.
Our Volvo XC40 has a large central touchscreen and even adjusting the cabin temperature requires some well-aimed touches, which can be tricky. Of course the other alternative is voice control, but this is still a bit clunky on most cars I have tried.
fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
This - far easier to find stuff by touch than by a screen - touch screens are much more distracting vs buttons. Main controls need to be buttons, other stuff then OK.
SIL is looking to get rid of their small van (used for business so going to be charged £10 a day next year) and looking at new cars. They fancy an electric but looking at deals, it's going to be very expensive for them given that they don't really drive far - one car would be enough.
Electric_Andy
Heavy Metal Fan
- Location
- Plymouth
My Passat has a mullti-function screen which I really dislike. It is quite slow. Luckily there are physical knobs for most of the main things, but it displays pictures of the seat when you put the seat warmers on, and pictures of which way you've directed the air when you've put the blowers on. Utterly pointless I think; who needs to look at a screen whilst driving to see which settings you've changed?
What would worry me about higher end EV (and other cars to be honest) is all this voice control; what happens when the system crashes or stops working completely? With a leased car I guess it's not so much of a worry but I'd guess it's easier to fix a switch than it is a whole voice recognitino system. Funny, because haven't they just brought in a law for consumer appliances that requires them to be repaired easier?
What would worry me about higher end EV (and other cars to be honest) is all this voice control; what happens when the system crashes or stops working completely? With a leased car I guess it's not so much of a worry but I'd guess it's easier to fix a switch than it is a whole voice recognitino system. Funny, because haven't they just brought in a law for consumer appliances that requires them to be repaired easier?
The driving systems are separate from the entertainment, user interface systems. I have for interest, soft booted the Tesla whilst driving. The car drove fine, performed normally, whilst infotainment rebooted.
fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
The driving systems are separate from the entertainment, user interface systems. I have for interest, soft booted the Tesla whilst driving. The car drove fine, performed normally, whilst infotainment rebooted.
Sounds like the Alfa 147 Selespeed I had. You'd get a system failure, so had to pull over, switch off, switch back on.
All Bosch electrical components, put together with dodgy wires.
midlife
Guru
I think you are right, Cheeky beggers sold it to us as the same "digital dash" that's on the electric version. !!
figbat
Slippery scientist
- Location
- South Oxfordshire, UK
The electric version is the same - I have one! The only difference is that the left-hand (physical) needle is a 'power gauge' rather than a rev counter and the right hand side is remaining battery charge rather than fuel gauge. Only the central part is TFT.
I think you may be missing a bit. If you are driving you can just ask the car to do it for you. In the ID4 for example "Hello ID - Make it warmer". Tesla does the same.
The wife’s E Class Cab has the option to switch displays. It’s got an EV option which I use when I wear my sandals
fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
It's quicker to twiddle the heater button.
Scottish Scrutineer
Veteran
- Location
- Fife, Scotland
I generally just leave the heating set at 21 degrees on Auto setting on both our cars, and the previous Discovery. First thing, I may have to have it on defrost, but one button press and it goes back to the normal setting. If really cold in the wife's MINI (car not skirt), I may prod the heater seat button a couple of times to switch it to medium toasting level. The Caravelle doesn't have heated seats, and the heater control valve on the Elise is very sticky, so maybe I'm just not as picky as some about temperature?It's quicker to twiddle the heater button.
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